Using the Newsletter to Make Your Membership Skyrocket

"Extra! Extra! Read all about it!"  These words (or something like them) have been shouted for over a century on just about every major street corner.  People love the news.  People want the news.  The odds are, you have news to give your prospects and the newsletter is the ideal tool for the job.  If you know how to effectively activate, create, and manage your newsletter, you can have yourself a virtual empire!

A newsletter is really just an e-mail sent to subscribers or those who have expressed interest in your product or service.  It is a way to keep in touch with prospects.  It can be seen as a "partnership" where your prospects agree to receive e-mail from you and you agree to send them e-mail worth reading.  An e-mail newsletter can be as simple as a plain text e-mail or as complex as a HTML e-mail loaded with graphics.

So how does iGrOOps do newsletters?  Here is the process I use with many of my online groups.  It works extremely well for me, and will work for most other online groups as well. (note: the newsletter feature is available on the Pro accounts only, but the concepts will work for any group)

Activate. First activate your newsletter feature.  This is done in your home page settings under the "Pro Options" section.  I usually create a custom message to appear in the signup box.  A few carefully crafted words can have a huge effect on signups.  Assuming your newsletter is free, make sure you state that it is free.  It is also a good idea to give prospects a gift for signing up.  You can include a URL in your e-mail footer you create that leads to a ebook, coupon, or something of value.  Once activated, your newsletter sign up box will appear on your home page of your iGrOOp using your group's color theme.

Create.  iGrOOps newsletters are simple.  They are plain text email.  Why?  Because even today more people accept plain e-mail than HTML.  More and more people are reading e-mail on text-based phones, and more and more HTML e-mail is disregarded as spam -- technically and psychologically.  Anyone can create an amazing text-based newsletter; very few can create a great HTML one.

Here are some points to remember when creating a newsletter:

• The newsletter is already individually addressed to each member, so it appears it is a direct communication from you, to him or her.  The message starts out with their name, then a comma, so no need to start off your letters with anything generic or corny like "dear friend" (which would get caught in about 90% of spam filters by the way).
• Join information and unsubscribe info is already appended to every message.  No need to add these.
• Your footer you create in the homepage settings area where you activated your newsletter, should contain your call to action -- this is the sales pitch.  This will appear right before the join and unsubscribe links.
• And most importantly, send out something of value!  The moment you start using your newsletter strictly for trying to get subscribers to buy, is the moment you start getting a large number of these subscribers "jumping ship" (unsubscribing).  Ease them into the sales process.  The net overall effect of the e-mail should be positive information to them.

Manage.  Managing a newsletter list is like taking care of a plant -- it needs regular attention to continue to grow and be healthy.  Here are some suggestions:

• Delete subscribers who are already members of your group.  These are easily spotted by the person icon in the status column.  You do not need to delete group members from your newsletter, but I suggest it.  You should use your newsletter as a tool to convert non-members into members.  Once members sign up, they should get their own regular mailings through your group, with more detail and less teasers.
• Delete members with bounced e-mail.  If a member's email address bounced, you will see a red "x' icon by the name in the status.  If you can see an obvious error with the e-mail, re-subscribe the person with the corrected address, either using the tool on your homepage or the import feature.  It is suggested that you do not delete a subscriber until after three bounces.  iGrOOps makes it easy for you to follow this rule because after 3 bounces the delete checkbox by the name will be checked by default for each bounced address.  Then you just need to click the delete button.  You can tell how many bounces there have been by placing your mouse over the bounced e-mail icon.
• Import new addresses you collect from other sources.  Think about all the ways you can build your list.  As a speaker, I have a printed sheet that I bring with me to my events, asking people to join my mailing list.  When I get to my PC, I just manually enter the names and e-mail addresses into my list using the import feature.

The newsletter is the start to your sales funnel and an amazing way to see your membership skyrocket.  Activate it, write the messages, and manage the list on a regular basis and you will be well on your way to healthy membership growth.

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