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A business newsletter should be an integral part of your email marketing plan. Sending regular, targeted, relevant emails to customers and potential customers will help with building and maintaining brand awareness and loyalty in a way that is cost-effective and relatively painless.
If you're a small business taking your first step into the online world – perhaps after just having created your first website – the immediate advantage of email newsletters over traditional printed newsletters and advertising is a minimal cost.
Sure, to get it right, you will probably have to expend some cash on the right software, copy, and imagery, but it will be nowhere near the amount you'd pay for printing and then mailing hard copies of something you have no way of tracking the effectiveness of.
In case you haven't noticed, these days people are glued to their phones. A good chunk of that time is spent checking email inboxes, and a good chunk of that chunk of time could be spent reading your email newsletter.
Before you start sending out an ill-designed email to every and any address you've ever been exposed to willy-nilly, there are some things you need to consider. One of the most important factors to remember when you're building a mailing list is that you're sending your email to have explicitly opted in. The emails you submit have to be relevant to what your subscriber has opted into.
This isn't just best practice; it's the law.
The US law that lays down the ground rules for sending commercial emails was established in 2003 and is known as the CAN-SPAM Act. According to this act, sending emails to recipients who ask to be removed is illegal. If you decide to ignore these laws, you could find yourself facing a penalty of $16,000 – per email.
The idea of facing hefty fines doesn't sound appealing, does it? Avoid this by including a good opt-in form on your website and a clear way for people to unsubscribe somewhere in the email. Read more about building an email list and how to create an effective opt-in form here.
While increasing brand awareness and loyalty is most definitely a positive outcome of email marketing, it's good to have a more specific, measurable goal before starting, both for tracking purposes and staying motivated to keep this thing going on a regular basis.
Of course, your ultimate goal will be highly dependent on what exactly it is your business does, your audience, and what it is you want your subscriber to do. When in doubt, brainstorming is never a bad idea. Sit down and think about your ideal customer. Ask yourself:
These are key questions you need to answer before you even begin to think about crafting your content. After all, how can it be compelling when you don't even know who you're compelling and for what purpose?
Some common end-goals of an email newsletter campaign include:
When it comes to building a customer base and maintaining loyalty, these elements are good to track. You'll effectively see how engaging your newsletters are and whether or not this engagement translates to conversion.
Once you've settled on some concrete goals, it's time for the fun part: content creation! If you're scratching your head, thinking, "Content? That's a very broad term…" you are correct. If this is your first foray into the internet world, you better familiarize yourself with content, because it will absolutely be referred to time and time again.
Content, in a web sense, is essentially the stuff that fills up every website page, from text and imagery to video and sound, to engage web users. Whatever kind of email newsletter you're aiming to create, it needs content.
Exciting! But what kind of content? Again, this will depend on your end goal. Chances are, you came up with some neat ideas during your brainstorming session. If you're still unsure, here are some typical newsletters businesses send to their customers.
If you have an e-commerce store, it's easy to keep your customers abreast of what's happening in your store and even things that are relevant to their interests. For instance, if you sell makeup, your newsletter could include links to new releases, special offers, trends, and beauty news.
This ASOS newsletter incorporates current trends and has a clear CTA in the form of the "Shop Now" button in the top center.
This Domino's Pizza newsletter showcases its current offer and ties it into the winter season for an added personal touch.
If your business has a blog (or is a blog!) or runs an online magazine, a content roundup of your best and most essential pieces has been published lately. This could be weekly, biweekly, monthly -- whatever makes sense in terms of how much you publish.
The New Yorker's culture newsletter uses it to present (very!) old content in a single column.
Maybe you're planning on your newsletter being your product. Successful examples of a monetized newsletter include daily bitesize news newsletter, The Skimm; and NextDraft, which promises the most fascinating news stories of the day delivered straight to your inbox. These kinds of newsletters tend to make money through advertising and sponsorship.
When starting anything, you need to plan. With an email newsletter, that means being organized and keeping on top of things. For your campaign to be effective, this newsletter needs to be sent regularly. Your unmissable content requires you to be gracing your customers' eyes as much as possible; otherwise, they're apt to forget who you even are.
Planning is a good way of ensuring you stick to a schedule. Sticking to a schedule is made easy when you implement an editorial calendar.
The term "editorial calendar" can sound a little frightening, but it doesn't have to be complicated. All you need is a simple calendar where you can organize and monitor the content you're planning to include in your newsletter and when you're going to send it. What you use is up to you. Google calendar is a handy, free option. You could even use Excel or free online software like Zoho.
If you are sending more than one type of newsletter, color coding different kinds of content will help you different things quickly. For instance, blue could be for promotional newsletters, while red could for your blog roundup.
If writing isn't your bag, adding a copywriting wizard to your marketing team isn't bad. If this isn't possible, chances are you're a better writer than you think. The key is not to be intimidated; you're writing an email newsletter, not the next Pulitzer Prize winner. If you follow a few simple rules, you'll be on your way to writing an effective email copy if you bear a few things in mind.
Everyone likes to feel special. Making a subscriber feel like you care isn't hard!
This is something you can play around with a bit to see what your subscribers are receptive to. You could use the sales person's name as the sender. For example, "Cindy from X Company," or it could simply be "Cindy." If this is a little too personal, you can change it to "X Company Newsletter" so they know exactly what to expect.
This is so easy to do! Opening an email and reading "Dear Steve" (assuming your name is Steve) is far more pleasant than a generic, "Dear Customer."
Write in the second person, using "you" and "yours" pronouns throughout. Try to make it about them and not about you.
You can wax lyrical about how your product is the best product ever until the cows come home, but if you don't mention how exactly it will benefit your customer, chances are they'll bounce out of your email pretty soon. As you're drafting your email copy, a good question you should keep asking yourself is, "what's in it for them?"
This is in regards to:
You may love Tolkien-esque, five-page long descriptions of a single tree, but it's unlikely your subscribers do (at least when it comes to emails). The stats are in, and they confirm that the majority of online content is scanned and skimmed at best.
In a study, Dejan Marketing found that one in five people read web content word for word, while the majority scan, skip, and only read key items of interest. This is why a short scannable copy is key. Make it easy for your reader to find what you promised in the subject line of your email and bring it all together with a nice prominent CTA button.
While typos getting through to content published on your website or blog is never ideal, at least you can edit it later. There is no such option; once it's out there, it's out there. Make sure to read through it carefully, and get another pair of eyes on it if you can.
You want your newsletters to be memorable, and imagery and video can play a large part in that. However, using too many can make your newsletter look cluttered and also render it unopenable. Try only to go for images that are relevant and will enhance your message. Be sure to compress them as much as possible.
If you want to include video, rather than embedding it in an email itself, include a thumbnail from the video with a link to where the video is hosted. Not all email clients support video, so this is a good compromise: you'll be able to provide video content without sacrificing the look of your newsletter.
If you aren't extending your now-stellar copywriting skills to your subject line, you're missing an opportunity. The first thing your subscriber is going to see if your email is the subject line. Sure, it's what's inside that counts, but if your subscriber isn't engaged enough to bother opening your email, what's the point? Here are some essential tips for composing an openable subject line.
Like with body copy, it's best to err on the side of shorter… but not too short. Stats on this tend to be contentious, but do point towards shorter (but not too short!) being better:
This suggests that length is just one factor that will encourage a subscriber to open an email. Regarding mobile optimization concerns, subject lines tend to cut off on smartphone email inboxes if they're too long, so that's also something you should bear in mind.
The question, "What makes a subject line clickable?" is not all that different to "How long is a piece of string?" This will be dependent on your audience, ultimately. You'll probably go through a lot of trial and error before happening upon the kind of subject line that gets your emails opened.
We'll talk more about testing a little later, but for now, here are some tips that could help make your subject line more interesting:
How you use any of these will be dependent on your main audience. Certain kinds of jokes and pop culture references won't elicit the same response from Millennials as an older demographic, so the group you are targeting inside out really is key. And remember always to keep the subject line relevant to what's in your email! Clickable ≠ clickbait.
Sometimes keeping it straightforward is key. Sometimes all you might need is one word. Just make sure that in trying to make your subject line witty and unique, it doesn't become too obscure.
What we said earlier applies here, too. Hopefully, your name is in there as the sender. Also, use your customer's name in the subject line, just like friends would. You could also include something about their location if it's relevant. But try to show a little restraint when getting personal, you don't want to come across as creepy.
Once you've figured out what content you're going to include in your newsletter, the next most important thing is figuring out how it's all going to look. If you're not so design-savvy individual, don't despair any email marketing tool worth its salt comes with templates that you can easily customize into the most attractive newsletter for your business. We'll talk more about why you should use one of these handy platforms in a bit.
Now, let's take a look at some of the essential elements every email newsletter should have.
The header is the first thing your reader will see when they open your email, so make sure it's easy on the eyes. You should put your email newsletter title or headline, company name, and company logo.
Branding is important, so your company logo should be included prominently, in the header, and the footer of the email at least. Try the color scheme of the email to complement that of the logo for consistency. This will also help the recipient know what to expect when they open the email.
As a general guideline, Mail Chimp advises a ratio of 80% text to 20% images in an email as many email clients block the automatic download of images, which may in turn, cause your mail to be marked as spam or just deleted entirely by the recipient. You should also ensure the image is hosted on a proper server -- many email marketing tools will allow you to host images on their server.
As you may recall, less is more when it comes to copy and visual elements, and it's also the case when it comes to how you lay them out. Try to keep the columns to a minimum and make sure each section is clearly labeled and distinct so that your reader can easily find what they're looking for.
If your subscribers keep up with what's going on with your company through a variety of channels, then you're more likely to stay on their mind. So why not make it easy for them? Including social media buttons somewhere in your email newsletter is a no-brainer.
Every newsletter you send should include at least one actionable CTA for your business's main purpose, whether that be a link to your store or one to your blog.
There is a reason why the term "mobile optimization" is mentioned so much. It's not just a passing phase – it's important. With so many people glued to their phones and devices far smaller than your classic laptop or desktop these days, your newsletter must be readable across various devices, particularly those with smaller screens. The best way to do this is to ensure your design layout is responsive. Many email marketing platforms provide responsive templates.
How often should you send your newsletter? Like with most things when it comes to email marketing, this will depend on your audience.
According to Marketing Sherpa, 86% of people surveyed said they would like to receive promo emails monthly, while 15% wanted to receive promotional emails every day." While this paints a "less is more" picture, you shouldn't necessarily dismiss that 15% who desire more frequent contact.
Whatever frequency you decide, just make sure it's consistent. Sending it out on the same day and time will establish an expectation from your audience. It will also show them that you will meet their expectations.
Much like frequency, when it comes to timing, there isn't a secret formula for figuring out the best time to send your email newsletter. Ultimately it will boil down to what makes sense for your business and its audience.
When it comes to email timing, most people want a one-size-fits-all answer for what day they should send their newsletter and what time they should send their newsletter?
The fact of the matter is, there isn't one answer to that. There have been studies done on the matter, indeed. Mail Chimp found that mid-morning, Monday to Friday is optimal, but notes that this is highly dependent on your audience. Case in point, Wordstream found that their open rate increased exponentially on Thursdays at 8-9 am, which would make marketing logic would most probably dictate as being too early. Meanwhile, Fast Company found that their open email rate remained unchanged, no matter what time they sent their email newsletter.
In the end, figuring out how often you should send, what time of day, and what day you should send your newsletter on will only be figured out through trial, error, and rigorous testing. Try to pinpoint past patterns in your email open rates and experiment with the time you send your newsletters and see if it makes a difference.
We’ve vaguely alluded to email marketing tools earlier in the article, but now we’re going to get into why exactly you should use one to implement your newsletter campaign.
The majority of email marketing tools will give you access to a library with a whole host of customizable templates that will look good across different email clients. You'll be able to choose a template that makes sense for your business and your content.
Whether your recipient uses Gmail, Yahoo, or Outlook, different email clients render emails differently. Even if you're savvy when it comes to coding, ensuring your email will look good in every inbox it arrives in could end up being a nightmare if you decide to go down the DIY route. Do you want to spend hours painstakingly coding the perfect newsletter to find it still looks like garbage? And on that note...
3. The BCC route just isn't a good idea
While it may seem incredibly simple just to type up an email, and hit send, it isn't advisable for many reasons. The risk of error is high when you're doing things manually. What if you accidentally pasted everyone's email into the CC box rather than BCC? You will have made all the emails on your list public, thus exposing them to spam. There are also so many moving parts when it comes to email campaigns when it comes to templates, tracking accurately just wouldn't be possible. With an email marketing tool platform, you'll hardly have to give this stuff a second thought.
4. It will manage your email list with ease
According to the Can-Spam Act's tenets, every marketing email needs to provide recipients with an easy way to opt-out from receiving your emails in the future, and they should be removed from your list within ten business days. This can be difficult to keep track of without an email marketing client. By using one of these tools, a clear unsubscribe button will be included in every email and will keep track of your list for you. You can also create opt-in forms for your website and social media pages. New subscribers will also be managed for you.
5. Built-in Analytics
Keeping track of how your newsletter campaign is doing is key to its success. Having a good grasp of analytics is also key to what we're going to discuss next.
ou've done it! You crafted the perfect email newsletter and sent it off to your subscribers. Time to forget about that old thing and start working on your next one, right? Wrong. You should keep an eye on your analytics from day one to have a clear handle on what's working and what isn't.
There are a plethora of metrics you could keep on eye on when it comes to analytics. Ultimately it depends on your goal. Do you want to increase sales, or do you just want to get more people on to your website? Here are only a few metrics we recommend keeping an eye on for newsletter traction:
Delving into your analytics will also help if you decide to segment your list. Segmentation is breaking down your email list into smaller groups based on such elements as age, location, or even just why they signed up to your email list in the first place. A good email marketing platform will come with tools that will make this process as pain-free as possible.
If you find that your segments aren't all responding to your email newsletter in the same way, you might want to consider tailoring the subject line to each group or even composing different newsletters aimed at different target groups.
Once you have a handle on the metrics possibilities of your analytics, you can get started with A/B testing, which is essentially a way of experimenting with your subscribers to respond well to what they don't. This can be broken down into what certain segments respond well to.
When conducting A/B testing, you send out two versions of an email, one that is the control and will not be changed, while the other will be slightly different. Try to stick to only changing one thing in the variant email; otherwise, things will get confusing. Some examples of elements you can experiment with are the subject line, CTA placement, copy length, and so much more.
The best thing to do to ensure your email newsletter gets new readers and drives business is to ask a straightforward question: would I read this? Be honest, and don't be afraid to try new things. Your customers subscribed because they wanted to hear from you, and you want to do things that help you stand out from the crowd. Use analytics and engagement data to find out what they're happy with, and learn what should be cut out.
From newsletters to effective signatures, here’s why email is integral to your marketing arsenal.
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