Sending Newsletters to 1,000 Subscribers: Results & Delivery Times

[RMDave]

Just signed up and sent out my first newsletter to my 1,000 address list.

Are there certain domains that are slow to get deliveries? Are there certain domains that despite the services promotional materials, still consider newsletters to be spam?

How long does it normally take for the large percentage of your mailings to be "opened"?

 

[pampchefsarah]

Re: iContactThe only way to know if someone's received the e-mail, but not opened it, is to call and ask (if they're honest enough to admit it). Might be a good reason to call - to say you are trying a new e-mail service, and want to get feedback on how it's working.How long it takes for them to be opened depends on how often they check their e-mail. I've had people open some immediately (which always surprises me), and other people take days.

 

[RMDave]

Re: iContactThanks Sarah. I'm not so sure about having to call 1,000 people <g> but I'll give it a week and seek how the response stats are.

 

[pampchefsarah]

Re: iContactWhat?! What kind of customer service is that? You mean you're not willing to spend ALL day, every day, for a week calling customers?? Hmm, how about just calling those who have NOT opened the e-mail (or, a select few)?

 

[wadesgirl]

Re: iContactI usually only get 18-20% to show as opened.

 

[RMDave]

Re: iContact

I usually only get 18-20% to show as opened.

I wonder if the 80% ends up in spam folders.

 

[CAPCnewbie]

Re: iContactI've wondered the same thing. Wether it goes to spam or the people just delete the email without looking. Last month I sent out 180 of my newsletters and only 65 were opened. I hadnt thought of calling the 100 or so people that didnt open it.

 

[Jolie_Paradoxe]

Re: iContactI use emailbrain. Same concept but half the price. I've wondered too if they have been diverted to spam too. I sent my newsletter to about 300, and only 56 opened them! 22 bounced and 22 were not delivered. 16 of the 56 clicked around.

 

[esavvymom]

Re: iContactI wonder if the services are getting notified of all that are truly opened. It would be interesting if someone HAS called folks who didn't open the newsletter (according to the stats)- maybe a close friend or someone who you can just ASK?

 

[NooraK]

Re: iContact

I wonder if the 80% ends up in spam folders.

If the email is flagged as spam by the email program of the recipient, with iContact, they will be unsubscribed from any and all of your lists, and you'll see a "complaint" in your stats. The stats won't show you who the complaint is from, but you'll see the unsubscribe, and sometimes it's the only one, so it's obvious. It annoyed me, because I had several good customers say they stopped receiving my newsletter, and it turned out their ISP had flagged it as spam and iContact had unsubscribed them. Once that is done, there is absolutely no way I can re-subscribe them, not even to another list, because of r the "No Contact" status. Either they would have to provide a second email address, or I'd have to create a brand new account, neither of which are good options.

The "opens" reporting isn't perfect either. The only way iContact (or any other similar program) knows that the email was opened, is if there is some sort of connection created from the email back to the service. Usually, this means the person viewed the images, which are hosted remotely, and the email program has to retreive them. Conversly, this means if the recipient of the email opts to just read your text without downloading images (most email programs don't do it automatically these days), then there is no record with iContact that they opened it. The same applies if they view just the text version of your message.

I constantly have to remind myself that some people don't check their email every 10 seconds like I do.

 

[lesliec]

Re: iContactI'll throw out my customer opinion on this since I am a new consultant. I met my recruiter about a year and a half before I signed. She put me on her newsletter list. I opened it the first few months, and then didn't bother. I had too much going on, and wasn't interested in buying anything, I knew what was in it, but didn't have a need for anything at the time. It came to my inbox, sometimes I deleted it, sometimes I didn't, but it came in every month...... When I wanted to book a show, I knew where to find her info, when I thought about the business, I knew where to find it. Get the picture.
I may not be the typical customer, but for me, just seeing her newsletter in my inbox every month (and not even opening it) kept me connected enough, and loyal to her. I think some customers may not truly want to open and read it all, but you are keeping a connection with them by sending it out. Hope this helps and makes sense.

 

[NooraK]

Re: iContact

I'll throw out my customer opinion on this since I am a new consultant. I met my recruiter about a year and a half before I signed. She put me on her newsletter list. I opened it the first few months, and then didn't bother. I had too much going on, and wasn't interested in buying anything, I knew what was in it, but didn't have a need for anything at the time. It came to my inbox, sometimes I deleted it, sometimes I didn't, but it came in every month...... When I wanted to book a show, I knew where to find her info, when I thought about the business, I knew where to find it. Get the picture.
I may not be the typical customer, but for me, just seeing her newsletter in my inbox every month (and not even opening it) kept me connected enough, and loyal to her. I think some customers may not truly want to open and read it all, but you are keeping a connection with them by sending it out. Hope this helps and makes sense.

See, I think you actually are a typical customer. I have so many emails each day, that there are many I just delete without opening. But, like you said, it puts the name of the person who sent it to me in front of my face. I get emails from a TS lady, a PL lady and some other contacts, and although I rarely read, or even open, their emails, I know who to contact if I were to need something. And that's why I keep sending my newsletter, even when I only get open rates in the teens.