How to send a newsletter in an online store and measure its effectiveness? 7 answers to frequently asked questions and practical tips.

A well-run newsletter is one of the most important sales channels in an online store. Learn how to send a professional newsletter and measure its effectiveness in an online store.

1. What is a newsletter?
2. Newsletter or spam?
3. How to acquire addresses for the newsletter?
4. How to send a newsletter?
5. How often to send messages?
6. Good newsletter from the start. Is it worth it?
7. How to measure the effectiveness of a mailing campaign?

What is a newsletter?

In the simplest terms, a newsletter is an email message sent to a group of recipients who have expressed a desire to receive such a message. The newsletter is sent periodically. It is required that the user can unsubscribe from the newsletter at any time.

Only add addresses to the mailing list if someone has given their consent.

Newsletter or spam?

If our message is sent to a person who has not given their consent to receive it, then such a message is referred to as spam.

If we send a message to a group of recipients and many of them mark our message as spam, then other emails from us, also to other users, may be automatically blocked. Such a mechanism is used by many companies, such as Google (Gmail) and Apple (Apple Mail).

Never send spam in your store.

How to acquire addresses for the newsletter?

There are several ways to acquire email addresses:

• Sign up for the newsletter on the website.
• Adding an address during the ordering process in an online store.
• In advertising campaigns.

Subscribing to the newsletter

The most common way to add an address is to place a link or subscription form in the footer. The user provides the address and confirms it by clicking a special link in the subscription information message.

In the SOTESHOP online store, this element is automatically added after activating the newsletter: Newsletter in the store

Adding an address during the ordering process

When placing an order, users provide an email address. A common and effective method of obtaining consent for the newsletter is the possibility of automatically adding such an address during the ordering process. Most often, consent is given by one additional click in the form.

This element is also automatically added in the configuration of the SOTESHOP online store: Newsletter configuration

Advertising campaigns

A proven way to obtain email addresses is advertising campaigns. This works in such a way that a form for subscribing to the newsletter appears with the advertisement. You can also use the form on the store page.

Encouragement and thanks

It is worth remembering that the customer does not add his address for the sake of adding it. We should present additional benefits of subscribing to our newsletter e.g.: additional materials, guides, discounts, gifts, which the customer will receive in return for subscribing to the newsletter.

How to send a newsletter?

Having an online store, we can send a newsletter in 2 ways:

• Directly from the online store program
• From another program for managing the newsletter.

Many platforms for running an online store have a built-in newsletter sending function. In most cases, these are very simple systems that have limited functionality and the ability to measure effectiveness. Often, a separate paid integration with an external system is required to activate more advanced newsletter features.

The SOTESHOP online store has a professional newsletter system built in, which allows for easy creation of beautifully looking messages and measuring opens, clicks and conversions. Messages sent from the SOTESHOP system look great both on desktop computers and mobile devices.

Watch the video and learn how to send a newsletter in the SOTESHOP online store.

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• New version of the newsletter in SOTESHOP 8. New template, entry reports and sales conversions.
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How often to send messages?

To send a message, first of all we need to have something to send. A good idea is to combine a blog with a newsletter. If we add an article to the blog once a week, we can combine it with the newsletter. It is important that our newsletter contains mainly benefits for the recipients. It is assumed that a good solution is:

• Sending a newsletter 1-2 times a week.
• Offering direct sales no more than in 20% of messages.

The best day to send a newsletter is Wednesday from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.

The above data should be adapted to your industry and the specifics of the business. They may change, but it is worth setting these data, planning and measuring their effectiveness.

Good newsletter from the start. Is it worth it?

It doesn't matter if we have 10 or 1000 addresses in the mailing list. From the very beginning, it is worth planning and preparing the newsletter well. It is not only the quantity that counts, but above all the effectiveness and continuous improvement of the entire process. Good solutions, tested and optimized, will give better results in the future and allow faster scaling of marketing activities.

If we can send a good and effective newsletter to 100 people, then with a high probability we can successfully replicate our activities, addressing them to a group of 1000 or 10000 people.

How to measure the effectiveness of a mailng campaign?

There are many parameters related to the newsletter, but 3 are the most important:

• Number of message openings
• Number of clicks
• Sales conversion

For the sake of simplifying calculations, we assume that the following data applies to a database of more than 100 addresses.

Number of message openings 15-20%

This value indicates how many times the messages from the newsletter were opened. The intention of the sender is that this number should indicate the number of people who read the newsletter, but the reality is a bit different;)

• This value is counted each time the message is opened.
• Opening does not mean reading.
• Some mail systems hide openings and we don't see them in the reports.
• Other systems report message opening even if the user does not see it.
• Due to privacy policies, tracking mail openings is gradually being restricted by various systems.

With so many unknowns, it is difficult to determine the actual number of people who opened and read the message. Therefore, instead of guessing, it is worth taking the number of openings as a parameter for comparison between similar messages sent. If the value increases, we are going in the right direction, if it decreases, it is worth looking into it.

It is assumed that the average number of newsletter openings is approximately: 15-20%.

Number of clicks 2-5%

The number of clicks, in contrast to the number of openings, is a much more accurate parameter. This is the main parameter that we should take into account to assess the effectiveness of the newsletter. Each link in the newsletter has a special code, thanks to which we can count the number of link calls after clicking. Even if the link leads to an external page.

It is assumed that the average number of newsletter clicks is: 2-5%

Why are average values so important?

If we send a newsletter and have, for example, 20% openings and 5% clicks, we should be very pleased. If someone tries to significantly increase these values, especially with a larger number (over 1000) of addresses, they are doomed to failure from the start. The costs will be high and the effect will be small. That is why average values are so important. Thanks to them, we can precisely define the goal and optimize our actions so that with minimal effort, the results and the benefits derived from them are as great as possible.

How to measure conversion from the newsletter?

The SOTESHOP online store has a built-in ADS Tracker conversion measurement system. It allows you to track conversions from any link up to 180 days. What's more, the system shows conversions that are omitted by Google, Facebook for technical reasons. ADS Tracker has the advantage over external systems that it works within the same domain and is not subject to the restrictions imposed on external systems for analyzing entries and sales.

Learn more about the ADS Tracker system: ADS Tracker. Measuring the effectiveness of advertising.

To measure sales conversions from the newsletter, just add a special link from ADS Tracker to the newsletter. Each click on the link will be remembered and if someone places an order, even many days after visiting the newsletter, this information will be found in the ADS Tracker report and directly in the order.

Summary

Regardless of the industry, it is worth conducting marketing activities using a newsletter. It has the advantage over external advertising systems that customers directly give us permission to add the address to the newsletter and no one, except the customer, can take away this consent. A well-conducted mailing campaign can have a significant impact on results and reach values of 20%, even 30% of total sales in the store.

Store update

If you no longer have access to updates, take advantage of the new offer and individual discount.

Updates and technical support are currently offered in the form of subscription plans. As part of this service, we also provide an update to version 8. For each of our previous customers, we have prepared an attractive individual discount.

Related Pages

• SOTESHOP. Newsletter Documentation.
• SOTESHOP Online Store Price List.
• SOTESHOP Online Store