WebWise Solutions

Scott Morris sheds considerable light on the different kinds of mailing lists you can use to support your members and drive repeat traffic to your site. Check this out and see if this is a tool you should consider for your web community.

In the world of creating and cultivating web communities, several components exist that can really catapult your efforts. Previously, I suggested that one option for your community might be a wiki. We looked at some advantages and disadvantages of using wikis on your web site. Amongst the other types of components available, one of the most effective are mailing lists of different types. First, we will take a look at interactive mailing lists. Then, we'll discuss announcement-only mailing lists.

Interactive Mailing List

The first type of mailing list is called an "interactive" mailing list. This is because all members of the list can send messages and respond to any message sent. When a user sends an email to the list, that message is then forwarded on to all the rest of the members on the list. Several of the main advantages of this type of mailing list are as follows:

• Interacive mailing lists very closely resemble conversations. These types of lists should be very familiar to most people, in the sense that they are much like conversations. One person makes a statement or voices an opinion, then all are free to respond to it. This gives people a very easy way to participate in conversations.
  
  
• Great way to get many points of view. If a user wants to consult many people having familiarity with a particular topic, mailing lists for that topic are an exellent way to do this. People who are having trouble with something can appreciate having many suggestions on how to fix the problems they are experiencing. Also, interactive mailing lists make a great resource if you need to have a brainstorming session about a topic relevant to the list.
  
  
• Target audience for specific topic. It is nice to have a way to target people of a particular interest. This makes it easy when you have an announcement or news that you know will appeal to those people. The messages go directly to the desktops of those people who have subscribed to the mailing list. It is a direct means of communication with users who have explicitly expressed an interest in that area.
  
  
• Everyone is a peer. In a mailing list, everyone has an equal ability to express an opinion. Everyone is a peer, and can argue their case in front of their colleagues as they wish. No one has to worry about having their voice quelled. In moderated lists, the moderator does have a certain responsibility for filtering content. This ability can have some affect on such a list. The moderator should keep this in mind, as moderation is intended as an advantage of a mailing list rather than a disadvantage. The purpose is not to repress participation, but to maintain the integrity of the mailing list.
  
  
• Ideal place to develop personal contacts in a particular area. A mailing list can be a good place to meet people of a similar interest. Users on the list will get to know each other better Newer users can meet people who are more knowledgable. This ability to meet new people will create a sense of community among members. It is no longer a website where one goes to read articles about topics. It becomes, instead, a group of people to which one can turn to for support, help, and even friendship.
  
  
• Can have open or closed membership. An open membership means that anyone can subscribe. This allows you to get more users faster. A closed membership means that all applications are approved or denied by a moderator. The owner of the list is then able to maintain control of who has access to the content. This can be of benefit if said list contains sensitive company information, for example. A closed list also provides a place where conversations can be kept private, and are not open to the general public.
  
  
• Users can participate as they wish. Mailing lists are a no-stress offering to end users. These end users have absolutely no pressure to participate. They have complete control over their own accounts, and can unsubscribe at will.
  
  
• Very little technical knowledge required. The subscribers of the list need very little technical background to participate. All they need is some way to receive, read, and reply to messages that come from the list.
  
  
• Messages can be read offline. Unlike many of the other types of online communities, email can be read offline. This can be of use if the reader is travelling. Before departing, they can download all messages. During transit, they can then read all of the messages, and prepare responses to them. When they reach their final destination, they can then reconnect to the Internet and send all of their responses. The ability to read messages offline can also be of use to users who want to minimize the time they are connected to the Internet if their ISP charges them based on how long they are online.
  
  

Many are the advantages of having an interative mailing list. Just like with anything else, however, there are some things to keep in mind when considering using such a tool. Some of these things include the following:

• Difficult to sort through message history for content. Mailing lists do not make good sources of reference. Because of the high volume of output, it becomes difficult to sort through, locating messages of a particular topic. This may partially be remedied by applying message filters in the recipients' email clients.
  
  
• High volume of output. If the mailing list has a lot of participation, end users may recieve many email messages per day. Some users may not want this. One possible solution to this issue is to notify users that they can recieve messages in "digest" mode. This means that all of the messages for a given day will be sent to the user in one long message. Thus, the user will only receive one message per day, but will receive the content of all messages sent that day.
  
  
• If messages are moderated, this can create a lot of work for the moderator. If the mailing list produces a lot of output, moderating every message becomes a time-consuming task for the moderator. A possible solution to this is to implement many moderators, such that the time demands for each is minimized.
  
  

These are most of the pros and cons of having an interactive mailing list. According to your needs and resources, this tool is a helpful component in establishing a web community for your web site.

Announcement Mailing Lists

Announcement mailing lists are different than interactive mailing lists in that there is no user participation. The messages are sent solely by the owner of the list. This may be done to minimize the amount of output that an interactive mailing list could produce. There are some advantages of having such a list:

• Only most relevant content is contained in the messages. Interactive mailing lists can generate quite a bit of chit-chat due to the fact that anyone can post messages about any topic. With the announcement mailing list, only the owner of the list can send messages. Therefore, the content is much more streamlined to contain only the most relevant information to the purpose of that mailing list.
  
  
• Provides direct access to people of targeted interest. Since people have to actively sign up for the list, you know that everyone on the list has actively expressed interest in the topic of the mailing list. You have a captive audience who you know are interested in the content of the mailing list.
  
  
• Draw users' attention to some specific thing. If you have a product launch, a breaking news story, or some high-profile event, you may wish to use an announcement mailing list to get peoples' attention. This provides another effective tool in attracting participation and traffic in regards to a topic, event, or article on your site.
  
  
• Content is delivered straight to end users. This may seem obvious, but like interactive mailing lists, it means that you are able to reach out to people that you know have already expressed an interest in the topic of your list. The most relevant information goes straight to the forefront of your end users who are interested in that topic. It's a streamlined way to get the word out to interested parties in an effective way.
  
  
• People have full control of their accounts. This gives them the ability to subscribe or unsubscribe as they wish.
  
  
• Can be a great tool in retaining users. If the newsletter is done properly, it will help foster interest, and will cause people to return to your site. In other words, if you have a good newsletter, it can help increase overall site traffic.
  
  
• Messages can be read offline. Like the interactive mailing list, these types of messages can be received, and then read offline.
  
  
• Can be used as sponsorship revenue. If your mailing list is received by a sufficient number of subscribers, you may be able to charge a CPM, or "cost per mil (thousand)", to advertisers to put ads in your messages. This can be a nice way to generate extra revenue if necessary.
  
  

Now for some caveats to having an announcement-only mailing list. Again, these are not disadvantages, but just things to keep in mind when entertaining the idea of implementing an announcement-only mailing list on your web site:

• If done poorly, will keep users from returning. Just as doing a great job with your newsletters will encourage people to return to your site, if you do a poor job, it will have the opposite effect. It will repel users, causing them not to return to your site. So, if you do decide to do an announcement mailing list, really focus on making it as good as possible.
  
  
• Can trigger spam filters. Because of the high number of messages sent and the numbers of recipients of the messages, your mailing list may trigger spam filters. This will usually cause your mail server to be put on a black list, which causes all messages from your server to be rejected by recipients. If this happens, it can be inconvenient to have your mail server unflagged as an origin of spam.
  
  
• Not everyone reads their newsletters. Often, people will sign up for a newsletter and then forget about it. When the newsletter comes into their inbox, they may delete it before reading it. For this reason, you should not assume that because you have a certain number of subscribers, each and every one of them always read every newsletter.
  
  
• Minimized sense of community. Because everyone can participate in an interactive mailing list, this engenders a sense of community amongst recipients. Messages on an announcement list come solely from the owner of the list. This greatly minimizes the community feel of the list.
  
  

Announcement mailing lists can deliver decent amounts of content delivery to your users with minimal overhead. However, it is also a good idea to remember the caveats that I have listed here.

Conclusion

With mailing lists, you are able to reach out directly to those people who you know have an interest in your topic. You can encourage group participation with interactive mailing lists. Alternatively, you can cut down on chitchat and include only the most relevant information in your announcement-only mailing list. Whatever course of action you take, there are many benefits that each will bring to your web community. If you watch the gotchas, your site can become a thriving hub where the community can go for information, news, and help.