When we first set out to create and publish a newsletter for LBDesign, we knew it would be a challenge. The stories of failed small business newsletters are aplenty. Yet, we also appreciate that a great number of businesses use newsletters as part of their marketing plan. We tasked ourselves with creating a newsletter service that would be easy for us to manage, fun to produce and that delivered significant returns on investment. As we celebrate the one year anniversary of our newsletter, we are delighted to report that we succeeded on every account.
Doubling Industry Averages for Open Rates and Click Throughs
As you can see in the graphic above, our monthly newsletter more than doubled the average open rates for our industry (Creative Services/Agency). The industry average was 20.2%; our open rate was 42.5%. The highest open rate that we achieved was 51.33% in May 2014.
Our click through rate was also well above industry averages. In fact, we more than doubled that too! The creative industry average is 2.9% and ours was a whopping 7.0%! Our highest click through rate was 11.5%.
Measuring Returns on Investment
As a small business, we need to ensure that the time we spend on self-promotion is effective. We have to deliver a financial return on the investment of our time and money. On that account, we’re very happy to share that our monthly newsletter was a resounding success: sales tracked from our newsletter totaled 10% of our annual revenues. And given that 2014 was our best year ever in the USA, that’s no small number.
A Fun Task that Our Readers Enjoyed
Over the course of 2014, we received many compliments and flattering emails about how much people loved reading our newsletter. People enjoyed meeting our clients, suppliers and friends. In fact, the CTO of a technology firm told us that of the many newsletters he receives, our newsletter is one of the few that he actually looks forwarding to reading. How’s that for a compliment?
We Can Help You!
On the back of our first year of success, we’ve already begun to assist some of our clients with their own respective newsletters. We’d be thrilled at the opportunity to work with you on your project too! To chat about how we can help you achieve higher open rates, more engagement and ultimately, more money, from your newsletter, please get in touch!
