Newsletter

What makes a newsletter

A newsletter is a regular email to subscribed recipients. The essential difference from social networks and search engines lies in ownership: the recipient list belongs to the shop. No provider can change delivery, no rule change takes access away. That makes the newsletter the most stable channel a shop has.

How the sign up becomes valid

The sign up needs explicit consent. A preselected box is not consent, and a purchase is not agreement to a newsletter, even when the address appears with it. The clean route is the double opt in: after signing up a confirmation email arrives, and only the click inside it activates the address.

The consent has to be provable with time, content and origin. Anyone who cannot say when and through which form an address was collected cannot demonstrate the consent in a dispute. The unsubscribe route also belongs in every message and has to take effect immediately.

Which rhythm carries

• A steady beat: a reliable rhythm beats irregular bursts. Recipients recognise the message when it arrives at the same point in time.
• Not too often: anyone writing weekly with nothing to say loses readers. The unsubscribe link then becomes the way out of boredom.
• Not too rarely: anyone writing twice a year is no longer recognised and lands in spam suspicion.
• Occasion over calendar: triggered messages with a cause, such as a reminder about a basket or a note about an expiry date, work more strongly than scheduled series.

What decides success

Three points decide. The first is the list. A bought list or one never cleaned over years leads to complaints, and complaints are the figure on which deliverability depends. Anyone regularly removing inactive addresses improves delivery for all the others.

The second point is the benefit per message. A message consisting only of a discount trains recipients to wait for the next one. A note about a new product, a guide or an analysis gets opened without a price cut when it has recognisable value.

The third point is the expectation. Anyone stating at sign up what and how often they write is measured against that promise and gains trust. Anyone promising 30 percent off and then sending product recommendations loses attention at the first send.

How success is measured

The open rate is unreliable, because many programs block images and only estimate opens. Three other values are more solid: the share of orders arising from a newsletter link, revenue per sent message and the unsubscribe rate per send. The last is the most important early indicator. When it rises, either too much was written or about the wrong topic.

Frequent questions

• Do I need a dedicated tool? Yes. Bulk sending, unsubscribing and proof cannot be met with a normal mail address.
• How many recipients do I need? There is no minimum. Small lists carry too when they are maintained.
• May I use customer addresses? Only within the existing customer exception and only for similar offers.