Yes, I finally got the email newsletter sent
Finally got my very first e-mail newsletter out last weekend. I was only working on it for about 3 weeks!!
In reality, due to how busy we have been, this in effect means I was working on it for just a few hours, usually late at night or for five minutes in between a multitude of other work.
The company I chose to use was VerticalResponse
The choices I found were:-
One off Payment - Download a newsletter program - there were various options that included programs that would send out html and text versions, included opening/clickthrough stats and an automatic unsubscribe system. However, although they may have proved cheaper in the long run they are extremely expensive and not viable for what I really wanted that was essentially a one off test campaign.
Monthly Subscription Online Email Newsletter Service - No lack of choice here! There are plenty of companies offering this service, again with html/text and stats. The prices would be reasonable if you were sending out an email or two a month but not good if you only wanted to try once and possibly only send a newsletter every couple of months or so.
One off Online Service - This is essentually what Vertical Response are offering. You pay for each e-mail you send. The rates drop if you are sending alot but are also very reasonable for low quantites. I couldnt find any other companies offering this service and the prices were pretty much the same as the monthly subscription services - just you dont need to pay every month!
The stats - I currently have just under 600 subscribers to my newsletter. It cost me about £5 to send the newsletters - I designed an html and text version - Vertical Repsonse send both and the html one gets through if it can with the text version going through if the recipient cannot accept html. Thus far, 225 people have opened/viewed the newsletter, 24 have bounced, 5 have unsubscribed and 88 have clicked through to my website.
I am pretty pleased with these figures to be honest. Considering the list has been building over the last 18 months and there are bound to be a few test accounts amongst these figures, to have just 24 bounce and only 5 people unsubscribe is good and to have 88 people click through is very pleasing.
The only thing I cant track at present is sales conversions. A good way of carrying this out with osC, as was pointed out to me on the forum is to use a discount code in the email - unfortunately I dont currently have this system implemented in my osC setup - Maybe next year.....
My main aim at present is just to get people who are thinking of buying gifts to think of my site. I am confident that sales will come.
Anyhow, I have found using VerticalResponse a very simple, cheap and easy to use solution and would recommend it to anyone thinking of sending an email newsletter. You can create and account, check their templates or upload your own html newsletters and send yourself test copies all for free, then upload your subscriber list before finally just paying for the emails you require before sending. Then just sit back and check the stats.
I was pleased with their setup and will definately use it again - I hope to try and send out on a regular basis next year and as my subscriber list grows, so it should become more effective.
If anyone is interested, I am happy to forward on a copy of the newsletter I sent out.
In reality, due to how busy we have been, this in effect means I was working on it for just a few hours, usually late at night or for five minutes in between a multitude of other work.
The company I chose to use was VerticalResponse
The choices I found were:-
One off Payment - Download a newsletter program - there were various options that included programs that would send out html and text versions, included opening/clickthrough stats and an automatic unsubscribe system. However, although they may have proved cheaper in the long run they are extremely expensive and not viable for what I really wanted that was essentially a one off test campaign.
Monthly Subscription Online Email Newsletter Service - No lack of choice here! There are plenty of companies offering this service, again with html/text and stats. The prices would be reasonable if you were sending out an email or two a month but not good if you only wanted to try once and possibly only send a newsletter every couple of months or so.
One off Online Service - This is essentually what Vertical Response are offering. You pay for each e-mail you send. The rates drop if you are sending alot but are also very reasonable for low quantites. I couldnt find any other companies offering this service and the prices were pretty much the same as the monthly subscription services - just you dont need to pay every month!
The stats - I currently have just under 600 subscribers to my newsletter. It cost me about £5 to send the newsletters - I designed an html and text version - Vertical Repsonse send both and the html one gets through if it can with the text version going through if the recipient cannot accept html. Thus far, 225 people have opened/viewed the newsletter, 24 have bounced, 5 have unsubscribed and 88 have clicked through to my website.
I am pretty pleased with these figures to be honest. Considering the list has been building over the last 18 months and there are bound to be a few test accounts amongst these figures, to have just 24 bounce and only 5 people unsubscribe is good and to have 88 people click through is very pleasing.
The only thing I cant track at present is sales conversions. A good way of carrying this out with osC, as was pointed out to me on the forum is to use a discount code in the email - unfortunately I dont currently have this system implemented in my osC setup - Maybe next year.....
My main aim at present is just to get people who are thinking of buying gifts to think of my site. I am confident that sales will come.
Anyhow, I have found using VerticalResponse
I was pleased with their setup and will definately use it again - I hope to try and send out on a regular basis next year and as my subscriber list grows, so it should become more effective.
If anyone is interested, I am happy to forward on a copy of the newsletter I sent out.
posted by richandzhaoyan | 9:45 PM
3 Comments:
Hi Rich, I would love to have a copy of your newsletter. I haven't done one yet.
Thanks for the copy of your newsletter, I was wondering if the stats of how many people opened it had changed over time?
Thanks for the interest in the newsletter guys.
With regards to the stats, no, they have not changed a great deal.
As of today,
Opened 244
Bounced 52
Unsubscribeed 5
Clickthroughs 107
It seems that all the action really occurs during the first few days.
I guess if I was really brave, I would send out another newsletter sometime in December. To be honest, I am pretty "snowed" :) under at present so not sure I want too many extra orders. I would prefer to keep on top of the present batch and just have them keep coming in at the current rate. I would like to just get through this xmas, keeping as many customers happy as possible rather then take on a load of extra orders and not be able to complete them.
Still, we will see what happens over the next week or two.
Cheers,
Rich
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