Tips to Improve Your Company's Electronic Newsletter

One of the best ways to promote your business is to write a regularly updated newsletter. Unfortunately, a great number of these can quickly lose customers over a simple lack of Netiquette knowledge . If you plan to start a newsletter for your own business in the future, here are a few things to consider:

First, the biggest and most common mistake is to reveal the customer's email address to others when sending your newsletter out. This is both annoying to the customer and a potential target for spammers. People, in general, don't like the idea of strangers having their email address, and will resent being on your mailing list if you do this. Instead, try putting the email addresses of your customers into the BCC section of the receiving box to maintain their privacy...and avoid their blocked list.

Next, respect your customers' wishes if they don't want to receive your newsletter, or request that they be taken off your list. If you continue to send them unsolicited mail, you're only wasting your time and possibly lowering your chances for a future sale with said customer. Not to mention that disregarding a request to be taken off your list is poor service to your client base, which should be reason enough to avoid such an unpleasant situation. The best thing to do would be to include a link at the bottom of your newsletter for the customer to automatically unsubscribe, or give detailed instructions for them to follow. And don't give into the temptation to ignore these requests, since a bad review of your company is always more likely to spread faster than a good one.

Another annoying tactic of the less scrupulous newsletter printers is to add addresses to the mailing list when the owner of the address didn't ask for it, or even want it. Not only do we run into the privacy issue here, but it's just plain rude. It surprises me just how many businesses think this is a good method to bring in new customers, since it usually achieves the opposite effect: this is probably the easiest way to drive potential customers away. The client's irritation may even grow if they realize you plan to send them something they didn't ask for once a moth or more often.

A good alternative is to send a single copy of your newsletter, make it known they aren't subscribed to your list, and give them an invitation to sign up for a subscription should they like what they see. This gives them control over whether or not to continue receiving mail from you, and you would be amazed at how many more customers you'd receive just by giving them the choice.

Lastly, perform a regular check on all links contained within your newsletter. With the intangible nature of cyberspace, a broken link won't always be readily apparent. A broken link only irritates the customer, and makes your newsletter look unprofessional. To help avoid problems like this, always include the entire address, including the requisite www prefix, and don't punctuate the line. Delete any broken links immediately and, if possible, replace them with other links containing the same information.

A newsletter is a proven, effective method for keeping your customers updated on your company, but if you don't observe the basic rules of Netiquette you may find yourself with fewer clients than you could have had. Avoid these mistakes and your newsletter will already stand out from the others.