Newsletter #107 Snail Mail vs Email

Created on 11/07/06

A special hello to all new subscribers. This article is on the Web at this address.

Our last newsletter (11th July, 2006) was "Marketing to SuperConnectors ".

Feature Article

There’s a radio ad that annoys me. It has one business person pooh-poohing another who is preparing to send out a printed newsletter. Email is the answer!

Email does have advantages over traditional mail:

1. The cost to produce an email newsletter is normally lower as there is no printing cost
2. The cost of sending email is almost zero
3. You can see the results almost instantly as your recipients receives the email within minutes
4. The latest systems can supply data such as the percentage of emails actually read, and the number of actions taken. The results are more measurable.
5. You can easily deliver variations of content for your different subscriber groups – assuming that you have enough information to segment them.
6. You can test and retest various ways of presenting information, at little cost, in order to get the best results.
7. If the content is highly regarded, recipients will forward it on to others.

So maybe the pooh-pooher is right? Yes you guessed it; there are a few big BUTS.

Because email is so popular, cheap and easy to use most people now receive a huge number of daily emails with a large percentage of it being spam. According to integrated message management firm Postini, 84% of all mail was unwanted in March of this year. Because of this deluge legitimate marketing messages can get overlooked or ignored.

Data from the US also suggests that open rates for email newsletters are in range 30-40%, so a large proportion of newsletter emails will not even be seen. And even when they are opened, usability expert Jakob Nielsen reports that only 19% of newsletters are fully read. Readers predominantly scan them quickly and often only small sections are looked at.

Because email newsletters are so ubiquitous, users often trade off one email newsletter against another to reduce their email volume. This behaviour, together with the rapid churn of email addresses means that the quality of an email database can deteriorate quite quickly over time.

Most of us get five or fewer snail (postal) mail items a day and I would suggest that the open rate for this mail would approach 100%. Even if it is almost immediately thrown in the bin, most snail mail offerings get at least a cursory scan. Without getting into the psychology, something tactile that we can hold in our hands affects us more than text and images we see on a screen.

So what do we suggest?

Email is a great medium and a superb way to keep in contact with customers, potential customers, friends and colleagues that you’ve come into contact with or who have asked for information. The content is the key as they will quickly stop reading even if they don’t unsubscribe. Just be aware that most recipients will not read all your content.

Snail mail still has its place particularly for introducing yourself to potential customers where it’s far more effective than email. Also targeted campaigns to customer databases can have impressive response rates, particularly if the offering is presented in an innovative way. Printed newsletters delivered a few times a year are also a great way of showing existing and potential clients that you’re still around and help to keep you “top of mind”.

Bang for buck? I wouldn’t count snail mail out of your marketing budget.

Hot Tips

Newbies

POP3 email explained:
If you are using Outlook/Outlook Express or other email programs and are downloading email to your computer, you are using POP3 email. Your ISP will have given a username and password that allows you to access the email from their POP3 mailserver. Once downloaded your email is normally deleted from the mailserver, although you can choose to leave it there for a specified time in most programs. When you want to send email you will be using your ISP's SMTP mailserver to do so. Most ISPs will not allow you to use their SMTP mailserver unless you are connected to their network.

Power Users

To start a program each time you start Windows XP. Right click the start button and click Properties. Make sure you're on the Start Menu tab, then click Classic Start menu then Customize. The style of the Start Menu will change. Click Advanced. Find the shortcut to the program you want to start (normally on your Desktop) and drag the icon to the Start Menu/Programs/Startup folder. To keep the icon on your Desktop copy and paste instead of dragging.

Interesting Sites

If you're getting tired of your personal music collection or just want to try something new Last.fm might be worth a try. The basic idea is that Last.fm streams music to your computer, you decide whether you like it or not and Last.fm adapts the music stream accordingly. The accumulation of the tastes of everyone using Last.fm helps the site to say confidently which artists you'll like. http://www.last.fm/

Quick Quotes

"Never trust a computer you can't throw out a window." Steve Wozniak

You can see our other Quick Quotes on the front page of www.netinsites.com; just refresh the page to see another one randomly selected from our database. Great for presentations or times when you want to appear to be a techno-dude(ss)!

Archives

To access previous newsletters visit our newsletter archive.

If you want to subscribe to this newsletter just visit www.netinsites.com and use the box at the top right.

Best wishes

Alex Garden

Internet Strategy | Website Design | Website Promotion | Web Text Messaging | Email Newsletters | Online Sports Games | Content Management