For many online marketing practitioners, email newsletters are an important part of their online marketing strategy. Newsletters are a wonderful way to build lasting relationships with your customers. Newsletters give marketers a chance to provide customers with updates on company products and services. They also strengthen brand recognition and trust in the market. Here are 10 tips to make newsletters an effective part of your email marketing strategy:
1. Use a template for your email marketing newsletter. Your newsletter is part of your brand. Just as people recognize the masthead of the NY Times when they see it in the corner store, they should recognize your newsletter as soon as they see it arrive in their inbox. The template doesn’t necessarily have to mirror the design and style of your website, but it should represent your brand in a recognizable way. Good email marketing software comes with a variety of in-built templates that you can use to create your newsletter. Use them to frame your message neatly with a consistent style. You can even use a different template for special occasions. For example, Infacta’s GroupMail has several templates built in to the software that you could use during the holidays:
2. Balance promotion and information in your newsletter. Your email marketing strategy must balance the promotional content of your business with value-added information for your customers. Too much of either one will impact results. If you provide only helpful information without a clear call-to-action, you will miss out on the opportunity to drive sales. If you promote your products and services month after month without giving your customers information that will help them, they will see your message as a recurring sales pitch and reach fatigue quickly. Ensure that your newsletter blends both promotional content and information helpful to your customers.
3. Create action links in your newsletter. Your email newsletter is a portal to your online presence. More specifically, it is the link between an idea and action. Use your newsletter strategically to link customers to relevant landing pages where they can take action. The links that you provide in your newsletter should drive customers directly to that section of your website where the action is – your shopping cart for a particular product, your event registration form, your download page, your new product specification or your special offer announcement. Make your call-to-action links visible. Don’t bury them at the bottom of your copy. Direct recipients to your call-to-action with active copy. Use words that promote the action that you want them to take – Upgrade, Buy, Learn, Improve, Participate, Download etc. are words that promote action. Don’t disguise the action that you want your customers to take. Be direct.
4. Use colorful buttons in your newsletter. If you don’t already, try using colorful buttons (especially red) in place of or in addition to standard hyper-text links in your copy. Many people find that click-through rates increase simply by adding red buttons on websites. We like to push buttons when we see them, especially bright red ones. I know my children do!
5. Encourage cross-selling in your newsletter. Take advantage of the opportunity to promote additional or affiliate products and services in the signature of your newsletter. Simple mentions of related products and services at the close might strike a chord with your customers. The most effective way to informally mention related products that aren’t necessarily part of your core newsletter message is to use P.S. copy after your signature. For example, if your newsletter provides website design tips for your customers and you have an affiliate who is a website host, you might use the following copy after your signature:
P.S. Want to reduce your web hosting costs? Click here.
6. Encourage recipients to forward your newsletter. If your newsletter contains helpful information for your customer base, why not suggest that your recipients forward it to friends and colleagues? Many times, simply putting the idea in their heads will encourage them to do just that. “Actually, my boss might find this interesting.” or “My friend Sam was just talking about this, I should send it on to him.” The more current and topical the information that you provide in your newsletter, the more chance that it will become viral. The most forwarded emails are ones that contain humor. But, depending on the purpose and audience of your email, be cautious of using humor. If you do, be careful to keep it related to your industry and of a standard that won’t possibly offend anyone.
7. Keep your newsletter short and sweet. The ultimate idea of a newsletter is to encourage recipients to eventually take action and visit your website or offline shop. If you give them all of the information in the newsletter, then there is no reason for them to visit your website. Use teasers instead of providing full articles or details. Not only does this reduce the size of your newsletter, but it encourages recipients to visit you and take action. Email recipients are scanners rather than readers. Providing several content teasers that are easy to scan rather than one lengthy page of copy will improve the chance that each reader finds something relevant to them and will increase click-through rates. There are exceptions to this, of course. I receive some newsletters that contain one monthly editorial about industry trends. These editorials are short and encourage recipients to comment, driving traffic to their blog or forum where the editorial is posted.
8. Syndicate your newsletter. An effective way to expand the readership of your newsletter is to list it on syndicated newsletter sites. By doing so, the content of your newsletter has the potential of reaching a wider audience. Ideally, you should find syndication sites that are relevant to your industry, or even consider co-registration arrangements with particular partners that have an association with your products and services. You should also ensure that your newsletter content is available as a Really Simple Syndication (RSS) feed to your subscribers.
9. Archive your newsletters on your website. Archiving your newsletter content on your website is a good way to attract search engines. It also allows you to include that content in your RSS feed, which may be read by those customers who don’t subscribe to your email newsletter. Many times, a newsletter is made up of content already existing on your site (articles, etc.;) but often, some content is created specifically for your newsletter. Take advantage of newsletter content by leveraging it on your website in an archive for readers to refer back to and for search engines to find.
10. Optimize newsletter delivery. Many e-mail marketers like to make their newsletters stand out with fancy HTML and images. While this can make a newsletter look great, it can also impact deliverability. Many email clients and ISPs filter messages as spam when HTML is used, especially if there are errors in coding. To optimize your newsletter delivery, offer recipients both an HTML and Text version.Email marketing software like GroupMail allows you to send one message that will automatically launch the version that is appropriate for each recipient. That way, you can create one message that is compatible with both HTML and Text. Your newsletters must also have a good reply-to address and an opt-out link for those who want to unsubscribe. If it doesn’t, delivery could be affected. It is also a good idea to encourage recipients to add you to their address book. Doing so will reduce the risk of your e-mail being blocked. Use images sparingly. Less is more. Remember that not everyone has the latest and greatest computer or a high speed connection. For those that don’t, it can be frustrating when they receive a bulky, image-intensive email. Create your email newsletters with late adapters of technology in mind.
