Send Your Same E-mail Newsletter Twice Daily?

One trend that I’ve been noticing more often is that ezine publishers will send the same issue twice, usually once in HTML and once in plain text a few days later to remind the person to check out the issue. We’re not talking about MIME/Multi-part here, but rather two complete e-mails: one HTML and one plain text.

One of the “maximize your metabolism” health industry ezine publishers who markets very aggressively via e-mail will send his HTML newsletter today and then, two or three days later, he sends a text e-mail to remind you to check out his newsletter in case you missed it.

I’m conflicted over this trend because recently I had given an Ezine-Tips suggestion to DECREASE CONTENT volume and INCREASE sending FREQUENCY, but I didn’t mean increase frequency without any content change.

Why do ezine publishers send duplicate e-mails in different styles (HTML vs. PLAIN TEXT)?

Simple reason is to beat spam filters that might filter out one of the two versions.

Now, as an ezine subscriber, I think I’m annoyed from getting two issues of the same content… but as a marketer, I know this strategy does work to increase net-total visits to your Web site.

Should you send duplicate e-mails to your newsletter audience to beat spam filters?

Right now, I’m recommending that you should not do it if you’re a newbie marketer and this is your first year publishing your ezine.

If you’re an intermediate to advanced ezine publisher, here are four tips to consider if you’re going to test this duplicate e-mail newsletter strategy:

1. Change up the content and ADD some extra value in the second posting. This might be some new blog post that you want to promote or perhaps a special that you didn’t offer in the first e-mail.

2. Change up the TIME OF DAY that you send the second post. If you mail in the morning, send the second one later in the day. Why? Many sophisticated spam filters tighten up at different times of the day that spam loads are the highest.
3. Send the HTML version always FIRST. HTML rules and should be your first card played.
4. In the second post, send LESS of the content than you did in the first to lower your chances of it being snagged by the spam filters that might get hooked on one of the words in your second post.

Conclusion:

I’m not a big fan of the duplicate ezine posting to beat spam filters strategy, but if you’re going to test it, you may find that it does produce a net increase in total visitors to your site. If your conscience is as guilty as mine would be for sending the same content twice in the same week, then be sure to ADD VALUE to the second post by adding some additional related or new content.

At the end of the day, your list members will vote with their subscription whether they will accept your second post - so keep it RELEVANT and ADD VALUE if you’re going to test this ezine publishing spam-filter beating strategy.

Christopher M. Knight is an e-mail publishing geek that offers free e-mail publishing tools via his weekly newsletter that can help you grow your e-mail newsletter, improve your e-mail deliverability, and solve e-mail newsletter problems: http://Ezine-Tips.com/

[tags]ezine publishing,ezine-tips,html vs. plain text newsletters[/tags]