Vincent,

I don`t think there is a "set" answer. A lot of variables such as your audience and your content. I subscribe to many, many newsletters, blog feeds, podcasts, etc - some are every week others once a month. Some would be too much even at every other week but are just right at once a month.

Why not poll your initial subscribers on the launch issue and see what they have to say? Ask them after they see the first issue how often they would like to receive your newsletter. Just an idea.

R@

Rich is right that there is no set answer but personally, I`m a big proponent of once every other month for sales email. I cannot tell you how many I`ve had to dump completely because they were coming far too often.and with more information than I`d ever want to absorb. With once every other month, six times a year. I can just about guarantee that I`ll keep the newsletter and probably even read it!  When it comes to newsletters, I believe it`s as it pertains to love.....absense makes the heart grow fonder.

In  my last job, we had a newsletter and here are some of the finding that may help your North:

• Most important discovery: People actually allowed us to know how often we should sent the newsletter by their level of interest and feedback. How did we do it?
• We devided people into buckets; 1-those who asked to get it frequently (once a week); 2- people who want to receive it bi-weekly; 3- and people who want it once a month. There was always a group of new people and we sent it to them once a week and made sure to always have an option to how frequently they wanted to get it.
• We made sure that the optout button was as clear as it could be, and we made it very easy for you to unsubscribe. According to a research we conducted, this gave us credibility.
• We sure wanted to sell our product, but we took a journalistic approach in the newsletter by hiring an editor who wrote articles related to travel, and he was not allowed to sell our product. Again, research showed that people thought that was a very credible part of the newsletter.
• Lastly, readers tend to read your newsletter through to the end if you start the newsletter with a big picture. We hired a firm that conducted a research that showed that pictures incresed readership.

I hope it is helpful. If I remember anything else I will let you know.

Hey Vincent -

I choose the second option for flow - but either way, I think you can simplify the sentence a little bit - e.g. :

"Of the many beautiful flowers with which Mother Nature has graced our planet, roses are perhaps the most admired."

I would choose A. But, reword it.

Of all the many beautiful flowers Mother Nature has graced our planet with, roses are perhaps the most admired by [women].

I did not get by who they should be admired by. Just some ideas.

Vincent,

I liked A, but without the "perhaps", but I`m a simple is better kinda guy!

I assume this is going to be used in a marketing sense, not artistic prose.  If it`s artistic prose, fluffier the better! lol

Hey Vincent,

I actually just got done taking a business english class...and one of the things that has become increasingly more obvious in business messages is losing the "extra" words that aren`t necessary. Not to mention...we have created a formal entity out of Mother Nature...so it is used in the form of a formal name...there-by negating the necessity to add in extra words (ie: with which). Soooo...according to my text book...A is actually the "correct" way to say it.

Hope that is helpful!

A- is GREAT.....B just seems too wordy. As a writer, my number one rule is SIMPLIFY!

www.makingabusinesshappen.blogspot.com

Vincent,

Great Poll! A company I am partnered with is offering coupons on its products to increase sales. My buying habits have not changed.

Vincent - I LOVE this idea. 

Do you mean to say free deliver with `no order limit` or with `no minimum order`?  There is a considerable difference in the wording and some recipients may be confused. 

What about inviting recipients to redeem their `cactus card` for free delivery in San Jose?  Sort of a `call to action`??  I understand that you ALWAYS offer free delivery, but is there a way that could you use that to hook your potential new clients into an immediate response and track the results of your efforts?

Best of luck with this endeavor - let us know how it goes!

Vincent, I think this is a unique idea and hope it works for you. I took a moment to reword the last sentence:

Now that you have experienced a delightful, prickly surpise, we invite you to see our greatest treasures - wood flowers and pottery! Visit ElusiveTreasures.com and send a delightful surprise to someone you know today.

Hope that is helpful.

Um, well, gee, not that you mentioned it: Yes!! :)

Vincent,

I found your post interesting because we always offer something on sale, or discounted on our website.  I do not think our customers feel cheated in anyway by this.  In fact it has been a great marketing tool for us.  Of course you`re products, and our products are alot different in what they are, and price.

Everyday the mail box is filled with store ads for sales. People look for the best price they can find items, or feel they can purchase the more expensive item because it is discounted.  For instance, I will probably go to "Bed & Bath" with my 20% off coupon, and not even  bother checking what other stores are offering the same product at, in comparison.  Why?  Because the mentality is, I think I`m getting a real deal. 

No one wants to lose profit. But if you lured customers in with your sale or discounted item, you might sell 10 items versus one.  If your profit was $50 per item, and you sold them for $10 less.... Well, this is the way I see it.  On that particular day, if you sold only one regular priced item, your profit is $50.  If  ten people purchased your dicsounted item, your profit is $400.  Yes somewhere you lost $100.  But would you rather sell those ten items in a day or a month?  I want to make money everyday.

I hope I made sense.  Our product is more expensive than most of our competitors. If I was shopping for "best price", I would probably be shopping for a cheaper brand.  Offering a special on our site, gives a customer a chance to try our product at a discounted price. Probably the most effective thing we do is send out different special offers for our "customers only", which usually drives quantity purchases way up.   But what interests me the most is, our customers don"t know when we will send out the next special, and that has not stopped them from making purchases at the regular price.

I have seen an over use of discounts to the point that you wonder if the company can be making any money.  But as a markting strategy, I think it can be a very effective tool if done right. 

And now I`m hearing you say you feel ripped off.  Don`t you like to save a little money too? 

Sales do not bother me. Retailers know that the everyday prices they set are too high for most consumers, and the sale price is the true market value. Part of the concept is to make customers feel like they are getting a great deal and increase the percieved value of it.

On the other hand, with my experience as a consumer, I enjoy sales and coupons. I have a long list of items that I would like to have, but I can`t afford them all at once. Having a special sale helps me decide what to get and when.

Of course, if a store has everything on sale all the time, it gets annoying. They should just change the everyday price of the item rather than putting it on sale 3 weeks out of 4.

The cool thing about sales is that they motivate customers to buy at a certain time. Some purchases need to be made right away, like food and gasoline, but MOST of the things we buy are more luxury items and they can be put off indefinately.