It seems like everyone is upping their email marketing campaigns during the pandemic crisis – and why not? No matter how you feel about spam, email marketing is often seen as one of the most effective ways to maintain communication with current customers and leads alike. Creating targeted personalised content through email marketing not only helps to heighten brand recognition, build credibility and strengthen clients’ relationships, but it also helps to increase traffic to your website and ultimately drives leads and sales.
With so many people now working from the comfort of their own homes, professionals are relying more on their inboxes for up-to-date news, personalised information and entertainment. As a result, we are seeing a surge in company email newsletters. Newsletters have always been seen as a reliable format of communication between a company and their subscribers, but what makes one company’s newsletter stand out from the rest? The answer: consistent, engaging content.
A lot has changed since the very first email marketing blast was sent in 1978. Comically coined, “the father of spam”, Gary Thuerk, a computer electronics marketing manager for Digital Equipment Corp, sent 400 recipients a promotion for his company computers through ARPANET (a precursor of the Internet), which directly resulted in over $13 million in sales. However, in 2021, it takes a lot more than spam content for smart marketers and media pros to get a direct line to their increasingly tech-savvy audiences. Today, email subscribers have come to expect personalised content throughout every stage of your email marketing strategy. According to research by Statista, approximately 306 billion e-mails were sent and received every day worldwide in 2020 alone. With those numbers only expected to increase as time go on, content marketers need to learn how to effectively cut through the clutter of overloaded inboxes with email newsletters that draw their readers in effortlessly. After all, a newsletter will only serve its purpose if recipients open and read what you have to say.
If you’re struggling with lacklustre open rates and responses to your email newsletters, it’s time to up your game and craft content that not only excites but hooks readers and pushes them further down the marketing funnel. In this article, Wordsmith takes a closer look through some of the top tips on how to write email newsletters that effectively drive leads.
1. Understand What You Are Trying To Accomplish
One of the first things you need to do before you even begin to start thinking about the content of your newsletter is to understand why you’re sending it at all. Your clients receive a massive number of emails each day, so be sure before you send out that curated email blast that you have clear objectives and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) in place. It’s essential that you think about what you want your email newsletter to achieve. For example, The Nudge newsletteroffers clients an easy, digestible dose of the best native advertising and branded content news that they might have missed that week. Whereas the BRANDED newsletter sends clients fascinating news stories and insider scoops on the ad-tech and programmatic advertising industry, that keeps clients on the edge of their seats for the next upcoming newsletter. What both of these newsletters have in common is the ability to entice, engage and sustain readers interests, thanks to the amount of time and effort they put into creating detailed and realistic objectives and KPIs.
2. Make Sure People Know How To Access Your Newsletters
If you are an effective email marketer, you should think of your subscriber list as your own golden egg-laying goose that has the potential to produce sales on a regular. However, one of the main ways to nurture and grow your subscriber list is to ensure that you’re taking all the necessary steps to promote new sign-ups to your emails on your landing page. The biggest mistake many marketers make is burying the “subscribe to our emails” link at the foot of their website, instead of making it a prominent feature when someone lands on your website. Signing up for your company’s newsletter should be a seamless experience for the user, not a treasure hunt. Some simple ways to increase your subscriber list are:
1. Adding a clear and enticing subscribe button on your homepage and on every blog article you write.
2. Inviting clients and prospects to subscribe to your company newsletter when you send them a “thank you email” after they’ve either bought your product, signed up for a virtual event, purchased a demo or downloaded a piece of your content.
3. Download a user-friendly pop-up builder software programme to hit visitors to your site with a quick pop-up offer, like 10% off their first purchase if they sign up for your newsletter.
4. Making sure you regularly share a subscriber link to your newsletter every couple of weeks across your social media channels to encourage new readers to sign up.
3. Personalise Every Newsletter
Personalisation isn’t a luxury anymore, it’s a necessity – especially when you’re communicating with your clients via email. Research shows that personalised emails achieve a 6.2% higher open rate than those that aren’t, and also help to increase click-through rates to your website. To do this effectively, you’ll need to create separate lists for your various market segments. This could be based on purchasing habits, likes and dislikes, or what stage your client is currently at on the marketing funnel. After segmenting your list, you will need to slightly adapt the messaging in your email newsletter to tailor to each different segment. Referencing your client's name is also essential when you’re sending your newsletter, as this makes it feel less like a cold call and more like a catchup session with an old friend.
4. Use Clever, Relevant and Enticing Subject Lines
Jyoti Khan, Co-founder of Digital Marketing Agency, Bricks & Clicks explains, “The only way that a newsletter (or any message) will have an audience is when it speaks to them. Your audience is more likely to open a newsletter if the subject line/headline is clever and relevant. Add the time needed to read that newsletter or article to create a title that shows respect for your audience’s time.” Creating clickbait subject lines for email newsletters is no easy task – but an important one. 47% of email recipients say they decide whether or not to open an email solely based on its subject line alone, so taking the time to craft a clickable subject line that your readers will love is definitely worth the extra effort. For example, American business magazine Fast Company, creates the perfect balance of shock, intrigue and information in every one of their headlines. They know how to build a story in a couple of words, enticing readers to find out more - so don’t shy away from trying to create the same kind of urgency with your email newsletter subject lines. If you want a more in-depth look at how to get your subject line to truly stand out in an overly crowded inbox, take a look at our 5 top tips here.
5. Focus On Offering Value To Your Clients
In this day and age, nearly every marketer uses email as one of their core marketing channels. However, a surprising amount are not investing in a consistent monthly or bi-monthly company newsletter as part of their content marketing strategy. Company newsletters are a great way to keep the lines of communication open with your clients by sharing timely news that adds value. Matthew Stafford, CMO at eCommerce consulting company, Build Grow Scale, agrees, “Offer value, period. The key to marketing and selling is giving away free content that your audience cares about. Give so much that they start perceiving you as their trusted adviser and an expert in your field. When you reach that point, no selling is needed because your audience will naturally want to know what you would recommend to fix their problem or improve their situation.”
In every newsletter you create, make sure you’re telling your audience about important dates they should be aware of, for example, event sign-ups, upcoming sales, new podcasts and relevant articles. Or provide unique information or new perspective that your audience can’t get anywhere else, that helps to answer a question/ pain point they may have. It’s essential that your company newsletters don’t just regurgitate recent content that can be easily accessed by anyone, your clients need to feel like what they’re receiving is exclusive to a small, special group of people. If you make your newsletters consistently useful and relevant to your readers' immediate needs and interests, your company will start to be known as a thought leader. Remember, bad or boring content gives people a reason to unsubscribe – so try to delight your readers by giving them the information you know they want to hear about.
5. Use Your Existing Data Insights
Sometimes, in order to find out what your readers want to know, you need to utilise your data insights. When done correctly, brands can creatively use data insights to transform their newsletter messaging and tailor their personalised content to provide unmissable emails for their clients. Donna Robinson, CEO of digital marketing agency Collective Measures, explains, “Start with the data inputs you already have to understand what content your audience could be interested in. Utilize quantifiable data from keyword research, consumer insights, product user groups, social listening tools, social engagement metrics and customer care insights. These data inputs can then be used as a crowdsourcing tool for your email content development.” To find out how 5 big brands are successfully incorporating big data into their email marketing campaigns and content marketing strategies, click here.
7. Keep Your Newsletters Pithy And Actionable
Stacy Sherman, Head of Customer Experience (CX) at Schindler Elevator Corporation explains, “It’s no secret that our patience is reducing as technology channels are expanding. We’re getting bombarded with messages everywhere. To engage readers, your newsletter must be short, authentic and actionable. Videos are a good way to deliver content quickly. Indicate upfront how long the video is, as people are more likely to watch if they know there’s not much time involved to get good information”. So, when sending newsletters, it's vital to keep your marketing messages simple. Use short sentences. Write punchy, to-the-point paragraphs. If you have more to say, think about incorporating scannable bullet points, because remember, your clients may not have a lot of time to process your email, so deliver your most important facts in a way that can be easily skimmed.
8. Unite Novel Ideas, Don’t Just Summarise
While it’s great to keep newsletters short and pithy, that doesn’t mean you should just summarise or condense key information that you send to clients. To keep your readers engaged for the long-term, you need to go further than just combining research you think they might like, you also need to ensure that you’re offering your own expert opinion, novel ideas or assessment on new emerging trends in your industry. Andrew Au, Co-Founder and President of Intercept Group North America, agrees, “Clients are swimming in a sea of information. Don’t interrupt their day to provide yet more information. Provide value by helping them make sense of all the information that’s out there. Synthesize, don’t summarize. Instead of retelling what they already know, give them actionable insights and ideas that can empower them. And, before hitting send, ask yourself: Would you want to read it?”
9. Don’t Oversell – It’s Not All About You
Lowering readers’ anti-marketing defences is no easy task. It may be tempting to flood your newsletter with company updates, brand stories and upcoming promotions, but this is a fast way to lose readers. No one wants to hear about your company 24/7. Instead, it’s important to strike a balance by incorporating outside content that would be useful to your client, this shows that you care about their interests and not only about gaining leads. Liam Quinn, SEO Manager at Blue Array SEO, comments, “Typically, people sign up for a newsletter to gain value and insights that they can implement either at work or in their personal lives. Consumers are much better at reading between the lines and identifying whether you are trying to add value or push your product or services. So, it’s important to strike a balance and ensure that you are providing them with high-quality information”.
10. Ask For Client Feedback And Feature It
It’s important to realise that email newsletters are not just a one-way communication tool to self-promote your business. Effective email newsletters regularly ask for client feedback. This vital feedback could be included in company surveys, client research and product development or even be published in an upcoming newsletter as social proof for your business. In fact, including client testimonials and quotations have been known to increase conversion rates, so don’t be afraid to pepper your newsletters with relevant content from satisfied clients every once in a while, as this could spark new conversations. Roshni Wijayasinha, Founder and Chief Strategist of Prosh Marketing recommends asking for feedback whenever possible. “By leveraging content from your readers, you help them become active participants in building the newsletter, so they are more likely to be engaged.”
11. End With A Compelling Call To Action
As a rule of thumb, you should always end each email newsletter with an effective Call To Action (CTA) that reinforces your overall message. Your CTA means the difference between whether your client converts or clicks the “delete from inbox” message, so remember to choose your words carefully. In order to get your clients interacting with your content and converting you need to show them why they need to follow the next link or action. If you want to encourage your clients to watch your latest podcast, read one of your published articles, or downloading a new product tutorial, it’s great to begin your CTA with an action verb like “Register”, “Order” or “Start”. It’s a simple marketing principle, if you want your readers to do something, then ask them to do it.
12. Perform regular email tests
Apart from utilising your existing data insights to influence the content you create, it’s also essential that you conduct regular email tests to ensure that your newsletter is not falling flat. You may be stuck between two subject lines, so the best way to test its performance is to do an A/B test (also known as split testing). This is where you send both subject lines to a small sample size from your email recipient list. After some time, you can analyse which email got the highest open rate and conversions, you can then use the winning subject line to send to the rest of your clients. If you’d like to go deeper, some tools can help you test your CTA text, first paragraph, overall copy and even video and image formats, so you can send the best newsletter that will convert your readers. It’s essential to keep making these necessary changes and constantly check the results of your tests. This is the only way you can eliminate strategies that aren’t giving you the open rates and conversions you want.
When it comes to creating the perfect email newsletter that effectively drives leads, you need to ensure that you’re creating personalised, valuable content for your readers. Keep your content short and scannable but full of novel ideas to keep your readers engaged. After all, the point of a newsletter is all about building a relationship with your clients and building a community of people who are genuinely interested in your ideas, news and products. By piquing and sustaining their curiosity, you can increase your open rates and feedback rates, which will result in more engagement and ultimately more profitable email campaigns. By spending time creating newsletters that speak to your clients in their time of need, they will continue to keep you front of mind and when the pandemic subsides, reward you with long-term loyalty.