Do You Commit These Seven Deadly Newsletter Sins? Part II

By Jessica Albon

In part one of Do You Commit These Seven Deadly Newsletter Sins?, we discussed three major mistakes newsletter publishers make: taking subscriber feedback too personally, sending newsletters that are hard on the eyes, and having impossible unsubscribe functions.

Here, we'll take a look at the four remaining deadly sins. Each of these sins relates directly to increasing sales. Make any one of them and risk not only your subscriber's good graces, but also your credibility and bottom-line impact.

You'll notice each of today's sins has to do with reader expectations--what do you tell them you're sending them? How often? Who's it from? When you ignore readers' expectations, you're fighting an uphill battle for their trust and attention.

Thou shalt not under deliver.
Is your newsletter monthly, bimonthly, quarterly, semi- annual? If your website promises a monthly newsletter but you typically publish less frequently, you're losing credibility.

Newsletter publishing 101 dictates you set a schedule and stick with it--no matter what. If your subscribers expect to hear from you every other week and you miss an issue, you may not receive any complaints, but you can bet subscribers noticed. When your newsletter lacks consistency, subscribers wonder about your company--can you be counted on for timely delivery of their orders?

Repeat after me: "We demonstrate our reliability by publishing regularly."

Thou shalt not over deliver.
There is little that's more annoying than receiving a newsletter from a company three times a week when the newsletter's only supposed to come monthly. And yet, publishers do this all the time--skip three month's worth of issues and then try to make up for it in a two-week span.

Only send the newsletter as often as your promotional materials say you will--no more, no less.

Oftentimes, lack of consistency in delivery can be smoothed over by saving all those "inspired" issues. So, next time you get the urge to knock out three newsletter issues in a week, go ahead and knock them out. Then save them in your files for times when you don't have time to work on the newsletter. This way, you won't deliver more often or less often than readers expect.

Repeat after me: "Our subscribers don't want to hear from us once a day. No one has that much to say."

Thou shalt not be afraid to advertise.
If you've ever asked us to critique your newsletter, chances are good one of the first things we mentioned was that you needed to advertise more prominently. In fact, according to several readers recently (who wrote to ask why we published the newsletter), we need to do more of it ourselves.

Your newsletter should advertise your products and services. How much space you devote to advertising depends on your company, your audience, and your products/services. Typically, though, somewhere between 20-35% is a good ratio.

Repeat after me: "Subscribers get suspicious when they can't tell what we're selling. Plus, if you don't make them any offers, how can they buy from you?"

Thou shalt not be unbranded.
All your communications with subscribers should come from one email address and name (whether that's a company name or a person's name). This means as a subscriber to your newsletter I shouldn't get a message one month from "Marketing Department" and next month from "John Smith."

Also, all your emails should have a similar look, whether they're newsletters, solo advertisements, supplements, etc. This way subscribers know the communication is from you, even if it's not about your company specifically. Without a similar look, subscribers may fear you've sold their names to other companies.

Repeat after me: "Subscribers should be able to put all our communications together in an instant. From "from" field to appearance, our emails should have a similar look and feel."

Looking for more advice on successful company newsletters? Subscribe to The Write Exposure's free newsletter, "Newsletters in Focus," and receive a six-part email course "Do You Make These Six Mistakes in Your Company Newsletter" as a new subscriber welcome gift. Visit http://www.designdoodles.com to subscribe.

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