How do you inform your remote users ?

[sean dreilinger]

On Fri, 11 Jun 1999, [iso-8859-1] Marlène Delhaye wrote:
 > How do you inform your remote users of changes on your websites (new
 > services, new opening/closing hours, etc...), do you use a mailing
list
 > software and send info messages on a periodical basis ? I'd
appreciate

yes. this might be called opt-in email marketing. well-composed messages
to
a voluntary subscriber base can have an incredible response rate (in
terms
of people visiting targeted urls and then sharing those urls with
friends
and colleagues who also visit) - here are two slides from an
interactivate
consulting group presentation that show such a message and the measured
response:

  http://interactivate.com/public/newsletters/sld013.htm
  http://interactivate.com/public/newsletters/sld014.htm

 > any comments/suggestions to help me to communicate with these users I

i believe the 3 keys are:

1. encourage users to opt-in (subscribe) to your email news service at
every
   opportunity -- ``join our mailing list,'' ``subscribe to free email
   updates,'' ``send me email when you add new content!''

2. craft your update messages with the utmost of care. include an
enticing
   call-to-action to bring them back to your web content - can you offer
   them special advance access to an online feature or news item before
the
   print and walk-in public? this sort of `exclusive' appeal leads to
higher
   response...

3. use trackable urls to measure the success of your opt-in email. the
   example above used a hard-wired url that was only released in the
email
   message.  i've since switched to a simpler scheme that requires no
file
   creation on the server to track response to individual mailings,
happy to
   share that with you if you dive in and start a program like this.

you'll also have some practical issues which may already be addressed in
your existing online services -- a privacy statement and policy, and the
mail list management software which you operate or outsource as desired.

good luck!
--sean :-)

--
mailto:sean at savvysearch.com                sean dreilinger, mlis
 http://www.savvysearch.com                http://durak.org/sean