E-mail newsletters are an effective and relatively low-cost method to market your business.  In simple terms, an e-mail newsletter is an e-mail which consists of news and information regarding a topic that is sent periodically to a group of contacts or subscribers.  Although these newsletters can be a great asset, they can also backfire by getting mangled by software like Outlook 2007 and Gmail.  Worse yet, your intended recipients may not receive your e-mails – nullifying your marketing efforts entirely. Here are just a few ideas for consideration before sending that first e-mail.

 E-mail Services
So, you think you are going to format a nice e-mail and send it through Outlook on your local computer.  Well, that might work for a small list of friends, but sending bulk e-mails to large lists requires a service that can manage sign-ups and unsubscribes automatically with features like double opt-in subscriptions so you don’t unintentionally send spam.  You need permission to send to everyone on your list out of common courtesy and also because it’s the law.  There are other compliance issues like having your address and phone number on each e-mail.  An e-mail service will also provide a way to monitor your e-mail campaigns so you can see how many people open and act on your e-mails.  Most e-mail services have the ability to host your e-mail on a website so someone with problems reading with an e-mail client can view it in a web browser like Internet Explorer or Firefox.

The List
If you’re going to send newsletters and other marketing e-mails, you need a list of people who would be interested in hearing from you.  Chances are you already have a list of clients, but you should also include friends, vendors, and business partners.  Once you have your list together, it is a good idea to send everyone an introduction e-mail letting them know of your plans and providing a method to opt out of your list.  Additionally, some e-mail services provide the ability to automatically process bounced e-mails and flag them as inactive.  This feature saves a ton of time as well as eliminates the possibility of accidentally sending an e-mail to a contact that has previously unsubscribed.

Content and Design
If you are going to send a periodic newsletter, it should provide something of value foremost but also remind people about your business in a non-sales manner.  Include a brief introduction paragraph and some news about your company.  If you write a blog or post articles related to your business, include a short introduction in the newsletter with a link to the full article or post.  Keeping your content formatted in a simple design can help reduce the possibility of your e-mail being mangled and looking different from what you intended.  Because every e-mail client (software like Outlook, Gmail, and Hotmail) displays web page type designs differently, it is important to test your e-mail before sending.  A service like Litmus or BrowserCam can help you spot potentially embarrassing design problems and get them fixed before sending your e-mail to the list. 

Subject and Copy
Your subject line is important for two reasons.  First, you need an attention grabber.  Something that makes a subscriber want to open your e-mail and actually read it.  Second, it should avoid text that will get your e-mail dropped into a spam filter or a junk mail box.  The copy of your e-mail should be well written and void of spelling and grammar mistakes.  Nothing says “don’t buy from me” like misspelled words.

E-mail marketing keeps you in front of friends, customers, and prospects for much less than traditional off-line marketing and at a fraction of the cost.  However, people have highly emotional reactions to receiving newsletters through e-mail.  Usability problems have much stronger impact with e-mail versus a website.  Users spend an average of 51 seconds reading the typical newsletter making the design and copy writing critical to survive today’s crowded inbox.  Users are getting pickier about what they will spend time reading but most still prefer it to regular mail simply out of convenience.  E-mail newsletters, done properly, make for a powerful means of marketing.