Teaming for Technology Colorado

Recently, I've received several inquiries about how to create and send enewsletters. Enewsletters can be a far less expensive alternative, or addition, to traditional printed newsletters, and they can be very effective. However, enewsletters are not really free and may involve just as much work as traditional formats. There is, perhaps unfortunately, no perfect, one-size-fits-all solution for email newsletters or other mass email. Therefore, it's important to take a good look at the options and explore the decision-making process for selecting a enewsletter solution.

To begin with, we'll address who is receiving the enewsletter and, second, what sort of enewsletter you'll be sending. In the last section, we'll cover the three processes in enewsletter management -- newsletter creation and templating, distribution, and list management -- and broadly outline the types of tools you can use to accomplish your goals.

So, the first questions that need to be answered don't involve technology, but people.

Who is your audience?

The more precisely you can define who your recipients are, the better you can tailor your technological choices to target them. Acting on "rules of thumb" will only get you so far with any communication, and enewsletters are no exception. While it's easy to say "don't send email blasts on Friday," it's important to realize that your audience might be different. Are they busy professionals checking their messages Monday through Friday, nine to five, or full time parents reading through their personal email accounts weekend afternoons? Age, ethnicity, gender, hobbies and interests, etc. ... these sorts of demographics will help you best develop your message and delivery strategy.

Our purpose here, however, is to discuss enewsletter development and delivery, not marketing messaging. Thus, for our purposes today, focus on defining your audience in terms of its relationship to your organization, size, and technical capability.

Beginning with relationships, to whom are you sending your enewsletter? Is this an update going out to the board? Or to your volunteers and staff? Existing donors? People in the community who've expressed interest in your organization? A mishmash of everyone who's ever sent you and email or given you a business card? A list of potential donors you purchased? Ask yourself how involved your audience is in your organization and honestly assess how much they care about what you have to say. That question may seem harsh, but this reflection will prove invaluable later.

The tools you use to develop and deliver an enewsletter may be very different for different sized lists. It's not necessarily important to know exactly how many people you will be emailing, but it's important to start with a good general idea. Try to estimate at least to the nearest zero: 10 or less, 100 or less, <1000, <10k, etc. Further, do you see this list growing substantially or quickly? A staff and volunteers subscription list may be stable at around 50 people. However, your list of interested community members might be 5000 – and growing quickly! Secondarily, consider how frequently you intend to send enewsletters.

Finally, and trickiest to qualify, what is the technical capability of your audience? This capability needs to consider both the recipients' personal abilities and the type of equipment they are using. Consider the speed of the Internet connections and how modern their machines are likely to be. What applications are your readers likely to be comfortable using? In this area it is very easy to make potentially erroneous assumptions about your audience and rely on rules-of-thumb. Do not decide unilaterally that your audience is elderly and therefore technically incapable, low-income and therefore not connected, or young and therefore on email all the time. Find out.

As we go on, I will occasionally refer back to these three ideas and their affect on your choice of tools and methods for mass email delivery; so have at least a general idea of your audience's relationship, size, and technological capability.

Putting the [first] "E" in Enewsletters

Having figured out who will be receiving, and ideally reading, the enewsletter, it's time to evaluate the format of your newsletter. There are two general formats, with various subformats for each. Very generically, your enewsletter can be sent as text or as an attachment.

Text newsletters are easily the most common in many circles. A text newsletter can either be formatted or unformatted, which are often called "plain text" and "rich text," respectively. In short, plain text is exactly what it sounds like – no italics, colors, underlining, images, or other formatting. Rich text, often HTML, allows for layout and formatting much like a webpage including, importantly, inline hyperlinks, which allow you to link to online information without breaking the flow of the text.

Attachment-based newsletters are most commonly distributed as PDF files. PDF stands for portable document format, and it is designed to deliver printed pages electronically. PDFs therefore allow the creator to develop an enewsletter identical to a paper version, and if you plan on sending both physical and electronic newsletters (presumably to different individuals) this might be a good way to reduce the time and energy spent developing the same newsletter twice for paper and electronic distribution. That said, PDFs can grow large quickly, so keep a careful eye on file size; if you plan on exceeding a page or two, PDF might not be the best choice.

You might consider instead simply sending a document saved in the format of your favorite word processor. In a word, don't. You may use Microsoft Word, Star Office, ApplixWare, WordPerfect, OpenOffice, Lotus, emacs, AppleWorks, or any number of other options to compose text. Unless you know your audience's technological situation well enough (no assumptions!) to correctly identify what software they have installed, don't use a format any more proprietary than necessary.

The choice between the formats is not as simple as flashier-is-better, though clearly people do prefer something that looks nice, given the choice. Briefly, some important considerations include formatting, spam filters, message size, and accessibility.

Plain text provides the least flexibility in formatting, rich text provides a substantial improvement, but only attachments can allow true pixel-perfect page layout. Importantly, only an attachment can give you control over fonts. (I've been amused to see organizations establish a non-standard font for use in email templates and signatures. If the recipients don't happen to have your specific font installed, the email client will best-guess, and your reader will usually see Times, Ariel, Courier, or similar.)

There are a few downsides to richer enewsletters, however. Most notably, these emails are more likely to be trapped by spam or virus filters. Further, anyone using a slower internet connection will have to wait – potentially a long time. Perhaps most importantly, richer enewsletters may be less accessible. If your recipients' email clients do not support HTML, they may not see your message at all or have to view it in a web browser – will they be comfortable handling that? If your readers are vision impaired, they may be using screen-readers to listen to your enewsletter. HTML may be sent in both rich and plain text to accommodate these accessibility needs, but PDFs cannot readily be set up this way.

Again, this comes back to knowing your audience. If you're not sure, I'd suggest you use use plain text / HTML as it is generally simpler for you and the recipient.

Tools of the eNewsletterer

At this point, hopefully you have an idea of who your audience is and what sort of enewsletter you want to send. In this next section, we'll explore three different groups enewsletter solutions: desktop email clients, self-service server software, and full-service providers. Broadly, we'll touch on newsletter creation and templating, distribution, and list management, as mentioned before, but specifically (if quickly) we'll try to look at subscribing and unsubscribing, bounce handling, spam filters, domain and blacklist issues, throttling, attachments, legal stuff, email testing and reporting.

Email Clients

The easiest way to get into enewsletters for many, with its seductively low barrier to entry, is through the use of a standard desktop email client. Two popular choices, among many, include

• Microsoft Outlook
• Mozilla Thunderbird

Depending on your software setup, you may use either a "mail merge" or an address list to distribute your enewsletter to many recipients with one click. In a merge, your email software combines a list of emails with a template and creates a unique email for each addressee. The advantages to this approach are that you can personalize the message and, because each email is sent to one personal email address, the messages are less likely to marked as spam. However, out of the box, Outlook cannot attach files, such as PDFs, to merged emails, and Thunderbird does not support merges at all. An email list, on the other hand, basically blind-carbon-copies the enewsletter to each recipient. You cannot personalize the enewsletters, and it is more likely they will be marked as spam by filters, but nearly any email client will support lists with attachments. That said, given the choice, managing a separate email database or spreadsheet and merging it into the email client is the better choice.

Composition of enewsletters using standard email clients is also exceptionally straight-forward because you will use the same tools as you might use to compose any email. Thunderbird has a built-in WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) editor, and Outlook typically utilizes Word as an editor. Either will allow you to create rich- and/or plain-text enewsletters. If you are interested in sending PDFs, these can be created using the standard Adobe tools. Alternatively, here are two free alternatives for easily creating PDFs:

• CutePDF Writer
• OpenOffice

While it is easy to create and distribute emails via the email client on your computer, there are several serious downsides to consider.

The most obvious issues involve list management. Desktop email software does not include a mechanism for individuals to automatically be added or removed from your distribution list, which means a staff person or volunteer will need to manually process each subscribe and unsubscribe request. Further, depending on the nature of your email list, you may find you have a great number of bad email addresses, which may mean hundreds, or possibly thousands, of emails bouncing back into your inbox. The time required to manually manage this may not be insubstantial.

On a somewhat related note, desktop email software will be unable to generate statistics or other reports to inform you how effective your enewsletter campaign is.

More behind-the-scenes, your email client software will likely not be able to properly throttle your enewsletter blast. Throttling, in this context, is the term used to describe the delayed sending of groups of emails. Many hosting services set limits on how many emails you can send per second, per hour, or per day as a means to ensure quality of service and prevent spam. Siteground, for example, limits email sending to 400 per hour. Hostgator limits email sending to 200 per hour. Check with your service provider to see what policies are in place, and ensure that you do not exceed these limits. With standard email clients, this generally has to be done manually by splitting long email lists into shorter ones.

Finally, possibly the most important issue with using your own email software to send enewsletters is the possibility of the blacklisting of your domain. Even if you keep up with anti-spam laws and ensure your enewsletter meets the legal standards required to "not be spam," that effort won't matter if recipients think you are sending spam. Should Internet service providers decide that email coming from your address is spam, they may block all incoming email from your domain. Furthermore, some service providers subscribe to blacklist services which may cause emails from your domain to be blocked to any number of providers. It can be difficult to clear your name and remove your domain from these blacklists, so it is best to stay off them in the first place. Providing clear opt-out instructions and otherwise complying with regulations helps, but whenever you directly mass-email you take the risk of being blacklisted.

Concluding this section, I would suggest using an email client for enewsletters only for smaller (probably under 100 or so), trusted distribution lists such as volunteers, board members, and the like. This will avoid most throttling issues and recipients of this nature are unlikely to tag you as spam. Further, these groups may be the sort you target with PDF or other rich content, which is generally easy to send via desktop email client software. However, manually managing an enewsletter in this way will become unwieldy quickly with larger lists.

Self-Service Server Software

Moving beyond the desktop, there are software packages which can be run on your web/mail server which are often low-cost or even free. If you currently use a content management system (CMS) such as Joomla! or Drupal, there may be integrated solutions available. For example, the T4T enewsletter is currently distributed using the Simplenews module for Drupal.

• Drupal Simplenews
• CiviCRM
• phpMailer
• Mailman

As mentioned, Simplenews is a module for Drupal. CiviCRM, phpMail, and Mailman will operate stand-alone or in conjunction with a CMS or static webpage. Each of these software packages takes a slightly different angle. Simplenews is rather, well, simple and sports few features beyond list management and throttling. CiviCRM is reasonably robust constituent relation management database and may be a more involved solution than an organization only interested in an enewsletter is seeking. Mailman and phpMailer are industry-standard group mailing managers. Mailman's focus is on email discussion lists and two-way communication, but it can be used for enewsletters as well. phpMailer is designed for one-way communication such as enewsletters.

Newsletter creation and templating using self-service server software is typically not as integrated as desktop client software. Some of the services integrate WYSIWYG editors, some do not, but in either case I have generally found it easier to compose the newsletter off-line and import. If you are creating a plain-text enewsletter, this matters little, but if you intend to send a richer, HTML enewsletter, you may wish to use a desktop HTML editor. Consider

• Dreamweaver
• Nvu
• Mozilla Seamonkey

List management, on the other hand, is typically far, far easier with self-serve online services than with desktop email clients. Each of the packages will provide automated subscribe and unsubscribe services such as opt-out links at the bottom of enewsletters and sign-up forms for websites. Depending on how tightly your web/email host allows you to integrate the software with your email server, some packages will even automatically, intelligently handle bounces. Reporting services, again, may or may not be available. It is unfortunately difficult to generalize the features available because it will vary based on your web/email host.

Problematically, however, the emails sent by these self-hosted software still originate from your domain's mail servers and consequently, you do run the risk of being blacklisted. The software packages are designed to include the appropriate opt-out links and throttling, which may significantly reduce the chances, but it is important to be aware that the risk is still present.

In general, self-service server-based software solutions are appropriate for organizations looking to save money by investing a little technical expertise. While not difficult to set up, they are not the out-of-the-box solutions provided by full-service providers (next) or as familiar as an email client (previous). If properly managed, these self-service servers can handle lists of almost any size.

Full-Service Providers

For the organization looking to deliver an enewsletter without as much care and feeding, there are a number of companies that will do most of the legwork in exchange for some money. Here are a few:

• ConstantContact
• iContact
• MailerMailer

The actual creation of the newsletter can be accomplished via web-based WYSIWIG tools or by importing, and these services tend to do a reasonable job of allowing for online templating. There are many standard templates you can use to start from, and odds are you've actually received enewsletters based on the default templates before. Since these services are designed for this purpose, it's generally quick and easy to get from zero to done.

List management is also handled similarly easily. The subscribes, unsubscribes, and bounce-handling are all automated. Furthermore, automatic statistics and report generation are included.

The biggest advantage, however, is that the distribution and legal aspects of mass emailing are handled by someone else. Because you are not using your own email server, throttling is not an issue and you do not run the risk of having your domain blacklisted; the companies do the work to keep themselves in the good graces of ISPs to ensure their clients' emails get maximum distribution.

There are, of course, negatives to these full-service services. Firstly, there is the cost. These services typically charge on a sliding scale based on the number of email subscribers, so a smaller list costs less than a larger list. There are nonprofit discounts available. None-the-less, the cost is more than free. The monthly fees are typically assessed regardless of whether an enewsletter is sent (that said, list management is an ongoing service that is important and potentially time-consuming). For larger lists where manual management has become unwieldy, this may prove more attractive, but for smaller lists it may be harder to justify the cost.

Secondly, you do not have complete control over the layout and branding of your enewsletters. For compliance reasons, opt-out information and the like is placed at the bottom of each of your emails and largely outside your control. Because these services are meant for commercial as well as nonprofit companies, they treat everyone as a commercial enterprise for anti-spam purposes, which may or may not suit your wants. Further, they tend to add their own (small) logo or self-promotion text to the bottom of emails.

As with self-service servers, paid services can offer a solid enewsletter product that scale from a handful to many thousands of emails. If your organization lacks the technical expertise to do-it-yourself, outsourcing the technical tasks makes more sense than mismanaging it internally. Because these services are relatively low-cost and relatively turn-key, they are popular with small- to medium- sized organizations. If your email distribution list is small and trusted, there is probably no need for a professional service.

There are also a number of companies that offer full-service, integrated Internet marketing services specifically targeted at nonprofits. Two such companies are

• Kintera
• Convio

If you happen to be using one of these services and are not familiar with their enewsletter offerings, you're sort of missing the boat. Or, if your organization is looking for a full-service emarketing company, these are the sorts of organizations to consider.

Conclusion

Hopefully, you've now thought about what format your enewsletter might take and what tools you might use to develop and distribute it. Most importantly, you should be looking at these questions in the context of who your audience is and what their needs and expectations are. There is certainly no one answer that will suit each organization's needs!

This is certainly not meant to be a comprehensive survey, but hopefully it includes a few questions and potential products you had not thought of exploring. If you'd like to learn more, I'd suggest checking out these two articles by Idealware:

• A Few Good Email Newsletter Tools
• Choosing Bulk Email Software to Match Your Communication Goals