Most people associates newsletters with discounts and freebies. And that’s correct. Effective newsletter should be valuable to the recipient. Unfortunately, in most cases the value is provided only in the beginning of the whole cycle. With every email the value and the feeling of getting something useful gets lower and lower. In effect, the recipients stop opening your emails to eventually stop being your subscribers.
However, it doesn’t have to be that way. If you want to start your newsletter, or want to improve your existing one, this article is for you. Discover 10 methods, which will make your newsletter come alive and be something meaningful for each side.
#1 Give people a reason
The absolute basis of the successful newsletter is having the audience. And here’s the first obstacle: you need to encourage your potential subscribers to sign up.
People won’t smash the “sign up to a newsletter” button just because you have one. It’s exactly the opposite. People will avoid the button at all costs. What interests the users, is the value behind the subscribe button. Make sure the value is attractive and visible. Only then you can expect first people signing up.
#2 One-off reason
You want to get crazy and give people 50% off the shopping in your online store, in exchange for joining the newsletter. People start signing up like there is no tomorrow. They buy your products and then they disappear. Hey! Come back! Oh no… only a few people left in your mailing list, so you can inform them about your “super-duper” news in your offer.
What’s the problem? People focused only on the discount. It was too high and it worked just this one time. If you function in such a competitive market, you need to attract people with lower discounts, which they could use for example every month. This way you give them a good reason to sign up and a good reason to wait for the next email at the same time. So while creating a newsletter, focus on adding value, which will make the customer loyal to your business.
#3 So why exactly do you need a newsletter?
One day you’ve read somewhere that building an email list is an absolute first step for effective email marketing. Of course. But on one condition: they can’t be just contacts. It has to be a group of people who take a desired action.
A question for you: what action should that be? Do people buy, download the guides, or go to external pages (landing pages)? Set up a goal for your newsletter. You will work much more efficiently then.
#4 Provoke the recipient
It’s not like you have to write a gimmicky click-bait titles, which tell the viewers to open the email. This procedure can be done not once, not twice, but every time. However, this is the fact that email topics are something that distinguishes them from other emails. So focus on this task and observe the reactions of your audience. Try to create the style that your subscribers like best.
See more: How to create effective mailing subjects >>>
#5 Be a human
Have you ever seen someone standing in front of the store and talk to a storefront? Nobody does that! If you want to know something about the product, you go inside and talk to… a human.
So when you create a newsletter, try to avoid the official narration as a brand, firm, business… Just write as a human to human. Begin with using your name in the footer of the email. Next, use the details your subscribers provided while signing up to a newsletter – call them by their name, and use correct pronouns. This way you can shorten the distance between you and your audience.
#6 A power of consistency
Nowadays, people can spot spam instantly and they are really sensitive to spam behavior. It’s easy to evoke negative emotions. One of the most common complaints is too many emails in the newsletter. Fortunately, you can get rid of this problem easily.
All it takes is to inform about the frequency of mailing, while the subscriber signs up for a newsletter. If you promised to send emails once a week, then send emails once a week. If once a month, then send them… once a month.
It’s so obvious but sometimes it’s tempting to change what you’ve agreed on and try to squeeze even more from your mailing list. However, it’s the easiest way to discourage people to the point of signing out of your list, or mark your emails as spam. All it takes is to be consequent. This way you can avoid subscribers’ disappointment and increase your credibility. This simple solution can make you seem like a person who keeps the promise. Remember that.
#7 Write relevant content
Another obvious thing, but a lot of newsletter owners seem to forget about this. And this is yet another common reason for the people to sign out of the lists. You can’t let this happen.
In order to do this, just don’t touch the subjects that don’t have anything to do with your brand. People who sign up to your newsletter have particular interests and expectations. They are defined by the fact that they sing up to your newsletter.
Selling lamps? Write about lighting, home décor, but not about how to cook a dinner for the whole family in under 10 minutes. For some of your subscribers it can be a nice and interesting thing, but for the rest it will be awkward. If someone looks for such information, they will sign up to a cooking newsletter, and not for the one of a store, which offers lamps.
If you want to surprise subscribers with the content, try to show the obvious topics in the not-so-obvious way. Even in the popular industries, there is a huge leeway to show fun or uncommon facts. This way you won’t disappoint your audience and will become an expert in their eyes.
#8 Write concisely…
Nowadays people complain about the chronic lack of time. Especially when they are online. In order to adjust the newsletter to these standards, just “don’t disturb”.
Write short emails that are relevant. Get straight to the point. You can think that those couple of sentences won’t make a good newsletter, but your audience would appreciate the fact that you value their time. You can even explain it in the first few emails, so they know that the number of words is a sign of respect and not laziness.
#9 … or tell a story
On the contrary to short, concise emails, there is storytelling. Begin to tell the stories, which would allure your audience. Of course, don’t tell the whole story in the first two emails. Focus on more appropriate dosing of your story, so you can permanently keep your subscribers hungry to discover more.
This is, for sure, a more demanding task than the “don’t disturb” solution. Moreover, people who create a newsletter usually get caught in the “I have nothing interesting to say” trap. That’s not true. Your story is in you. And the more you try to be someone you’re not, the harder it will be for you. Even if you think of one, two, even five interesting narrations, remember that newsletter contains dozens, hundreds, or even thousands of messages. Do you have enough power to run such a long distance? Unless your name is Seth Godin, because then it’s obvious.
Even better solution is telling stories from your life. This seems simple and obvious, but believe me, people love to read such simple stories. You can find everything on the internet… except your story. This makes it unique.
#10 Test, analyze, improve
People, who look for fast and effective methods to solve a particular problem, don’t like this step. They’d rather get a ready-made recipe, which will work, instead of working on their own. If you are one of those people, you need to know that this is not possible.
Email marketing, which includes newsletter, is rather complicated. It’s hard to find golden pieces of advice which will take you all the way to success. So you need to work consequently on your own style and methods, which will draw the attention of your subscribers.
In order to incorporate efficient solutions, you need to begin with analyzing the statistics of your newsletter. This way you can get data, which will guide you through the tests you run. Try various solutions and compare results to find out if you’re going in the right direction. This is a constant battle to find a perfect phrase, length of a text, or a color. But it’s all worth it. Newsletter can bring awesome results, which can even be better than paid Facebook or Google ads.
Good luck!
