The send-off, at a glance.
Sent on June 27th, 2007, to 575 people
Open rate: 40.3% :: Click-through rate: 29.7%
Created using Emma’s Newsletter 1 layout
See the campaign online :: Visit the Rule29 website

About their newsletter.
Rule29 sends their newsletter quarterly to about 600 people, including clients (both current and hopeful) and friends of Rule29. One of their primary goals in sending their newsletter is highlighting the breadth, quality, and level of creative service they offer through their agency, as well as staying in touch. And it’s working - their results are fantastic, their business is growing, and they’re planning to spend even more time and energy developing their newsletter’s content and delivery.

Why we like it.
It’s easy on the eyes. Spend just a minute or two browsing the Rule29 site, and you’ll see that stylish design plays a big role in everything they do. Their email newsletter is no exception. With a single font style and a single font color, the clean formatting helps you start reading and keep at it. Lots of font colors and sizes may grab attention, but too much formatting may take the focus off what you’re saying and put it on the number of font colors in the first paragraph (wow, eight). Also, their clean, consistent headings help divide the page neatly, making each section stand out.
-> In short: Try using simple, consistent formatting for a newsletter that’s easy to read.

It’s short and sweet. No long scrolling or multi-page articles here - just quick reminders designed to direct people to more content on their site or to a downloadable PDF. Lots of content can be a little intimidating for readers, and you want to do all you can to minimize the chance that your email is dropped into the dreaded “to read later” folder. Short content segments help subscribers see what’s new in a glance or two, and using links to additional content helps *you* see who’s interested enough in a particular article to keep reading. Plus, shorter emails are more appealing to the eye, are less likely to be filtered by busy email servers, and tend to garner better open rates.
-> In short: Try tailoring your emails to a manageable length, using landing pages to link to additional content.

Technorati Tags: myemma.com, email marketing case study, newsletter tips, ask emma, emma, Rule29, landing pages

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The send-off, at a glance.
Sent on May 31, 2007, to 1005 people
Open rate: 54.3% :: Click-through rate: 42.5%
Created using a custom layout
See the campaign online :: Visit the Cookthink website

About their newsletter.
Every week, Cookthink’s Root Source newsletter arrives in a few thousand inboxes and feed readers, to the delight of foodies and gourmands everywhere. And as readers learn all about a particular ingredient, Cookthink enjoys watching the newsletter bring traffic to their site and blog, boost search results, and expand their readership through word-of-mouth. In fact, the newsletter is such an integral part of what they do that the process of developing, researching and writing it frames the whole company’s production schedule. And with food bloggers plugging it as the best food-related email newsletter out there, Cookthink is looking to expand its sponsorship by developing targeted, regional opportunities down the road.

Why we like it.
The content is lively. The folks at Cookthink do a great job of putting engaging, useful content in front of their readers, and they do it all with a natural, personal touch. When you’re thinking about simple ways to add interest to your newsletter, be sure you consider copy in addition to design, look and layout. After all, your email campaigns are about staying in touch. And when your newsletters feel more like a conversation, your audience is more likely to respond in kind *and* share your newsletter with their friends. One idea? Try reading your campaign content out loud, listening for phrases that sound a bit awkward, overly-formal or out of place, and rework those sections to make the content sound more natural and personal.
-> In short: Try creating conversational content that sounds natural and fluid to help keep readers engaged in your emails month after month.

A little sponsorship goes a long way. Cookthink devotes the right sidebar of their newsletter to a modest, good-looking advertisement - why shouldn’t you? It’s an easy way to generate a bit more revenue, good for covering newsletter costs, funding a bit of design work, or buying that office dartboard (finally!). If a limited budget stands between you and the newsletter you’ve always dreamed of, the extra source of income may be just what you need. For more on sponsorships and tips for getting started, click here for a helpful article from the Ask Emma archive.
-> In short: Try adding a few sponsorships to help fund yet more creative newsletter ideas.

If you’re visiting this page from our Ask Emma newsletter series, click here to see the other featured campaign from Rule29.

Technorati Tags: myemma.com, email marketing case study, newsletter tips, newsletter content, ask emma, emma, Cookthink, sponsorship

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Well, we email marketing types finally have our own search engine. It’s www.onlinemarketing.info, and it allows you to search an extensive repository of articles and stats from the world of email marketing. And it’s a custom Google search, which means that your days of wading through pages of less-than-reputable marketing search results are over. Here, all the articles and sites in the repository are cherry-picked by Mark Brownlow, the man behind yet another great source of email marketing information, email-marketing-reports.com.

Technorati Tags: myemma.com, online marketing, email marketing reports, email marketing stats, Mark Brownlow

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Meet Willie Miles, proud bearer of Emma’s Medal of Awesomeness. Willie appears here courtesy of his dad, Tim Miles, who works with Emma to help the folks at Shakespeare’s Pizza (among others) send delicious emails about stylish pizzas. Or something like that.

And not only are Shakespeare’s pizzas just downright tasty (I grew up on the stuff, so I can vouch), but their email newsletters have been tremendously successful, no doubt thanks to their cheeky, loveable brand. One of their first campaigns netted a 15% increase in subscribers and a 10% boost in web traffic. Now that’s what we call awesomeness.

Technorati Tags: myemma.com, Shakespeare’s Pizza, Tim Miles, Emma, email marketing

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