Electrifying ews: e-newsletters offer twin advantages over traditional printed publications. First, they allow you to disseminate timely information at a lower cost. Second, they enable you to measure your readers' interests so you can fine-tune your message.

• Author: Sablosky, Tanja Lian
• Position: E-Newsletters

Quick! What's a good way to capture and keep a customer's attention? One proven tool is the newsletter. Using this vehicle, you can both grab the customer's attention and begin to cultivate a relationship with him. The latest trend in this type of publishing is the "e newsletter." The advantage of the e-newsletter is that it can be nutty cost-effective and timely than the printed and mailed version.

A study by Jakob Nielsen of the Nielsen-Norman Group, Fremont, Calif., has shown that readers become emotionally attached to e-newsletters; they actually look forward to the regular updates in their "inbox"--provided they are full of timely, useful information. In general, people looking for quick answers to specific questions turn to websites as an information source. These customers rarely develop an attachment to these informational sites, even if they visit them often. But customers seem to look forward to an e-newsletter that contains quick, easy-to-read, useful information that arrives on a regular schedule.

"Think of it as sending an electronic postcard," says Bruce Clapp, president, MarketMatch in Clayton, Ohio. It's a way to create a more personal relationship with your target audience. "Many banks am still deciding whether an e-newsletter is a sales tool, a value-added newsletter or just another touchpoint with customers," says Clapp, but ultimately, an e-newsletter offers a way to keep your company's name and logo in front of customers without mailing advertisements--and that is key. Clapp and Nielsen recommend keeping your e-newsletter content restricted to "must have" information. Save the advertisements for a click-through to your website or separate mailings.

"An e newsletter is a cost-effective communication tool compared with print and mail newsletters," says Clapp, because you eliminate the cost of printing and mailing, which can save you thousands of dollars on each issue. (See sidebar for banker application stories.) "And an e-newsletter is timely--you can deliver information virtually instantaneously." You don't need to build in time for the printer and file mail house, and you can send out special bulletins with the very latest information.

E-Newsletters:

A New Way to Link to Customers

ABA Bank Marketing magazine interviewed two bankers who have recently launched e-newsletters; Ed Brady, vice president of administrative services at First Clermont Bank in Milford, Ohio, (assets: $205 million) and Nicholas Kasstner, marketing assistant at Gainesville Bank & Trust (assets: $390 million) in Gainesville, Ga.

Q. What type of e-newsletter do you send oat and how often is it sent?

Brady: We send a multi-topic newsletter, "First Clermont e-News," the first week of the month. In it we include a mix of sales topics ("CD Special," "Free...