E-Newsletter Lessons Learned: Brooks Bell Interactive Presentation on AARP Webletter
March 30, 2009 :: Steve Fisher
Guest post by Mia Vallo, Online Advertising Manager for Network Solutions. Mia is passionate about helping companies become successful with their online marketing and advertising strategies. She can be reached at Mia.Vallo@networksolutions.com.
Image Source: AARP Web Site
I recently sat in a presentation by Brooks Bell, President of Brooks Bell Interactive, on lessons learned from AARP e-newsletter program. She originally presented this case study at MarketingSherpa Email Summit 2009, and then did an encore presentation in a webinar format.
Brooks Bell Interactive was tasked with reinventing the AARP e-newsletter, called AARP Webletter. The goals of the Webletter are to drive traffic to AARP website, increase engagement with current members, convert non-members to members and drive advertising revenue. Here are some takeaways from her presentation.
Segment Your E-newsletter List
Brooks Bell Interactive segmented the AARP Webletter subscribers by activities within the last four Webletters: active users clicked on the Webletter at least once; passive users opened the Webletter, but did not click; and inactive users did not open the Webletter.
With this segmentation strategy, they were able to customize the Webletter subject line and content. For example, inactive users received a Webletter with the subject line of “[Name], We Miss You! Have You Seen the Latest from AARP?”
Constantly Test Your E-newsletter
If you’re new to testing, here’s a quick basic: testing is when you change one element of your e-newsletter to see if that single change improves your e-newsletter performance. Measuring performance may include how many times subscribers open your e-newsletter, how many times subscribers click on your e-newsletter, or how many sales you get from that e-newsletter. How often you test will depend on your resources and how many e-newsletter subscribers you have. Brooks stressed during the presentation that you can’t expect an overnight success with testing, so you need to test constantly.
For AARP, Brooks Bell Interactive implemented 10 tests per week. With 40 million members, AARP most likely has a huge subscriber base for their Webletter. So testing that frequently makes sense. If you have hundreds or thousands of subscribers, you may only need to test monthly.
An example of a test element is the subject line, so you can see which e-newsletter is opened more. These four types of subject lines worked well for the AARP Webletter:
1. Personalized, such as using the subscriber’s name in the subject line
2. Question format, such as “More Stimulus Payments on the Way?”
3. Boring, such as “AARP Web Letter” — this creates a more official tone to subscribers
4. Slightly alarming, such as “Don’t Let Your Doctor Make a Mistake!”
Content is Still King
Another test element is content. More subscribers clicked on the AARP Webletter when the following types of content were used:
1. “Best” lists, such as AARP’s 50 Healthiest Places to Live
2. Timely content, such as gas price and stimulus package
3. Content with a broad appeal, such as diets and saving money
4. Write in a personal way, specifically using “you”
5. No negative, depressing and scary topics
After almost a year of testing, Brooks Bell Interactive successfully reinvented the AARP Webletter. Not only does the Webletter become the second highest source of traffic to AARP website, but it also serves as the least expensive marketing program for AARP.
If you have any questions about your e-newsletter program, please leave your comment below! You can also check out Constant Contact® to start an e-mail marketing program for your business.
Comments are moderated and will appear shortly. See terms.
