If you’re reading this page, the chances are you’re wondering if an eNewsletter might be good for your business. To help you understand what’s involved, here’s a brief Q & A which covers the most common questions we’re asked by clients or workshop participants.

If your question isn’t covered here, pick up the phone (1300 722 133) or flick us an email.

If you’re wondering about your budget, our eNewsletter charges are here.

• What is an eNewsletter?
• What isn’t an eNewsletter?
• What should I say?
• How important are graphics?
• Do you need a website to have an eNewsletter?
• Do you need a data-base to have an eNewsletter?
• What’s the difference between an eNewsletter and spam?
• DIY or Outsourcing?
• How to start?

A. At the most basic household level, an eNewsletter is an email version of the paper newsletters that arrive in the mailbox at home (or the kids school bags). They’re distributed to a particular community - school, council, electorate - to bring everyone up to date with news, activities and events relevant to that community. The electronic form of these publications, the eNewsletter, is also free, is delivered to people’s (electronic) mail boxes and just like the school news sheet or local Council paper, it assumes a community of interest between the person sending it and the people receiving it.

In a business sense, eNewsletters have a particular appeal. They can be used to create a long standing relationship, especially with the clients or customers who have already done business with you. (Repeat sales are more likely if you keep in touch).

They’re also cost effective, direct, but most importantly, they’re measurable. A good eNewsletter program or service will build-in features that let you track who receives your eNewsletter, who opens it, who forwards it and which of your content is the most widely read.

As always though, for you and your business to benefit from an eNewsletter, you need to get the basics right. We’ll work our way through some of those below.

A. A weekly email announcing how good your business is, how important you are and how many pictures you can be in, is not an eNewsletter. Nor is a weekly bulletin announcing only your specials - unless you happen to make the best chocolates in the world, or you happen to be selling $50 airfares.

If you aren’t selling chocolates or airfares, your eNewsletter needs more in it than articles about you and your own product. Your eNewsletter will sink or swim - i.e. read or bin! - on the basis of its content.

Remember, a newsletter can promote your business but it should not be only a promotion.

A. If you’re planning to invest in a form of marketing that changes every month or couple of months, you need to work out what to offer prospective readers that isn’t a sales pitch. Remember, you want people to read it not bin it, or worse, get annoyed with you and your business.

Your content should also reflect what you want to achieve. What do you want to achieve? If you don't know this, you won't know if you are getting results from the time and money spent. Do you want to drive traffic to your website? Get clients to pick up the phone? Encourage referrals? Keep in contact with customers? Gain on-line sales or bookings? The list goes on but your content should be tailored to produce the outcome you’re seeking.

In terms of specific content, here’s a guide to what research tells us people like to read, but as always, temper it with your own knowledge of your target market.

• What your business does: Use 25% (no more) of your newsletter space to tell all about you - many people are now using a regular "About Us" section. This is where you can 'blow your own horn!' Give promos for your services, products, workshops, etc. You can also profile your staff or list testimonials from clients and customers who rave about you.
• Jokes and fun stuff: A whopping 35% of people said they like the things that make them laugh. This works especially well if your industry is considered 'serious'. Use worded jokes, but the best ones are visual comics - instant gratification - as people don't like to work too hard to smile. And if they smile, chances are they will remember you.
• Latest information and special offers: Everyone likes a bargain. It's interesting to note that people seem to prefer special offers rather than competitions. Make your offer limited, only a week or two at the most, and only on-line.

Keep people informed of the newest and latest. Use articles that are easy to read and informative. Remember to "tell - not sell". Do the selling bit in "About Us".

A. It’s true a picture tells a thousand words but can only if your reader can see it. Yes, you need to use graphics (pictures) to make your messages easier to read, but don't rely solely on the graphics for your message to be communicated. If you’re too reliant on graphics and something happens to your client’s online connection, or they choose not to download their graphics, your eNewsletter will look a mess.

Remember too, that sending graphics via email isn't as simple as inserting a picture into a Word document. It all has to be read as HTML by the receiving computer and pictures are read as separate files. (Never send your graphic files with the e-mail - it would be too big and slow and people hate it when you clog up their in-box).

The best way to put graphics in your e-mails is to use graphic hyperlinks. Without getting too complicated, the graphic is stored at a website. The eNewsletter contains a hyperlink (address) that tells the computer where to find the graphic. It connects to this site, finds the picture and displays it. In a perfect world this all happens behind the scenes, however if your client saves your email to read later, or has their email program set to not automatically display graphics, then you need to be sure your eNewsletter is readable and well formatted without the "bells and whistles".

In a nutshell, graphics should support the message, not BE the message, or even worse, distract from the message or offer.

A. The short answer is no. Most good eNewsletter companies, like Great Look eMail Marketing, can create, manage and send an eNewsletter for you, without you having a website of your own. (If you are wanting one, here’s who we recommend for websites that work) Of course, if you do have a website, eNewsletters can help direct traffic to your site, but that’s not usually their primary role. The real value in an eNewsletter is how it can help maintain the relationship between you and your clients.

We know that 68% of customers stop doing business with any establishment because they perceive poor customer service. We also know that it costs six times more to attract a new customer than it does to keep an existing one.

Used properly, an eNewsletter will help you stay in touch, keep your customers informed and invite dialogue between you and your customers or clients.

Ultimately good business is not about the technology, it’s about the service.

A. Yes you need a list of email addresses to start an eNewsletter but whatever you do, do not go out and buy one. It’s not the quantity but the quality of your data base that matters.

You are better to have 40 email addresses of past and current clients that know you (and who will forward your eNewsletters to friends), than 4000 email addresses of people that do not know you and who will probably delete your newsletter.

Remember, your house email list is the golden goose. Your customers and clients hand over their email because they want to hear from your business. Protect your list, just like the giant protects the golden goose in the fairytale!

You also need to grow your email list because the day when you want to start an e-mail marketing promotion (and that day will come), you will be thankful you did. Collect email addresses by asking for them. On every form have a space for email addresses; get your receptionist to ask or have the whole team requesting e-mail addresses; attend networking events and collect people's business cards and check their e-mail is on it (it's amazing how many are not!). There are lots of innovate ways of gaining email addresses through competitions, give-aways etc.

Then when you have them, pay a good data entry person to enter your email addresses into your chosen data base program. Remember accuracy is more important then speed.

A. In Australia, spam is defined as 'unsolicited commercial electronic messages'. Under the Spam Act 2003, it is illegal to send, or cause to be sent, 'unsolicited commercial electronic messages' that have an Australian link. The legislation sets out penalties of up to $1.1 million a day for repeat corporate offenders!

So .... eNewsletters are an excellent medium but when poorly managed, they can do damage not only to your customer relations, but to your pocket.

In order to avoid falling foul of the Spam Act, there are three key steps to follow.

Firstly, get consent. You must have express consent or inferred consent to send a commercial email message. Inferred consent is when you have had a business or other relationship with the person and their conduct. An existing business or other relationship may, for example, be a relationship that was initiated by a commercial activity (including provision, for a fee or free of charge, of information, goods, or of services) or other communication between you and potential addressee.

TIP: If you have a mailing list that you have been collecting and you are not sure if you have a relationship, you have a chance to establish a relationship. Run a competition or a survey or a promotional offer to this list. Don't hold onto this list without doing something with it - but do it as soon as possible.

Secondly, identify yourself. You must state clearly who the message is from - either the person or business that is sending the information. Identification must not be misleading and must be in the ‘From’ section and, in the body of the email (in full). It must clearly state how to contact the company on and off-line. Identification details that are provided must be reasonably likely to be accurate for a period of 30 days.

TIP: Always send from an email address that the receiver can reply to. And check your emails very regularly after sending a message. People expect to be responded to quickly - within 24 hours at least.

Thirdly, include an unsubscribe option. A functional unsubscribe facility must be included in ALL your commercial electronic messages. (It is amazing how often I receive a commercial email without an unsubscribe). Do honour every unsubscribe request. This must be done within five working days. An email link is OK , even a 'reply to this message with unsubscribe in the subject' is OK, but make sure you administer requests. This is why I suggest List Management (link to send page) that automatically does this for you.

TIP: You can use email addresses to send relevant messages in the following cases:

• when an addressee has published their electronic address, except if followed by words like "no unsolicited email".
• when addressee has provided a business card containing their electronic address.

Find out more about spam laws on these websites:

• Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA)
• The National Office for the Information Economy

A reputable eNewsletter company, like Great Look eMail Marketing, will also advise you on how to ensure your email newsletters are legal and effective.

A. Whether you want to manage your eNewsletter production and distribution is really a question of time, expertise and desire.

Our customers want us to do what we’re good at, while they concentrate on their business, however that may not be your approach.

If you want to try and DIY, type in 'email newsletters' into any search engine and you’ll get a huge list of programs and software to choose from, many flashing the promise of 'easy-to-use' and the 'F' word ... free. Here is a guide of what to look for:

• Personalisation: A "Hello Helen," intro always gets a better response than just "Hello". Yes, the receiver knows it is computer generated, but it still works to make the reader feel special. This technology is essential but you'll need some marketing know-how to make it work for your newsletter.
• Tracking: If you are reporting on accountability to management or a boss, tracking reports can give you invaluable ammunition. But they can also back-fire on you if they show lousy figures. Some reports can dazzle you with too much information. "Unique opens" and "forward opens" (as a %) are the two most useful figures to compare over a period.
• HTML capability: Most systems can now offer HTML but a text option is necessary for people who prefer text formats, or whose company blocks HTML. Remember you need to send your email newsletter in HTML to be able to track it.
• Welcome messages: The sooner a subscriber gets an email from you, the more likely they are to read your newsletter when it does arrive. It's a great feature if you can have a special 'first time' introduction for new subscribers.
• Support: Can you email a real person for troubleshooting? Even better, can pick up the phone and talk to a real person?
• No branding: With so many free programs, why would you pay? A good reason to pay a fee is if it means the only branding on your newsletter will be yours. 'Free' usually means the software company will place a name, logo and link at the bottom of every newsletter. Why should they be able to market to your entire database? And if you really want to have 'their' branding on every newsletter, make sure you know where the company is. It’s not a good look if you are sending your customers to an off-shore business. And if you do decide to pay, check that there’s no branding, as some fee-based software still put their branding on your newsletter.
• Web-based: You do a back-up every day of your database, don't you? Having your email newsletter subscriber list stored web-based protects it against computer mishaps and any unscrupulous people who would love to 'borrow' your database.

How's your time?

DIY eNewsletters can be free, but what's the cost? Remember, apart from sourcing the software and developing your design template, you still need time for writing or sourcing good content.

A small business colleague who opted for the DIY option tracked hours spent on the project.

• 9 hours on researching software
• 27 hours on setup and trials
• 15 hours building/deciding on final content/layout of the first email

That's 48 hours just for the first issue - not including tracking the results and analysing of this issue. Multiply 48 by their charge-out rate, and that’s how much their first issue cost them. And to make this equation worse, the staff member who was trained to operate the newsletter system has now left so another 25-20 hours will be needed to train a new person.

My question to her was: "Was that the best use of company time?"

If you are going down the DIY route, be realistic about the time it will require to get it up and running, then also the time it will take to maintain it. Time is money - so do the sums before you rush in.

Ultimately, whichever route you chose for producing your eNewsletter, the most important decision to make is the decision to commit to it. It looks bad to send two eNewsletters, then another one a couple of months later, then nothing. It’s also a waste of a good marketing opportunity. So be realistic about what you can manage and outsource what you can’t.

A. So you’re taking the plunge but how to get going? The best way to start is to get everyone you want to be involved in the eNewsletter together for a strategy/brain storming meeting. Include marketing, decision makers, IT (but don't think this only a job for IT).

If it’s just you and a partner, that’s fine too - you still need to set aside the time and consider the following:

• reason for the newsletter (outcomes)
• appeal/value to the receiver
• developing a system (who does what, by when) for sustainability
• content and articles
• graphics and pictures
• costings
• managing the database
• how to send it (watch out for sending systems that advertise to your list)
• should you out-source

Remember to nominate someone to write down ALL the ideas, as they’re bound to be very valuable.

Creating a newsletter template can keep costs reasonable, but be certain to refresh them from time to time. It's a paradox, people like variety and consistency at the same time. It's a bit like going to fast food restaurants - people like the same burger each time but they also want a little surprise/special. Keep the newsletter the same but change or add new parts of it.

If you’re wondering about your budget, our eNewsletter charges are here.