Salisbury-based Nelson Publishing are publishers of specialist print magazines for the land-based and outdoor power equipment sector, and have been producing quality, business-to-business titles for over twenty years. Working with Newsweaver, Nelson were able to increase the reach and revenue by adding a weekly email newsletter to their publishing schedule

Challenge:

Chris Biddle, editor of the Nelson Publishing title Service Dealer, wanted to use an email newsletter in between the monthly print edition of the magazine to keep the Service Dealer brand front-of-mind in between issues, as well as create an additional revenue stream for the magazine.

Solution:

Newsweaver designed an email newsletter template for Chris based on his branding guidelines and advertisement layout requirements. He then beta tested frequency and content to a select base of readers. Chris identified that a weekly frequency was most popular with both readers and advertisers. He found that advertisers, such as recruitment agencies, were keen to reach this select audience with their shorter lead-time ads. Also based on reader feedback, the best-received content formula for the now-titled Business Briefing Weekly was weekly summaries of the latest industry news, followed by more detailed analysis of the stories in the following issue of the monthly print magazine.

Results:

Once Business Briefing Weekly had been publishing regularly, Chris took the wealth of metrics Newsweaver makes available to customers, and used it to identify where he could improve on his ROI. He tapped into Newsweaver’s expertise in the area of lifting opens and clicks. After moving away from generic subject lines into content specific summaries, and creating an immediately recognisable from line, Chris says they began achieving open rates in the 40% range – far higher than the industry average.

Chris says “We consistently achieve a high return on investment through Newsweaver. The system’s ease of use is excellent, and the level of service and support provided is quick, easy and unobtrusive. “