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I know there are some IT people who read this blog (like the talented and funny RebeccaJulie'sFriend), and this question is for you:
Let's say that a company has a weekly e-mail newsletter. Some employees would prefer to get an HTML version, where they can read short blurbs very quickly, and then link back to the intranet for more information.
Others, however, want all the news right there in the e-mail. No links. That way, they don't have to bother with links, can print out the entire newsletter and read it off-line, or even read it on their Crackberries, if they are so inclined.
Is it possible to set it up at a company where people can choose which version of the newsletter they want to see. I know that some consumer e-mail newsletters—like the New York Times—offer this choice.
But would it be much harder to offer it internally?
I ask because a recent client of mine switched from straight text to HTML . . . and people are complaining about it, because it's the kind of company where a lot of employees are on the road, and checking e-mail from handheld devices. And they say it's frustrating to read a blurb and not be able to follow the link.
Others at the same company, however, tell me that if I ever sent a 12-page e-mail newsletter to them (which is how long it would be if all the text was in the actual message) they would never scroll through it.
So I thought, what about giving people the choice? Can we do that? RebeccaJulie'sFriend? Anyone else? Anyone doing this?
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Feels like Total Recall. Er, Philip K Dick?
Actually, with Steve's example it's a bit scary --- standing at the urinal...
Comments (4)
Heck, yes, it's possible. We do just that. We have a daily electronic employee publication. It was, in the old version, a scrolling newsletter. One of our plants, which had its own newsletter, also was the old version. Like us, they knew the latest and greatest was what I call the "pick and choose" newsletter, with the home page and hyperlinks to each story.
After they made the change, many of their readers complained they wanted the old version back. Another problem was, for those who have no access to a computer, office staff would print out the newsletter and post it on the break room bulletin board. It suddenly became a real hassle to do that and we want our field/warehouse/driver staff to get the company news.
So we did an analysis of the newsletter and we surveyed our readers. One third of them preferred the scrolling version, one third wanted our proposed new look (because they didn't want to read everything) and, of course, you had the undecided.
We challenged our I/T staff with providing us the option of both and that's what we received. The daily e-mail goes out to employees giving them the day's news highlights. Employees who click on the hyperlink get the new look but there is a button on every issue's home page that says "View/print scrolling version."
We did some educating of the readers when we switched formats and had to reiterate that , yes, you could with one additional click get the old version.
Our plant went back to its scrolling format but we have been successful with offering both. AND there is an additional bonus. While we keep the newsletter behind the company firewall, we do have a small outside audience that wants to receive the newsletter, so the e-mail distribution is set up so the outside audience gets the scrolling version by e-mail.
Our IT group really came through to help us make the change work and make the vast majority of our readers happy.
Posted by Kevin | April 22, 2005 11:39 AM
Posted on April 22, 2005 11:39
Kevin!! You're the man!!! Can you shoot me an e-mail at steve@crescenzocommunications.com . . . . I'd like to interview you for a Ragan Report story on this. I get SO many questions on this, a story in RR would be great.
I love you.
Steve
Posted by Steve C. | April 22, 2005 12:19 PM
Posted on April 22, 2005 12:19
DATE: 04/21/2005 72:61:1A PM
Yes it is possible. The agent that aggregates and sends the emails just need to generate both versions and check the users preference before sending.
I developed an aplication that did this at my last company.
Posted by Jason | October 16, 2006 4:31 PM
Posted on October 16, 2006 16:31
DATE: 04/22/2005 68:84:3A PM
Hi Steve...
I was out of commission yesterday, sorry I didn't respond. It sounds like you've got a start with Jason. I'm here in the wings if you need additional info.
Good luck!
Rebecca
Posted by Rebecca, Julie's friend | October 16, 2006 4:31 PM
Posted on October 16, 2006 16:31