It's a Hit

by Dan Burbank

I'm not a filmmaker but I'm willing to bet that the equipment that was used to make "Gigli" isn't too different from the equipment that was used to make "The Lord of the Rings." Each crew had lights, cameras and sets, but in the end produced two very different products.

Calm down film school flunkies, I concede that better technology probably makes better films, but this isn't a column about making movies. It's about email newsletters. Most moviegoers could care less about the model of camera or type of editing equipment that produced the movie. The audience cares about the content.

If you're launching an email newsletter the content is what your audience will care about too. Sure you'll have technological considerations, but if you produce truly worthwhile content your audience won't care if they're looking at an HTML encoded page or plain text. (Hey, "Citizen Kane" still holds up in black and white, right?)

So here are five tips to help you produce an email newsletter that is a hit.

1. Consistency. Isn't it distracting to watch a movie that can't decide if it wants to be an action-thriller or a comedy? And isn't it frustrating to catch the first 15 minutes of a great flick on TV, only to have to turn it off and tune back in an hour later?

Aim for consistency in what you deliver and when you deliver it.

Decide what will be included in your newsletter. Will it have original content, weekly specials, links to industry news? Whatever it is, provide it in each issue. Then choose a delivery cycle and stick to it. Whether you publish every Monday or on the third Saturday of every month, regularity will help to cement your credibility.

2. Treasures. Good movies make your forget the price of admission. Great movies stay in your memory and work their way into your life for years to come. These movies have actors, scenes or lines that you treasure.

Your email newsletter needs to be a little treasure in your recipient's inbox. Whether you're offering amazing deals or insightful commentary, you've got to make an impression. How many emails do you clear out of your inbox every morning? There some you're drawn to read first because of the sender or subject line. You know your niche. What can you provide to your recipients that will be treasured?

3. Brevity. If a movie clocks in over two hours it's on the long side. Push the three-hour barrier and you can't just entertain the audience, you've got to dazzle them.

Brevity is important for two reasons. First, your audience's attention span is shorter than you think. If your emails are lengthy, readers will get bored quickly, be less likely to open your subsequent emails (even if you correct the problem) and will either unsubscribe or become unresponsive. Say what you want to say as quickly as you can and if you'd like to include longer pieces, post them on your Website and link to them.

The other consideration is your own workload. You may commit to a weekly newsletter today but the email newsletter graveyard is full of dailies that became weeklies, that became monthlies, that eventually died (see consistency). A shorter email makes it easier to write an email newsletter that has the frequency and quality you want.

4. Formatting. You'd never try to jam a VHS cassette into your DVD player and you certainly shouldn't send an email newsletter to your audience that they won't be able to read.

The simplest, surest format to use for an email newsletter is plain text. Formatting the copy with a simple text editor, keep the width of your newsletter to 65 to 70 characters across, especially URLs. Anything longer could be broken by Web based email services like Yahoo and Hotmail. You can also break up the page and add highlights by using special text characters like ### or ~~~.

If you plan to use HTML be sure to validate the code before sending it. You'll have a hard time getting your message across if your email gets mangled when viewed in someone's inbox. You should also design one template and stick with it so that recipients recognize the visuals as your newsletter before reading a word. Keep in mind that more and more email providers are blocking images by default, so make sure the template holds together well without images displaying.

5. CAN-SPAM Compliance. Sensitivity around spam is extremely high and there are laws that make sending unwanted commercial email messages a crime. It's crucial to comply with the law when sending an email newsletter. First, only send email to addresses you acquire through a form on your Website. Don't start sending newsletters to millions of email addresses you purchased on CD-ROM via eBay auction. Second, make sure the program you use to send the newsletter includes a functioning unsubscribe link that allows recipients to remove themselves from your list easily. Finally, include the physical address of your business at the bottom of your newsletter.

Following this advice will keep your newsletter from being an inbox flop.

30.04.2007. 23:40

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