Ecommerce Web Design Blog

Sending your customers (and potential-customers who have signed up with you)  a newsletter may seem like a chore to write and send, but it is a powerful marketing tool that should not be underestimated.

ozCart shopping carts have a newsletter facility built in, which allows customers to "opt-in" (choose) to receive a regular newsletter from you. You can use your newsletter to keep your customers up-to-date as well as inform them about special offers and other promotions. If a customer has said they want to receive your newsletter it is not an invitation to bombard them with offers. It is an invitation to send them relevant and useful marketing promotions. Remember, they can opt-out at any time so it is your challenge to make sure that what you send them they will want to read and take you up on.

So what should you do?  The rule of thumb is don't push your product. Think about what your customers would find useful. Put yourself in their shoes. What would make you want to buy? What information would you find useful?

If you were selling children's toys, some useful articles you could include in the first few issues of your newsletter could be:

• What's "in" this year for Children's toys?
• Christmas sale specials
• Report from the 2008 European Toy Fair - toys coming up
• Interacting with your children and their toys
• Toys and child psychology
• Comments on ununsual or interesting international articles about toys
  
• .... etc.

One place to get great content for your newsletters is Google News. This has a lot of articles from online newspapers around the world. If there is something interesting you could write a comment on it or rework the article in Australian or NZ terms. What does it mean for us here?

Treat each newsletter as a mini magazine or newspaper. It must be short, interesting and relevant too.

When you are creating your newsletter and need Osc Works to develop you a newsletter template then you can put in a support ticket to our sales department and we would be happy to give you a quote.

Merry Xmas and happy newsletter writing.

Related Article: Getting started with your newsletter

How to get started on writing your own newsletters.

The first thing you will need to do is setup a newsletter template that you can edit every time you want to create and send a new newsletter. Try designing your template in a free HTML editor such as Coffee Cup. It's a good idea to signup to other newsletters to get an idea of how you want to design your newsletter.

Issue Numbers

Always start your newsletters with an issue number. This is good for keeping track of the newsletters you have already sent and also keeps your customers interested in future newsletters.  

Catchy Headings

Use catchy newsletter headings to get your customers attention. You want to make sure that when they receive your newsletter it has a title that will make them want to click on the newsletter and read it. Try using headings with words like "Hot Tips" or "Special Offers This Month". 

Newsletter Style

Decide on the style of your newsletter and stick to it. Use the same colours, fonts and styles that are used in your website. This makes your newsletter easy for customers to recognise when opening it.

Keep your writing simple

Keep your sentences simple and short and get to the point of what you're trying to tell your customers. Always start a new paragraph when starting a new topic.

Check spelling

Make sure your spelling and grammar are perfect. Your newsletter should always look professional.

Special Offer

Offer some kind of discount or special offer on your products to get your customers to your website. Try offering a discount coupon to new customers on their first order.

Eye candy

Use professional images or icons through your newsletters to get your customers attention. Try including a professional image of yourself.