If you’re not yet building your email subscriber list and using newsletters to your advantage, you are most likely missing out on a ton of conversions you could be receiving for your business.
Each person on your list is worth at least $1-$2 in revenue per month and at least 20% of your revenue is expected to come from your email list.
In order to tap into that revenue, you’ll need to reach both existing and potential customers with engaging newsletters that capture their attention and build trust.
Newsletters can be a great way for small businesses to share information about sales, discounts, new products or upcoming events. Newsletter still need to ensuring an interaction that feels personal.
Here are a few ways to improve your email newsletters and take them from corny and ineffective to catchy and engaging.
Craft a Persuasive Headline
The first step to creating a successful email newsletter that gets clicks is one of the most difficult. It is crafting a headline that is engaging and informative. The headline is the first thing your customer will see. The headline must be intriguing enough to click on. The title must still be promising something beneficial to the recipient.
Knowing how to craft a useful, reader-friendly email newsletter is crucial. Many small businesses lean toward newsletters that are in the interest of making a sale. It pays to be less about moving units. You want the newsletter to be about making your customers feel they have a close connection with your company.
In a report on subject line comparison, email marketing company MailChimp found that emails with the highest open rates often included colloquial and fun copy. A title that says, “We’re Throwing a Party!” will help your open rate. Whereas those with the lowest open rates were those that included sales language (“Discounted Today” or “Specials Inside”). Additionally, newsletters with subject lines that sounded impersonal and explanatory also saw low open rates.
For your subject line, be personal and friendly—and skip language that’s trying to sell something. Tell your customer exactly what’s in the email in a way that is fun, lighthearted and inviting.
Focus on persuading them to open the email. Even if your newsletter copy is perfect, subscribers will never see it if they aren’t persuaded to open the email in the first place.
Focus on Educating and Entertaining Over Promoting
The content of your email newsletter should also be engaging. According to the professionals at HubSpot, your newsletter should be 90 percent educational and 10 percent promotional.
In addition to including sales tactics like coupons or sales information, add in other content like personal experiences and success stories. Relevant blog posts, photos of your company, industry news, updates about your business work. Teasers for upcoming products or services.
Remember: Your email newsletter reflects your business in both the content and the language. Have someone proofread your newsletter before it goes out to ensure the copy is not only clean but informative and relevant.
Email Consistently
When using email marketing to your advantage, you want to be consistent and send your list an email regularly. It’s a good rule of thumb to send an email at least once a week while some business owners send multiple emails per week.
It all depends on your audience and business model. You don’t want to send too few emails but you still don’t want to annoy subscribers by emailing them every day so you have to find a sweet spot. Being consistent is great because you don’t want to make it seem like you’re just emailing subscribers when you’re selling or promoting something.
Summary
An email newsletter can be a great way to communicate with current and prospective clients. If you’re treating it like a coupon circular, you can guarantee a low open rate—and a lot of missed marketing opportunities. Focus on crafting a killer headline and sharing educational copy that readers will gain something from.
