General Information

What's the better option?

When it comes to newsletters, which delivery medium is best - e-mail or print? Before we can come to a reasonable conclusion, we must first understand the pros and cons of each so we can make a comparison.

Both e-mail and direct-mail newsletters from Powerport contain informative articles and resources, opportunities and advertisements, and help you connect with your audience - home buyers. They differ in that print newsletters must be physically printed and mailed; while e-mail newsletters can be distributed through Powerport's mail server. Generally, the cost to develop and distribute a print newsletter exceeds that of an e-mail newsletter.

E-mail newsletters: Cheaper, easier to distribute

Because e-mail newsletters are generally cheaper to distribute, they can be sent frequently. A daily print newsletter would not be efficient, but many companies send e-mail newsletters every day. This may not be so relevant for your business however. Your customers only need to hear from you every few months. This also makes it easy to target sub-niches with your e-mail newsletters. Since they're cheap to send, you can target specific groups as long as you develop relevant content for each. Maybe your email newsletter is different to your print newsletter? You may have as many subscribers as you would like on an email newsletter. The more subscribers, the cheaper it becomes per email sent. You are also able to add website links to email newsletters. One problem: E-mail newsletters are easy to ignore and delete; and just as easy to block. All it takes is one click for a would-be customer to stop receiving e-mail newsletters from your company forever.

Print newsletters: Higher response rate, more expensive distribution costs

Since it's so easy to ignore e-mail newsletters, print newsletters stand out as the more successful of the two in terms of response rate. A good direct-mail newsletter might generate a 3 percent to 5 percent response rate; while a good e-mail newsletter might only get one-half of a percent. Print newsletters simply have more influence. Plus they're portable, meaning they're more likely to be read.

To recap:Print newsletters have more influence but can only be sent periodically. Print newsletters are more expensive to produce and distribute (printing and mailing costs); however, they tend to generate a better response rate. E-mail newsletters are cheaper to send and can be sent regularly; but they are easy to ignore and tend to generate a lower response rate. And, when done right, both generate a good overall return on investment.

Use both in tandem

So which is better? For most companies, the answer is both.Since the delivery mediums are so different, and because each type of newsletter has its unique virtues, it's a good idea to take advantage of both print and e-mail newsletters. When you work them in tandem, you build powerful brand recognition. Your e-mail newsletters supplement your periodic print newsletters, which in turn lend credibility to your e-mail newsletters by letting customers know there's a real, grounded company behind them.

How about sending emails to your customers with an email address and print newsletters to the customers you only have a physical address for?

You can even use one newsletter to build your database for another. A mortgage broker, for example, could use a print newsletter with a competition to send their email address to them and build their email database. This can also be done vice-versa. You may like to hold competitions in your email newsletter or tell them to look out for an incredible offer in the next print newsletter. And if e-mail newsletter subscribers are not getting the print newsletter, they could click a link to sign up for it so they can access the special offer. In this manner, you could generate more buzz, increase the size of your targeted mailing list, and motivate purchases in one cohesive multi-channel marketing campaign.

Newsletters are one of the most powerful ways to build lasting relationships with your customers. When you harness the power of both e-mail and print newsletters in tandem, you can boost brand recognition and profit margins exponentially.

If you would like to talk about the above further, please call Powerport on 1300 138 987.

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