For B2B e-marketers, electronic newsletters are fast becoming critical revenue-driving initiatives. A major reason is their high response rate. E-newsletters, particularly in combination with companion Web sites, can deliver a 30-50% response—dwarfing the average 10-15% rate produced by text-based e-mail, and the 1-2% rate for traditional direct mail.
In the B2B world, e-newsletters work because they embrace the key concepts that distinguish this new age of online marketing: permission-based, customer-focused, personalized, retention-oriented, private and trustworthy. Whether used to acquire and retain customers or provide incentive to channel partners, they are powerful brand builders as well as sales tools.
The secrets to a successful e-newsletter effort for your firm are as easily as following this 10-point checklist:
1. “Take off your hat.”
Put your sales and marketing hat aside and become an advocate for your customers. Put yourself in their shoes and really ask yourself what do they want to know about? The rest will fall into place.
2. Build respect and demonstrate leadership
Provide sincere and helpful information that meets the needs and interests of your readers. Think about the problems and issues your customer deals with every day. Through your content, become the expert that your readers will respect. Associate yourself and your newsletter with major brands without being self-serving.
3. Make it personal.
Once you have your feet wet, and you have started to build a loyal readership, you can start getting personal. The Personalization Consortium states that 63% of individuals are more likely to respond to communications that are specifically directed to them. A personal communication is more than just filling in a name; it’s about delivering the content a reader is most interested in. For example, if you represent a financial services firm, you might send information about estate and succession planning to a family business owner, and venture financing advice to emerging companies. A newsletter that delivers targeted content will improve customer relationships and make your e-newsletter personally rewarding for your customers.
4. Do it regularly.
Once the first edition of your e-newsletter has been delivered, it is imperative that you keep producing it on a timely and regular basis. Customers are creatures of habit. By keeping your publication in front of your readers regularly, your newsletter becomes a part of their work life and their expectations. But don’t overdo it. Too much frequency and too much information can saturate the attention span of your readers and can thwart your other e-mail marketing efforts. It’s a fine line you have to follow.
5. Make it accessible.
Once you have developed your e-newsletter as an essential informational source, prospects and customers will start to seek you out. Like a magazine sitting in a doctor’s office, let your e-newsletter be easily passed around and give it a presence that extends beyond just e-mail. Keep an archive of past issues on the Web and always make the current edition easily accessible through a Web address that is easy to remember. This provides multiple ways to access the information your readers have learned to trust—and more opportunities for you to track click-throughs in response to specific articles. It also builds the affinity and mind share that lead to more revenue.
One example is GE Fanuc, a major international provider of factory automation solutions, which is making its e-newsletter content highly accessible by syndicating it worldwide. The company shares content among e-newsletters sent to customers, distributors and channel partners around the globe—tailoring the information according to readers’ roles, needs and geographical presence.
6. Use the data. It will make you smarter and richer.
Make sure you are using e-mail technology that helps you track the behavior of your readers. This data is an extremely important way to connect the actions of B2B prospects and customers with the revenue that results.
The data collected should include: tracking of articles read and by whom, the links clicked when leaving the newsletter, and answers to specific surveys. Information like this can be collected and then used to build specific targeted promotions. Use multiple calls to action in order to track which offers resonate best with which individuals, and to personalize newsletter content accordingly.
7. Don’t go overboard.
The number one mistake that many companies make with data is that they try to do too much with it. If you overexpose prospects to your products, your informative newsletter becomes classified as a promotional piece in the minds of your readers and negatively impacts their trust and willingness to hear from you.
8. Always ask permission.
Permission is critical. Especially with B2B e-newsletters, be clear that you'll keep subscriber information private—and do so.
9. Give subscribers a way to opt out.
Use opt-in, not opt-out, when asking if you can send future e-newsletter and e-mail promotions about "related" products or services.
10. Extend your marketing mix.
Your e-newsletter should be part of an appropriate sequence of online and offline communications: A phone call from a knowledgeable sales representative, a PDF document attached to a follow-up e-mail from that rep, or perhaps a Web demo and conference call. Tread lightly and carefully, so you don’t change the perception of your newsletter from a service to a sales piece.
The returns on e-newsletters can be substantial. The power of electronic newsletters is in their ability to engage the right prospects and keep them returning to you for more information, thus enhancing your customer relationship with your brand. The sharper your expertise at reaching them with the right information at the right time, the better positioned you will be to convert them into profitable, long-term customers.