An eggcellent newsletter (and that’s no yoke)

First, apologies for the subject line…

Back in 2009, I wrote about The Country Hen and its newsletter.

You might have bought some of this company’s eggs.

The box has a little newsletter in it.

Now, I don’t know of any other grocery products that come with their own newsletter, so this one really stands out.

The newsletter is not big…probably fewer than 500 words in total. (I can send you a scan of it if you reply to this email.)

However, they do a terrific job with it.

Here’s some of the highlights.

Very simple writing style – it feels like it is written personally by someone who works there (indeed, it has her name at the end of the newsletter)

A clear USP (Unique Selling Proposition). The newsletter states why the company’s eggs are different (and better) than any other eggs you can buy. In this case, they say that their product is the original organic, Omega-3 egg, and that “only the happiest and healthiest hens will produce the world’s finest eggs.”

Detail about things you wouldn’t normally think about, but which when explained make a huge difference. For example: “The barns have back to back windows down both sides to maximize the natural sunlight for our girls. Each is equipped with whole barn fans and screened three season porches… There is a large common area for dust bathing, sunbathing, and burrowing.” It sounds like a real estate listing, doesn’t it?

A thank you for purchasing and for “reading about our farm”.

I am full of admiration for the work of this company.

Back in 2009, they emailed me about their results: “We receive many customer emails, from loyal customers and new customers…We often do a cost/benefit analysis of our marketing programs to evaluate whether they should be continued.  Even though the newsletters are fairly substantial in cost, in twenty years, the discontinuation of the newsletters was never a consideration because of its obvious success and appeal with our customers.”

Now…here’s a question for you:

If a commodity product like an egg can use a newsletter, could you?

Do you think it would be a great way to stand out?