This is a page from the packet I FedEx’ed to Magellan’s on July 6, 2010:
Suggestions for the business
#2 – IMPROVING THE NEWSLETTER
The goal:
Make the Magellan’s email newsletter relevant to more than twice as much of your list.
The problem:
The current Magellan's newsletter
That’s not a bad thing. Of course the goal of an email newsletter is to sell.
But Magellan’s prides itself on a staff that knows the products and can help its customers enjoy their travel more. And that spirit doesn’t come through at all in the email newsletter.
At any given time, a small minority of your list (perhaps 10%) is interested in purchasing something from you. However, a much larger portion of your list (perhaps 25%) is interested in learning how to travel better.
My suggestion:
Make the newsletter speak to those other readers, too.
To the top right corner of the newsletter, add a travel tip. For example, how to pack your shirts so they don’t wrinkle, or how to call your mom from a pay phone in Spain without paying a bundle. Show people using Magellan’s products, but don’t make it necessary to buy the products in order to benefit from the tip.
The top right of almost every email newsletter is dead space, from a product sales standpoint. So you aren’t giving up valuable real estate. What you are doing is making your newsletter relevant to a portion of your audience that, on the day they receive the email, would otherwise consider it completely irrelevant.
Measuring ROI:
If the newsletter is relevant to a larger number of people, the open rate will go up.
That’ll be a good leading indicator, but it won’t tell you if the change is making you any money.
So, to measure whether it’s bringing in new customers, track on a rolling six month basis the total number of people on your list making a purchase, divided by the total number on the list. If changes to the newsletter are bringing in new customers, that number will go up.
Maybe it won’t bring in new customers, but it will cause existing customers to buy more. So measure AOS over a 12 month period. If changes to the newsletter are causing people to buy more, that number will go up.
See more at mattkrause.com/newsletter
The contents of the FedEx packet:
Section 1:
Letter to Mark Gallo
Section 2:
My qualifications
I will do much more for you, too
Cover letter to Alyssa Baris
My resume
References
What others say
Section 3:
Earplugs as a gateway drug
Improving the newsletter
Stealing an idea from Zappos
Section 4:
Three reasons why I want to work at Magellan’s
I love travel
I love multi-channel retailing
I love Santa Barbara
The clincher
Section 5:
Activity log