I’ve been thinking about this one for a while lately. And let’s get this right from the start. A lot can be achieved with a website in terms of lead generation and customer fulfillment. But, there are some things that the internet is not the best medium for. It seems strange that I should ever be saying these things, but in my opinion, you’ve got to use a variety of delivery mechanisms to keep your customers.

I have often found that many web developers are strong advocates for email newsletters. And, many organisations have adopted the email newsletter like a duck to water. Invariably the reason why they have adopted this mechanism of delivery is because of cost. It’s much cheaper to send out a email newsletter than it is to print and deliver through the standard mail system.

The question that needs to be asked is whether there is a downside to this. Well, I for one think so. I know from my own experience that email newsletters are not always read, and this is not because the content isn’t good, it’s because people are busy and looking backwards and forwards in their email box. Therefore if there is not something right at the top that doesn’t hit your reader right between the eyes, it won’t be read at that moment, and as the day progresses will become less and less f a priority.

Don’t get me wrong, I am not saying forget the email newsletter. There really is a place for it. It is a mechanism to quickly, efficiently and economically deliver a message to your customers. But if you want to be remembered by your customers I think you need to vary the delivery to include a paper based version of your newsletter every now and then. Yeah, it’s going to cost you more, but there’s one thing that you can be certain about, there’s a greater chance that it’s going to be read and kept by your customer. What value do you place on that?

The tale of two chambers

I’d also like to share with you my experience as a recipient of newsletters. I’m a member of two chambers of commerce. One has adopted a 100% policy of delivering all their newsletters by email. Guess what? I hardly read it and I haven’t been to any of their functions in the last year or so. It also sends me a monthly PDF newsletter and I can’t recall opening one. I’m now wondering what value this chamber really offers me and my business.

The other chamber that I belong to still sends me things by email, but it also sends me its monthly newsletter in printed form. Guess what? I read it, I may not read it immediately, but it gets read.

If you think about what’s going on here, one chamber of commerce has cut its cost by sending things electronically, and if I’m anything to go by has probably suffered lower participation (and, as a consequence will suffer lower membership). The other had continued to use both email and printed communications and has a higher participation rate.

What’s the big lesson

The Internet is a really tremedous medium for generating leads, ordering, delivering content, getting information and customer fulfillment (to name a few). But the internet is still a fairly sterile environment and doesn’t fulfill all the requirements building and maintaining relationships with customers. So as much as possible vary the delivery mechanism and use printed newsletter every now and then.

The internet has not replaced other mediums of comunication, it has just added another channel for us to use to the best effect.