There’s a difference between having a newsletter and having a successful newsletter. Engaging your audience is imperative, unless your goal is being deleted, so remember these tips for your next email blast.
Feel free to leave any questions or comments below. We’re happy to help!
Define Your Purpose
Your newsletter needs a specific purpose. In addition to providing value to your subscribers, it should provide value to your business in some way.
A blogger may want to increase readers. They can use a newsletter to update their readers when new content is released and encourage them to share posts for higher reach.
An online store owner may want to increase sales. They can use a newsletter to send promotions to customers and direct them to their purchasing page.
Newsletters are great for keeping in contact with your customers. Simply appearing in a potential customer’s inbox monthly will remind them of your brand.
Receiving newsletters with information that subscribers perceive as valuable will make them associate that value with your brand.
Regardless of your intentions, lacking a purpose means lacking a strategy, and you can’t succeed without one. Consider what you want to accomplish and how a newsletter can help you get there.
Set Goals
Setting goals is the most effective way to ensure you’re working productively. They give you inspiration, something to work towards, and they help you manage time more efficiently. If you want to increase sales, ask yourself by how much. More sales are always better, but laying out measurable and attainable goals can help you plan more appropriately.
For example: say you want to generate an additional $120,000 per year. That means you have to generate $10,000 per month, or $2,500 per week. Continue to hit your weekly and monthly goals to achieve your yearly goals.
If you’re falling short on these goals, you can analyze your emails and determine where you need to improve to hit them.
Focus on Your KPIs
Your KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) will be unique to your specific goals. Focus on the specific metrics that will help you achieve your goals.
For example: increasing sales requires attention to Open Rate, Click-Through-Rate (CTR), Bounce Rate, Conversions and, of course, Sales/Revenue. The various other metrics are not as important because they won’t help you move closer to your goals. This doesn’t mean you should ignore the rest, just identify your priorities.
Give Your Audience What They Want
People subscribe to your newsletter for a reason. They may want exclusive discounts, or real-time updates for new content. Consider your newsletter as a piece of entertainment. If your audience is not entertained, they will lose interest in your messages and eventually unsubscribe.
Experiment with Headlines
The headline is the most important component of your email. It’s what determines if your subscribers click or not, so give this your full attention. Try to encapsulate your message into one concise line of text that grabs your audience’s attention and encourages them to click for more information.
Think of it like a movie trailer. You want to tease them into learning more to move them towards your goal.
Keep Your Messages Simple
Less is more when it comes to marketing. Trying to inundate your audience with too much information will cause them to lose sight of what’s important. Don’t make your messages compete with each other! After reading your email, your readers should come away with one important message.
Each email should have a goal with a clear Call-to-Action to help guide your subscribers towards completing your goal.
Make the Process Easy
The easier it is for your subscribers to perform your intended actions, the higher your conversion rates will be. Your customers will be less likely to follow through with a purchase if they’re unsure where to click, or why. Amazon was able to master the customer experience, which has made their eCommerce platform a favorite for millions.
Conclusion
Set goals for your newsletter, give your audience what they want, and make it easy for them. These are the principles that make newsletters great; now it’s up to you to add your special touch to make it unique to your business.
Need help getting the most from your newsletter? Contact Active Web Group, a full-service Digital Marketing Agency with over 20 years of experience. If you’re interested in building a strategy to propel your business forward and your competition in the dust, contact us or call us at (800) 978-3417 today!
