The New E-zine Metric

WHEN E-ZINES first came out, chief marketing officers looked at the reports and were excited about using open rates and click-throughs to measure their success and justify the investment.

Today, CMOs are demanding more from metrics they use every day. Open rates and clickthroughs are only part of the equation: They need to know if the e-zine is contributing to actual sales. And it’d help if they could see if and how customers are interacting with the content.

My advice? Think like a magazine publisher and put the reader first. Here’s a three-part plan for achieving true e-zine success:

  1. Profile subscribers to understand their interests.

  2. Make sure the activity reports you get are used by both marketers and salespeople.

  3. Use the reports to define the content.

But let’s answer the big question: How do you push sales with an e-mail newsletter? There are several ways.

DRIVING SALES

Auto dealers are sending layered newsletters serving different levels of reader interest. Content is based on an individual’s profile