Week 10 - Email Newsletter / Marketing

     For my business, I think that Newsletters should be sent quarterly. Post Queen Bee Sales Season, Pre-Queen Bee Sales Season, During Queen Bee Sales Season, and one over Summer on any business technology updates, news, and staffing introductions to the customers. I think the important part of a newsletter is that the customer engages and reads the newsletter, so the technology aspect is critical to reaching customers.

Based on studies, the open rate is 15-25% for email newsletters, so one-in-four people will open an email newsletter if it does not get filtered into span or junk. Emails must be structured right and have the correct SPF domain records and DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication Reporting and Conformance) to prevent corporate email spoofing by hackers, and the like. If your environment is not set-up correctly, many mail hosts will simply reject your email because they believe it is not from a legitimate business source. You can use an outside service like Mailchimp but many corporate mail administrators using Mimecast will block the IPs to prevent corporate spam and not deliver the email content.

From a technological perspective, I would rather have customers opt-in to SMS Notifications and send them an SMS Link to my online newsletter instead of email. Studies show SMS has a 95% customer delivery rate and 70% of consumers think that SMS is a good way for a business to grab their attention. 66 percent of consumers prefer mobile messaging as a preferred method of communication, and 47% of consumers end up making a purchase because of SMS. 58% of consumers said texting is the most effective way to reach them quickly, and 40% of consumers check text notifications within 5 minutes of being received. I feel using SMS and a link to the Newsletter on my website will be the most effective way to engage my customers every quarter or four-times a year.

The newsletter content, hosted on our website, can provide steps to beginners on how to install a queen bee in the hive, how we ensure high-quality for our queen bees, types of queen genetics you want based on where you live, general news about beekeeping, new information about the business, and introduction to staff. The Newsletter could also reference our website and talk about our experience and training video’s that we place on the site. Additionally, the newsletter can cover technology and business process changes, training classes that we offer, and best practices for taking care of your bees. Last, if the weather is a problem for raising queen bees, that could be included in a newsletter to all customers right before the selling season begins so they are aware of possible delays.

Not related to beekeeping, I often receive newsletters from corporations that want you to buy their product or are offering information promoting a product. As an example, I have receive newsletters from gaming companies talking tech about new hardware coming into the market for gaming PCs, the value, speed, and specifications. Along with the newsletter, they may incorporate information about that product in an upcoming Black-Friday sale for customers. If you are a gamer, and you consistently receive newsletters evaluating new hardware coming to market, I think it’s an effective way to market your business; however, if the review is a newsletter “infomercial” and not an independent evaluation, I stop reading. I feel that providing real independent reviews with value is useful but simple product promotion with easily identifiable intent is detrimental to a business.

For selling queen bees, I have received limited newsletters. Most newsletters are from equipment manufacturers like Mann Lake advertising new products, they also sell queens and packaged bees. Queen bee sellers only advertise right before the season to remind customers that they are available to supply queen bees. The newsletters are very limited as I think that those in the beekeeping industry know the processes well and a simple reminder using a newsletter is helpful. I’m not sure how useful or effective they are so I would need to test the theory and see the response from customers. Honestly, I feel a simple SMS message to all customers with a order reminder and references to the website would be most effective.