Making the Switch from Print Newsletters to Email Newsletters

There is a slight learning curve to switching from print to e-mail newsletters, but not to worry it isn’t too steep! Think of the benefits, your results are immediate (real-time tracking on who’s opening, clicking or sharing), your cost is substantially lower (no more printing and postage costs) and you get to know your audience better (what are they clicking on and what information do they like to read about). Here are three things to keep in mind when making the switch.

1. Length- With a print newsletter you may have 4 or more pages with lengthy articles. With e-mail you may need to reduce the overall length, but you do not have to compromise your information. Use Delivra hosted landing pages for full articles and just give a summary or teaser of the article so the reader will be compelled to read on.

2. Design- A lot of times when you are designing a newsletter for print you may be using Word, Publisher or InDesign. For creating e-mail newsletters we recommend a couple of things: You could use Adobe Dreamweaver if you are going to create from scratch or use one of our free templates to begin and the editor to make the e-mail look like your brand. Creating your e-mail using Adobe Dreamweaver or using our free HTML editor and templates will be a lot less frustrating than attempting to copy and paste from Word and more effective than using InDesign to create one large image. If you are new to HTML altogether we also have some fantastic designers that can create a custom template for you that can save you a lot of time.

3. Tracking- With print newsletters you do not know who received the mail, who opened it, what articles were read or if they shared it with a friend. With e-mail you do, so take advantage of that! Create different calls to action. Those calls to action could be landing pages (so you can see what information they are interested in), a table of contents linked to anchors in the article, opportunities for your recipients to go to the website, e-mail you or share the e-mail on facebook, twitter or (insert social media of your choice). After doing all of that work, don’t forget to check out your reports. Use that information to craft your next e-mail newsletter.

Need help? Call us for more info! 1-866-915-9465.

Rachel Rewerts | Account Management