7 ways to use Constant Contact, Smore or any other newsletter program to improve your press release success rate

The email newsletter software you use to send messages to parents and staff members can be a powerful tool for increasing your media exposure.

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If you’re using Constant Contact, Smore or some other email system with stats to send out press releases, here are a few ways to use the system to improve your email pitching both in the short-term and in the long run…

Check your “Opens” to see who is reading your email, but not following up with a story request. The fact that they opened it means they may be receptive to a pitch, but for whatever reason the email didn’t hook them. Consider reaching out again by phone, in-person, or a more personalized email.

Check your “Bounces” to find out what contacts in your database are wrong. The email may have been entered into the database incorrectly, or possibly the reporter has moved to another organization. If the latter, reach out to the newsroom and introduce yourself to the new reporter.

Use the “resend to non-openers” option. This automatically resends the pitch to anyone who missed the initial email after a certain number of days of your choosing. Constant Contact also gives you the option to change the original subject line.

Use the A/B subject line feature. This allows you to enter two different subject line options, and find out which one works best. Try this with a small subset of your distribution list, then send the winning subject line to your remaining contacts. (Note: Constant Contact also has a built-in feature that will a partial send and test for you. It works great if you’re not under a deadline to send your info.)

Monitor your “unsubscribes.” Everyone will get unsubscribes occasionally. But if they happen frequently, you’re likely either emailing too often, targeting the wrong audience, of writing subject lines that feel like spam.

Try sending your press releases at different times of day and/or days of week to see when your open rate is highest. You soon may be able to decipher which reporters which which shift (or at least make time to read emails) and be able to adjust your future send times to land fresh at the top of their inboxes.

Monitor who frequently opens your emails, and treat them like VIPs. Constant Contact allows you to export a CSV of your opens for each emails, which could make tracking them over time easier.

Got another cool tip for how to use your newsletter software to maximize your PR efforts? Share it in the comments below!