The suspect: The confusing WSJ subscription page. Click to view larger.

Wall Street Journal meant well when its staff created the email center page. I like that it has all the e-mail subscriptions on for managing. When a resource has multiple e-mail newsletters, listing all of the newsletters in one page serves readers well.

Here comes the “but.” If you’re already subscribed, the WSJ page doesn’t show it. At the bottom of a WSJ newsletter, it shows:

TO VIEW OR CHANGE any of your e-mail settings, go to the E-Mail Setup Center: http://online.wsj.com/email

Everyone sees the same page and options regardless if they have a subscription. Subscribed users should see their subscriptions reflected on the landing page. Sure, they have a link so you can log in to subscriber Email Center to check your settings — but we read fast and I didn’t notice this on the first reading. Only “here” has a link and it’s not obvious when you scan.

So I click “here” and it’s a dead end:

No Information Available
Your subscription does not include access to this service.

If you want to unsubscribe to ALL WSJ newsletters, you have to go through the entire list and click every “Remove Me.” If you want to change subscriptions (unsubscribe to some, leave some alone, etc.), you feel the pressure to select all the “Add Me” and “Remove Me” because you fear leaving it along will automatically subscribe you.

In reality, it won’t do that unless you click either the TEXT or HTML boxes. But that’s not so clear, is it? What do you think? Know of another Web content suspect?

Go to jail and do not pass Go.

Noticing another (the first being the gray text on white background) trend and it ain’t good. More and more newsletters require you to click a link for the full newsletter. To make the situation worse, some of these are in — ack! — Acrobat pdf format!

I like Acrobat files, but not for e-mail newsletters. E-mail newsletters generally load fast unless the issue has too many images that aren’t optimized (you won’t find me subscribed to those that do this every time). But to click the link to go to the PDF page takes longer.

I still read some newsletters that use this method because they offer high quality content and I respect the editor behind the newsletter. I just might not read every issue or refer back.

E-mail newsletters work for me because I can file them, search them, and read them whenever. Yes, you can file the “click link for newsletter” e-mail, but you can’t search it. You won’t remember if the content you need came from that newsletter or another.

Yes, trying to get an e-mail newsletter to display the way you want it in every e-mail client is an impossible task. But that’s not an excuse for chucking the idea and going PDF where the newsletter doesn’t have to deal with e-mail application idiosyncrasies.

Remember all of us have lots of information coming at us… and we all have our preferences how we like to get that information: RSS, e-mail, Web. A successful newsletter provides readers with choices in how to obtain the content.

More related posts on this topic

• HTML in Newsletters
• Designing Newsletters for all E-mail-Kind
• Spread the Marketing Wealth for Best Results
  

Am I off base here? Or do you like your PDFs?

The wizard in The Wizard of Oz and the guy behind the curtain pretending to be him have different personalities. Which one would you rather listen to? The wizard who comes across as larger than life and unreachable, or the guy hiding behind the giant green face, a person like us?

Companies that publish newsletters without a name or a voice feel cold and untouchable like the wizard. Give a voice to one person and you put a face on the company. Readers respond to a person better than an invisible entity.

Do you receive an e-mail newsletter that used to provide a wealth of information but has become a victim of its own success? You used to look forward to receiving the newsletter, but it has changed … either into a big commercial for the company or a forum for someone with an ego.

This has happened to award-winning newsletters. For example, at the time of receiving an award, one newsletter provided powerful stuff, helping it achieve success and earning its many faithful subscribers. Once it reeled in readers and got comfortable, the material slowly changed for the worse.

For most of us, when we work on something for a long time, we fall into a rut and maybe without realizing it. It happens. However, there is a difference between falling into a rut and transforming a newsletter into a news release that provides little value to readers.

Prevent Mr. (or Ms.) Big Head

Another newsletter no longer provides articles. Instead, it points to the publisher’s blog, products for sale and Webinars starring the publisher. Yet another still offers an article but with not as much valuable information as in the past. The newsletter also announces the person’s accomplishments, newly landed clients and includes short articles recommending a product — articles that sound more like affiliate recommendations than reviews.

Another company keeps distributing news releases about its successes. Most issues leave the reader wondering, “So what? That has nothing to do with me or my needs.” Once in a while, it sends an issue with the latest products added to its database, which is the purpose of the mailing list. But it doesn’t provide updates on the industry anymore, unless they’re about the company.

An egotistical publisher takes advantage of the mailing list by sending out e-mails with specials, “check out this product,” “come see me,” “attend my Webinar,” and “attend so ‘n so’s Webinar” (that have nothing to do with the newsletter topic). The message comes across as if the person is a celebrity. But if you throw his name around to friends and colleagues, no one will have heard of him.

These newsletters from Mr. (or Ms.) Big Head are in danger of losing readers. They miss the down-to-earth style and person’s original voice that comes across like a friend or colleague who provides advice or information. If the unsubscribe rate doesn’t change much, you still aren’t safe. This could simply mean readers don’t want to bother unsubscribing, and instead, they filter the unread newsletters to the trash bin.

For example, in a recent conversation, a colleague and I admitted to each other that we don’t unsubscribe to certain newsletters for political reasons. We know the publisher, and it would be noticeable if we dropped the newsletter. Instead, we’ve created a filter so it goes straight into the junk folder. I also keep receiving some newsletters in hopes that the newsletter will return to its former brilliance.

Change happens

Change happens, and it’s okay, but the publisher should keep the readers’ best interests in mind. For instance, a popular newsletter drastically redesigned its layout, leading many readers to write about their disapproval of the change.

Keeping your audience happy doesn’t mean never redesigning the look and feel of your newsletter; rather, tread carefully on how you go about it. If you include readers in the process, you’re a step ahead and going in the right direction.

The publisher of the popular newsletter should’ve alerted readers of the redesign plans and explained the reasons for doing it. To help readers be more receptive, the publisher could ask readers for feedback as to what they want and don’t want to see. Some readers might be willing to review preliminary designs and provide feedback. After the change goes in effect, write an introduction talking about the change and invite input.

Get around the success trap

Readers hesitate to write and tell the publisher to “stop focusing on yourself so much.” It’s easier to provide feedback on a newsletter’s design or a new column than anything related to a person. How many of you have written a note to a person criticizing the person as opposed to an object or thing?

One editor does a fabulous job of sharing her news and successes without adding a drop of ego. She writes like a friend reporting on what’s happening in her life including the bad things. I use her as a model for avoiding the “me, me, me” trap.

What about the fact newsletters are supposed to bring value to the publisher and not just the reader? Many successful newsletters accomplish this without becoming a commercial or an ode to the company. Ways to accomplish this:

• Ensure the advertising-to-content ratio is in favor of content, which should be at least 80 percent.
• Include a free offer.
• Put links to the site where appropriate (byline, banner, published line, etc.).
• Create “special” offers good for a limited time (create a sense of urgency so readers act upon reading the newsletter).
• Add related products or services at the end of an article.
• Limit the sending of offers or specials in a separate e-mail.
• Avoid putting “Forward this” in the subject of the newsletter — this gives the impression that you’d rather get more readers than have your current readers check out the content before forwarding (put the “Forward” info in the newsletter not in the subject).

About those special offer e-mails

Sending special offers between issues is A-okay. The approach and the frequency make a difference. Some companies increase them between issues, and soon readers give up looking for real content. A successful publisher sends a special once after every issue or every other issue. She also identifies such e-mail by using a different subject than her regular newsletter. An example:

Subject: meryl’s notes: January 2008

Subject: meryl’s notes Special for Readers

Not the most exciting or creative subject lines, but I’m sure you can think of better. The point is for offer e-mails, do not include the date or issue information. Ensure the newsletter/publisher is recognizable, but differentiate offer e-mails from newsletter e-mails through the subject heading.

Keep your voice

Your personal voice drives your newsletter’s success. When reading a favorite newsletter, what voice do you picture? A corporation? An employee? The company whose newsletters have turned into news releases comes across as an organization rather than a person, like the Wizard of Oz hiding behind a big scary figure. When we meet the guy behind the curtain, we’re surprised by his personality and find him more likeable than the great Oz. Try to add that personal touch to your newsletters.

Then, the next time you read various newsletters, see which ones draw you in and which ones repel you. Answer the question of why they make you feel this way and use that to help you with your newsletter. When you show credibility and readers trust you, they will buy — as long as you provide them with value and a unique voice.

When I find my way to a Web site, I may have gotten there through a search engine or through a link from a colleague or Web site. After I’ve scanned the content and fiddled around in the pages, the site may impress me if the information proves valuable.

What do I do then? The possibilities: Bookmark it, Furl it, subscribe to the feed or subscribe to the email newsletter. The action I take depends on how much I need the information and what options the site offers by way of feeds, newsletters and what-have-you.

Let’s say I found the email newsletter link or subscription box. Would I subscribe? It depends on what’s available on the site surrounding the newsletter. I won’t subscribe if respecting my privacy isn’t mentioned. I also won’t subscribe without finding archives to review. The third reason I won’t subscribe is if the site asks for too much information.

Rather than causing your visitor to leave “empty handed,” you can do more to improve your chances of capturing a new reader. With so many sites competing for new subscribers, it’s amazing the readers found their way to your site, so do what you can to make them happy and stick with you.

Privacy policy: Long or short?

How often do you read privacy policies, if at all? Sure, you care, but you don’t have time or patience to read through the legalese. Why use a lengthy policy on your site then, when you can simply put “We respect your privacy” next to the email address on the form? This applies to all forms requesting information, not just email newsletter subscriptions.

This approach is short and sweet. Yes, you can still have the long, dull policy for those who take policies seriously. This way you have both bases covered.

Forms: We must have your information!

How many fields are required to subscribe to an email newsletter? The only thing that should be required is the email address. Boy, it’d be lovely to get more information — a marketer’s dream — but would you rather have one piece of information than zip? Go ahead and add a couple of more fields — but watch it — too many, and the visitor is lost for good.

Identify which fields are required. Visitors get aggravated when they fill in a couple of fields, hit submit and see they didn’t fill in all the required fields. Weigh your priorities: a new subscriber with limited information versus a lost subscriber with no information.

Some newsletter subscription forms have “subscribe” and “unsubscribe” buttons. When someone becomes interested in your content, it’s about subscribing not unsubscribing. Yet be sure that those who get fed up with the email newsletter can look for unsubscribe information within the newsletter or on its Web pages rather than in the subscription box.

Archives and feeds: Show ‘em what you got

A link to the current newsletter or archives should appear right by the subscription box. I’ve often opted not to subscribe when I don’t see an example. I don’t want to subscribe and wait to see if the newsletter is good or bad, and then go through unsubscribing and sacrificing my email address.

If you offer a feed for your content and newsletter, put the RSS/XML button or link next to the subscription box. Again, you’ll cover your bases, as some people don’t know XML from NFL and others will scream if another email newsletter comes to their inboxes. If you provide multiple newsletters, put the RSS/XML icon next to each one — better yet, let the readers select the newsletters they want in the feed and get one feed for those selected. Organized folks love this.

Does the newsletter come in HTML (pretty pictures), text (plain Jane) or both? If you offer only one or the other, mention that somewhere. If both, provide the option to subscribe to one or the other. Either that, or get ready for emails asking about the text version. Save yourself trouble. Oh, and, don’t just have an HTML or text checkbox. Not everyone assumes if the text checkbox is left unchecked that the newsletter comes in HTML. Or some people think we’re idiots for offering one choice, since there appears to be no other choices.

Multiple newsletters: Simplify the subscribing

Many Web sites and companies provide multiple newsletters. Having the subscription page in one spot for all of them saves time. My publisher at InternetVIZ asked me to look at his subscription page draft. The thing was long! Every newsletter came with a detailed summary and other information.

Some people want to see everything you have to offer in the simplest format possible. That way during newsletter selection, they can see how many they’ve subscribed to and make sure they picked the right ones. Does that mean no summary? Of course not. Instead, write a one- or two-sentence overview of the newsletter and link to a page with more information. Next to the link, write “Opens in new window, so you won’t lose your data. If you have pop up windows turned off, turn it on temporarily to see the information.”

How many times have you seen a link for more information, fearing you’ll lose all the data you just entered if you click on it? That’s why the message. Another option is to expand the section when the user clicks on the link. No pop ups here, and the new information appears with a click and disappears with another click. These are just two ways to ensure the users know they won’t lose the information while providing them with more information.

Be careful when listing many newsletters on a page. My publisher’s draft page confused me. For example, the page had a box with events and tradeshows. My initial thought was this led to more information on events and tradeshows. The box turned out to be a category.

Learn from the good and the bad

Here are examples of newsletter subscription pages for inspiration and what’s good and bad about them:

U.S. News & World Report
http://www.usnews.com/usnews/newslett.htm
I like this one listing frequency, but it’s missing archives.

ClickZ
http://www.clickz.com/subscribe/
This one’s crowded and hard to read. Frequency and HTML/text are shown. But why have a checkbox for HTML if HTML is the only option? The preview helps, but it’s not available for all items. Items in Tracks list a few links, and it’s not readily clear why they’re there.

GIS Development
http://www.gisdevelopment.net/subscribe/index.htm

The subscription checkboxes are at the bottom. Visitors might be better served if the checkboxes were on the left of each subscription’s summary.

iVillage
https://subscriber.ivillage.com/funnels/5
Nice, clean look and even has personalized newsletters.

PC Magazine
http://www.pcmag.com/newsletter_manage/
Well-organized by categories with summaries next to each. But where is the Subscribe or Submit button? Hard to find, but it’s there.

InfoWorld
http://subscribe.infoworld.com/cgi-win/ifwd.cgi?m=newsletter
A better version of PC Magazine’s subscription page. No links to examples or archives, however.

Build smart — then hold on tight

Once you’ve reeled in visitors, do what you can to hold on and encourage them to take action. The newsletter subscription page sounds like a minor thing, but a lot of factors make the difference between “just visiting” and “subscribed reader.”

Recently, a client who supported Web standards worked to design her newsletters to use cascading style sheets (CSS) for layouts instead of tables. Designers cheered. Readers jeered. One problem with this approach: email clients.

Outlook may dominate, but how many of us have second or third email accounts with Web-based email clients like Yahoo!, Hotmail, GMail and so on? Then you have email applications on handheld devices, and those on corporate networks using applications like LotusNotes. Some people use their Web host’s Web-based email client so they can check email from any computer, typically with one of three: SquirrelMail, Horde or NeoMail.

Then there are those who opt to use different computer-based software like Thunderbird, Mozilla, Eudora, PocoMail, The Bat! and Pegasus.

The problem

With only a handful of email clients, newsletters come across perfectly; when using the majority of email clients, newsletters are readable but not perfect; with other email clients, newsletters render a mess. To understand why this happens means understanding hypertext markup language (HTML) and CSS.

Instead of going into tech-speak, think of the DVD player. Any DVD can work in any DVD player, for the most part. True, all DVDs may not be compatible with every type of player, but let’s just say: DVD players look different and have their unique features, but they all do the same thing — play DVDs. Think of email clients as DVD players and emails as DVDs. Also, think of Web browsers as DVD players and Web sites as DVDs.

To continue the analogy, HTML is the language that enables different DVD players to play the same DVD. In a newsletter, it specifies how the design should look. The CSS tells the DVD player how to present the images, sound and titles. In a newsletter, CSS defines how the content appears in the newsletter complete with colors, fonts and layout.

The way email clients and Web browsers work is that the “DVDs” play, but not the same way. One might play email or Web site in grayscale. Another translates the text into a different language. Another doesn’t play images.

See Figures 1 and 2. Figure 1 is what the newsletter is supposed to look like. Figure 2 is how it “gets read” by GMail, a Web-based email client. The images have been pixilated out of respect for the publication — as the poor readability is not the fault of the publisher.

[Click images to view larger in a new window]

The options

What can you do to have your newsletters be easily read? Keep the HTML design as simple as possible. The more bells and whistles, the more different it will appear than the original design. The first thing to do is accept that your newsletter will not look identical to every subscriber. Once you let go of the concept of a perfect layout, you’ll feel more at ease and know your newsletter’s style will vary.

When designing an HTML-based newsletter, you have three approaches to take:

1. Plain HTML: Use only HTML to style every item in the newsletter and no CSS.

2. Internal CSS: The CSS appears in the head of the newsletter’s HTML template.

3. External CSS: The CSS appears in a separate file that lives on a Web server. If the user is not connected to the Internet, the styles won’t appear.

As reported by E-Zine Tips, Lyris conducted a test and discovered that inline HTML had the best render rate at 94 percent. In the test, Lyris used three items with 36 email clients, both Web-based and computer-based. These results aren’t surprising.

Therefore, an external CSS is strongly advised against because it relies on a live Internet connection and the Web server working. You never know when readers view your emails, especially if they save old issues. If you delete the external CSS from the server and they try to read an old newsletter, it’s going to get messy.

Internal CSS don’t have the Web server problem. However, many email clients don’t correctly translate CSS based on W3C recommendations. And there’s the problem of when users update their software-based email clients, since updating software in companies isn’t usually an easy and smooth process.

The compromise

How do you ensure your newsletter comes across well? The ideal way is to offer HTML and text versions of your newsletter. Also, having online newsletter archives works great. When you have archives, potential readers can check out your newsletter to see if they want to subscribe.

Another work around is to include a text line at the VERY TOP of the newsletter that says, “Having trouble reading this? Read it online” and include the link to the online version of the newsletter.

If offering a choice of HTML and text isn’t possible, a simple newsletter created with clean HTML should work fine. Again, the newsletter may not look identical to all your readers, but the important thing is that the content is there and readable.

If you get an email with the above in the Subject without looking to see who sent it — what do you think? Considering I was swamped during that time, I jumped out of my seat. I always make an effort to beat my deadlines and probably because of all the things going on at work and at home — it made me more sensitive to my workload and schedule.

This was in an email mailing between newsletters from The Publicity Hound. Joan Stewart sends stuff between newsletters from time to time. So I emailed her about it thinking maybe it would’ve hurt more than helped to have such a headline.

But she provided a different perspective I had not considered. She said, “That subject line was intended for people who need a ‘heads up’ about deadlines. Had I not put that in the subject line, I would have heard, ‘Why didn’t you tell us we had to order by 5 p.m. Friday? Had I known that, I would have opened the email immediately. Now I’ve missed out on the discount!’”

Fair enough. Those who weren’t interested were more likely to hit the Delete key and move on. I guess being a newsletter editor made me want to respond and it reinforced the lesson of the importance of knowing your audience. She knew her audience well enough to know that it would work for most. So I’m the odd gal out in that audience.

These links don’t have a common thread, so Link Friday it is. Well, maybe a couple of common themes. But rather drown in the shameless self-promotion with comics instead of create its own entry — but seriously, I hope the resources are informative.

Comics

* Discovered a new comic strip, Being Five, a kid who blogs using voice recognition software. Is it me or is the software working too well?

* I also enjoy bLaugh from Pirillo and Fritz.

* ShaBot 6000: What you get when you partner up a Jewish man and his robot.

Shameless Self-promotion

* PSJ September 13 and 27 issues. It also has a new blog.

* September issue of meryl’s notes, the newsletter. Yes, it’s really September. I woke up so early yesterday and wrote October… oops.

* Interview with Fadtastic about CSS and the collection. Now you know why I keep the collection going even with many similar sites popping up with more features and better design.

Derek Harding at ClickZ explores RSS, its good and bad points, and its impact on email marketing. Just like some people prefer to get pizza by delivery, by pick up, or by eating in the restaurant — RSS and email newsletters provide users with the choice of getting content delivered by email or by newsreader. Pizza delivery didn’t kill the pizza restaurant.

I remember when I first discovered feeds through Dave Winer’s Radio Userland. I was perplexed by the whole deal, but it was cool having content come to you. It’s much easier now as more sites have links to their feeds and we have a variety of choices in how we read the feeds.

I’ve used FeedDemon, Newsgator, Bloglines and tested out a few others. They’re great apps, but I use them occasionally. Yet, I almost always read the email newsletters that come to me. But when I’m searching for high quality articles for the newsletters I manage, I rely on a news reader more often as the list of newsletters grows.

Jason Dowdell of MarketingShift writes that RSS marketing is taking baby steps. He says one of the problem areas is registering feeds with sites, but we already have to register our web sites with search engines and directories. No different.

Sites also list a bunch of buttons linking to different feed readers including their own creations. It’s a shame to waste space in listing these buttons (see above image), but the art of feeding a basic link into a reader befuddles even the intermediate computer user and these buttons automatically load the feed into your reader of choice. At some point, readers and users will advance so that we can return to one button only links to add a new feed into a reader.

Hey, the fax still exists.

Feature on newsletters and RSS

Credit: Icon from bakkeldotcom

Christopher Knight of Ezine Tips looks at email newsletter privacy protection statements and identifies the good ones and the bad ones. I like this quote:

Whatever you are FOR;
Strengthens YOU.
Whatever you are AGAINST;
Weakens YOU.

I think the best suggestion I’ve heard comes from Bryan and Jeffrey Eisenberg when they discussed privacy policies. Simply put, “We value your privacy” next to the email box. That way the user doesn’t hesitate as it’s right there. Not many people click on Privacy Policies and then read the mind-numbing policy.

I have it here as a “just in case” because there are folks who want details — but notice that I use the Eisenberg-recommended short format right by the subscription box up there on the right.

Newsletter publishers should also make newsletter archives available rather than hide them or put up barriers to make them hard to find. I won’t subscribe to most newsletters without seeing a sample. That’s just me. Besides, having the archives near the subscription or current newsletter page gets the reader spending more time with you through your site.

A small trend I’ve seen is “Please forward…” in the Subject. That bothers me because I feel like the publisher is telling me just forward this and help us get more subscribers rather than here’s the latest content that we hope you find valuable. I’m all for having a “Forward” link within the newsletter, but not in the Subject. Anyone?

Jakob Nielsen’s latest Alertbox discusses newsletter usability and the competition for user attention. Nilesen reports that the original findings remain true today: “email newsletters are the best way to maintain customer relationships on the Internet.”

I love newsletters as a marketing tool. Done right, you provide valuable information to readers without annoying them with sales-speak. I try to focus on building relationships and let the chips fall.

One problem with some newsletters is the difficulty in unsubscribing to the newsletter. Keeping readers who don’t want your newsletter is not worth it. It’s a waste of money to email readers who want nothing to do with the newsletter. If they’re gonna delete it, then make it quick and painless to get off your list.
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