Have you ever noticed how Harvey Norman, Domayne, Bunnings Warehouse or just about any other major retail outlet sends out catalogues each month? Hell, if we take Bunnings for example, they’ve even gone one step further and called their standard catalogue a “dogalogue”. Sure, it’s unique but it’s memorable and the whole catalogue idea serves a very important purpose and that’s why they do it. It’s why everyone does it. It provides their current and potential customers with a complete list of popular products, items on sale and items reduced to clear. Wouldn’t you like to do the same but for a fraction of the cost? This is where eFlyers and eNewsletters come into play.
eFlyers and eNewsletters are the future of marketing. No longer do we have to fork out thousands of dollars to get in the faces of those we hope to attract business from. E-mail marketing allows us to target our prospects much more accurately whilst providing us with a cost effective yet highly successful marketing alternative to print or media-based campaigns.
Think of it this way. Just about every one of us checks our email at least once a day – some a lot more! Wouldn’t it be great if you had a cost effective means of popping up in everyone’s inbox once a month? The technology has finally reached a point where we can deliver brochure quality email messages to those who actually want to read it. These emails can include the same highlighted products found in catalogues sent out by the big players and ultimately have the same results – sales.
A good example of this is Borders Australia. Borders quickly understood the importance of eFlyers and eNewsletters to promote their latest books. Even though they have the financial backbone to easily produce catalogues, they choose to still publish eFlyers every few weeks. Each new customer that purchases a book from Borders usually provides their email address to the company. Thus their mailing list grows and grows and their online sales do also.
Below are some fantastic examples of some great eFlyers and eNewsletters.
Borders Australia #1: http://ebm.cheetahmail.com/...rgan@berganblue.com.au&STORE_NUMBER=668&i_store_hero=1&i_store_promo=1
Borders Australia #2: http://ebm.cheetahmail.com/...assword=AdlBzFBh9MhyBH4aDqHjjWhmhfzfW0&email=jbergan@berganblue.com.au
Diva - Online: http://www.diva.net.au/e_newsletter08/april08/mailout.html
Little Explorers: http://www.littleexplorers.com.au/LittleExplorers-Spring2007Newsletter.htm
So, now that we know what great eNewsletters and eFlyers look like, we need to answer a few questions. What should your eNewsletter or flyer look like? What content should be included? What links should be included in the header, body and footer of the message?
Design:
The design should look and feel like your business. Try and imagine if your business had its own catalogue, magazine or brochure. What would you want this to look like? Your eNewsletter or eFlyer should resemble the answer to this question.
Once you have established the base design elements behind your eNewsletter or eFlyer, you need to determine what the theme for this newsletter/flyer will be. The theme should play a large role in the design as it is important to portray the theme via imagery so the reader can quickly grasp what this issue is about.
Content:
The one keyword to a successful eNewsletter or eFlyer is RELEVANCE. This small but utterly important point can play as the breakpoint between a newsletter worth reading and one that isn’t. How relevant is your content? Is it relevant to the audience you’re sending it to? Are they interested in the products or articles you have to offer them? If you answered no to any of these questions you need to quickly rethink your approach.
Secondly, the theme that you established in the design elements must now be portrayed in the content. If you’re having an Easter focused eFlyer, you may want the products to be focused around Easter. If you’re sending out an e-newsletter focused on e-commerce, such as the one this article was sent out in, you will want the other articles and products to focus on e-commerce. It’s all about consistency. Try not to send out eFlyers or eNewsletters that jump from theme to theme.
Thirdly, use images. Pictures speak a thousand words and if you can incorporate these into both the body of your eNewsletter/eFlyer and the actual landing pages on your website, then things will seem a lot less cluttered for your reader.
Links:
Second to content, links are probably the most import part of your eFlyer. The primary goal for an eNewsletter or eFlyer is to get users back to your website either to buy your products or read your content. It also builds awareness and reminds them of what you’re up to. When a user clicks a link in your eNewsletter or eFlyer, they should reach a landing page.
You may be asking yourself – what is a landing page? The simple answer is this. A landing page is a page a user reaches when they click a link in your eNewsletter or eFlyer. It should compliment the look and feel of the eNewsletter or eFlyer and should further persuade the user to purchase the item they clicked on. It’s one thing to get a user to click on a link in an email but its another thing altogether to have them actually purchase the item they clicked on. Follow through with your call to action on your landing page and you will find sales will more than likely increase as a result of this.
So, what kinds of links should you include in your eNewsletter or eFlyer? As many as possible without going overboard. Here are some great examples:
Header:
- Your logo should link back to your website homepage
- A link to your blog if applicable (header or footer)
- Email addresses should all link to the actual email address
Body:
- Product images or names should link to product information pages on your website
- Promotions should link to landing pages on your website
- There should always be “more info” links in your eNewsletter or eFlyer. Never paste large amounts of content in your message. Have the user click through to the website to read more.
Footer:
- A listing of links to all of your product categories should be included somewhere in the design, preferably in the footer
- Your footer should also contain links to every one of your information pages – similar to the footer on your website
- A Link to your blog if applicable (header or footer)
Your eNewsletter or eFlyer can boost your sales, it can increase your readership and it can definitely build awareness. It can do all these things and more. It is for these reasons and many others you should treat your online campaigns as seriously as any of your other marketing efforts. It may cost less but it’s just as important. That is the bottom line.
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