Best email newsletter practices 2017 for retail store w/classes offered
May 9, 2017 5:11 PM Subscribe
A friend has asked me to help with his retail business email newsletter. I'm looking for resources and ideas for producing effective newsletters in the year 2017.
My friend owns a niche retail business and also offers classes and special events related to the business. The business is 20 years old and well-established, and he sends out a weekly newsletter that focuses on the schedule of upcoming classes and events. It's managed by a program similar to MailChimp and updated weekly but he's not the techiest guy and it's been a low priority. I'd like to help him make the most of the newsletter, even if it it doesn't all get implemented at once.
There are about 300 active subscribers and right now he's more interested in better engaging the current subscribers rather than simply expanding the list.
My goal right now is making sure it meets the standards of one created today but a lot of resources seem more about SEO when I'm looking at a sidebar with a list of info that's a static graphic instead of links to that info.
Also, I've got free reign to play around with the design. I have professional web and graphic design experience but if there are resources specific to email newsletters These days those would be great, too.
My friend owns a niche retail business and also offers classes and special events related to the business. The business is 20 years old and well-established, and he sends out a weekly newsletter that focuses on the schedule of upcoming classes and events. It's managed by a program similar to MailChimp and updated weekly but he's not the techiest guy and it's been a low priority. I'd like to help him make the most of the newsletter, even if it it doesn't all get implemented at once.
There are about 300 active subscribers and right now he's more interested in better engaging the current subscribers rather than simply expanding the list.
My goal right now is making sure it meets the standards of one created today but a lot of resources seem more about SEO when I'm looking at a sidebar with a list of info that's a static graphic instead of links to that info.
Also, I've got free reign to play around with the design. I have professional web and graphic design experience but if there are resources specific to email newsletters These days those would be great, too.
Response by poster: To clarify, it's not Mail Chimp, it's Constant Contact, but they probably have the same types of stats, cool.
posted by Room 641-A at 7:11 PM on May 9, 2017
posted by Room 641-A at 7:11 PM on May 9, 2017
Best answer: Sorry, misread. The same advice applies. Constant Contact might also have good resources (but MailChimp's really are fabulous, read them all!).
posted by radioamy at 7:47 PM on May 9, 2017 [2 favorites]
posted by radioamy at 7:47 PM on May 9, 2017 [2 favorites]
Best answer: radioamy's advice is good. I will say, A/B testing with 300 subscribers is going to be... tough. I'd still play with it because that's how I am, but I wouldn't put too much weight into the results with such a small list.
I've run email marketing for a few organizations and consulting clients. My two top pieces of advice are:
1. Know how much your subscribers want to hear from you, and don't contact them more than that. My hunch is that a weekly email will be too much for most people unless you have a really rabid fanbase. However, if you've been doing it for a while and it works (or if it's necessitated by the class schedule), go for it. In any case, emailing too frequently (whatever that turns out to be) is a great way to lose subscribers.
2. Only email people who have VERY CLEARLY opted-in to getting your newsletter. That doesn't mean a little bit of fine print hidden in the bottom of a class signup form or something. The legitimate newsletter services don't want spammers on their system, so if you end up having people report your messages as spam, it's bad news. And having subscribers who don't want to hear from you isn't going to serve your purposes anyway. 300 subscribers who really care is far better than 3000 who don't.
posted by primethyme at 9:59 PM on May 9, 2017 [3 favorites]
I've run email marketing for a few organizations and consulting clients. My two top pieces of advice are:
1. Know how much your subscribers want to hear from you, and don't contact them more than that. My hunch is that a weekly email will be too much for most people unless you have a really rabid fanbase. However, if you've been doing it for a while and it works (or if it's necessitated by the class schedule), go for it. In any case, emailing too frequently (whatever that turns out to be) is a great way to lose subscribers.
2. Only email people who have VERY CLEARLY opted-in to getting your newsletter. That doesn't mean a little bit of fine print hidden in the bottom of a class signup form or something. The legitimate newsletter services don't want spammers on their system, so if you end up having people report your messages as spam, it's bad news. And having subscribers who don't want to hear from you isn't going to serve your purposes anyway. 300 subscribers who really care is far better than 3000 who don't.
posted by primethyme at 9:59 PM on May 9, 2017 [3 favorites]
Response by poster: Thank you all! To address the opt-in question, customers opt-in from their web site.
It's been plugging along for quite a while, and I think their classes are pretty full or sold-out, so it's reaching the right people. The first thing I'll do is go through and remove the oldest non-responders, but it's not such a huge quantity that it will cause a problem with their system. The class schedule is pretty stable. But outside facilitators schedule special events all the time so the weekly schedule is important and seems to be working. I can definitely help reorganize that info, however.
The mail chimp resources are great, and I haven't even had a chance took at the constant contact info yet. They don't seem to be doing anything really wrong, so I'll start playing with the design and try some A/B testing, too, which actually sounds like fun.
posted by Room 641-A at 2:55 PM on May 15, 2017
It's been plugging along for quite a while, and I think their classes are pretty full or sold-out, so it's reaching the right people. The first thing I'll do is go through and remove the oldest non-responders, but it's not such a huge quantity that it will cause a problem with their system. The class schedule is pretty stable. But outside facilitators schedule special events all the time so the weekly schedule is important and seems to be working. I can definitely help reorganize that info, however.
The mail chimp resources are great, and I haven't even had a chance took at the constant contact info yet. They don't seem to be doing anything really wrong, so I'll start playing with the design and try some A/B testing, too, which actually sounds like fun.
posted by Room 641-A at 2:55 PM on May 15, 2017
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Always A/B test! Subject line is a great thing to test--if they're not opening the email, the content doesn't matter! Other easy things to test are time and day you're sending, the sender (name of the business vs. the owner's name), and the teaser. You can also get more advanced and test body layouts, button placement, design, etc.
People don't like to read too much. Short sentences, short paragraphs.
IIRC, MailChimp has pretty good stock layouts, so you probably won't need to code anything.
MailChimp also has a great resources. Check out their knowledgebase, blog, and resource center. I learned a lot about subject lines from them.
You might want to look into sending several different types of newsletters. For example, maybe a monthly one with all the events, a weekly one with just that week, and another with non-event content. You can set up a preference center where people can opt in or out of different types of communication.
posted by radioamy at 5:49 PM on May 9, 2017 [1 favorite]