If you use email on a regular basis, you’re probably already receiving E-Newsletters from some of the companies you do business with. And while there’s a tremendous amount of variation out there regarding what constitutes an E-Newsletter (or “electronic newsletter” or “E-zine” or “email newsletter;” they’re all the same thing), they do have certain elements in common.

First and foremost, e-newsletters arrive in your inbox as email messages. The sending company writes the newsletter, drops it into a predetermined email format, and sends it to a list of people who receive it on the other end. There’s a fair amount of technology that runs in the background to do this efficiently and effectively, but when you boil it all down, it’s just an email sent to many people at once.

To dig a bit deeper, think of an e-newsletter like an electronic magazine, with three principal pieces: Content, Formatting and Layout, and Delivery and List Management. So why publish an e-newsletter?

• The cost of acquiring a new customer can be as much as 5 times the cost of keeping an old one. (source: Peppers and Rogers)
•  A 5% increase in retention yields profit increases of 25 to 100 percent (source: Bain and Co.)
•  Permission e-mail campaigns are ten times more effective than direct mail campaigns. (source: IMT Strategies)

If you already send printed materials out to your contact list, whether as a print newsletter or in some other fashion, the most immediate and measurable benefit of switching to an electronic format is a savings in time, printing and mailing costs. With a variable cost per newsletter of nearly zero, having an e-newsletter is a no-brainer.

The bottom line, an e-newsletter will:

• Increase lead generation and cross selling.
• Increase customer lifetime value.
• Provide a low cost, instantaneous channel for sending messages. 
• Open up a two-way dialogue with customers and prospects.
• Hypercharge your existing marketing efforts.
• Provide instant, measurable results.