Despite the increasing use of other more modern lead generation techniques, email newsletters are still one of the most popular marketing tools, especially for smaller enterprises. They allow the business to get their message across in a conversational tone that entices and interests’ prospective customers. With the correct execution and by following email newsletter best practices, you can help your business remain in the minds of your audience and subsequently have a snowball effect on your sales.
Using newsletter making software, creating an eye-catching newsletter with great content, and sending this out at the right time can have a huge impact on your audience.
Whether you are just starting on your email newsletter campaign, or are looking to revitalize your existing strategy, here are 10 email newsletter best practices you should follow:
1. Balance Your Content
Nothing gets people bored faster than receiving tons of exuberant promotional emails, even from a site they like. Therefore, strive to send out balanced content – ideally 90% educational and 10% promotional – and your recipients will almost always be looking forward to reading your emails.
Conte heavy on links and promotions will be marked as spam or you will have a plethora of subscribers leaving your list. Create content that they want to read, not content that is simply trying to sell them your latest product or service. Teach them about your business, how they can use your services and the benefit that they will have.
2. Watch the Subject Lines
The subject line of any email push out will either entice the recipient to open the newsletter or lead them to ignore (or even worse – trash) the message. And writing a great subject line is not hard; just avoid using:
– “spammy” characters like exclamation points
– or all caps and
– don’t exceed 41 characters (about 8 words).
The subject line should convey exactly what’s in the newsletter in the simplest and most concise language.
Think of the subject line as the title of your email, would you open your email with what you have written? Does it convey what is within your email?
3. Offer Unique Content
Your subscribers probably receive tens of marketing emails every day and to stand out, you will need to stand out from the crowd. For instance, if you are a data security company, send out regular articles. These articles could include how small businesses can protect their data for cheap instead of just hawking your security products.
Find areas that interest your audience, you can do this by testing, or better yet simply asking your audience. This will develop engagement and show your audience that you have a vested interest in what you supply them.
4. Be Consistent
Decide on when you want to be sending out your newsletters and try as much as you can to stick to the schedule. That way, your readers will know when to expect your content and helps you avoid the temptation to over-send, which in turn makes you look unprofessional.
Use newsletter making software that can help you schedule, organize, and segment your audience. Such tools help with mundane tasks and make the process of reaching out to your audience just a little bit easier. Groupmail provides several different packages that can help your business and pet project move into the next league.
5. Think Mobile
Statistics show that many people view emails through their phones. Your entire content program should subsequently have a mobile-first approach. To start with, use newsletter making software to create responsive email templates. You can also use larger fonts for the text and incorporate single-column designs.
Having a newsletter that people cannot read on their mobile devices will ensure that just that happens. Mobile compatible website and designs should be at the forefront of your email newsletter best practices.
6. Make Your Content Sharable
Make it easy for your readers to share the content of emails. Include social sharing buttons at the bottom of each page. It would be even better if you have active social media pages where you post regularly.
Better yet use a tool that can insert sharable buttons to your newsletter and emails. Make the process of sharing an easy action for your reader. Not many who read emails will share it via email, but perhaps a messenger or social media share would be a better option.
7. Add Some Sweeteners
No matter how helpful your email content is, subscriber interest will fade with time if you don’t increase the excitement factor. One sure way to increase reader engagement is to offer discounts and coupons or even free products that are exclusive to email subscribers.
This can be done weekly or monthly. Competitions are a great way to increase engagement and ensure readers still invested. Include small hacks or tricks within your messages that may entice more readers.
More formal campaigns can include new segments or deep dives into areas of interest for your readers.
8. Track, Test and Adapt to Performance Metrics
What works today may not work tomorrow, even with the same audience. As such, it is important to always keep an eye on how your newsletters are received and to keep optimizing your content to meet the changing needs and preferences of your audience. Among the metrics to keep an eye on include: the clicks on the CTAs, what type of subject lines get the most opens, and the days you receive the most clicks.
If you are using a paid tool, ensure that you consider all the analytics tools available. Such insights will help you improve your content, scheduling, and overall performance.
9. Comply with the CAN-SPAM Act
Don’t want your emails to be automatically flagged as spam? Make them CAN-SPAM compliant! The key provision of the Act is that senders of commercial emails must provide recipients with a one-click option to unsubscribe if they so wish.
More information on the Act can be found here.
Using this and not following another email best practice will ensure your emails are sent straight to the spam folder, ensuring all your hard work was wasted.
10. Experiment with Different Concepts
Don’t be boring – readers hate that. Spice up your newsletter by trying out new titles, themes, and designs and who knows, you may just hit on a goldmine (engagement-wise). If your creative juice is low, consider using a paid newsletter making software for ready-made concepts.
Testing in the initial stages will allow you to find a concept that works but be sure to retest throughout the years as peoples interests and engagement are sure to change over time.
Email newsletter best practices conclusion: Your email newsletters can make or break your digital marketing program, depending on how you go about it. With everything said above, the biggest rule of thumb is to create content that even you would be excited to read.
You might also be interested in 6 ways to grow your newsletter audience.