After ripping apart some poor email examples, I think it’s high time we point out someone who’s doing an email newsletter right.I’ve been getting emails from travel planning site Kayak.com for a couple weeks. In each issue I’m impressed by their email savvy, from content to design to the little extras that make me so likely to use them to plan my trips.

Why do I like Kayak’s emails — both as an email marketing guy and as a subscriber — so much?

Examples of Kayak’s Emails

Before we go any further, take a look at 2 issues of their email newsletter that I’ve received:

(Click the above images for full-size versions.)

What do you think of them? Here’s my take:

They Build a Relationship, Rather Than Going For the Hard Sell

As a member of several frequent flyer programs, I get emails from a number of airlines. I also get emails from time to time from other travel sites where I’m a member.

Rather than pushing for a sale right away, Kayak keeps my attention with great content.

I’ve never received an email campaign from any of them that tries to connect with me. They’re just so… all-sell, all-the-time, all about price.

Kayak, on the other hand, doesn’t scream at me about the latest deals.

Their emails sell the idea of traveling. Each section gets me excited about a destination, as if the emails were made up of postcards from friends who were visiting each place.

And even though I’m not usually looking to go anywhere, I often click through just to see what it might cost to take a trip. Just for fun (when was the last time your email campaign had subscribers going to your website just for fun? Try it.).

They’re Well-Designed and Easy To Read

This is exactly the kind of email that comes to mind (for me) when someone asks for an example of a “Light HTML” email message.

They cleverly separate each section with a header (the destination name).

They provide navigation at the top of the email to each section/destination, and each section has a link back to the top.

Navigation is text, not images, so it’s even useful with images disabled.

They distinguish their own content from sponsored content/ads by using lightly shaded backgrounds. Interspersing shaded sections with the main content also makes the email seem shorter than it actually is.

They put their logo in the upper left-hand corner of the email, so it appears in the preview pane, and they keep it small enough that it doesn’t get in the way of other content at the top of the email.

They’re Targeted To Me

And oh boy, is it easy to see what a trip might cost.

Did you see what they did in the sidebar? They put links to “cheap flights from Philadelphia.

When I signed up they asked me what my home airport was, and they’re using that to get me from reading their email to making a purchase. The links even go to a flight search page that’s pre-filled with Philadelphia as the departing airport.

With what is really just basic segmentation and personalization — nothing difficult or complex — Kayak makes a smooth transition from inbox to web.

They Encourage Communication

Look at the footer of the email.

Rather than hiding behind a “do not reply” type of address and using email as a way to talk at me, they tell me they want to hear from me!

What’s especially great about this is they give me multiple ways to contact them:

The link in their email goes to a feedback form on their site.

Unlike the company in our email footer example a while back, they send from an email address that forwards to their help desk, so even if I reply instead of using their feedback form, I can still get in touch with them.

Anything Else?

I feel like I’m rambling a bit here, so I’ll turn it over to you.

What did you like about these emails?

Or didn’t you like them (and if so, why not)?

How do you feel you can apply these tactics to your own email marketing campaigns?

Popularity: 9%

11 Tips For a Happy Family Newsletter

Brad Isaac

1.

Set ground rules AHEAD of time — not after the fact.

2.

Put the ground rules in writing in the sidebar of the newsletter and remind people how the whole family, young and old, will get the newsletter.

3.

Pick ahead of time how much foul language or adult content you’ll allow.

4.

Limit jokes and other “stock” content (if your brother just loves jokes and sends 15 for each issue, you might want to limit the number of jokes per issue to one.)

5.

Set a rule that family squabbles cannot be resolved through the newsletter. But if a 15 year feud ends it can be announced as long as both parties agree.

6.

Similarly, although bad news sells major newspapers good news is the only thing that will keep yours alive. Be sensitive about announcing divorces, job layoffs, firings, jail time and other negative stories. Only announce something negative if the person it involves drops you the story himself or herself.

7.

Put one or several requests in each newsletter. Ask for participation. Your newsletter’s survival depends on other family members participating.

8.

Make it easy for people to contribute.

9.

Family politics can be a pain so avoid stories involving feuds, disagreements or offensive topics.

10.

Edit spelling and grammar, but leave content alone. If someone feels they were misquoted in their own family newsletter, they’ll never participate again.

11.

Remember, it’s your family’s newsletter, not your newsletter. Let other family members edit newsletters too.

Cool and useful stuff. Thanks Brad!

Popularity: 4%

If you follow online marketing circles, you’ve likely seen (and participated in) a lot of discussions about social media and using it to grow your business.While social media isn’t a replacement for email marketing, it can complement it by helping you connect a larger audience to your site and campaigns.

One social media tool that a lot of you seem to be using (and that we also use here at AWeber) is Twitter.

Today, we’re happy to announce that you can now use your Twitter and AWeber accounts together to expand the reach of your email newsletters.

Publish Your Email Newsletters to Twitter

Now, whenever you create a broadcast message in AWeber, you have the option to automatically “tweet” that email too!

Here are a couple examples taken from real AWeber users on Twitter:

How It Works

To use this feature:

1. Go to the Broadcast page of your account.
2. Create a broadcast.
3. Before saving your broadcast, mark the “Syndicate” checkbox.

1. Mark the “Twitter” box and enter your login/password

When you send your broadcast, we’ll automatically update your Twitter status with the subject line of your email and a short link to an online version of your email.

Twitter Email Newsletters FAQ

A couple quick questions and answers:

• Can I choose which broadcasts get tweeted?Once you enter your Twitter login and password once, we’ll assume you want to tweet all of your broadcasts.

  If there’s a broadcast you don’t want to tweet, just unmark the checkbox while editing it.

• How many Twitter IDs can I link to my account?You can link one Twitter ID to your account at any one time. You can change which ID is linked to your account by entering the login/password for it in step 4 above (this will replace your previously selected Twitter ID).

Have any other questions? Ask them below or get in touch with us.

Using Twitter? So Are We.

You can find several of us on Twitter:

AWeber on Twitter

Tom

Sean

Justin

Popularity: 5%