Newsletter Vol. 5, 2007

It's good to keep in touch! This month we are featuring a recent report by Bredin Business Information that discusses a topic dear to our hearts: the effectiveness of email newsletters to SMEs.

In this issue:
  1. Email Newsletters are the Preferred Information Source for Small and Medium Businesses
  2. Case Study: Nearly 500 subscribers within 1 week!
  3. Are you Keeping in Touch with Your Customers?
  4. Does Your Website Sell?

Best wishes,
Heather Maloney

Email Newsletters are the Preferred Information Source for Small and Medium Businesses

A recent report collated and published by Bredin Business Information highlights a number of interesting statistics:

  • 83% of respondents indicated that email newsletters were either very important or important sources, putting it in a near statistical tie with print media (84%) and ahead of corporate/media websites (71%). "It is clear that small and medium businesses value the information they get from email newsletters."
  • By far, practical "how to" information (40%) was the preferred form of content.
  • The top reasons for stopping an e-newsletter? Irrelevant content (63%).
  • Half of SMBs were indifferent as to what day they would like to receive email newsletters, but those that did express a preference preferred Monday.
  • "...companies that currently don't communicate with their customers and prospects this way should consider launching their own information-driven e-newsletters."

Read more here: http://www.bbionline.com/press_0307.htm

Our eNudge tool can help you professionally deliver, track and measure the results of your email newsletters. It helps you comply with the Spam Act and improve your email deliverability.

"Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work." Thomas A. Edison (1847 - 1931)

Case Study: Nearly 500 subscribers within 1 week!

Genre is a new subscriber to eNudge, and recently engaged Contact Point to integrate their existing website with their eNudge database, and also help with promotion of their range of fashion handbags. The eNudge integration allows visitors to the Genre website to fill in a "join our mailing list" form. After submitting the form, their details are automatically and immediately added to Genre's eNudge database, using web services.

The online marketing campaigns which Contact Point effected for Genre lead to nearly 500 people joining the mailing list within a matter of days - probably helped by the opportunity to win a Genre handbag. Genre have also achieved great time savings because they don't have to re-key their subscribers details into another system in order to email to the subscriber list. In addition, the category associated with each subscriber has been automatically recorded, based on how they heard about Genre, allowing easy targeting of emails.

The final bonus to Genre was the online orders they received for their handbags. It's probably too late for you to place your order for a handbag for Mother's Day now, but you can check out their fabulous range here: www.genre.com.au

Are you Keeping in Touch with Your Customers?

It's less expensive to market and sell to an existing customer than to find a new one. Keeping in touch with your customers in a courteous, value-added way will help your clients / customers remember you when they next need your product or service.

Here's some ideas for keeping in touch:

  • Email your clients / customers when you find something useful to their business or life. It doesn't have to be related to your business.
  • Create a regular newsletter that makes it easier for your clients to do business with you, and provides additional value for their life / business.
  • Thank your clients when they pay on time. Perhaps send them a handwritten note in the mail.
  • Do you have a communication plan? - a prioritised list of communications to be sent to relevant groups of your clients on a series of value-adding topics, in a logical order, co-inciding with calendar events.

Does Your Website Sell?

This is the question posed in a recent article published on the AIM (Australian Institute of Management) website, which you may find very interesting. Here's the link. The author suggests that: "unless [your] website is generating many high-quality leads, it's just costing [you] money"

 

Current IT news is added regularly to our Publications page. We focus on items that we believe are of interest to SMEs in Australia.

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