Frequently Asked Questions
General Questions
- I hate spam. How do I keep my newsletter
from being spam?
A responsible email newsletter is not spam. You
must have a legitimate reason to have the
recipient's email address – whether from an existing business relationship
or a customer's request to subscribe to your
newsletter. When emailed, recipients must
always be given the option to immediately
unsubscribe. Being responsible and providing
relevant, useful content will give your readers
a positive experience, which will help you
build traffic to your website, increase brand
awareness, solidify customer retention, and
strengthen customer relations. The last thing
you want to do is frustrate your customers
by sending them something they don't want.
Messages sent from the RapidNewsletter system
will comply with Federal regulations from
the CAN-SPAM Act.
- What is relevant and useful content?
A good newsletter provides content that your
target audience can use. For example, if your
business is in home décor,
your target audience can use advice on mixing
and matching fabric, textures, and colors.
Or, they can use information on the latest
trends in décor. Perhaps you can show them how
to give their family room a makeover using
products and supplies found at your store.
On the other hand, telling them the history
of your business, although it may be of interest,
is information that your target audience can
do little with.
- Where do I find relevant and useful content?
You may not always have the
time to write your own relevant and useful
content. Don’t worry! The Internet
contains a wealth of information. Just make
sure you cite the source of your content,
or request permission to reproduce an article
if necessary. In the forthcoming “Resources” section
of this website, you will find tools to assist
you in deciding what is good content.
Creating and Executing your RapidNewsletter
- How often are email newsletters sent?
Email newsletters may be sent as often as you wish –
daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, etc. However,
the frequency should be correlated to the level of relevant
and usable content you can offer. For example,
grocery stores and restaurants may run weekly specials
that justify weekly dialogues. On the other hand,
a flower shop may just send monthly newsletters to
remind its target audience of birthdays, specials days,
or holidays. Both examples would be supplemented with
content relevant to the occasion. Email newsletters
are most often sent on a monthly basis.
- How long will it take to create and send my email newsletter?
Your Internet connection speed, the size of the
images you use, and the length of your articles
will dictate how long it takes you. Some newsletters
will take less than 15 minutes to put together,
while others may take an hour or two.
- Do my
images need to have a particular size
or format?
Images do not need to be of a particular size.
When you upload an image, the server will automatically
scale the image based on the specifications of
your unique, customized template. Uploaded images
need to be in JPEG format.
- How do I get images to use in my email newsletters?
You can get images from the Internet as long as
you request permission to use them. You can
also take images with a digital camera or
a film camera. Film camera pictures would
need to be developed on a photo CD or scanned.
- How do I obtain email addresses to add to
my subscriber list?
As you “touch” (make contact with) an existing or prospective
customer, you can invite them to
sign up for your email newsletter to learn about
upcoming events and specials. You can collect their
email address right on the spot. You can also provide
a link on your website to allow them to sign up
themselves.
If you already have an email list, you can import
it into the system. Users will always have the
right to unsubscribe, and any addresses you upload
will be checked against this list to protect their
privacy.
