Home Office Newsletters to Customers

[nene960]

The home office is going to do monthly newsletters to our customers now!! I will let you know when they give me more details

 

[nene960]

It will be included with the basic web package and we will be able to send our newsletters from there

 

[AJPratt]

I am soooo excited!!!! I have been wanting this for so long! Its like all my PC dreams are coming true!

 

[nene960]

Me too!! It is such a pain to have to worry about paying someone (no offense to anyone) to do a newsletter. Now I just have to get my hundreds of email addressed onto my website and most of them are not in P3

 

[Intrepid_Chef]

I'm wondering if I will still like Joy's better? I'm not too kicked in the head with the e-mails I've seen so far. I like how you can customize the newsletters that are out there to say whatever you want and make it more personal.

 

[jbondr]

I am not sure about this either. I don't want my customers to feel that I have turned them over to Home Office. I like a more personal e-mail. They might have a section were we can write to our customers. We will find out soon.

 

[kristina16marie]

are they automatically going to do this or will it be an option from our customer connection? i dont want my customers getting 2 different newsletters a month...

 

[angmillar]

WOW.... This is WONDERFUL!!!!sooooo excited about all of this!!!

 

[RMDave]

My experience with promotional items/invitations sent from our PWS is that most end up either being flagged as SPAM by ISPs or in a user's SPAM folder. I'll take a wait and see attitude. I have an excellent "open" rate using Mike's newsletter with iContact. HOWEVER, some people have already specified that they don't wish email newsletters. I hope that PC allows us to signify specific customers/guests who do NOT want newsletters. I'd hate to send a newsletter to someone who has requested "No Newsletter." I'll see how sophisticated PC's email product and system is before signing on.

 

[NooraK]

Dave, have you ever really explored the Customer Connect section of your PWS?

There is a privacy opt-out option in there (which you personally actually have the ability to change, unlike the paid services like iContact etc). Also, you can assign "labels" to your contacts, so you could group people into "Newsletter" without having to privacy block them, in case there were times you wanted to send something to everyone, including those who did not want a monthly newsletter.

I do agree with the spam issue, although I'm not sure how much can be done about that. I also like seeing my open rates and such with MailChimp, but I'm thinking I could live without it if I had to.

 

[cookingwith_tara]

OMWord ... it keeps getting better and better .......... I SOOOO wish I was there in person!!!!!!! BUT I am sooo thankful for those who are posting !!!

What a conference this must be ....... the first one where everyone is together AND ALL of the AMAZING announcements!!!!!!!!

I LOVE PC!!

 

[Sk8Mom209]

My experience with promotional items/invitations sent from our PWS is that most end up either being flagged as SPAM by ISPs or in a user's SPAM folder. I'll take a wait and see attitude. I have an excellent "open" rate using Mike's newsletter with iContact. HOWEVER, some people have already specified that they don't wish email newsletters. I hope that PC allows us to signify specific customers/guests who do NOT want newsletters. I'd hate to send a newsletter to someone who has requested "No Newsletter." I'll see how sophisticated PC's email product and system is before signing on.

We learned in a website seminar at conference a couple of years ago, that the way to avoid being spam is to send them to 10 customers at a time. Most service providers block emails with more that 10 recipients. Just an FYI

 

[NooraK]

We learned in a website seminar at conference a couple of years ago, that the way to avoid being spam is to send them to 10 customers at a time. Most service providers block emails with more that 10 recipients. Just an FYI

HO did also update the site within the last couple of years so that the emails from our PWS will go out in batches. You can choose to send the email to all of your contacts, and the PWS system will send them in batches.

 

[PampChefJoy]

I think a good business practice is to really work on segmenting your customer email list so you know exactly who wants to receive what and how frequently. It takes more work on your part but is more respectful of the customer's wishes. Then you might wind up with less unsubscribes due to frequency or content. (ex. maybe someone only wants recipes and not specials or news... some don't mind weekly while some only want monthly, etc).

 

[MissChef]

I'll be excited to get all the info on all of these announcements... looks like a lot of reading! but hey that's cool... I love the newsletter and fb announcement! yahooo!:thumbup:

 

[DebbieJ]

You will be able to track open rates via your PWS/Customer Connection.PWS fee will be $10/mth and the newsletter is included in that fee.

 

[Chefstover2]

You will be able to track open rates via your PWS/Customer Connection.

PWS fee will be $10/mth and the newsletter is included in that fee.

Sounds like they've really been working hard to put this together...I'm excited!

 

[Humble Beginnings]

This is awesome!!!

 

[Intrepid_Chef]

PWS fee will be $10/mth and the newsletter is included in that fee.

I'm confused. Is it going up? What about those of us who are paid until next March?

 

[PamperedSD]

Awesome - thanks so much for all the updates!!

 

[pattybrady]

I'm fairly new and my email lists are still a bit of a mess. I want to consolidate them in one place. To use the HO newsletter, would I need to have my contacts in PWS or P3 or both?

Right now I'm using TT via gmail and love it (thanks Joy! please keep offering it!), but I still need to clean up my contacts in either PWS or P3 so I might as well do it with the HO newsletter in mind, in case I ever want to use it.

Thanks in advance for helping a newbie!

 

[Bren706]

The newsletters would be sent from your PWS, so that is where your contacts would need to be. You can merge the contacts using PP3.

 

[pattybrady]

The newsletters would be sent from your PWS, so that is where your contacts would need to be. You can merge the contacts using PP3.

Thanks so much!

 

[DebbieJ]

Yes, as long as P3 is updated, then you sync it with your PWS and all your contacts will be there.

 

[DebbieJ]

I'm confused. Is it going up? What about those of us who are paid until next March?

If you subscribe/renew by Aug 31 you will get the current pricing.

Anyone who subscribes and for all renewals Sept 1st and later, the pricing is $10/mth for 12 months and $11/mth for 6 months

 

[cochef]

PWS fee will be $10/mth and the newsletter is included in that fee.[/QUOTE]

I would hope there would be a choice of paying for just the PWS or with the newsletter option instead of an all inclusive price. Was that addressed?

 

[DebbieJ]

PWS fee will be $10/mth and the newsletter is included in that fee.

I would hope there would be a choice of paying for just the PWS or with the newsletter option instead of an all inclusive price. Was that addressed?[/QUOTE]

Different pricing levels will not be available. It was unclear whether or not you could opt out of the newsletter being sent.

 

[NooraK]

Different pricing levels will not be available. It was unclear whether or not you could opt out of the newsletter being sent.

I certainly would hope I can opt out of the newsletter being sent. I can live with them raising the price of the PWS to offer the service, even if I don't end up using it, but I certainly would not want my customers to automatically get a newsletter that I didn't choose to send.

 

[raebates]

From what I understand you have to choose to send the newsletter. They said, "You can send . . ." not "We'll be sending . . ." I think I'll wait a while to see what everyone else's experience is with the HO newsletter. I like the idea. I'm just concerned about the issues many have had with the evites not getting out well.One thing I love about it is that it will provide feedback about clicked links. That means you'll be able to see that Susie has clicked the recruiting link 3 months in a row, and Sally has checked out the host benefits a few times. You can then follow up.

 

[bgupton]

So i am a new consultant. I havent set up my Website yet because i was waiting to qualify and get my 90 days free. I like the HO newsletter option. So i think i was confused on the pricing of the site. I looked at the prices and just couldblnt affors right now to put down the money, but from what I'm reading we can pay by the month?? What if we sign up before the price increase? Will everyone already subscribed get the newsletter option?

 

[Jennifer E]

I'm confused. Is it going up? What about those of us who are paid until next March?

Yes, the price is going up. You have until August 31st to subscribe to get the current price, after that it will go it. If you already have a PWS, you are good until you have to renew and then you have to pay the higher price.

 

[Chefstover2]

but from what I'm reading we can pay by the month??

Usually they break the price down per month for you, but you pay in one lump sum.

 

[DebbieJ]

You have to pay for 6 or 12 months at a time. There is not a monthly option.

 

[NooraK]

OK, so I read the SECN, and this is what it says:

Easy for you
• Setup is simple. Go to your PWS Assistant. Designate your contact list and you’re all set! The e-newsletter is sent automatically every month to your designated contacts.
The September issue will be sent on Aug. 23. After that, the e-newsletter will be sent on the fourth Monday of every month.
• Personalize it. Add your own photo and message. A default welcome message will appear if you choose not to personalize your e-newsletter.
• Customers can easily contact you. Links in the e-newsletter go directly to your PWS so customers can see additional information about our products, get in touch to book Shows and learn more about the business opportunity.
• Contact Activity Report helps you target follow-up communications. You’ll see who’s clicking specific links in the e-newsletter and get suggestions on what to say and when to follow up.

I'll have to create a list for those contacts that I want to send the newsletter to, but once I do, HO will automatically send the newsletter for me. I don't get to pick the date or time.

I can add my own photo and message, but if I don't, a default message will go out. So if I don't remember to go in and update the message in time, I won't have my own personal message on there.

It does give a follow up report with suggestions on what to say, which is pretty cool.

I'm still a bit torn on whether I'd like to use it or not. I really like what I get with TT, but I'm essentially being forced to pay for the HO version because the PWS prices are going up. Granted, I wouldn't expect the PWS prices to never go up, we do have to live with inflation, after all. But I like how much more I'm able to customize my TT newsletters (even if I don't do it all the time). On the other hand, I'm only a few customers away from being over 500 on my list, which means I'll have to pay for any service I want to use to send and track my emails.

Maybe I'll try it out the first month, and go from there.

 

[esavvymom]

I was considering trying it once or twice and see what my open/click #s are. If it's considerably lower than what I have now (which is just below 30% open-rate), then I would probably stick with what I have. I DO like the idea of the articles and features they'll include. That's one complaint I have about my current service (My Email Designs)- too much "sales" and not enough "service"- tips, recipes, non-sales articles. I always redo it. So we'll see.