If your association has an annual event, such as a conference or symposium, you might want to consider streamlining your communications into one event newsletter. Newsletters are an excellent solution to the problem of “over-communicating” with your membership on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis because they consolidate multiple communications into one concise email. Creating an event newsletter is a great way to communicate the value of your event, highlight important dates and deadlines, call out significant speakers and presentations and acknowledge event sponsors, all in one email!
In 2015, the Red Chair Communications (RCC) team created an event e-newsletter for the Wound, Ostomy and Continence Nurses Society’s (WOCN) 47th Annual Conference. Each issue of the newsletter included new information about sessions, networking events, on-site activities, sponsors, and more. The RCC team was able to leverage this information to draw attention to the Annual Conference, drive traffic to the website, and gain registrations. “The Conference Insider” received an average open rate of 34.95 percent and an average click rate of 10.34 percent, both above industry averages of 21 percent (open rate) and 10 percent (click rate). The WOCN Society’s most popular conference email of the year featured important information for those traveling to the conference. The subject line was “Know Before You Go to San Antonio” and the email received an open rate of 76.2 percent, an increase of 30 percent compared to 2014’s email with similar messaging.
