Newsletters are an incredibly effective marketing tool. The success of email marketing can often be overlooked, but there’s no denying the numbers. In fact, a recent study by Monetate found that email marketing 4.24% of visitors to complete a sale, compared to 2.49% of visitors from search engines and 0.59% from social media. So with this in mind, how can you craft the most engaging newsletter?
Ensure Your Newsletter Brings Value To Your Reader
One of the key elements is authenticity. You have to believe that what you’re sending out has genuine value to your reader and that you are providing them with a real service. If people open your newsletter, you don’t want it to feel like a waste of time.
No one wants to feel like they’re just being advertised to.
Of course, it’s okay to put ads in your newsletter too. Everyone needs to make a living. But those ads need to be nestled in there as part of a larger package that your readers will appreciate. Depending on your business, providing tips and advice, a link to a good blog post, product updates or special offers are great ways to keep your subscribers interested.
Sell The Sizzle For Higher Clickthrough Rates
Newsletters are everywhere these days and, chances are, your subscriber’s inboxes are going to be full of them. Not to mention all the other emails we all receive on a day-to-day basis.
You need some way to cut through the haze. You need readers to feel that call to action to open your newsletter, now. Not sometime later, because that later will never come. Your email will just get buried as their inbox continues to fill.
Consider the “news” part of “newsletter”. Think of it like news. Consider your top stories. Treat your newsletter subject line like a headline and get your readers salivating to know more. Make them want to open it immediately.
Consistency Builds Trust
You want your subscribers to know what to expect when they open your newsletter. You want to establish a voice and a brand that they can trust, that they can rely on.
So, for one, don’t go too far with your newsletter subject line; you don’t want it to read “click-baity.” You want to make sure your newsletter content matches its headline. You want to make sure when your subscribers actually read your newsletter they get what they expect.
Having said that, feel free to experiment with adding variety or different marketing strategies. As long as your voice and your brand are consistent, and subscribers build trust, trying out different strategies will help you learn what people want and allow you to better serve their needs.
Find the Sweet Spot Between Authority and Familiarity
It’s always helpful to remind yourself that you are the expert in your field and that’s why your readers have subscribed. It can be easy to forget this sometimes, and we all fall into the habits of using industry terms and acronyms as if everyone knows what they mean.
But your target audience may not. And you should assume they don’t.
Always take this into consideration when crafting effective newsletters. You want to come across as an authority on your industry, but your newsletter content should be accessible and in plain language, so that it can impact as many readers as possible.
Clear and Concise Copy
We already talked about how important it is to cut through the noise with your newsletter subject line, but it’s helpful to keep this in mind with your content as well.
People are busy. Don’t overload them with information. An engaging newsletter doesn’t waste time.
Keep your language concise and to the point. Include all relevant content, but with clarity and a clean look. Leave some white space. If there’s a call to action, make that extra clear. Always act as a guide for your subscribers, and make it clear what you want them to do.
In the interest of brevity, you also don’t need thousands of words and 10 different articles per newsletter. Not only is this a lot of work for your reader, it also means you risk running out of content for future newsletters.
Like a good blog post, keep your newsletters on the shorter side, with concise copy. Readers will appreciate it and you’ll save yourself work in the long-term.
Establish a Schedule
Similar to social media, it can be hard to strike the right balance when it comes to the frequency of your newsletters. Leave too big of a gap between them and you risk readers forgetting who you are and losing interest. But cram them too close together and your newsletters become an annoyance to your subscribers. And you don’t want that.
You’ll find the sweet spot with your audience as you experiment. Anywhere from a monthly to a weekly newsletter is most effective, depending on what your audience wants. And don’t be afraid to delve a bit into the data and analytics, if that’s available to you. See what works and what doesn’t. Look at the bounces, unsubscribes and clickthrough rates. Learn from the behaviour of your users and ensure your crafting the most effective newsletter you can; one that brings value to your audience.
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