Some of the results are direct and some indirect.

Direct: If you plan your newsletter and then follow thru on the information provided by the tracking statistics you can generate sales. For example if your newsletter provides a link to your website promoting one of your products or services good tracking facilities can tell you who clicked on that link and even how many times. This means you have a clear indication of a person's response to what you are offering. From this you can follow up by way of a phone call or email knowing that the person you are contacting has already shown interest and therefore represents a strong sales lead.

Indirect: A newsletter can build customer relationships, contribute to branding efforts, increase awareness and profile your company as a leader in your field. It can also complement website promotion, by encouraging subscribers to visit your website.

Bryan Eisenberg of Future Now, Inc. talks of an email newsletter's Impact Quotient. He describes this as the newsletter's "ability to persuade people to save it, talk about it, refer to it and forward it to their sphere of influence". A well crafted newsletter has the potential to turn your readers into part of your marketing team as they promote your newsletter and its information and services to their friends and networks.

Using the Net is a network of professionals who works with companies to deliver emarketing strategies and implementation. We provide a range of services:

• E-marketing
  
• Marketing Consultancy & Workshops
  
• E-newsletters
  
• Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)
  
• Website Design, Hosting & Development
  
• Graphic Design
  
• Executive coaching

Here are some reasons why people no longer open or read newsletters:

•subscribers lack confidence or trust in the publisher
•subscribers find little of interest or value in the emails
•subscribers lack any feeling of connectedness or loyalty to the publisher or newsletter.

When I first started publishing this newsletter there were not so many around and it had a bit of a novelty factor that helped people to open it. Now with the growth of newsletters the challenge is to provide content and information that is relevant and helpful to your readership. Otherwise your newsletter will remain unopened or the person will hit unsubscribe.

3 crucial elements of a successful newsletter

1.Looks professional - it is important your newsletter reflects your corporate brand in presentation and that the layout is clean and simple to navigate. It should also be very simple to link from your newsletter to your website for product and service offers.

2.Provides value - unless your newsletter has a high level of WIFM (what in it for me) content it wont be successful. If a reader opens your newsletter and all they read is how wonderful your company is and all the products and services it produces they wont be keen to open the next one because they assume it will be more of the same. However if they find information that it of value and relevance to them then they will be much more keen to see what you have to offer in the next edition.

3.Has a personality - one of our clients is a lawyer with a sense of humour and cartoon skills. So each edition of his newsletter has a sense of fun in the way Paul talks about legal issues and each article has an equally funny cartoon. This makes this newsletter unique and makes it stand out from most other legal type newsletters.

Having emphasised that the newsletter needs to address the needs of your readers don't forget the needs of your business. As someone once said, "if you give customers what they want, they want products that do everything and are free". So it is valid to include information and offers about what you do and how you can help your readers. But the suggested ratio is 80% for the reader and 20% about your company. In that way both you and your reader benefit.

A recent MarketingSherpa survey shows what topics people most want to read (in order of priority):

• Case study on how to use a product to improve a business process
  
• New research on some aspect of the industry
  
• How-to guide for using a product or service to greater advantage
  
• Top 10 list of ways to improve business by better leveraging a tactic or process
  
• Case study on how a company used a product to learn something new
  
• Interview with a top analyst on the state of the industry
  
• Interview with a top executive on the state of the industry