Over the next couple of issues, the IMN Team of Experts will be helping our readers produce newsletters with more impact by providing a select subscriber with an extensive review of their current program.  For our reviews, we’ll use our Five Steps to An Effective Newsletter Checklist that includes e-publishing strategy, design, content, list segmentation, and metrics.  Not only will these articles provide this subscriber with insight on how to improve their program, but every reader will learn something that they can utilize in their own newsletter as well. 

We’re starting this series with LoJack, the global leader in stolen vehicle recovery technology.

Around the world, more than 100,000 vehicles worth over $2 billion have been recovered using LoJack Corporation’s stolen vehicle recovery technology.  Deb Gabriel’s job as Marketing Communications Manager is to build a strong online relationship with LoJack’s customers who typically buy their product indirectly from a car dealership.  Before signing on with IMN about a year ago, the company had a traditional print newsletter that went to 25,000 customers.  Today, Deb has successfully transitioned her print readers into an online community of over 120,000 who are active and engaged subscribers.  She came to us asking how she might improve the look and feel, the navigation and the content of her newsletter, “The Inside Track.”  Here, in no particular order, are our “Five Steps to an Effective Newsletter” categories and how LoJack performs in each of these.   

#1 - Strategy

IMN Team Quick Tip: The use of the "Letters to the Editor" option in the IMN service gives people the opportunity to respond right within the article they are reading and may help increase reader interaction.

In discussing Deb’s strategy with her, it quickly became apparent that LoJack is achieving their goals of building a relationship with their customers.  Deb has substantially increased the subscriber base by almost 500% and she has employed various techniques to elicit tremendous interaction from these engaged readers.  In addition, she has also been able to promote the cross selling and upgrades of LoJack products.

One of Deb’s tools for getting LoJack customers involved in the newsletter is special offers, such as the Winter issue’s $200 discount for a friend or family member who buys a LoJack product.  These continually elicit good reader response as do the surveys which she includes in every issue.   

# 2 - Content

As to content, which was one of Deb’s noted areas of concerns, our only advice to Deb was to keep up what she was doing.   She’s doing a great job of including articles on a wide variety of topics, including a real live LoJack recovery story.  These are always intriguing and fun; they could even be expanded on with more detail for the readers.  The newsletter also includes informative and useful articles from industry experts like the Automobile Association of America (AAA), news from the company, and a variety of tips on car maintenance and related issues.  In other words, there’s something for everyone and this is what keeps readers coming back.

#3 - Metrics

Deb knows that the above-mentioned articles are what readers want because of her use of the metrics in IMN’s reporting and analysis system.  After each issue, Deb reviews reports such as Content Popularity that give her an understanding of how readers are interacting with LoJack’s newsletters.  She has found that the special offers and added-value articles like the AAA one continually have high readership and she is getting tremendous feedback from readers through her continued use of the online surveys, with over a 1000 readers sharing their thoughts on the increase of auto theft in the Winter Issue.

#4 - Design

In answer to her request for advice on navigation and look and feel, we believe there are several design refinements Deb could implement in order to achieve even more interactivity with her readers.  LoJack, like many companies who are used to working with print, started their online newsletter as an extension of their print version.  As we talk about in the Reality Marketing article in this issue, one of the consequences of the resulting design is that the real estate of Cover Page of the newsletter is not maximized because, like a print newsletter, there is one major story on the Cover Page.  With this approach, the ability for a reader to quickly grasp the complete essence of what the newsletter and the specific articles within the newsletter are all about is sacrified and readership may suffer.

Additional Design Suggestions for LoJack: Test putting the surveys in the left column versus at the end of articles. Increase brand awareness with a LoJack logo at the top, hot-linked to their web site. Use smaller pictures with text wrapped around them.

A good example for LoJack is their recovery stories.  These are fascinating, real life dramatic tales of how LoJack’s products work. Right now in "The Inside Track," there is a small topic "Recovery Story of the Month" buried in the upper left corner where a reader may or may not see it.  Imagine if there was a headline, right up front and center on the main section of the newsletter that says, “Sick Son Sleeping in Stolen Car," with a subhead and/or short synopsis that explains how within minutes the police were involved, the car was quickly recovered, and the son was safe.  

This brings us to another suggestion that we have for Deb.  If you look at our newsletter, Informed Marketer News, you’ll see we use Topics that are reflected both in the Table of  Contents as well as on the Cover Page.  This is a design treatment that helps increase the overall navigation of the newsletter.  For Lojack, they could use “Recovery Story” as the Topic, and then have a story-specific headline that is very informative.   

IMN Tutorial: In order to maximize the benefits of the Cover Page we suggest these steps: Create 5-7 content topics or sections for your newsletter, with 1-2 stories in each section. Use the Table of Contents feature to list these in a small column. Use short, attention getting headlines, subheads (optional) and informative synopses of one or two sentences max in the main section of your Cover Page to give readers a sense of why they might be interested in reading the full story.

These changes will invite subscribers to engage with LoJack more quickly and more frequently and will thereby increase the overall interactivity and readership.  

#5 - List Segmentation

The only other suggestion we have for LoJack at this point is to consider doing some list segmentation.   One way may simply be a geographic split where those in colder climates get stories about how to start cars in the winter, while those in warmer climates get a story on how to avoid car problems that arise in higher temperatures. This also could be expanded to articles segmented on the class of cars people own or perhaps the type of LoJack products they own.  By producing a more personalized newsletter that appeals to the individual nuances of LoJack’s audience, they can once again increase interaction and readership as well as brand loyalty. 

In summary, LoJack is doing a great job with their newsletter – they’re achieving their goal issue after issue, they are keeping the readers engaged, and they know what their readers want to hear from them.   We hope that these suggestions here help Deb and LoJack achieve even better results in the future!

Interested in having your newsletter reviewed in a future issue?  Tell us about it below and if your story is one that our readers can benefit from, we’ll contact you for more details.  For now, please provide us with your name, phone number, what kind of advice you’re looking for, and a link to your newsletter, if possible.