Meet the Communicatrix

How a communications expert grows her audience list and achieves sky-high click-through rates.

About her newsletter
Every month, Colleen Wainwright, who has dubbed herself the Communicatrix, sends a newsletter to her growing base of loyal fans. Using Emma’s response metrics and handy Send to a Friend feature, Colleen’s audience list has grown from about 50 people in the fall of 2007 to nearly 3,000 people. This media maven covers topics such as building your brand and marketing yourself, finding peace amidst a busy schedule and prioritizing your passions.

Why we like it
It’s quirky and honest. Colleen connects with her readers. You’ll find no inaccessible jargon or overly formal language here. Colleen writes her newsletters as if she’s talking to a friend, and the warm, conversational tone pays off. Her newsletters have open rates between 45 percent and 52 percent, far exceeding the industry average. She isn’t afraid to be herself – admitting her weaknesses, expressing her best and worst habits, sharing her humor – and this knack for honesty makes her immediately relatable.
In short: Be personable and present in your newsletters, and your readers will take notice.

The links are interesting and relevant. With all the email in our inboxes these days, it takes something extra special to catch our eye and compel us to participate. Colleen keeps up with trends in marketing and social media, and she peppers her newsletter with relevant links that inform and entertain. Each newsletter also includes a sidebar with rotating resources (“fly-on-the-wall,” site of the month, inspirational sites, communication resources) that may be irreverent or reflective, silly or substantive, depending on Colleen’s mood.
In short: Try balancing informational links with amusing links. Don’t link to anything you wouldn’t invest time in yourself.

The send-off, at a glance
Sent: Feb 10, 2010, to 2,803 people
Open rate: 50.79%
Click-through rate: 23.78%
Subject line: Handling the mess of real work [ctrix]
Emma details: Created using a custom layout

More details
See the website
See the campaign online

Note: This post launches another new category for Emma’s blog. We love showing off our customers and their marketing success stories, and we look forward to doing more…