E-Newsletters–Looks Easy Enough, Right?

I have had some of those “easy for you to say” moments the last few months and I thought I would relate my experience in the interest of the “Practical Solutions…” subheading of this blog. (And in the hope that someone out there has a better, practical solution!)

Over the summer I worked on putting together a way to send out an email newsletter to interested patrons on a monthly basis. Thus far we have sent out a sneak peek at the season email and three focused on the month ahead. I have been pleased at the response we have gotten reflected by the number of people who cite that as their source of information when buying tickets and by how much earlier we are selling tickets for upcoming events.

I have encouraged people to do this sort of thing in past entries and I do so again.

But, as I noted, it was easier to say than accomplish.

To make up my newsletter, I used Microsoft Word placing a photo in one cell of a table and the text in another. Word has an option to send to a mail recipient as HTML which moves everything to my email client ready to go. With the correct settings the text flows around the pictures nicely as the window of your email is re-sized and the font size will automatically be enlarged by anyone who has sight problems and has set their email program to do so.

The problem is, it looked good when I emailed to myself at work (where I use Microsoft Entourage), but what was sent to my home address looked strange. The font size would change from line to line and strange spaces appeared. People with Yahoo email accounts got entirely blank emails.

In an attempt to remedy this problem, I have tried to use Dreamweaver web publishing software and InDesign desktop publishing software to find a solution, but they don’t export information directly in the body of an email. (At least that I have discovered.)

One option is creating a PDF of the document with Adobe Acrobat. You can place the a PDF directly in the body of an email. The problem is while it looks great, it is static. Resizing the email window cuts off the text and the text doesn’t automatically enlarge in accordance with your settings. Also, the inserted PDF doesn’t always appear well or at all in some email clients.

What I settled on this past month was sending out the newsletter as an Acrobat attachment. Using the free Acrobat Reader, people could look at it more dependably and enlarge it as they needed. The problem with this approach is that there is no impact upon opening the email because of the lack of pictures. All they see is a note saying the newsletter is attached. I am counting on people to be interested enough to open the attachment and to download Acrobat Reader if they don’t have it already.

If anyone knows of a fairly cheap, quality solution, I would love to know about it. I did explore options with the university alumni association about how they send out their monthly e-newsletter. It turns out, they send out an email with story synopses and hyperlinks to a web page with the full story with big lovely pictures on it.

For me this has the same problem as the PDF attachment. Without persuasive visuals you are totally dependent on curiosity to get people to take action to explore further.

One last element of the “easier said” kind. Constantly updating an email list with additions and subtractions is a pain in the butt and offers many opportunities for mistakes. You can go the route of creating an address group in your email client which is honestly a pain to maintain, but there are other options.

One option that I blessedly have available to me is a Listserv. I send my newsletter to one listserv address and all the people subscribed to the list receive the email. You can set it up so people can join or leave by themselves and you can add or subtract them yourself either individually or en masse.

The software is readily available and pretty easy to install if you are a semi-tech geek and have an in-house mail server. If someone else hosts your mail server, they can probably set a listserv up for you. Even though they have a web interface for altering the settings it can take a little trial and error getting things set the way you like it. (Actually, the interface is easy enough to use, it is the manual/help files and the commands you have to enter that are about 10 years behind the times.) The license for the limited or standard software runs between $450 and $9000. If you figure out how much you would spend mailing out postcards every month, you will probably find it is worth it. (I am betting running a handful of lists will cost toward the lower end of the spectrum.)

Another option is to use an email marketing service like Constant Contact (I have never used them, but someone who has suggested them as a possible solution to my e-newsletter problem.) Essentially with services like this one you open an account and enter all your email addresses on their servers. They provide tools to categorize your addresses (subscribers, experimental series, donors who subscribe, etc) and even offer templates with which to create snazzy emails. Among the features they offer (and I haven’t read them all) is the ability to see how many emails were opened and how many people clicked on the links contained in them. Pricing seems pretty reasonable–$30 a month for 500-2500 addresses with unlimited emails a month.

One last thing to be aware of if you decide to explore the e-newsletter route is the CAN-SPAM law governing commercial emailing. Essentially it says you have to accurately identify who you are, why you are sending the email and offer an opportunity to opt-out in the future. For most arts organizations, an angry response and wholesale boycott of your programs will indicate you are not in compliance with the law long before you show up on the FTC’s radar.

About Joe Patti

I have been writing Butts in the Seats (BitS) on topics of arts and cultural administration since 2004 (yikes!). Given the ever evolving concerns facing the sector, I have yet to exhaust the available subject matter. In addition to BitS, I am a founding contributor to the ArtsHacker (artshacker.com) website where I focus on topics related to boards, law, governance, policy and practice.

I am also an evangelist for the effort to Build Public Will For Arts and Culture being helmed by Arts Midwest and the Metropolitan Group. (http://www.creatingconnection.org/about/)

My most recent role was as Executive Director of the Grand Opera House in Macon, GA.

Among the things I am most proud are having produced an opera in the Hawaiian language and a dance drama about Hawaii's snow goddess Poli'ahu while working as a Theater Manager in Hawaii. Though there are many more highlights than there is space here to list.

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4 thoughts on “E-Newsletters–Looks Easy Enough, Right?”

  1. I went through so many of the free options to produce a monthly email newsletter but encountered everything you’re experiencing. I finally went to Constant Contact and couldn’t have been happier.

    Reply
  2. Speaking as a geek, sending out HTML emails is a hassle; and a generally bad practice to do. Plus every email client will read the message differently.

    I would recommend using the open source Mailman list system. It shouldn’t cost you anything. Many web hosts include Mailman as part of their hosting plans. It has a very nice web interface, and can automanage bouncing addresses.

    I’ve gotten lots of spam from Constant Contact.

    I generally recommend you send out your message with links to your web site. Have a page at your web site for each newsletter. That way people can go back and look at old issues.

    Reply
  3. I was very happy with Constant Contact when I worked for The Academy of Vocal Arts. Newsletter subscribers can choose to get your communications in html or plain text. The service is CAN-SPAM compliant. You can easily import and export your list from Constant Contact. And CC shows you not only your open, click through, and forward rates, but also bounced emails, so you can see what’s actually getting through. All those stats can help you better craft your message. I recommend it highly.

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  4. I agree with the geek above. Sending out HTML emails is a hassle and not the best practice—especially when using an email client to build them and not necessarily knowing what is on the other end. Before there were services I used a Majorodomo text based mailing list. Other options are Patronmail (which has lots of great features–personlization, and upcoming segmentation features) but it is pricey, WhatCounts—but that works if you are sending email at a massive volume (100,000 emails a blast), and Vertical Response which has many different features including building your own HTML and templates. The major factors to consider are: reputation of the company for customer service, their relationships with ISPs to already be on whitelists, templates vs. HTML, what stats they are able to give you, if you aren’t HTML proficient what does it take to create an email, and of course, the big one—cost.

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