Newsletter Evolution
Nov 05 2010
Recently we here at eROI came out with our new, evolved newsletter. This has been very exciting for us and I wanted to take a moment to express some general thoughts on our email newsletter upgrade in a bit of a relaxed and personal way.
It seems to be the consensus these days that while any number of reasons may lead you to subscribe to a newsletter that rarely is it opened once you receive it. Maybe your interests have changed, maybe you now have a vendetta against the company that sent it or maybe, and most likely, your inbox is simply too full of demands from co-workers, clients and others who need you to respond and now. Making time to enjoy a newsletter is not as easy as it once was with everyone working so hard to get through these times and even if there was the time who wants to read the everyday, mundane typical newsletter?
We at eROI had to ask ourselves: what can we do to make our newsletters a more exciting and informative source of news and updates? Most importantly we had to figure out a way to get the information to you without any excess baggage and clutter. We needed fresh and exciting, informative yet stylish, everything the news delivers but in a new interactive way. The way I like to describe our team is dynamic; it is the perfect word for us. Technology is what we do, design is what we love and above all, you are who we care about. In creating this newsletter we had you in mind, all the way.
Yes, by now you have noticed our “idea” of new. Our latest newsletter (we were very proud of it) is defiantly not run of the mill. As a team we came together, bounced ideas all over the place and most importantly, listened to you. What happened was the birth of something so wonderfully outside of the norm that we instantly fell in love with it and have promised to grow and nurture it. We had “new” on the mind while creating this change in our newsletters, as one of our developers put it; “we want the opportunity to interact with them but also allow them a fun and easy way to interact with each other”.
We definitely had your time on our mind. Time is everything. We care about your time as much as our own. In opt of a lengthy newsletter which leaves you swimming in a sea of information you may or may not be interested in; we have chosen a different approach. You decide which topics you are interested in and you get to them quickly and painlessly. You also decide which topics you want to know more about. Our new style of newsletter runs on your time; not on anyone else’s.
We want to move innovative and exciting ideas around the internet. At eROI we thrive on the unique shells we must cast over that which is necessary. Just because you need the information in no way means you cannot enjoy the learning of it! We are pledging to bring you only the stuff we think you will really like and not the stuff we think you should like because everybody else says so. We pledge that it will be fun and not make you want to cry out of boredom and we pledge that we will listen to everything you say so that we can become better, faster and stronger!
We realize the world is evolving and we realize you are too. We hope you will stick with us as we grow! I have included some comments from the members of our team who were in the lab with this creation from day one. They worked tirelessly on our new newsletter and they did it all for the love of it!
“The main excitement for me are the additions of the “Ask It!” tab for facebook, and the comments on the landing page. I think that this is our chance to get instant feedback from our subscribers.” - Amanda (Development)
“The idea of re-creating our newsletter was inspiration enough. Making something that would preform better, be more visually appealing and engaging was how I approached it. Not only that, but we had great success with the video telling everyone we were ditching our current newsletter, so the pressure was on. I had the idea to incorporate something conceptually that would make people do a double take… like… “did he really use moving sperm in an email” kind of reaction.”
“I thought that the final product turned out great! We are pushing hard to do a lot in a short time. With copy edits at the last min, re-thinking light box functionality or even the development on our Facebook page, we were rushing to get it all done. And we did it! What I am most proud of is the strategy behind all of it (Meaghan worked hard on this)… and that we will be rolling out one of these on the same structure every month will definitely keep people coming back.” - Stephen (Design)
“The performance of our previous newsletter had hit a plateau so, after testing many elements, we decided it was time for something new. We took a hard look at what our subscribers wanted from us, and what we had to offer to them. The result is a strategy that will provide a unique design each issue, content that is forward-thinking, yet easy to read, and elements that encourage the conversation to extend beyond the inbox.” – Meaghan (Marketing)








