by Lewis Leake

A new report by the Nielsen Norman Group Report entitled "Email Newsletter Usability" has just been released. In the report, they look at the effectiveness of newsletters as a part of your email marketing strategy.

Some of the reports positive finding were:

• readers often have a highly emotional reaction to newsletters
• readers tend to forward newsletters to friends and colleagues
• newsletters create a bond between readers and your company
• newsletters are convenient - delivered to the users inbox

Some negative findings were:

• readers often felt frustrated when trying to unsubscribe
• there is little tolerance for newsletters that waste time
• readers are subscribing to fewer newsletters
• newsletters are sent too often

So there you have it, overall newsletters are welcomed by most of the readers. However, email marketers must do a better job with their newsletter marketing if they hope to retain their current readers and add new subscribers.

Your newsletter must:

• be informative and relevant to the readers' needs
• have a predictable publishing schedule
• be brief and to the point
• have a strong subject line so that it's opened
• be designed for users who scan rather than read
• make it easy to unsubscribe

The report stated that "sixty-nine percent of users said that they look forward to receiving at least one newsletter." Make sure that you do everything that you can to ensure that your email newsletter is the one that they look forward to getting. If you don't they may be subscribing to your competitors newsletter. Click here to read the Executive Summary.

About the Author

Find out how to develop your email marketing strategies and turn them into effective and inexpensive ways to generate leads, build relationships and increase brand recognition. Discover How To Get Your Newsletter Read.

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