The world of marketing may seem vast and complicated, but there are central pillars scattered throughout if you’re willing to look close enough. Newsletters are without a doubt one of the main pillars marketers turn to when they want to engage their audiences.
In fact, Nielson Norman Group did a deep study involving 500+ newsletters from around the world. What did they find? It turns out there is a personal connection that readers feel when they get your newsletter in their inbox.
In this article, we are also going to discuss important strategies you can start implementing right away to potentially increase the value of your business.
Provide Value
The most important thing to include in your letter is value. There’s no amount of calls to action, no amount of ads, and no amount of publicity will make you more valuable. You have to think about what your customers want to see in your newsletter and give it to them.
Professionals add value to their newsletters by including things like recent blog posts from that week (or month) as well as links to videos You’ll also want to try to include important information about things like contests, the holiday blog schedule, and important information over the coming weeks.
You should also try to include information such as resources, webinars, free ebooks, and more. If you provide your readers with something valuable, they are more likely to read your future newsletter and convert on your CTA.
Use the Right Tone
Your tone is another important factor that can turn your email from bland to exciting. You should try to talk to your audience like you’re talking to a friend. Obviously, it’s important that you still get your important information out there, but try to do it in a more casual way.
For example, Instead of saying, “Download our company’s famous ebook here.†You might want to try something like, “We are offering our family here at (business) our ebook for free as a gift from us, to all of you!†See the difference? Once is bland and generic, the other is personal and engaging.
Mind Your Formatting
Have you ever received an email that was nothing but a big block of text?
Exhausting, right?
It’s much easier for your readers to digest your emails if they are broken down into small chunks. The previously mentioned study revealed that people usually stick around on a newsletter for about 51 seconds.
Yes, that sounds discouraging. However, that doesn’t mean that you can’t convert readers to your call to action. If you’re worried that customers might not find your email “Scannable†it may be helpful to ask peers who don’t work with you to check out your copy.
Look for common threads that your peers individually mentioned (such as an unclear message) — and revise, revise, revise.
Start a Dialogue
Many people who create newsletters use a do not reply email. This might make sense for a number of reasons, but it turns out that it doesn’t really help make your email newsletter more appealing.
Have you ever received a newsletter that you want to respond to, but there’s that do not reply at the end and you know that there’s not much you can do, so you close it.
If you give your readers an option to email you regarding questions or concerns, even if it’s through a support email address at the bottom of the newsletter, this is better than nothing.
You have to make sure there is a line of communication between you and your audience. They are going to be able to ask you questions, give you feedback, and help you develop as a business.
Use Friendly Opt-Ins
You can increase the appeal of your newsletter by adding an easy to use subscribe button on your website. The thing is, you have to consider placement. One case study by OptinMonster revealed that you can potentially increase your subscriber list by 500 percent if you change up your opt-in strategy.
Adding a subscribe button at the end of your blog isn’t enough. You should look and see if you can get potential readers interested by asking them to subscribe when they leave your site for the first time.
Since typically 70% of people don’t come back to a website after they visit the first time, this could be a great way to gain a bigger audience and create a more compelling newsletter.
Use Alt Text on Images
Everyone knows that images are important in your emails, but did you know that data shows 43 percent of people on the Gmail platform view emails without images on. As a result, your newsletter may take on an awkward or clunky in appearance, especially if you decide to add an important copy in the form of images.
How can you get around this? Well, you can’t technically force your readers to turn on images, but you can make sure they get the full message without adding images.
First, make sure your images supplement the content instead of making up a bulk of the content. Second, add alt text to your images so viewers can see what image would be there if they were viewing the newsletter with images on. This could encourage people to either turn images on or at least give them a good idea of what you placed.
Clearly Show how to Unsubscribe
There’s nothing more frustrating than being part of a newsletter than that you don’t want to be a part of anymore. You’d have to imagine that there is a small percentage of readers of your newsletter who feel the same way.
Instead of making it hard for them to unsubscribe, include a clear and defined way to unsubscribe from your newsletter towards the bottom of the page.
This may seem counterproductive, but the truth is, if someone doesn’t want to receive your newsletter, they likely are not going to click your CTA or read what you have to say. They are just looking for a way to stop the emails. Give them this option — it will give you a more refined and user-friendly newsletter.
These tips are all designed to help make your newsletter more exciting or user-focused. As you begin the process of making and engaging your newsletter, you’ll start to learn your own tips and tricks that work with your specific audience.
Make sure you’re refining your newsletter and taking important information into consideration as you continue publishing. Once your newsletter is polished, you’ll have no problem engaging readers, getting subscribers, and getting more click-throughs!