This is a cross posting from the IPS forums, maybe here I will get more feedback....
Its been more then 5 years and I think it is about time I start promoting via newsletters, lol.
Anyway, my laziness aside, I want to ask for feedback from people that actually use newsletters.
1. Are they effective? Thats the million dollar question. It will require additional efforts and expenses from me, so I would rather spend them for something that is useful. Me personally, I hate spam, maybe this is why I did not consider the newsletters for so long, but I guess it can be effective.
2. What is the general attitude of the users? Do they hate them or actually enjoy kind reminders? I guess the more inactive members will enjoy a kind reminder from time to time, while the more regular members will hate it as they follow everything in the community anyway. I can sense negative feedback based on the fact that more regular members will be more vocal...
3. What is the optimal frequency in your opinion? I am thinking bi-weekly for now, but I would appreciate feedback based on actual experience. My board is reasonably active - about 100 members online, 100-200 posts per day.
4. What content do you include and does it work? I am thinking a friendly personalized greeting note, followed by key topics from the last two weeks with brief description what makes them special. I am wondering what is the balance between automated and manual content in the newsletter. If I am forced to create manual content I might burn out quickly or have to pay someone to do it. If I do it automatically, I guess the effectiveness will be reduced drastically.
5. Do you use automated tools or do it manually? I think Newsletters app in the marketplace is the gold standard here, but do you think it is necessary (the price tag aside) or you can do it manually just fine? What about other apps - sendy.co, Mail Bouncer, do you use them and do you find them essential?
6. Are there any issues with the new GDPR law? I removed the automatic opt-in because of GDPR, but old members are still subscribed automatically. Do I need to reset their agreement and start from scratch, which I feel will likely not work?
7. Any issues with blacklisting, going in to spam lists, etc? I am afraid few spam reports might blacklist me from the top email services, which in return can affect the registration for new members - definitely don't want to do that.
Thats it for now, if a decent discussion comes out of this, I guess more questions will follow. Thanks in advance for all feedback.
Its been more then 5 years and I think it is about time I start promoting via newsletters, lol.
Anyway, my laziness aside, I want to ask for feedback from people that actually use newsletters.
1. Are they effective? Thats the million dollar question. It will require additional efforts and expenses from me, so I would rather spend them for something that is useful. Me personally, I hate spam, maybe this is why I did not consider the newsletters for so long, but I guess it can be effective.
2. What is the general attitude of the users? Do they hate them or actually enjoy kind reminders? I guess the more inactive members will enjoy a kind reminder from time to time, while the more regular members will hate it as they follow everything in the community anyway. I can sense negative feedback based on the fact that more regular members will be more vocal...
3. What is the optimal frequency in your opinion? I am thinking bi-weekly for now, but I would appreciate feedback based on actual experience. My board is reasonably active - about 100 members online, 100-200 posts per day.
4. What content do you include and does it work? I am thinking a friendly personalized greeting note, followed by key topics from the last two weeks with brief description what makes them special. I am wondering what is the balance between automated and manual content in the newsletter. If I am forced to create manual content I might burn out quickly or have to pay someone to do it. If I do it automatically, I guess the effectiveness will be reduced drastically.
5. Do you use automated tools or do it manually? I think Newsletters app in the marketplace is the gold standard here, but do you think it is necessary (the price tag aside) or you can do it manually just fine? What about other apps - sendy.co, Mail Bouncer, do you use them and do you find them essential?
6. Are there any issues with the new GDPR law? I removed the automatic opt-in because of GDPR, but old members are still subscribed automatically. Do I need to reset their agreement and start from scratch, which I feel will likely not work?
7. Any issues with blacklisting, going in to spam lists, etc? I am afraid few spam reports might blacklist me from the top email services, which in return can affect the registration for new members - definitely don't want to do that.
Thats it for now, if a decent discussion comes out of this, I guess more questions will follow. Thanks in advance for all feedback.
