Definitely send them the poll. If you send an introductory newsletter, most people may never read it. People are lazy and do not like reading much.

If you send them a poll, you engage them to take action and they actually get into the fun.

Also, I suggest giving your audience a powerful incentive if they answer the poll, like putting them into a drawing to mention their website or Facebook page. People only get engaged these days if there is something in it for them and just answering a poll is not engaging enough.

Like, on my blog and on some of the blogs on www.LatestBlogPosts.com, some bloggers will blog their clients to their Twitter followers and that is what I do to my 40,000 Twitter followers.

It works wonders. I also have other ideas that I would be willing to share with you on the phone. I have implemented several ideas that work to engage my audience.

Bruce

What are you selling/marketing/trying to do with the e-newsletter?

And: did you get their e-mail addresses correctly? Are you conforming to CAN-SPAM rules? Have they confirmed they want to receive your e-mail? If so, good job....

If I were you, I would NOT send an introductory newsletter e-mail telling them you are going to be sending them e-mail, it's just another step. Just send the e-newsletter.

For your e-newsletter:

A) Repetition:
Develop an ongoing set of sections that you use to interact with your customers, and always re-use that template, so they get used to skimming through and going to their relevant section

Sample Sections of your E-newsletter
i) Intro
ii) More Details about What You Are Offering
iii) Upcoming (e.g. ways to connect, events, book launch)
iv) Call to Action
v) Thank you
vi) PS) (people always like these postscrips)
vii) Unsubscribe information & Contact information

B) Catchy subject line:
Some e-newsletters go straight to delete without me even opening the message, because they're not relevant:

Sample subject lines of emails that go into Trash:
"Connect with CompanyName at UpcomingInternetConference"
"Webinar Coming Up"
"Website Newsletter Update for September"

C) Compete on relevance:
People are bored/tired/stressed/aggravated/on their lunch break. How can you compete? Give them something super meaningful and relevant.

D) What's in it for me:
What benefit, value, bonus, discount, coupon, deal, or behind-the-scenes/members-only information do you have for the recipient? Keep it succinct -- they are giving you their attention, make that count --- put the benefit directly into the first and second paragraphs.

E) Who are you again?:
Remind them about your blog/business with your tagline or memorable slogan, or your photo.

F) About images:
An embedded picture of your product/service may be helpful especially if you have a very visual set of offerings

G) Easy-to-read:
Craft your e-newsletter to be easy-to-read (bolds, italics, bulleted lists, horizontal rules) with ONE specific call to action. Too many options = confusion/inaction/passivity.

H) Action:
Embed a specific call to action. Give them a concrete thing they feel like they can do, e.g. "Purchase by midnight" or "Like us on Facebook"

I) If you already have blog content I wouldn't spend more than a few lines toward the end of your e-newsletter to drive them back to your blog, for example "Check out the latest: Link 1, Link 2, Link 3" where your links are really engaging one-line titles. Some of your readers may already have subscribed to your blog so it's too repetitive to mention your blog posts yet again.

These days, people are inundated with email. Instead of using your newsletter to duplicate the content on your blog, use your newsletter to pique your readers' interest.

Give them just enough information to make them want more. Ask them questions, and tell them how to find the answers within your relevant blog posts, tweets or Facebook status updates.

Use your newsletter to remind your audience to stay engaged with you; avoid using it as a means of engagement, as you're more likely to find people filing it away, ignoring it, or worse, unsubscribing.

Hope that helps?

If you'd like to chat more about email marketing and newsletters, feel free to schedule a call with me to see how I maintain high open and click rates with my own ever-growing customer mailing list.

Concise copy gives your subscribers a taste of your content just enough that they want to click and learn more. The main blog post has one large comic, a few small paragraphs of introduction, and a link. Make sure images have alt text. Alt text is the alternative text that appears when images are not loaded in an email. This is especially important if your CTAs are images you want to make sure people are clicking even without the image enabled. Each email marketing program is different, but here is one tutorial for adding alt text to email. Make it easy for people to unsubscribe.” Do not hide an unsubscribe button behind an image without alt text.
You can read more here: https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/guide-creating-email-newsletters-ht
Besides if you do have any questions give me a call: https://clarity.fm/joy-brotonath