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If you send out a regular online newsletter and aren’t subscribed to your mailing list, you are making a huge mistake. Today I received a weekly newsletter from a well known website. I love their content and really enjoy getting their online newsletter. But here’s what I saw when I opened my gmail.
Yep. I got three screens full of that jibberish. My first inclination was to hit reply and tell them something was wrong with their newsletter. And guess what their reply email was? You guessed it. It said no-reply@theirdomain.com. I sent it anyway. Made me feel better. 
So here’s a lesson for you.
1. Always test your newsletter before you send it to your clients and prospects. There’s no guarantee that your newsletter will look exactly the same to them, but you’ve got a good shot.
2. Have your “reply to” address be a real live address. You’ll learn wonderful things from your subscribers if they can reply to you.
In all my years online, I’ve tried a few newsletter services (that’s an understatement and a story for another day!). A few years ago, I finally found one that seems to be a keeper because it’s not just an online newsletter service.
It’s an engagement magnet.
It’s called aweber and it helps me keep in touch with a lot of people. It’s versatile and has tons of options to meet the needs of pretty much any small business.
If you’re looking for just the right service to help you keep in touch, aweber may just be the ticket for you. (And they have super simple testing options too so you’ll never be embarrassed like my friends above!)
Do you have more lessons for sending online newsletters? Leave your thoughts below. And if you need some help, hope on over and get my free email marketing tips.
- No Email Marketing Is Not Dead
- It’s Important to Understand Your Autoresponder Service Before Making Changes
- Which Day Do I Send My Small Business Newsletter?
- Don’t Create Boring Newsletter Subjects If You Want Your Email Opened
- The Top 10 Ways to Get Subscribers Both Online and Offline
Disclosure: I love providing tips, tactics and tools to small business owners and entrepreneurs like you who take the time to stop by looking for help. The information I provide on this site is free, but is often supported by external products. Please be aware that some links you click on from this site could result in me being paid a commission. Also know that I will never steer you toward anything I do not believe in. Thank you for your support. :-)
January 14th, 2010 at 1:59 am
Thanks for the great advice! I will definitely keep that in mind whenever sending online newsletters.
No telling how many potential leads you may have lost by just failing to check one simple mistake.
Twitter: florabrown
Says:
January 16th, 2010 at 7:42 pm
Hi Denise,
You’ve given a very important tip. In addition to this I’ve learned the wisdom of
a. sending myself a test before setting the queue
b. saving a copy of every issue of my newsletter in a folder in my email archives
c. putting a link in newsletter to a page on the website or blog explaining the purpose and schedule
d. having it link to Twitter to optimize visibility
I,too, have used a number of content management companies over the years and now swear by aweber.
Twitter: deniseoberry
Says:
January 16th, 2010 at 7:56 pm
Flora — Those are excellent tips! Thanks so much for stopping by and sharing your thoughts. Aweber rules…