Another E-mail Newsletter? Why Now?

It all started with a screaming argument with the guys from our own new media department.

They argued that the best practice is to link all e-mail newsletter articles to a Web page. I countered that I would rather dump whole stories into the newsletter, including some containing thousands of words.

But I was wrong, “a state in which I often dwell,” as a sports writer used to say. And that got me thinking: Just where do you go for information on this subject if your new media guys aren't as assertive as ours? If I can’t find it as a trade editor, how can marketers locate it when doing CRM-driven newsletters?

The result of this inner dialogue is E-zine IQ, the e-mail newsletter about e-mail newsletters. This is our first issue.

Our purpose, as the name implies, is to provide intelligence on the field of customer e-zines. We will cover who is doing what and how they are doing it. (For the record, we will use the terms e-mail newsletter and e-zine interchangeably).

We believe the time is right for this product. A random article search shows that CRM newsletters are being published by everyone from Sallie Mae to Leading Hotels of the World, with quantifiable results in many cases.

For example, a weekly e-mail newsletter helped American Express reduce churn in its Skyguide program for business travelers. Lifetime, the cable TV network for women, increased viewership and enhanced its database by launching e-zines on everything from health to careers.

And while the primary mission of most newsletters isn't to sell, they can often boost sales. Take the case of Miles Kimball. When that company tested e-mail letters for its Exposures catalog, customers receiving them contributed 18% more in revenue than those who received only the catalog. The program has since been rolled out.

The best part of it (for controllers, anyway) is that e-newsletters are so cheap to produce. When Merryvale Vineyards sends a quarterly e-zine to its 3,000 best consumer customers, the total cost per issue: $120, compared with thousands for the company’s old print newsletter.

But it’s not easy. There’s more to doing a newsletter than throwing a few sales messages into an e-mail interface.

The first challenge is to identify your audience, the second to serve it with relevant content. You also have to name it and design it.

Then there are delivery issues. How do you get your newsletters past spam filters? And when you have, how do you measure success? By open rates? Clickthrough rates? ROI (assuming you can figure it out)?

Finally, how do you get it done? Do you outsource content, or do you cajole your beleaguered inhouse staff into doing it? Where do you find an e-mail service provider?

We plan to address all this, using case histories to illustrate the best and worst practices. And we’ll offer input from the most knowledgeable sources we can find. Featured in this issue are David Fish, the CEO of IMN Inc., and copywriter Robert Bly.

One housekeeping note: Readers who click through to articles (you see, I was converted) will land on the Direct magazine Web site. But they soon will be diverted to a spiffy new Web site under the Chief Marketer brand.

These projects are being spearheaded by Hershel Sarbin, former CEO of Ziff-Davis and Cowles Business Media, and founding publisher of 1to1 magazine.

Questions? Ideas? Complaints? Please e-mail me at rschultz@primediabusiness.com, or call me at 212-462-3371. Or contact our staff writer, Eda Galeno, another veteran of Direct and 1to1, at edagaleno@aol.com.

Hope you enjoy our new product.