An effective e-newsletter can be a powerful marketing tool and a great way to establish trust and credibility with potential future customers.  I can say from first hand experience that my e-newsletter has led to new clients and new revenue.

However, the biggest mistake I regularly observe is businesses adding people to their e-newsletter mailing list without permission – or even the slightest indication that the individual is remotely interested in the businesses products or services.

Just because you had an online LinkedIn conversation with someone – or even became a LinkedIn connection – doesn’t mean the individual wants to receive your e-newsletter.  Many people don’t like to receive information in this format!  You have to allow people to consume information in a way that is most meaningful to them.

Building a distribution list of 500 or a 1000 or even 10,000 email addresses is meaningless if most of the recipients never asked to receive your newsletter.  I find myself continuously being added to e-newsletters I never subscribed to.   Please, have a conversation with me and ask me if I’m interested in subscribing – otherwise you are not only wasting my time you are wasting your time.  And the issue is greater than just the mild irritation of receiving yet another email in my inbox that I didn’t ask for - more importantly you are damaging your brand.  Each time your email pops up uninvited in an individual’s inbox he or she is likely thinking:  “SPAM!”  And I can assure you that is not establishing a positive brand identity.

And don’t confuse someone opening your e-newsletter with someone actually being interested in it.  I’ve talked with business owners who were convinced that adding every contact to their e-newsletter mailing list has been a successful strategy because many of these recipients open the email.  Uh huh.

From first hand experience I can tell you that as I’m cruising through my inbox I often open emails, quickly realize it’s an e-newsletter I didn’t subscribe to, and then immediately delete the email.  The statistics of the e-newsletter will indicate that I’ve opened the email – falsely leading the business owner to believe the email was successful.

However, the real measure of success with an e-newsletter is what people do when they open the e-newsletter.  Are they clicking on hyperlinks?  Are they contacting you for more information?

Having 50 qualified and interested subscribers to your e-newsletter is FAR more valuable than having 500 who don’t care.  It’s the same rule for Facebook Friends, Twitter Followers and LinkedIn Connections… we all get caught up in the numbers game but reality (and results) should tell you something entirely different.

To position yourself for e-newsletter success you must invite people to sign-up for your e-newsletter or ask their permission to be added to your distribution list.  This approach will position you for the greatest e-newsletter results.

Geoff Evans, Founder of Social Media Coach

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