Mention the phrase "customer newsletter," and most seasoned marcom professionals will exit the room screaming. E-mail, however, provides an excellent opportunity to achieve regular communication with your customer base without the content creation and production hassles of a print newsletter.

One way to start small is to establish an online "tech tips" newsletter. Have your tech support department supply a user tip, technique or "trick" every week based on questions they get from actual customers. Promote the newsletter on your Web site, and send a one-time, "opt-in" subscription offer via e-mail to customers whose e-mail information you already have on file. Have subscribers fill out an online reply form so you can capture important demographic information (including mailing address.)

Use the newsletter to also announce product upgrades, seminars, price promotions and other company news, but do so sparingly and only at the end of the technical content (otherwise, you'll wear out your welcome in a hurry.) Ideally, keep your promotional copy to a minimum and send the subscriber via hotlink to a specific page on your Web site for more detailed information.

The benefits of such a newsletter are multi-fold:

• it's a low-resource, low-hassle way of "touching" your customers on a regular basis

• it uncovers customers you may not know you had (e-mail has a high "pass-along" factor)

• it's a low-cost vehicle for announcements that don't merit the cost of a stand-alone campaign