E-newsletters
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More UK highlights and priority briefs
Lead Editor: User:StevenClift
Title: E-Mail Newsletters
E-Newsletters from government provide reliable and periodic updates on new content, e-service updates and democratic participation opportunities. They are tied to site-wide e-mail opt-in strategies and allow for cost effective cross promotion of e-democracy related content and e-consultations.
Summary:
Regularly produced e-mail newsletters provide a cost-effective communication channel to reach interested citizens and stakeholders. E-mail opt-in strategies are required along with assigned editorial resposibilities and deadlines. A government or agency-wide e-newsletter on a local government web site often contains service-related updates of a broad interest. Access to this broader audience can be leveraged to introduce new E-democracy content and features to site users.
Project Rationale and Objectives:
What can you use this feature for?
- Building awareness of E-democracy content and features.
- Notifying regular site users about time-sensitive information related to the decision-making process or e-consultations.
- Leveraging past site visits toward ongoing relationships.
Why use it? (Compared to other options)
- Cost-effectively reach interested citizens and stakeholders at a fraction the cost of postal services.
- Complements media or other forms of outreach and can be used to generate early "tell a friend" buzz.
- Diversify existing e-newsletter content.
Benefits - Describe the top benefits for each group
- All Users: Editorial reminders of "what's important" from the government organisation.
- Citizens: Convenient updates on "what's new" without having to visit a web site not usually part of their regular surfing behaviour.
- Councillors: When representative highlights are included in the newsletter, their work and role will become more accessible to their constituents (in many places elected officials maintain their own e-mail annoucement list as well).
- Local Administration: An effective way to promote and increase citizen take up of E-democracy and e-services, it also provides at almost no cost the means to reach a large swatch of the population during emergencies or in a timely manner not practical with print or a reliance on mass media coverage
- Others (list special audiences): Reporters find government e-mail newsletters to be a particularly useful source for story ideas, as well as a reliable way to monitor government activities and events if covered by the newsletter.
Limitations and Cautions
- Building opt-in e-mail newsletter subcribers can take time and often requires recruitment goals across the organisation.
- Editorial responsibilities must be assigned; lack of deadlines often result in large periods with inconsistent communication.
- E-mail easily lost in the mailboxes of often spam-flooded inboxes.
- Data protection and e-mail use issues - must state clear privacy policy on how e-mail address will be used, who has access to it, and ensure ease of unsubscription.
- For governments to reach the broadest audience, most if not all, newsletters should be offered in text-only format with HTML provided as an option when desired.
Successes collected projects
- Successful Implementations
Two or three key examples, no more than two from a single country
- Example: Prime Minister of Japan's E-mail Magazine
- Link: http://www.kantei.go.jp/foreign/m-magazine/index.html (English Version)
- Link: http://www.kantei.go.jp/jp/m-magazine/index.html (Japanese Version)
- Usage and Results: Launched upon taking office in 2001, Prime Minister Koizumi's office launched a weekly e-mail newsletter. Subscription levels have held steady at around 2 million subscribers. Released on Thursdays, the newsletter highlights new content on the web site and attracts the highest level website traffic at the end of the week. It often features some first-person comments from the prime minister and/or a commentary from a member of the cabinet. An "i-mode" mobile version is also available.
- Contact Information: Communications Office, Prime Minister of Japan
- Example: CityNewsBytes - Atlanta, Georgia
- Link: http://www.atlantaga.gov - See center column for many e-mail update options as well as the icon (bottom left currently) for the CityNewsBytes newsletter.
- Link: http://www.atlantaga.gov/media/citynewsbytes_122104.aspx - Example Newsletter
- Describe usage and results: Need to contact ...
- Example: E-mail Newsletters from U.S. Federal Government
- Link: http://contacts.gsa.gov/listgov.nsf/FirstGovEmailListDistribution
- Usage and Results: A collection of e-mail newsletters available from U.S. government agencies. Demonstrates the value of allowing users to browse a mix of newsletters offered on multiple topics.
Further Information
Top Related "How-to" Online Resources
- Email Newsletter Marketing Model, Michael C. Gilbert, Nonprofit Online News, August 2004
- Gilbert E-mail Manifesto, Nonprofit News Online, April 2001
- Design of Email Newsletters, Jakob Neilsen, Alertbox, September 2002
- Email Newswletter Usability Executive Summary, Jakob Neilsen et al **http://www.nngroup.com/reports/newsletters/summary.html
- http://www.useit.com/alertbox/newsletters.html - 2006 update
- Email Universe - A site for e-newsletter developers with a commercial focus, yet highly relevant to governments
- Email Newsletter Strategies, ClickZ Expert Articles
- Promoting the Library by E-Mail Alert Service
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This is among the UK-funded priority briefs to be completed by January 7, 2005.