When you have an opt-in newsletter for your website or blog, your focus is getting your subscriber number as high as you can. Obviously, the more people that receive your newsletter, the more effective it will be in helping your image and your business. However, there is one person that should be subscribing to your newsletter...the most
important one.
You.
Why is it important to subscribe to your newsletter? Because that's the only way you can get the "end-user" experience. This can be very valuable if you take the time to read your newsletter with a critical eye, and ask yourself some objective questions:
- How does the title of your newsletter look in the subject line of your email client? Can it be improved to better reflect your goals?
- Does the content display the way it should? Most stand-alone email clients will do a good job of displaying your newsletter the way you intend, but online-based email systems (such as Hotmail, Yahoo and GMail) can sometimes mangle your newsletter's formatting.
- Is your newsletter easy to read?
- Does the marketing message overpower the content, therefore running the risk of turning some subscribers off?
- Is there an easy method of opting out included in your newsletter?
There are other reasons for subscribing to your own newsletter, but to me the most important is this...you need to experience your newsletter from the perspective of a subscriber to truly know what your subscribers are receiving...and how to make it as effective as possible.
