Email breaking news alerts and daily newsletters have given news organizations a powerful way to extend their reach beyond print and online editions to grow engagement, page views, brand awareness and relevancy.
In fact, a recent paper published by the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism at the University of Oxford found that some news agencies’ editorial emails generate stellar results, up to 50 percent open rate and driving as many as 30-times more subscribers than social media—metrics that no doubt make most brand marketers envious.
The Power of Email News
What makes these editorial newsletters so effective? For starters, they’re delivered over a familiar medium, and one that—despite naysayers’ predictions of demise—is actually expected to grow from 2.6 billion users currently up to 3 billion by 2020. They’re easily consumed on a mobile device for skimming on the go, and they’re interactive, typically including clickable links for subscribers who want to dive deeper into the story. Email alerts also provide a window into subscribers’ interests and browsing habits based on the stories they click-thru to read, helping publishers refine content targeting and curation.
However,…
Despite these advantages, journalist and Reuters Institute Visiting Fellow Andrew Jack points out in his paper that editorial emails still face significant limitations and challenges. Chief among them: monetization, lack of technical resources/investment, personalization, and an innovation void that makes it difficult to maintain subscriber interest and engagement as competition grows.
There is a Solution
While we certainly appreciate your ardent support of email, Mr. Jack, we’d be remiss if we didn’t point at that these limitations are actually more perception than reality. The truth is there is a very simple solution to overcoming all of these obstacles: Jeeng. In fact, our products are specifically designed to deliver the monetization, personalization and innovation publishers require to achieve their email engagement goals with a very simple solution.
So, news organizations, take heart. We’re here to help! Here’s how:
1. We’ve mastered monetization. Email monetization makes it easy to derive revenue from editorial emails beyond generating paid subscriptions. When working with Jeeng, publishers can add third-party ads from high-quality, trusted advertisers into existing email templates with very little effort and at no cost. Advertisers pay for placement on a CPC or CPM basis, which means editorial emails can not only pay for themselves, but also potentially generate additional income, creating an entirely new revenue stream for news outlets. Our extensive advertiser network and automated ad population requires virtually no effort—simply drop in a short html snippet and we do the rest, automatically and dynamically delivering relevant, personalized ads based on first- and third-party subscriber data and behavioral data. For publishers, that means no additional sales burden, advertisers supply all of the creative and we handle all of the tracking for accurate metrics and payment. Or, for publishers that want to serve up ads from their existing advertising partners, we can do that too. And, perhaps the best part: email ads are immune to browser-based ad blockers, even when read via web mail, so the ads are guaranteed to deliver.
2. No technical resources/investment required. In compiling his report, Mr. Jack discovered that many newsrooms now have developers on staff to aid editorial staff in compiling and distributing editorial newsletters. While this certainly makes sense, it also adds significantly to the cost of producing the emails. Here’s where we can help: Not only does our platform effectively monetize the emails, helping to drive up the ROI and offset the talent costs, but it also is incredibly easy, requiring absolutely no coding or technical expertise. Once it’s configured, it requires no additional management for a “set it and forget it” revenue stream.
3. Personalization is kind of our thing. As brand marketers know, personalizing emails to customers is critical to cutting through the clutter of overflowing inboxes. By incorporating targeted content that is customized on-the-open for each recipient, we deliver real-time, personalized content into every inbox. Featured stories, weather headlines, location-specific news and more can be delivered to each recipient uniquely based on their reader profile, click behavior, location and even their current device. And, the content updates each time the email is opened, for real-time relevance—check email in New York and see NYC headlines; board a plane to LA and check it again, you’ll see LA headlines. And it is also very easy to set up and manage, with no technical expertise required.
There’s no debate that maintaining engagement and relevancy is an ongoing challenge for news organizations on every front—in print, online and in email. The great news is, Jeeng provides comprehensive tools for overcoming these obstacles for email news alerts and editorial newsletters. Our tools are designed to turn out engaging, dynamic, attention-getting (and KEEPING!) emails that leave subscribers wanting more.
Contact us today to find out how easy it is give your editorial emails the Jeeng boost.
