Hd Enewsletter Forum

NCI E newsletter Program

Jim Newbill / Dir Marketing & Analytics

Suzanne Hader / 400twin

December 19th , 2008

Agenda

Goals Quick Facts Newsletter Audit Findings 20 mins

a review of our current newsletters Basic Wireframe Review 20 mins

Review a starting point for the templates Information Gathering for the designs. 20 min Discuss Content Creation 15 mins

Discuss best practice for content creation.

Newsletter Goals

Lead generation Connect customers and clients Drive traffic to the website, blog and

calendar – both the calendar and blog can eventually be monetized

Build the list Helps build brand recognition and brand

expertise within their market

Quick Facts

There are a few statistics that we simply can’t ignore.

Average time to capture a reader’s attention: 8 secs (3secs for email)

Average time a reader reads a newsletter: 51 secs

Percent of people that read the entire newsletter: 19%

Percent of newsletters never opened:27% Percent of newsletters scanned and not read:

27%

E-newsletter Audit

#1: Limit ads in preview pane Placement of one or two

ad unit banners on the side, instead of at the top of the email.

Keep “preview pane” space at the top clear.

Helps keep open rates up and unsubscribes down.

Gives top billing to magazine brand and key links.

#2: Visually separate top nav Main links are prominent,

more obvious and clickable.

Clearly distinguishes functionality from content.

Keeps top of email cleaner looking in preview pane.

#3: Keep headlines at top Calls out content in

preview pane view Clearly distinguishes

functionality from content. Keeps top of email

cleaner looking in preview pane.

#4: Include related links/tips Breaks up email visually,

making it easier to scan. Provides a greater

selection of clickthrough content in a smaller space.

Offers “digestible” information to pique interest.

#5: Highlight advertiser links at bottom

Encourages users to take action.

Drives traffic to advertisers.

Another visually branded element at footer of email.

#6: Extra graphic footer callout A way to direct email

subscribers to non-content sections of the site.

Extra support for internal initiatives.

Keeps bottom of the email from just looking like “a bunch of fine print.”

A few extra best practices

Keep email length to about 1000 px. Add forward to a friend links to top and

bottom of emails. Keep page organization consistent, but allow

for design/treatment customization specific to title.

Swap date in masthead for teaser copy or nav

E-newsletter Template Wireframes

E-newsletter Template

E-newsletterWireframes

Starting Questions 1) What design elements do you feel are uniquely your

magazine's that you might like to see referenced in the layouts?

2) Which other services do you want to/can you include link-out functionality for to promote sharing (digg, linked in, facebook, etc.)

3) is there anything else that can be done to promote sharing and new opt-ins?

4) Is there a specific type of content that drives the most traffic to your site? (How to's vs. trends vs. product showcases)

5) What has been most successful at causing traffic spikes as soon as the email is dropped (sweepstakes, etc.)

Resources

Resource for training and best practice documentation.

Forum

NCI’s E newsletter Toolbox –

www.ncisemailtoolbox.com

Next StepsHD Self-serve Enewsletter initiative    

Phase I Who End Date

1st draft wireframes Deb/Hillary/Jim/Adam 12/15/2008

Walk-thru and document process for data entry (work out any kinks) Deb/Hillary 12/16/2008

Lock down how the ads will be served (dbclk or hand code) Hillary/Scott C. 12/16/2008

Discuss new template designs/best practices with editors Deb/Hillary/Jim/Adam 12/192008

Collect feedback edits for wireframes and provide to designer Jim 12/19/2008

2nd draft wireframes complete Suzanne 12/23/2008

Review wireframes and lock down template designs (final designs) Editors/Online team 1/5/2009

Code first set of 3 templates - Atlanta? Hillary 1/12/2009

Code additional 8 markets’ templates Hillary 1/23/2009

Provide training for each market Hillary/Deb/Mary 1-26 thru 1-28

Launch new initiative – Provide Technical Support for each market Editors/Online team 2/1/2009