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Compton Communications"An Internet Communications Agency"
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Articles
Welcome letters essential to e-newsletterPosted Wednesday, February 26, 2003 Welcome letters have been around for a long time. I remember my first welcome letter from the U.S. Army, welcoming me to the training brigade and telling me to get started now with physical exercise as the rigors of basic training were “demanding.” I felt pretty good until I met my first drill sergeant. If you are developing or have an e-newsletter, a welcome letter is essential. The welcome letter can go along way toward encouraging readers to stay on your mailing list. I remember subscribing to one newsletter and it was six months before the first issue arrived. I thought it was SPAM until I looked through my subscriptions and saw that I had subscribed six months earlier. I promptly unsubscribed rather than wait for the next issue. The welcome letter sets expectations about content, issue frequency, copyright, and permissible usage. The welcome letter issue should also be similar in design to the actual e-newsletter to both brand the publication and build reader expectations. So what is a welcome letter. If you are operating a opt-in email list for an email newsletter, the welcome letter is your first edition that goes to the new subscriber or customer after they have been confirmed on the list. The welcome letter serves as an interim newsletter until your first issues arrives for the new reader. It should outline the e-newsletter policies for publication, privacy, and state procedures for unsubscribing or changing account information. Readers should be told how to contact personnel and how to report problems in receiving the e-newsletter. Michael Katz in his ebook on “E-Newsletters That Work” (see Katz article) says that a welcome letter should be like “welcoming subscribers with open arms” and that they should receive it within 24 hours of signing up. Katz lays out four key elements of a quality welcome letter. He closes the section with the admonishment to not miss the opportunity to “greet a new friend.” Certainly the welcome letter should address a number of key elements about the e-newsletter, but the overall goals should be a genuine “welcome.” If you need to see an example of a welcome letter for an e-newsletter then I encourage you to have your friends sign up at http://www.comptond.com and then forward you a copy (just kidding) or go to our archives at http://www.icebase.com/users/comptond/CCnews_welcome.html |