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Taking Engagement at Design Sojourn to the Next Level

You are probably wondering why all this is happening? In short, I’ve decided to start paying a greater attention to my newsletter and my email subscribers, all 846 of you!
I have always wondered who are the people that visit my blog. I’ve tried running surveys in the past, but they were overly generic. For example, the survey told me that most of you were between 23-35. Like that really helps me get to know you better?
While I get a decent amount of traffic to my site, as well as over 5000 RSS and email subscribers, only a small percentage of you actually leave comments. So I am really only familiar with those of you who leave comments behind.
I’m just not happy with the level of engagement I currently have. More so now that DesignSojourn.com is my primary means for interaction with the design industry at large. Here are the reasons why I’ve seen the light and believe an email newsletter is a great way for building a better relationship with you.
I recently ran a give away where I had a number of Finlandia iPhone 4 cases to pass out for free. All people had to do was to leave a comment. But guess what happened? Hardly anyone left a comment. Imaging this, I had a bunch of freebies to give out and nobody wanted it! I was dying to contact a Design Sojourn reader to hand the cases over but I did not have any means to contact you.
Next, I’ve received a number of emails for readers in response to the recent blog posts I’ve written. I realized that the reader just hit reply button on his subscription email and sent his thoughts to me. Not only is it easier to send me a message via email, but also a lot more personal and private, both for me and you.
Finally, I often get really juicy bits of information that is often not for open public consumption. But I really want to let you know as I know you would likely be interested in the news. This newsletter will be my way of dropping you that note.
So In summary here is why you should sign up:
1) The awesome convenience of getting updates on fresh Design Sojourn blog content directly to your inbox.
2) Whenever I get a freebie, I’ll pass it right on to you. Email newsletter subscribers will get the first dibs by a direct mailer from me. To prove a point, I’ll be giving away 3 of my remaining new Finlandia iPhone 4 cases on Wednesday February 23rd. The winners will be randomly selected. I will announce and contact the winners by email, of course!
EDIT:Dear all, the iPhone 4 case give away dateline has been extended to 19th of March, as there are some problems with the mailing list.
3) Occasionally I will send through, only to email subscribers “uber ninja” design related news that I feel would interest you. I will curate the content for sure, but I foresee it could be anything from a unique job opportunity, product offer, market trend, entrepreneurial opportunity or even a hot insider tip. I often have juicy news I would love to share to a small group of friends. Signing up for the newsletter will get and keep you in the loop! Again to prove a point, I have a really awesome juicy opportunity for designers looking to take control of their future and their designs. This “Designileaks” will be released on Friday, February 18th. All I can say is you don’t want to miss this news!
So why wait? Click on this link and fill up the form in a few easy steps.
To end this post, I just like to share a little more about how serious I am about engaging you better. I’ve moved my email newsletter distribution facility from Feedburner to Mail Chimp. Mail Chimp offers me a lot more control and a far nicer looking email format, which by the way, I do recommend you select the HTML format?
If you are already receiving this notice by email, you don’t have to do anything. Just sit back and enjoy the new look newsletter. Nice is it not?
One more thing, I will never abuse or sell your email addresses to anyone. Period. This is my sincere promise to you. Engagement is about building relationships between you and me, and I’m not about to abuse that.
I’m looking forward to getting to know you a whole lot better in the coming months!

7 Comments
  • Brian

    March 7, 2011 at 10:17 am Reply

    Dear ALL, the iPhone 4 case give away dateline has been extended to 19th of March, as there are some problems with the mailing list.
    @kate: Thanks for signing up! And you are in the running for the iPhone case! Good luck with your design career and please keep in touch.

  • Kate

    March 5, 2011 at 7:21 am Reply

    I discovered your site yesterday looking for information design, and being a lover of industrial design I’ve left it open to have a better read. Thanks for the great content and it’s a beautiful site too. And I love your Spaces notebook!
    Hey if you’re still giving away an iPhone 4 case, I’d love one if you can post to Australia! Really need to get a case for my new phone. 🙂
    Now I’ll get back to reading your archives!
    PS. I’m 31, F, Aussie, and I design big ideas / help others design their big ideas, and have a love of industrial and packaging design though I prefer to ponder it rather than do it for a career.

  • Brian

    February 21, 2011 at 10:11 pm Reply

    Hey everyone, it is not only me, but you guys as well! All of us make the community and I would not be here if I did not have your support. So thank you as well!

  • Duane Harrison

    February 17, 2011 at 7:35 am Reply

    Great to hear you are engaging with the readers! I find it very interesting and exciting. Look forward to hearing from design sojourn soon.

  • GINA

    February 17, 2011 at 6:47 am Reply

    Hi , there. I found this site wile looking for information, knowledge and others. Now I can see people that care to share it, I know we are far far far away as i am in Costa Rica. We hardly have an industrial design school but we do our best to keep up. I am not here for your freebies but for yoru support as comunity as i am more in to web design learning.
    Send you all a warm regards and best wishes this 2011.

  • Carl

    February 16, 2011 at 7:25 pm Reply

    I’m a third year university student studying product design, one of the reasons I love the design community is because people always seem friendly and want to interact, talk and generate ideas. We often get professionals to come into our university to help us and having communication with people certainly helps design!
    Thanks for all your participation to the community

  • Karen

    February 16, 2011 at 12:33 pm Reply

    Hi, you’re nt the only one who are in this position. The fact that you have lots of subscribers proves your content value. Often people do not have the time, but sometimes people are a little short of posting comments. Maybe you should have an online party or a live one locally. It’s a little hard not to interact when you personally know one another.
    Cheers!

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