Important rules to remember with eNewsletters
According to a recent market study, email opens via a mobile device have risen 80% in the last 6 months. This means two things, 1) your customers can be reached and engaged at any time of the day and 2) your newsletter needs to be quickly downloaded to ensure greater impact and messaging. Most of us know the frustration of receiving an email whilst on the train and spending a good 5 minutes trying to download it due to the poor network and image heavy newsletter.
The number one rule i have always followed when designing an email newsletter is that all the important information needs to be live text, it needs to be seen by the users before any supporting imagery is downloaded. Not to say that i don't love the Apple emails which use amazing graphics to show off their latest products combine with minimal live text. Apple however have a huge fan/customer base that would download any email sent just to see what was on offer. Most other companies should focus on having their core messaging readable on open.
I believe enewsletters should also be personal and i don't mean just having my name in the greeting. When sending out product emails, i think they should be tailored to what your audience wants as well as being spread out over the week/fortnight. I have unsubscribed from many enewsletters lately as they keep spamming me every single day. Being a girl, i do love fashion and of course subscribed to a leading online shop recently. Every day i was receiving emails notifying me of the latest sale, the latest shoe, the latest brand etc. I felt a bit suffocated and chose to unsubscribe. Perhaps if the online shop had only sent an email once a week, tailored to my needs i would still be one of their viewers. Another online store i am still subscribed to does this, however they send one big image resulting in me closing the email if i am away from wifi as it takes too long to download sometimes.
Lastly and most importantly, do not sign up your customers to an enewsletter without permission. There is nothing more annoying. If i want to be kept up to date with your products or services, users will willingly subscribe.
