I recently attended an Email Newsletter Usability one day event in London, hosted by the Nielsen Norman Group. They’ve just published the third edition of their extremely useful Email Newsletter Usability report.

Usability Guru Jakob Nielsen, who’s behind the reports, continues to believe that well-done email newsletters are one of the top investments a company can make. (I wrote about this in a previous post.)

But the points made during this event drove home the fact that it has to be an email newsletter of value to the recipient. While email marketing has a zillion benefits for marketers – in the end all efforts and time spent should be about delivering value to the recipient. This is the only way marketers will see ROI in their email marketing.

So …

What do people value in a good email newsletter?

• Enjoyable to read (offers at least one: interesting, relevant or useful information)
• Easy to sign up to (didn’t create barriers or ask for too much information. Earlier post about this here.)
• From a “good source” – known for expertise in the field, or a well-known brand.
• Easy to navigate – well designed, looks good, easy to read more then one article.
• Well written content
• Easy to share
• “Saves time”
• Provides automatic updates
• Offers exclusive content (special offers not available anywhere else)
• Arrives at times that are convenient

Some of the survey participants’ specific reasons:

“Keeps me informed about things that I wouldn’t otherwise research.”
“Reminds me of things I would otherwise forget.”
“Teaches me new things I’d otherwise pass over.”
“I do not have to fetch the information actively. I can just sit back and get the information I need”
“Free”
“I can click delete if I don’t want it.”
“Current information could lead to a competitive edge.”

OK that’s what the best email newsletters provide. Here’s why people DON’T like a newsletter they receive.

• No useful content – nothing useful. no special offers. no new information.
• Hard to read – maybe it’s one big image that’s blocked and appears to be an empty email. Maybe the design and layout of the text makes it hard to read and decipher.
• Ignores permission – comes too frequently (or feels like it does) – or more frequently than promised. Or, the sign up appears to generate lots of third party mailings.
• “Hello, are you ready to buy?” * – Each newsletter gives the same feeling you would get if you walked into a shop and five sales people descended on you immediately to ask you if you are going to make a purchase. The newsletter is all sales, no information. All pressure, no enjoyment.

(*Thanks to Stephannie Miller at ReturnPath for this great phrase.)

Posted on June 23rd, 2008 under HTML email newsletters .
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