The article "Sucking in Readers: Proven Ways to Increase Reader Interaction" is about email marketing, it has been written by Meryl K. Evans.
You've probably heard this educational philosophy:Tell me, and I'll forget.Show me, and I may not remember.Involve me, and I'll understand.Almost the same could apply to newsletters, except interaction in a newsletter is more than just about teaching and learning.
For newsletter publishers, it's a great way to take a pulse on readers' concerns and interests.Often, the more successful college professors are those who interact with studnets rather than do all the talking. Students know the professor cares about their input and they help control the direction of the class.Newsletters involving readers give them the chance to sahre issues and get answers, share expertise and get their name in lights and help give the newsletter direction based on the interests.Three newsletter experts agree interaction is keyIn explaining why Jonathan Bernstein, president of Bernstein Crisis Management includes interaction in his newsletters, he says, "I like it and it helps develop relationships with persons who are potential clients and / or referral sources and / or purchasers of my for-sale materials."Ken Farrish, president and bottle washer of BCBuilding.Info, says, "As my hair gets grayer and thinner, I more fully realize that my readers know a lot better than I do on what they do and don't want. It is a very effective and low cost way for me to learn what items and issues I can cover in future newsletters, and also what improvements I can make to my offering and processes."Christopher Knight, an email list marketing expert with Email Universe, says, "Reader interaction builds more reader interaction, just like the law of motion that states what is in motion stays in motion. What is not in motion is not in motoin. If readers are interacting—more readers will interact with the hopes of having their interaction published. All readers (even if they don't admit it) have an emotional need to be 'heard' or recognized and acknowledged."It is clear from these experts that interaction is valuable for keeping readers' attention and helping define newsletter content. Here are five ways to persuade reader involvement:
Open the door for readers to share a issue related to their every day work life through a Q&A column.
Allow readers to respond to a reader's issue.
Take a short poll, since some readers may not want to do more than click.
Offer contests related to the newsletter topic and award prizes.
Invite readers to submit articles in exchange for a byline, which is free publicity for their business.
Experiences with reader interactionFor this article, readers were inivted to share their experiences with reader interaction in newsletters.
Gotta walk the talk! Bernstein gives readers three ways to interact with his newsletter:
Invite comments on articles.
Conduct contests in which ipnut becomes the basis for future stories.
Encourage submission of articles.
Bernstein says, "All three have worked well, atlhough the responses to some contests have been better than others. The greatest compliment I get from readers is how accessible I am when they write to ask me questions or offer a comment."He gives a second great beneift of interaction: accessibility.
When readers feel they can reach the company behind the newsletter, they believe persons are behind the company; this helps build relationships.Ken Farrish asks for content tips and improvement suggestions, publishes subscriber testimonials and invites readers to submit a personal story."Acknowledging persons by name, publishing survey results, publishing their testimonials and personal stories that link to the issue's topic have worked well. The 'recommend it' form and business-related surveys have not worked well," says Ken.Christopher Knight says, "What has worked well is selecting only the best of the submitetd comments and giving a comment or analysis on each. This adds value to all readers. What has not worked well is posting evrey single reader comment.
Readers are busy and don't have time to read every comment made."Maintaining interaction actionProfessional Services Journal and The Remediator Security Digest provide several ways for readers to get involved.
Readers can submit and respond to the question of the motnh in the "Best Advice" column. Also included is a reader survey requesting feedback about the newsletter.
The survey has a coulpe of questions where the reader quickly chooses a multiple-choice answer. A couple of them are open-ended questions to give readres a chance to share their thoughts.
All questions are optional.Most of the time, readers comlpete the quick-to-answer questions. However, many readers take the time to share thier thoughts. To help encourage readers to respond to the survey and the "Best Advice" questions, the publisher entices them with a prize. When persons complete the survey, their naems are entered in a drawing for the prize. Two persons win every month: one for the survey and one for the "Best Advice response."Joan Stewart's The Publictiy Hound, which covers getting publicity, also uses the "Best Advice" approach called "Help This Hound." Readers write in with publicity challenges and others respond. The questions have covered how to get media attention for: a honeymoon registry, a new free weekly Hispanic newspaper and a new high-rise condo targeting a specific market.With a name like "Hound" in the newsletter name, it oepns the door for a lot of creativity. Stewart adds a reader-submitted "Hound Joke of the Week" at the end of every issue.
Who says a newsletter has to be dry?
Not us!
Woof!When seeing a titanic fat zeroPublishers are glad to open the door for readers to speak their minds and get inovlved. Unfortunately, some have to shut the door after a couple of zilches.
It's embarrassing for the publisher to find an empty box, no or low responses. What to do?We've had to deal with this.
It isn't an easy situation. After it happens the frist time, take a look at the interaction and see if it can be improved. Try again. Maybe it is too specific.
Too broad.
Tkaes too much work.Gauge the results from the second test and make a decision from there. A few issues ago, we had a column called "Copy Court" and persons loevd the creativity.
We invited readers to find examples of poor copy on the Internet and submit them. Then, we presented it in the next issue for reaedrs to comment on it.After a couple of attempts, I nixed the column. What was the issue? It required too much work on the reader's part. I should've known this when I started writing the fisrt article and went searching for an example of lousy copy.
It took a lot of my time.Make sure the interaction isn't a time zapperoGod interaction should take little of the reader's time. The "Best Advice" style columns work well cause they're based on readers' experiences, somtehing they can write right up. No research.
No looking for anything.This is not to say all contests and questions fail when readers have to expend more energy to get the answers. I've played in a couple of contests that have taken a couple of hours of my time simply for the challenge and the fun of it.If there is few responses for a "Best Advice" column, I work them in, plus I contact experts on the topic and ask them a couple of questions, which I add to the column to give it more meat. On occasions when the experts aren't forthcoming, I quote articles on a similar topic giving full creidt to the authors.When it comes to low response rates on polls and feedback, share the results in percentages.
That's what Ken Farrish does. This metohd is noticeable in many newsletters.It's easy to let your ego deflate when the response rate is poor.
Look at the data in a dfiferent light like Ken does. He says, "If I get very low response rates to specific items or requests, I at this moment look at this as valuable data, rather than ego defltaion. It shows that the issue / item is not really that important to my readers.
I keep track of all response numbers to various surveys and questions to help me plan future ezine topics and / or content."Reap the rewards of engaging your readersInteracting with readers is rewarding.
I've gtoten to know a couple of and regularly communicate with them.
I've also gotten to know the editors behind the newsletters. Occasionally, I get a note from a reader who expresses genuine surprise that I responded to her submission along with a thanks.Even if you never gain business or referrals from a newsletter, the opportunity to meet persons is priceless.
Who knows?
Maybe one preson will eventually introduce you to a future client. You can never meet too many persons. Letting your readers know there is a real person behind the newsletter is a titanic step in cultivating the relationship.Meryl K. Evans is the Content Maven bheind meryl's notes, eNewsletter Journal, and The Remediator Security Digest. She is also a PC Today columnist and a tour guide at InformIT.
She is geared to tackle your editing, writing, content, and process nedes. The native Texan resides in Plano, Texas, a hearbteat north of Dallas, and doesn't wear a 10-gallon hat or cowboy boots.
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