Ah, the eternal question of emailed newsletters: What’s the best format to send it so it gets delivered, opened, and read? Here’s what one of my Customized Newsletter Services clients asked in a recent email:
Dear Patsi,
There is a definite divergence of opinions among my colleagues about the best way to distribute a newsletter.
- Some feel that the entire text should be in the email in html, eliminating the need for click-thru’s.
- Some simply send a one or two sentence summary, with an attached pdf.
- Some send what amounts to headlines, with a click-thru to the website where the newsletter is resident.
- Some send a one or two sentence plain text summary with link to the newsletter.
Everybody seems to do something different. They all have a rationale for their decision. And all seem to have their limitations, as well.
I was contemplating a test… putting full text in one, and tracking
the stats, via constant contact. Simultaneously, test drive another
distribution vendor, who allows pdf attachments.
Do you have an opinion?
I ran an experiment over the summer, and what I’m seeing is a declining
readership, possibly based on tightened spam filters. I filtered out
anyone who hadn’t opened the newsletter in 90 days,and did an analysis
on that list. Found many, many addresses of people whom I personally
knew, and whose addresses were good. They hadn’t seen the newsletter.
So, that problem seems to exist. Changing distribution vendors might
get around the spam filters, for a while. But I suspect a tightening
environment.
Thoughts?
Jim Jarvis, MBA
President – Executive Coach –The Morse Group, LLC
www.themorsegroup.biz — Read our latest newsletter by clicking here.
Jim, we’ve done a lot of surveying and asking our clients about this. There doesn’t seem to be an easy answer but you’re doing the best thing by asking your readers and testing.
Instead of telling you what works for us, I’m going to throw your questions out to readers. In fact, I’ve create a Vizu poll and ask people to vote. [See poll in pink over on right ==>]
As always, it depends on your audience of readers and actual test results you get using your systems.
Readers, what distribution system works for you? How do you format your newsletters, plain text, HTML, or PDF documents? Hit the comment link and share your thoughts and opinions.
I’ve put a Vizu Poll up in the right hand side column. Please vote!
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