Michael Katz's E-Newsletter On E-Newsletters
December 2, 2005
Issue #141
Tails, You Win
Like you, I've been toying lately with the idea of
growing a tail. Nothing too elaborate mind you,
just
something long enough and furry enough that when I
wag it, you can tell I'm happy.
The truth is, I wish everybody had one.
Think about it. Never again would you have to
sit
and wonder whether or not your husband really likes
your family. If you saw his tail wagging, you'd
know. Granted, this kind of evolutionary upgrade
would require that most of us purchase an entirely
new set of pants, but on the whole, I think it would
be worth the adjustment.
The one place where what I'm suggesting would help
the most of course, is E-Newsletters. I say this
because in our current, tail-free business world,
there's no easy and obvious way to directly measure
how much readers like and appreciate what we're
sending each month.
Unlike its more
trackable
marketing cousins — things like direct mail,
Google
ads or telemarketing — most of what's going
on with
your E-Newsletter occurs behind the scenes,
in the
home, office and mind of your reader.
The fact is, to measure the effectiveness of your
E-Newsletter, you've got to look in a number of
different places and, like assembling a puzzle, it's left
to you to arrange the pieces into something
meaningful.
With that in mind, and in descending order of
importance, here's what I recommend you pay
attention to:
- Is your phone ringing / inbox dinging with
clients? We all want to create and publish a
great
newsletter, but that's not an end in itself. The
point
of all this after all, is to attract "good clients"
— defined as companies and people with whom
we want
to do business. If publishing your newsletter creates
this kind of activity, skip the rest of today's issue
and go buy yourself some doggie treats. Your
newsletter is getting the job done.
- Is your phone ringing / inbox dinging with
non-client offers? Calls from journalists,
invitations
to
speak or appear on industry panels, questions from
colleagues, etc. Activity resulting from your standing
as
expert — while admittedly not client work
— is
still a sign that you are viewed as an authority in
your field. If your newsletter is positioning you in
this way, you're definitely on the right track (i.e. buy
the doggie treats, but maybe don't eat them
yet).
- Are people you've never heard of adding
themselves to your mailing list? It's great (and
recommended) to acquire new subscribers by asking
people you meet if they'd like to be on your list. But
the true test of quality is when strangers request
your stuff. With nobody twisting their arm (except
maybe one of your current readers enthusiastically
forwarding an issue — another good sign),
this is
about as pure an indication that your newsletter is
valued in the "information marketplace" as you'll
find.
- Are readers interacting with your newsletter?
When I say "interacting," I'm lumping together both
e-mail comments sent back to you when you publish,
and clicks made on the various links within the
newsletter. Both of these are good, often early
signs of future clients. In my experience, people
tend to snoop around and feel you out before they
pick up the phone and hire you.
So while "interaction" by itself doesn't necessarily
mean anything (lots of people just like to interact,
but will never become clients), if you've got the
opposite situation — no clicks and no e-mail
from
readers — your message may be falling on
deaf
ears.
- What's your e-mail open rate? I mention
this one
because I know you're paying close attention to it,
although frankly it's not a very accurate measure of
what's going on. As a result of a few technical
developments over the last couple of years (click here to read my newsletter from last year
for more details — scroll down to
the "Interesting
Tidbit"
section), this number has so much noise in it that
it
offers only a blurry glimpse of how much your
newsletter is really being opened. So I'd
keep
an eye
on open rate, but only in the context of all these
other pieces of the puzzle.
- What's your newsletter opt-out rate?
Lots of people swear
by this statistic, and in particular, how low it
usually
is: "Our newsletter must be good because we hardly
ever get any unsubscribes." I don't know. To me
this makes about as much sense as gauging the
quality of your piano playing by tracking how many
rocks your neighbors throw through the window.
Just because your newsletter isn't bad
enough to
complain about or request removal from, it doesn't
mean anybody's reading it.
With e-mail, it's just as easy for the recipient to click
delete or assign your newsletter to the junk mail
folder as it is to unsubscribe. A low opt-out rate
may only be measuring what it's measuring (if you
get my drift).
Bottom Line: An E-Newsletter is an
incredibly
powerful and effective marketing tool. However,
because it contributes to your business on so many
different levels, in so many different ways, and
across a long period of time, it's hard to put your
finger on one metric that tells the entire story.
If it's bringing you the clients you want, that's
terrific — keep doing what you're doing.
If it's
not,
pay attention to these other measures, and see if
you can get a handle on possible areas for
improvement. Woof, woof.
The PENGUINscore Spotlight
The PENGUINscore has generated a lot of interest
since I introduced it last month (thanks for spreading
the word). So much so that many of you asked
to
see examples of the concept in practice. And
with
that in mind, I'm introducing a new, regular feature of
this newsletter called The PENGUINscore
Spotlight — a kind of "behind the curtain"
look at how this
newsletter gets put together.
Here's the idea: Each time I publish one of these
newsletters, I'll focus on one particular aspect of
how the PENGUINscore was applied (if you need
a
refresher on the concept, follow this
link). I hope
that by seeing it in practice, and with a little
explanation, you can use this to improve your own
communications.
This week I focus on the 7th
concept: "Unexpected."
I knew when I sat down to write today's issue that I
wanted to make a connection between a dog's
wagging tail and the difficulty in measuring reader
interest. Great, but how best to introduce the idea?
One approach might have been to cite a tail
wagging
fact. Something like this, found on the University of
Toronto web site: "Tail wagging is done for a
purpose — to communicate an emotional state
to
other living things." Scientifically accurate perhaps,
but dry as dust.
A second approach might have been to just
make a
tail wagging comment. Something like: "There's
nothing that puts a smile on my face faster than
seeing a dog wagging its tail." Better than the
previous example, but still, not quite a home run.
When I thought of the third (and final)
approach — "I've been toying lately with
the idea of growing a
tail" — I knew right away that I was on to
something, mostly because it was unexpected. It's
different enough and intriguing enough that the
reader feels compelled to keep going. . . a key part
of the E-Newsletter equation.
How about you? What's your PENGUINscore?
The E-Newsletter System
The end of the year is a popular time for starting
an
E-Newsletter. As December rolls around, those
who
have been putting it off figure that if they start now,
they can have something up and running by the first
of the year.
I like to encourage this type of wide-eyed
enthusiasm
by saying, "Please, don't make me laugh."
Even if you ordered my
E-Newsletter System today,
and even if my assistant Angee — with her
usual
lightning-fast turnaround time — sent it to you
via
USPS Priority mail immediately, you'd be lucky to
have it in your hands by Tuesday. Then, by the time
you get around to opening it, and with all that
holiday shopping you still haven't started, well,
frankly, who are we kidding, you won't touch it until
2006.
But — and this is the important point
— if you order
the E-Newsletter System right now, I'll have your
money in my bank account by the end of the day,
which means that at least one of us will be happy.
And then — and this is the really
important point — if
you crack open the package on January 1, 2006, you
could have that baby launched and out the door by
mid-February, just about the time when your New
Year's resolutions are starting to peter out.
So remember, follow
this link and pick up an E-Newsletter System
now. You have my
permission to
do nothing with it until next year.
Happy holidays.
About Blue Penguin Development, Inc.
Blue Penguin Development helps professional service firms get clients,
by showing them how to strengthen relationships with the people they already know.
I specialize in the development of electronic newsletters.
Click here for an overview of my services.
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