Online marketing has come a long way since it was introduced to the entrepreneurs in India especially in franchise businesses. Adding to these techniques is e newsletters an emerging mode targeting greater audience with a personal touch. A review
E newsletters are emerging as a popular and appealing online marketing tool for franchise businesses. Franchisors run their franchise businesses through their franchisees. On one hand, it is through e-newsletters, franchisors are targeting the nation as a whole where as franchisees on the other hand are representing the local areas. Both have wide data base of confirmed, prospective and old customers or clients. Further, it addresses, and educates the customers about the latest developments of the company in terms of new products and offers, growth, success, and benefits. E-newsletters are the best source that not just inform and educate the consumers, but also give a personal touch to it. Increasing number of franchisors is making e-newsletter a part of their marketing tool to connect with their clients for the benefit of their franchising business. Before going in to the details of advantages and significance of e-newsletters, let us first understand what e-newletters are.
E-Newsletters
E-newsletters are electronic newsletters sent via technology enhanced mediums such as e-mails or group mails. It is an excellent way to market your brand and to stay in touch with your clients. Newsletters sent through electronic medium have the advantage of any time anywhere accessibility which is easily managed. It is a useful means for the franchisors to maintain the network as well as promote its products and services to the customers. Moreover, with word of mouth advertising, it helps you to get new clients. Loyal customers who keep getting your newsletters would surely talk about your company to different people. However, an e-newsletter has to be made and designed correctly to fulfill its objective of creating and winning more clients and customers. The article would provide essential guidelines for designing an e-newsletter.
Creating a flawless newsletter
As it has been mentioned that e-newsletter is a useful device in franchising, nevertheless a newsletter which is not properly designed and made can lose its customers and fail its objectives to get clients. Therefore, it is imperative to make a flawless newsletter to impress loyal as well as potential customers. Below given are few guidelines for devising an e-newsletter.
- Make it regular and appropriate: As e-newsletters can be sent regularly via mail as it is a low cost affair, but it should follow a set pattern and must not be sent everyday to clients. Receiving too many mails from a particular franchise company can also irritate clients. Moreover, in franchising, it is important that the newsletter should be developed according to the needs of the business. It should give an appropriate idea of its services or products.
- Follow the short and crisp rule: KISS (Keep it short and simple) strategy rules every business writings. Thus, e-newsletters of a particular franchise should have short and simple sentences. This rule can be followed while making your e-newsletter. Potential clients will not like reading long ambiguous mails. They might delete it without giving another glance, if it is difficult to understand and too lengthy. Keep ideas simple and to the point with simple language.
- Divide into paragraphs or bullets: It is always advisable to divide the e-newsletter into small paragraphs using sub-heads. While reading your news letter clients prefer to give it a quick glance and read the sub-heads only. If they find anything important for their franchise venture, then will they give a second look to it.
- Use a standard heading: The heading of each newsletter should be consistent to the earlier ones. It should contain the main idea of the newsletter and need not to be improvised everytime.
- Keep enough open space: The e-newsletter should not give an impression of cluttered thoughts to the clients. It should be carefully designed so as to leave a lot of open space in-between paragraphs and ideas.
- Display privacy option to clients: It should be kept in mind that clients as well as potential clients do not like to get junk mails. Therefore maintain the privacy of their e-mail id’s and display the privacy option in your newsletter also. Clients should be ensured that their e-mail id’s would not be visible to everyone. It would also make them feel special that they are a chosen few to get the company mails.
- Be careful about the subject line: Subject of your newsletter should be carefully written. These days all websites have spam filters. Therefore there is a risk that your company newsletter may also go into spam mails of clients. To avoid been filtered as spam, it is a must to remember not to use any punctuation in the subject line such as question or exclamation marks. Secondly never use the word ‘free’ in the subject as it will make it spam. The subject of newsletter should be attractive to make clients open the mail and read it.
- Keep option of unsubscribing: There can be a few clients who do not like to get e-newsletters. Therefore always keep the option of unsubscribing in all your newsletters. Clients need not be badgered with unwanted mails.
To end, it can be said that e-newsletters gives the first impression of your franchise business. So meticulously plan your e-newletters so as to attract more footfalls at your franchised stores.
