I wonder about Woolies

Woolworths has been part of the high street all my life – but it’s been a part in steady decline. Thinking back I can’t really remember much about what it sold – other than it sold lots and lots of things that I had no interest in.

I did have an interest in the Pick and Mix sweet counter – though the wrappers always looked better than the contents tasted. And it did have a decent selection of Airfix models where the picture on the box always looked better than the end badly painted result.

I remember getting boxes of the little tiny Airfix soldiers – OO scale I think. Paratroopers (in green) and the 7th Cavalry (in dark blue) were the ones that I remember most vividly. Stuck to the “sprue” by their heads or stand – making them either look a bit in need of a haircut or unable to stand.

The 7th Cavalry don’t appear to have turned up to rescue Woolies of late – I think they are tied up rescuing the Financial sector. It’s been a long decline for Woolies as their traditional niche in the market has been eroded by more and more bargain “penny bazaars”.

Someone asked – on Newsnight I think – what the high street of the future will look like. The question was asked while I was browsing online for a Messerschmitt me109 Revel model kit in 1:39 scale. I suspect the high street of the future will have to be much more tightly integrated with a strong ecommerce website presence. The answer on Newsnight – whatever it was – certainly didn’t address the increase in online sales and was therefore far from complete.

Web Wise Business Newsletter System – measure the success

One of the features we have squeezed in to our latest enhancement of our newsletter system on the website development side of the business is measuring the response rate from recipients. We could always tell when people were hitting the site shortly after the newsletter went out – but now we can tie those hits directly to a newsletter and indeed to a newsletter article. That helps us see what our clients like to read about and in turn we’ll be able to make sure we deliver on those interests. So if you get a newsletter from one of our online identities for software development or website design feel free to click away so we know what we need to be doing for you.

Web Wise Business Newsletters System – unsubscribe

We’ve had an unsubscribe feature in our newsletter system since day one – lets face it – it’s only polite. One thing we will be looking at over the next few months is to modify that slightly so that it offers a “change preferences” option. This will let folks change the type and frequency of the newsletter they receive. That helps us do some targeted marketing and ensures that our customers don’t get stuff they don’t care for.

Web Wise Business Newsletter System – a question of content

It’s all about the content. The newsletter system we have pulled together at the software company Objective Associates ensures that you get maximum use from the content you produce. Using one of our website newsletter components on your web site lets you put content on the website and then re-use it easily for newsletter purposes. That means your valuable content can get re-purposed quickly and easily and that makes your business more efficient.

Web Wise Business Newsletter System – do you read yours?

I bet you simply scan read an email newsletter? Yip thought so. So our email newsletter system ensures we deliver the headlines and lets your customers follow through if they want. Our software systems are all about being usable and the newsletter system we supply at web wise business and Objective Associates, is exactly that.

Web Wise Business Newsletter System – are you in?

From the online marketing activities we carry out we can see that the best time to send out an email newsletter is when the recipient is at their desk. It’s much more likely to get opened and much more likely to get actioned or at least marked for action later. PC operating systems are very good at popping up little you have email dialogues and because we are a naturally curious species we tend to have a peek. But be warned if the email newsletter is little more than spurious junk email then your email newsletter is going in the bin – forever.

Web Wise Business Newsletter System – thank God its Friday

We’ve been wondering whether or not a Friday issued email newsletter is a good thing or not. Business tends to take the foot off the accelerator on a Friday and so folk just might be more inclined to open a newsletter to explore topics that they now have some time to think about. However, there is a down side. By the time Monday comes around will the reader have forgotten all about the stuff they read on the Friday? Perhaps – but at least they read it.

Web Wise Business Newsletter System – it’s a weekend activity?

Because bandwidth costs money many newsletter generators send out the email newsletter over the weekend when usage is low. Fair enough – but it’s not a clever thing to do. On a Monday we are all inclined to run through the inbox and junk the …. junk. That means that even if something is interesting there is a high chance it gets caught in the Monday morning clean out. So if you are sending newsletters avoid doing it over the weekend. By all means prepare the content if that is the only time available but don’t hit the send.

Web Wise Business Newsletter System – never on a Monday (well maybe)

Do you enjoy Monday’s? Yeh – know what you mean. The majority of us are the same – we’ve been lulled into the thought that one day all our days will be like the leisurely weekend we have just had – so being back at a desk in front of a computer is a bit of jar. So don’t go making someones bad Monday get of to a bad start with an email newsletter. Unless your newsletter is Monday or weekend specific avoid sending it on Mondays.

Web Wise Business Newsletter System – when do you send them

As we see the effects of sending out targeted email newsletters at the software company Objective Associates its worth mentioning that when they are sent matters. Although our system lets us schedule when the email newsletter will be sent automatically we don’t use it to send things out in the middle of the night. Instead we use it to send out the newsletter when we think people are most likely to be in a mood to receive it. Online marketing requires thought and requires knowledge above and beyond that related to conventional targeted (physical) mail.