How do people feel about email newsletters

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How do people feel about email newsletters
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Downsizer Forum Index -> Site guidelines, Announcements, Problems and Suggestions

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wellington womble

Joined: 08 Nov 2004
Posts: 15051
Location: East Midlands

Posted: Sat Jan 29, 05 11:57 am Post subject:

I like the idea of seasonal - it fits in with the whole ethos of downsizer. What about starting with a sort of holiday one - ie one at easter, one at christmas, one at summer holidays and one at harvest festival time and seeing how it goes. There will be plenty of timely stuff to comment on at each one - gardening at easter, crafting at christmas and preserving at harvest time etc.

I think with a newletter, you can always make it more often, but making it less often could be seen as negative, and agree with everyone else about having to fill one that comes out too often.

Lloyd

Joined: 24 Jan 2005
Posts: 2699

Posted: Sat Jan 29, 05 12:20 pm Post subject:

wellington womble wrote:

Now that I like the sound of!

selfsufficientish

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 364
Location: Bristol

Posted: Sat Jan 29, 05 12:39 pm Post subject:

I personally send a hand written e-mail out once a month to people who habve contacted me and asked for updates. This is a seperate list to the members on the forum. I just tell them what is new on the site. I only did this because people were asking for it.

As for when I recieve a newsletter I tend to skim it and bin it. I think a seasonal one does sound like a good idea I am more likely to read one that I get once in a blue moon. However, if I don't like the first one I am unlikely to read the rest. I used to get one from save the rainforests weekly. Never that much I wanted to read. So if there are many more like me out there you will have to get the first one right

jema
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 28111
Location: escaped from Swindon

Posted: Sat Jan 29, 05 12:55 pm Post subject:

selfsufficientish wrote:

I used to get one from save the rainforests weekly. Never that much I wanted to read. So if there are many more like me out there you will have to get the first one right

Yep, frequent dross emails from sites, even if you are interested, can drive you up the wall

But this is where I have a problem with plain text newsletters.

When I see a circular form a site, I want it to instantly show me something to draw me in, and prevent the spam/delete reaction.

jema

selfsufficientish

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 364
Location: Bristol

Posted: Sat Jan 29, 05 1:12 pm Post subject:
I am the opposite, more likely to read a plain text e-mail than a html one and if it looks to 'fancy' I tend to get put off. But if there was a downsizer one with the thing at the top of this forum on it I would instantly recognise it so I supose that might get read.

judyofthewoods

Joined: 29 Jan 2005
Posts: 804
Location: Pembrokeshire

Posted: Sat Jan 29, 05 3:28 pm Post subject:
What about a short email with a readily recognised logo, with a contents list and a link to a webpage with the news? That webpage could either be set up specially for the newsletter, or could be linked to from the main site.

Gertie

Joined: 08 Jan 2005
Posts: 1638
Location: Yorkshire

Posted: Sat Jan 29, 05 5:05 pm Post subject:
Hey, judyofthewoods, great avatar. Who is the baba?

judyofthewoods

Joined: 29 Jan 2005
Posts: 804
Location: Pembrokeshire

Posted: Sat Jan 29, 05 5:26 pm Post subject:

Gertie wrote:

Hey, judyofthewoods, great avatar. Who is the baba?

Its judyinthebathinthewoods many moons ago, camping in Algonquin park, Canada.

Marigold123

Joined: 06 Feb 2005
Posts: 224

Posted: Tue Feb 08, 05 5:49 pm Post subject:

As a newly joined up member, I'd like to say that I'm in favour.

I'd love to have pointers to articles that I might find interesting but which I might have otherwise overlooked, perhaps with carefully selected extracts to whet my appetite! (People who have been here a long time have probably read everything on the site already, and so may not appreciate how exciting its unexpected discovery might be to the new visitor. *crawl, crawl*

)

Having just come from a large, heavily used site like Money Saving Expert, (where Bugs kidnapped me

), it was very surprising to discover how small the membership and daily traffic here actually was - as, in terms of professionalism and content, it gives the impression of being a much bigger operation!

You compare very well with the big boys!

And though I don't know much about website design or management myself, I wouldn't have thought you'd have trouble satisfying a larger membership here.

If there are members who don't like newsletters or are worried about spam, perhaps you could put a link in a prominent place on the site, giving visitors the opportunity to sign up for (or unsubscribe from) the newsletter independently of registering. ie, You could sign up for the newsletter without registering, you could register without signing up, you could do both or neither, and change your subscription options at any time from the main page, your personal profile, or via the newsletter itself, without changing your membership status.

MSE, (which is one of the few forum sites that I really know, to be honest), does this, and encourages recipients to forward the newsletter to anyone who might find it interesting. Although there are a number of other factors involved, in the last 6 months their membership has gone through the roof. And that's not counting hits from people who just visit without registering.

Obviously MSE is a completely different kettle of fish from Downsizer, but I do think a well-constructed newsletter with links to latest articles, upcoming events, or interesting discussion threads, (perhaps with an invitation to add their opinion or contribute their experiences), would be an excellent tool to increase membership and the number of people visiting. If it contains material that recipients want to pass on, then it WILL circulate, and hopefully increase the number of hits.

I for one would certainly read it, AND pass it on. I have told a few people about Downsizer already, but IMO having something physical from the site to pass on, ('physical' in a cyber-sense, of course

), rather than just the URL, beats a verbal recommendation every time.

Just my two penn'orth!

Last edited by Marigold123 on Tue Feb 08, 05 6:43 pm; edited 2 times in total

jema
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 28111
Location: escaped from Swindon

Posted: Tue Feb 08, 05 5:54 pm Post subject:
Complements will get you everywhere, when something is run by volenteers, it is the only way we know what we are doing is appreciated, well I suppose the ever increasing traffic is also a complement. jema

tahir

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 45420
Location: Essex

Posted: Tue Feb 08, 05 5:58 pm Post subject:

Marigold123 wrote:

If there are members who don't like newsletters or are worried about spam, perhaps you could put a link in a prominent place on the site, giving visitors the opportunity to sign up for (or unsubscribe from) the newsletter independently of registering. ie, You could sign up for the newsletter without registering, you could register without signing up, you could do both or neither, and change your subscription options at any time from the main page, your personal profile, or via the newsletter itself, without changing your membership status.

Good idea, but then someone's got to write it...

Marigold123

Joined: 06 Feb 2005
Posts: 224

Posted: Tue Feb 08, 05 6:13 pm Post subject:

judyofthewoods wrote:

What about a short email with a readily recognised logo, with a contents list and a link to a webpage with the news? That webpage could either be set up specially for the newsletter, or could be linked to from the main site.

I like the idea of a separate newsletter page, where either casual visitors who arrived by other routes, or regular visitors who don't want to receive a newsletter by email, can pop in and view it. If it is good, it might encourage others to sign up to the emailed newsletter itself!

I think it should be identical to the newsletter that gets emailed, though, as I don't find a plain link with no jam very enticing.

I actually quite like the format of the MSE newsletter, as an example. It usually has a good balance of plain text, clear links and tempters, and usually isn't too long and doesn't have too much garbage.

I think that a newsletter which is being used partly to sign up new members, as well as to keep current ones in touch, does need a few 'samples' of what can be read on the site, to draw people in. I expect that if current members are aware that the newsletter they receive is being harnessed to this purpose, they will be prepared to put up with a certain amount of 'icing', and hopefully pass it on!

judyofthewoods

Joined: 29 Jan 2005
Posts: 804
Location: Pembrokeshire

Posted: Tue Feb 08, 05 6:15 pm Post subject:

On the subject of forum traffic/size I think this one seems to be the optimum size. I have been on a few, and some have so little traffic, that visitors get bored, move on, and then the traffic gets even less...viscous circle. Then I've been on a forum which had so much traffic, that any post is immediatly swamped by masses of new threads, and actually gets very little viewing. A delicate ballance indeed, maybe tide and ebb?

Marigold123

Joined: 06 Feb 2005
Posts: 224

Posted: Tue Feb 08, 05 6:20 pm Post subject:

Quote:

Good idea, but then someone's got to write it...

There is always that!

But it doesn't necessarily have to be regular or frequent, and could perhaps be timed to go out when there have been several new articles put up on the site. Then part of the content is there already, plus maybe listing a few events or pieces of site news that have appeared on the site recently?

Don't know, I've never written a newsletter. I do know that writing anything takes a lot longer than you think it is going to, though!

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EDIT: Or did you mean the programming to enable us to run a newsletter mailing list in that way? Either way I'm still pretty clueless.

Last edited by Marigold123 on Tue Feb 08, 05 6:31 pm; edited 1 time in total

Marigold123

Joined: 06 Feb 2005
Posts: 224

Posted: Tue Feb 08, 05 6:24 pm Post subject:

judyofthewoods wrote:

Actually, I think this site is perfect. Enough stuff being written to be interesting, but small enough to be cosy. But I thought I read that people were hoping to increase the membership a bit. If that's the case, then a forwardable newsletter is a good way to do that.

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