Starting an Email Newsletter

Since 1985, the Galleria Chamber of Commerce has served Houston's Intown, Galleria, Uptown, Highland Village, West Houston, and Greenway Plaza businesses. Major benefits for the chamber's more than 750 members are the abundance of networking events and promotional opportunities to help grow their businesses.

Challenge: Coordinating Communications

One of the Galleria Chamber's greatest assets – a growing, well-managed member database of more than 2,000 contacts – was also becoming somewhat of a liability. Members loved the chamber's programs enabling them to communicate with and promote to other members. The demand was so great that, when added to chamber news and information that was also disseminated, some members complained they were receiving too much information. People started to ignore the communications or, worse, to unsubscribe from chamber mailings, and the open rate hovered at 8%.

Solution: Create an Email Newsletter and Advertising Program Using Constant Contact

The biggest benefit for me is Constant Contact is an efficient means of keeping up with our email marketing and our events. Like all chambers of commerce, the Galleria chamber hosts countless events – breakfasts and luncheons, ribbon-cuttings, seminars, committee meetings, golf tournaments, business after-hours, and more. Emails, printed fliers, and event calendars are used to advertise these activities – as many as 20 each month. The chamber also promotes its members' businesses with special advertising. It all adds up to a lot of communication – and for some members, it can be overwhelming.

"I can get 30 requests a month from members to send out information, and that's way too much," explains Emily Smith, business manager at the chamber. "People don't appreciate their email address being taken advantage of."

When Emily arrived in March 2010, there were signs she would need to re-evaluate the chamber's communication plan. In addition to low open rates, the communications weren't attracting new people to events. The last straw came when a member dentist offered 50% off teeth whitening through a chamber mailing and no one took advantage of the exclusive offer.

The Galleria Chamber tackled its communication challenge in June 2010 with the launch of GCC News, an email newsletter that's disseminated the first and third week of each month using Constant Contact Email Marketing. The newsletter is sent to some 2,000 people at more than 750 member businesses, and it consolidates the collection of news, information, advertising and announcements in a consistent, branded format. In addition, a once-daily email featuring a chamber member's ad is also distributed to the membership. And all events are promoted using Constant Contact Event Marketing.

Every time GCC News goes out, it features a main article about a member business that, oftentimes, promotes an upcoming event. The event is then promoted using Event Marketing, and the chamber's Twitter and Facebook pages. This promotes the event multiple times using multiple media, without leaving the members feeling inundated by chamber mailings. For example, an October 2010 article on customer service at the department store Nordstrom helped "prime the pump" for an appearance the following month by a Nordstrom executive speaking at a chamber breakfast.

"The feedback has been extremely positive," Emily says. "Before, our emails were somewhat generic and random. They went out at all different times, and we were getting too many unsubscribes requests."

Results: The Members are Paying Attention

Using Email Marketing to send a professional, branded newsletter, followed by a professional, branded invitation that links to a registration page and event homepage, has increased interest and attendance at chamber events.

"We went from averaging 13 people at our breakfasts to at least 55, and they were pre-registered," Emily says of the change in the chamber's communication plan. "This is a huge help, and not just financial. The chamber looks more professional and successful. Our larger crowds help us to attract more speakers."

In addition, the average open rate for chamber mailings has jumped to 27 percent, and click-through rates are also up. "So we've been doing better than industry standards," Emily explains. Another indication of success? The chamber has seen an increase in the number of 'Likes' on Facebook and more links by the membership to social media sites like Twitter and LinkedIn.

Emily sees the benefit of Constant Contact from two perspectives. "The biggest benefit for me is it's an efficient means of keeping up with our email marketing and our events," she says. "It's a huge responsibility for me and it's not the only thing I do, so Constant Contact just makes my job so much easier. For our members, it helps us to market their businesses. To have access to a program like Constant Contact and as great a database as we have, it helps our members do more business with each other because we can be in contact with them constantly."

Now, the dentist with the teeth whitening promotion advertises in GCC News. "Members print off those coupons they can't get anywhere else," Emily explains. "They really like that."