Newsletter Content

[Nikos Beck]

I'd like to start sending out a newsletter as my project nears completion, do some spin-up marketing ahead of release. After release I'd like to keep customers informed and excited about upcoming projects.

What kinds of content should I be offering? Snippets from my blog? Screenshots? Clips from interviews (if I ever have any)? Polls that link to my site with a little forum for each poll?

I'd like to give them a reason to keep receiving the newsletter over the six months it'll take to complete my second project. I suppose this applies to websites too. How do I offer then weekly updates to the site while I'm focusing on completing a game?

[Desktop Gaming]

I'd keep it brief. People won't/can't be bothered to read screen upon screenful of stuff. Use bold headings with a short paragraph below, and maybe a link to click so they can read more if they want to. Also add links to screenshots rather than sending them embedded in the email.

Will your blog really interest your target market? Or is it more geared towards being read by other developers? In the latter case I wouldn't include more than a link to it.

If you're starting to drum up interest six months ahead (I'd say two to three months tops, but its up to you), keep people interested by telling them you'll have great offers such as discounts exclusive to subscribed members and so on.

Finally, I think weekly updates is too much. Don't take this the wrong way, but too much e-mail correspondence can lead to people either not reading it, or unsubscribing completely. I wouldn't send more than one per month. Again that's a personal preference - its really up to you.

[lakibuk]

I am planning to send out a newsletter for each new game i release. That's about 1 newsletter every 4 years.
I think regular newsletters only make sense for developers with quasi-portal sites who are selling new affiliated games every month. Like Retro64,Twilightgames or Winterwolves (ha, Jack Norton, you quasi-portal, you!).
Do you really think your audience is interested to hear that you switched from BlitzBasic to Tourque for your upcoming game?

[Sysiphus]

if you go the html route, beware Outlook 2007. It's breaking most standards as went back to internal word rendering...some way indeed to catch problems is read the html with Word(even old html tags will give you surprises, not just css )... Also beware webmails arent either totally safe: hotmail, gmail,etc. have their small issues. Thunderbird (as in other matters firefox is) is the one respecting better standards. The way you include images is also tricky(imo, better if done through a newsletter company). Best is use some solid code after testing in main targets, and then basically follow that structure month per month.

If you go ascii route, much less issues, tho less eyecandy...difficult balance...

[ZeHa]

I think the best way would be to keep it short, so that the whole letter is 5 to 10 sentences in ASCII, and keep the "real" content on a webpage. If those few sentences attract your customer, he will click on the link and see all the details and all the information he wants to have. But if everything is right inside the email, people might not read it completely or delete it right away. So, use an ASCII "here's cool stuff, click on that link" mail, and put everything else on a website with as much detail as you like :)

[michalczyk]

I don't have a game to sell yet (WIP), but I have been selling my artwork as posters, prints, calendars and soon wallpapers. For the past couple of years I did some newsletter experimentation and here is what works well for me:

Use ASCII, don't use HTML. HTML is problematic as some email clients show it differently, some with errors. Pictures, unless embedded, are usually disabled by default. Embedded pictures may trigger spam filters. ASCII will work in any client. Make sure to wrap the ASCII newsletter at around 60 chars as some clients rewrap it again if the width exceeds certain limit (Yahoo does it, which makes the text look ugly), but 60 is quite safe. Or you could avoid using newlines when writing. Check how your newsletter software deals with all that. Some may do behind your back text formatting that you don't want. Always test first, not just in your own email client, but the most popular ones like Yahoo, Hotmail, Outlook, etc.

Avoid using any words/phrases that could trigger spam filters. There are lists of them online on newsletter writing resources sites.

Don't include too much/little content. I think that the popular notion about people not reading anymore but scanning is not always true. If you have something to offer that people have genuine interest in most will read it. Especially if you are consistent with it. Once I started including more text in my newsletters my conversions improved a bit. Conversions improved further once I started writing editorials (the first part of the newsletter) that were personal and not found on my site. I think this makes the subscribers feel more special in a way which makes a connection. The editorial I write is just a few paragraphs of behind the scenes update or whatever interesting I can write about. Then I include selected site news since the last newsletter copied from my blog with links to individual posts.

Send the newsletter every time you have something to offer. I always do it whenever I release a new image, which is 1-2/month.

[Nikos Beck]

Monthly newsletters sounds like a reasonable schedule.

I like the idea of offering secondary items on my site like poster art. I suspect it'd be a great way to leverage the art of my games. Each newsletter would present a new poster or coffee mug or whatever.

What about writing a comic strip? Each month newsletter subscribers get access to an exclusive comic strip using characters from the game?

I like the idea of a short editorial. It's a more structured dialogue than a snippet from a blog.

It might be worthwhile including industry news like when "Pop Cap" or "EA" decides to talk about the industry.

Do you really think your audience is interested to hear that you switched from BlitzBasic to Tourque for your upcoming game?

I do want to fill my newsletter with content besides developer babble. I can always have a blog to show off my skills to fellow developers. I want content that keeps my site up-to-date, fills out a newsletter. I don't want to have my site static for six to eight months at a time.

If there is music in the game I could offer extended tracks, ring tones. I could grab my audio resources and run with them.

Fan fiction? Short stories involving game characters? These two options are less likely.

[Sysiphus]

What about writing a comic strip? Each month newsletter subscribers get access to an exclusive comic strip using characters from the game?

As a comic creator, I really hope that idea spreads among indy developers ;)