Clicks and Conversions for the Win

An issue preview is unique to the magazine industry. It is an email announcement sent to potential advertisers with summaries about upcoming articles and web content for a given media brand. An Issue Preview keeps the magazine brand top of mind for potential advertisers. As a marketer with Endeavor Business Media I typically produce 4 to 6 Issue Previews per month.

The Challenge
The majority of the content is provided by the editorial team. They write content for the magazine with the reader in mind. The Issue Preview is sent to a different audience; the potential advertisers. The typical person receiving the emailed Issue Preview is in a marketing or media buying role. It is likely that they receive many emails each day with similar opportunities. My job is to make the editorial content compelling enough to be opened by a harried marketer.

Meeting the Challenge
There are three components to producing an effective Issue Preview.

1. Creating a compelling subject line and preview text that expresses the importance and urgency of the email to optimize open rates.
2. Formatting the body of the email to be skimmable with clearly defined, above the fold links. A full issue preview is essentially and abbreviated magazine. There is no way that most recipients will read the full email.
3. Reviewing reports with my sales team to ensure that we are reaching the right clients and adjusting our approach accordingly.

The Results
Sheer volume of work to be done has forced me to become very effective at this task. My open rates average from 21% – 24% depending on sales rep, geographic location, and media brand. The sales reps I work with understand how to read a Pardot report and recognize the highest potential leads. They are among the top revenue producers in the company.