Thanks for attending our July 12 webinar about how to use the FRONTSTEPS sleek new newsletter feature and tips for newsletter best practices. Newsletters are a tried and true way to communicate with residents. During the webinar, our presenter talked about how to make sure your newsletter send is a success. Check out the recording below … and keep these key aspects in mind when you’re building your newsletter:
Be consistent: Decide your cadence and stick to it. That way, your residents will begin to expect a communication from you and they’ll look for it. Plus, a consistent presence will help prove your value to residents and remind them to revisit your website for help. (Read: less phone calls into your office!)
SPAM: Make sure you review the rules about spam and unsubscribes, so that you aren’t inadvertently spamming your residents. You must provide a way for folks to unsubscribe and you must process those unsubscribe requests. Click here for more information.
Content: Mix up the content and provide value, think about a smart subject line that begins with the most important details first, and use fonts that are readable.
You can watch the entire webinar here.
Below are a few additional questions that participants submitted:
Can you capture metrics? The FRONTSTEPS platform report displays how many newsletters were sent, how many were opened, and how many bounced. Currently, on our product board is a suggestion for a more extensive bounce report so that an admin can follow up on bounces and either fix an incorrect email or delete old/outdated addresses.
Can we set up news categories for residents/owners? Admins can create groups to send newsletters to but these are manager curated. In other words, a resident cannot subscribe to certain lists.
Can we also add links to documents on the website. Yes!
Once the draft is saved, can someone else with admin permissions work on the draft as well? Yes, the newsletter is auto-saved every 30 seconds. Another admin can log in and check over the draft before it’s sent.
Can we send a draft email to ourselves to ensure it looks ok before distributing? Yes, it’s easy to send a draft email to yourself. Under the green “Actionsbutton is an option to Send a Test.
Can we upload videos to the website and then add a link in the email? You would have to upload the video to an exterior site like YouTube and then link to that in the email.
How long can the actual email be? There isn’t a limit to the length of the email but it’s a good idea to send yourself a test and as you check through it, consider where you begin to lose interest.
Please note: for questions that pertained to AHN or AV, we’ve referred them to our sales team and they’ll be reaching out to help troubleshoot them. We are continuing to improve the newsletter function, so if you have any other suggestions to help make it better, please submit them on our product board: Click here to read how to submit an idea and see what other functions we are building. Thank you!
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