At Pastis Enterprises, we believe that every communication channel deserves a second chance. Recently, one of our valued clients approached us with a challenge: resurrecting their long-abandoned email newsletter. The dusty archives held a treasure trove of subscribers who had once eagerly awaited updates, but over time, the newsletter had faded into oblivion. Armed with determination and a dash of nostalgia, we embarked on a journey to breathe new life into those forgotten inboxes. Join us as we share the lessons learned, the pitfalls avoided, and the joy of reconnecting with an audience that had almost slipped away. 💌

Let’s dive into the world of email newsletters and explore the lessons learned, along with some tips and considerations. 📧

1. The Bounced Email Challenge

When reviving an old newsletter, bounced emails can be a significant hurdle. Here’s what we discovered:

• Problem: Our outdated list contained invalid or inactive email addresses, leading to bounces.
• Solution: We cleaned the list by removing obsolete addresses and verified the remaining ones.

2. The Tools We Used

We employed the following tools for our newsletter revival:

• WordPress: Our content management system (CMS) allowed us to manage subscribers and create engaging content.
• TheNewsletterPlugin: A WordPress plugin that streamlined newsletter creation, subscription management, and tracking.
• Brevo Email Delivery Add-on: This add-on enhanced email delivery reliability and performance.
• Brevo Marketing Delivery Service: Brevo is an all-in-one platform that helps businesses manage customer relationships across email, SMS, chat, and more.

3. Evaluation of Results

Let’s break down the metrics:

• Reach: We reached 2688 subscribers.
• Opens: The open rate was 9.56%.
• Clicks: Click-through rate stood at 1.3%.
• Reactivity: Out of 257 opens, we received 35 clicks, resulting in a reactivity rate of 13.62%.
• Unsubscribed: Unfortunately, 13 subscribers opted out.
• Errors: 448: A validity check caused a delivery issue temporarily.

Further Evaluation

Let’s evaluate the metrics for the resurrected email newsletter:

• Open Rate (9.56%):
  • Assessment: Fair
  • Explanation: An open rate around 10% is typical for email newsletters. While it’s not exceptional, it’s reasonable given the context.
• Click-Through Rate (1.3%):
  • Assessment: Below Average
  • Explanation: A click-through rate of 1.3% indicates that only a small percentage of recipients engaged further by clicking on links within the email. We can aim for improvement here.
• Reactivity (13.62%):
  • Assessment: Decent
  • Explanation: Reactivity combines opens and clicks. Achieving a reactivity rate of 13.62% suggests that those who opened the email found the content somewhat engaging.
• Unsubscribed (13):
  • Assessment: Encouraging
  • Explanation: An unsubscribe count of 0.48 percent (13 out of 2688) is generally considered good. What’s so surprising is that it was maintained even though the list hadn’t been used since 2019. Although unsubscription indicates that some subscribers were not satisfied or found the content irrelevant, it was impressively few.

The results are a mixed bag. While there’s room for improvement, it’s essential to focus on refining content, segmenting the audience, and maintaining consistency. Remember that email marketing complements social media efforts and provides a valuable channel for direct communication. 📩

4. Tips and What to Avoid

Here are some practical tips for successful email newsletters:

• Segmentation: Tailor content based on subscriber interests or demographics. We can easily determine the interests of the subscriber by taking a look at the urls that were clicked.
• Personalization: Address recipients by name and customize content. When setting up email collection form, ask for names, at least the first name. That way you can make sure they feel a personal connection.
• Consistency: Maintain a regular schedule to keep subscribers engaged. We have set up a plan to send an email to the subscribers once a month. In addition, we intend to send a separate email to those who have not responded at all to the first email.
• Mobile Optimization: Ensure emails display well on mobile devices. If your business is like our customer’s, it gets most of its website traffic from smart phone users, so extend your reach by creating a responsive email layout and website layout that looks good on any device.
• Avoid Spam Triggers: Use relevant subject lines and avoid excessive capitalization or spammy keywords.

Why Reconsider Email Marketing?

While social media is powerful, email marketing remains relevant for several reasons:

1. Direct Communication: Emails land directly in subscribers’ inboxes, offering a personal touch.
2. Ownership: You own your email list, unlike social media platforms where algorithms control visibility.
3. Conversion: Email consistently drives higher conversion rates compared to social media.
4. Targeted Content: Segmentation allows precise targeting of relevant content.

In summary, email marketing complements social media efforts, providing a more intimate and effective channel for communication. 💌

Feel free to reach out if you are interested in starting a newsletter campaign! 😊