Newsletter Marketing
Frequently Asked Questions
No, we do not sell lists of subscribers. We believe that you should organically grow your list of subscribers. Add a subscription form to your website or run a social media campaign to increase newsletter subscribers. Buying lists of email accounts to send emails to would likely get your account flagged for spamming and banned. You would do more damage to your brand by spamming than the limited amount of sales gained.
We try to stick to a database size of 10 000 or below. That normally falls in the range of the types of clients that we deal with. Cognite uses Mailchimp to create and deploy the newsletters since it’s very popular and easy to use. You may decide to go with a bulk emailing service if you need to send to more than 10 000 subscribers and want to keep your costs down.
Yes, if you have run out of ideas for newsletters then we could assist you with content topics as part of the monthly retainer. We do also have a copywriter that can assist in writing the content or reviewing the content that you have written.
Yes, you can send your list of subscribers in an MSExcel document. You can include the first name next to the email address if you want to personalise your newsletters. We assume that you have permission from those individuals to email newsletters to them so we do not accept any legal liability from the list that you provide.
We provide reporting on who opened the emails and who clicked through to your website. These statistics will give you great insight into the engagement level of individual newsletters that we sent out.
There are methods to embed newsletter signup forms into web pages. You should then focus on providing helpful content to the subscriber to get them to sign up. If they are interested in the latest product promotions then advertise at product level. If you sell a service that doesn’t change continuously, focus on sharing helpful tips around that service topic as a softer approach.
People would unsubscribe if the same information is forced down their throat so make sure to add value to your newsletter. Respect their time and they may decide to open your email instead of just deleting it.
If a subscriber wishes to unsubscribe then they can just click on the Unsubscribe link inside the email. They will be automatically be removed from the distribution list and would not receive any future emails.
It is important to note that we use a double opt-in process when someone subscribes to the newsletter. This means that they need to physically click on a unchecked checkbox on the subscription form before submitting it. They will then receive an email to confirm that they do want to subscribe which they have to click on. This helps to protect you from subscribers saying that they never subscribed to your emails.
Do not overcommit to a newsletter schedule that you cannot stick to. Consistency is important to your readers. Rather start with one newsletter a month and rather focus on adding more value to that edition. If you have consistently deployed newsletters for 6 months or more then you could perhaps add a second deployment where you could focus on segmenting your newsletter subscriber database.
You should decide on which day of the week and time of day to deploy your newsletters. If your business is into entertainment where people need to book or attend during a weekend, make sure to send it out Tuesday or Wednesday. If you operate during normal office hours then look at sending it out Wednesday or Thursday, between 1pm and 3pm.
Most people would fire up their emails on Monday and start deleting spam or low importance emails immediately. They are focused on what needs to be done that day. This applies to all mornings. Tuesday can be as busy as Monday, so try to avoid it. On Fridays the subscribers would already be in weekend mode. Lunch time is generally between 12:00 to 14:00 daily. By 13:00 most of the morning rush has passed. Sending it straight after lunch and not near the end of the day would be a good Goldilocks zone to aim for. Your business may require different deployment times, but this would be a good overall day and time spot.
Meet some of the brands that we have worked with.
How did others experience Cognite?
“Cognite listens well and delivers at the pace I work with! Well done!”
Nomvula Kungwane, Khweza Engineering Projects Construction
“Thanks so much for great service, no, excellent service, the professional manner it was handled,
the courtesy to let me know what will work and what not.”
Suzette Truter – CieSoft
“Cognite has understood my needs, my vision, and made it reality,
while guiding me through the whole design process.”
Cecil de Jongh, Soco Dance Studios
“We cannot express how pleased we are with the level of professionalism,
creativity, level of service and end results that was delivered.”
Nosipho, Interactive Research And Development SA
“Thank you so much for all the hard work. I thought I could design my own brand logo
until you showed me what you propose and it completely blew my mind.”
Sandile, Indalomed
“Thanks Cognite for the amazing service; helpful advice and excellent customer service!”
Esta Rademeyer, ABC Personnel
“My experience with Cognite has been outstanding.
It could be the best I’ve received from any of our service providers to date.”
Leroy, Geeks N Nerds Records
“Cognite was just phenomenal in handling my needs.
Very efficient, communicates timeously and excellent turnaround time.”
Zuza Ndlovu, Cafe Afromeat
