If you asked me this question I'd say “Yes, but not the very day or sometimes even week they land in my inbox, and not all of them.” My email is set with rules to track newsletters and send them to appropriate folders.

I have a folder for example called shopping, and all the newsletters from shops fall neatly into their individual folders as they arrive, and are deleted automatically as they age. I’ve set my email up to manage their arrival and retention. It’s like my own shopping mall in my email client. When I'm in the mood to shop, I go to the shopping folders to see what products they have suggested this time. Amazon often comes up with some great ideas, but I've given them the information on the books I own and not just the ones I buy from them. They use this information to provide me with some of the best future product purchase choices. It’s part of their marketing. It works. I am grateful for the fact they took time to work out how to do it. It saves me time.

After a while, some newsletters are sent straight to trash. These are non-value newsletters. These are the ones that focus solely on what the company or person sending them has achieved, instead of focusing on how their product or service is going to help or be of benefit to me. This type of marketing is arrogant and is unlikely to attract me to shop with them.

Some newsletters are simply wrong for me. I remove myself from their mailing lists and explain why. If they continue to arrive after this it doesn't matter because they go straight to trash. Probably a good example of why newsletters need to be good every time or you shouldn’t send them. A poor quality newsletter can lose you your reader forever. It’s hard to regain their attention once you have lost it.

If your email is organised, you shouldn’t find receiving and reading newsletters to be such a chore. Synchronise your phone with your email, and the good ones become entertaining or enlightening reads. They almost provide an opportunity for you to use your mobile phone like a magazine. Newsletters are often short stories or pieces of useful information that can be read from your phone on the train, whilst standing in queues, or even whilst waiting for your kids to get changed after their swimming class. You might just find the one little piece of information contained within a newsletter that provides a turning point for you or your business.

Some organizations put effort into their newsletters. You should find the time to read these newsletters and learn from them. Learn not only what you want and need, but also how to give the same level of service to your site visitors.

Web Page Last updated: Feb 2008. This page contains Amazon and affiliate links.