Awesome Email Marketing in Practice: Example 3 – Producteev Really Got It

I’m probably biased because I really dig the awesomeness of my former team at Producteev, but they really hit a homerun with their new newsletter, it’s basically a template of how to do it right – awesome guys (btw. I should write a piece on your awesome homepage as well)! Why you should take this as an example is straight forward: A good email marketing system produces outstanding ROI, it is one of those activities that will have the biggest bang for the buck and is a must for not only startups, but it should also be for every business. So here’s the newsletter (click for full-size) and read below why and what you can learn from it.

What is so great about this newletter is that it creates:

• Personal connection: “We’ve been pulling some all-nighters” – this is a team that is authentic and credible: A bunch of guys giving everything they have to get you a great product and service.
• Transparency: “In one month our user base doubled, and last week we celebrated the 100,000-task mark.”
• Reinforced Trust: The highlighted box shows links to posts on TechCrunch, Smashing Magazine and other recent press coverages. Having these kind of references reinforces trust – it tells the customer: yes, you really made a good choice, these influential voices think so too.
• Customer Value: Look at the full seven major product features launched by Producteev: “You asked for it, and we listened!” – Powerful, good stuff! Makes the customer feel really valued. Even more, soliciting feedback further underlines how the company puts the customer first: “Help us put your wisdom into making Producteev work for you”

Overall, also the structure of the newsletter is great: Not too short, not too long – and note how the newsletter appears nicely formatted despite that I haven’t loaded the pictures. The only point of improvement I would bring up is probably the subject line (“Producteev Two Takes the Online Task Management World by Storm”).  The subject line is the hardest and most important element in the whole newsletter since it significantly affects open rates. Let’s assume you send this to 10k users, the difference a 5% open rate can make is huge – that are 500 customers that can be sold, upsold, resold or retained.

Unfortunately, there is not too much research on open rates. The only indication I am aware of come from Mailchimp and, not quite for any context but still interesting, some research conducted by okcupid about what to say in a first message. Jason Cohen says why this can be relevant in his post on SEO and social media strategies. Below the results from the Mailchimp strategy (btw, Mailchimp has awesome newsletters as well!)

So what can you do right now to use some of this in your email strategy? Consider

• Adding a personal touch: Don’t be a perfectionist, don’t be too polished, connect on a personal level.
• Adding recent press mentions or customer testimonials: Not only do they reinforce trust but can significantly increase the customer lifetime value since you can nurture your leads with value added information.
• Be transparent: Communicate openly, be transparent. Do share numbers with your customers, they value your transparency and it improves your credibility.

If you have any other sources for research on newsletters, in particular subject lines, let me know in the comments. As I’m currently doing a lot of telephone prospecting, research on this could probably also be used to increase success rates in prospecting calls – any resources out there? And if you haven’t signed up for Producteev yet, go and do so now!