Hi All!!
I registered for the trial with CC a few weeks ago and put together my first e-newsletter. I had great content and no 'spammy' verbiage. I have checked back to see my rate of 'opens' to see that of almost 100 emails that went out, only 5 different people opened it.

Is this the norm, or is there something I am missing....It's kind of disheartening for a first e-newsletter campaign

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Lidia Griffin - Majenic Virtual Solutions
Virtual Assistant Services for Real Estate Professionals

Were the recipients qualified people you knew? A lot of people delete those things because they get so much email (sorry to say it, but I know what I do). They say that direct snail mail is doing well with 1% interest, so maybe 5% isn't bad for email.

If you haven't done so, maybe you want to consider having something to offer to get people to opt-in to your mailing list and you may see better results.

I haven't done a lot of email marketing, but I have done a lot of direct snail mail and I have found that people may get my mailing and not call me immediately, but one, two, three months later they do call, when they need me. I sent out bookmarks last year and one lady who got one kept the bookmark in her desk drawer and everytime she opened the drawer, she saw it and I think 3 or 4 months later, she called me and we still work together.

If you'd like to see one of my bookmarks, pm me with your mailing address and I'll send you one.

Good luck.

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Julia

I don't think thats the norm.. I usually get about a 30-40% open rate.

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Tamika R. Johnson, MBA, Principal
administrative partners, llc
www.administrativepartners.net | http://adminpartners.blogspot.com

There are some guidelines to use to help get more emails opened. Constant Contact has tips on their website. Make sure your subject line is written in such a way that your readers want to open it. Yes, make sure you are sending it to people that wanted it in the first place. And don't give up!

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Sue L Canfield
AwesomeAssistant.info
My Blog

I send a newsletter with a descriptive subject line to actual clients that have optedin and I average a 40 - 50% open rate. I have even tried to resend it to those that did not open it and the open rate was about 15%. My theory is about half the people out there do not read their email unless it is directly related to their business. The good news is that a percentage of those that do open it respond and I generate some form of revenue.

When I visit client offices and see their Outlook folders I am always amazed at the number of unread emails that are just sitting there in the bold font.

Bottom line is email newsletters are not as effective as mailed newsletters and I look at it as getting what I paid for.

Thanks everyone for your responses!

Marketing Guy - I think that that is an amazing open rate, well above the norm. Kudos to you for getting your message out there. You mentioned that you also do mailed newsletters....what has you response rate been for those?

Awesome Assistant - Thanks for the tip. I am going to go back to the CC website and see how I can improve on my verbiage and get more opens.

Tamika J - I think that I need to revisit my title verbiage....even my warm prospects ignored the email

Julia W - I did one snail mail postcard earlier this year and was put off because I found that allot of them didn't get past the receptionists, etc and were not making it to the actual realtors. I'll PM you about the book mark.....thanks again!

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Lidia Griffin - Majenic Virtual Solutions
Virtual Assistant Services for Real Estate Professionals

The mailed newsletters are on behalf of Realtor clients so I do not get the direct feedback, but anecdotally speaking (is there such a word?) every time a newsletter goes out there is a jump in calls to the client and often someone calls to discuss a real estate transaction.
We enclose the newsletter in an envelope with an address label with the client's first and last name so it looks more personal and the Realtors return address so I am assuming the open rate is high. Most importantly they lie around a lot longer than an email newsletter and demonstrate a higher level of effort.

Just my thoughts.