Email has made a comeback. There were nearly 4 billion email users in 2020, and that number is expected to grow to 4.6 billion users by 2025. Not only are people using email to communicate with each other, but email newsletters have risen in popularity with marketers, businesses, and even individuals who are creating large audiences, monetizing content, and using newsletters to upsell and cross-sell goods and services. Want to send your own email newsletter? These are the 6 best tips for email newsletter success!
Segment for success
Email by its nature is a personal channel. Unlike social media where it’s expected that you put out one message and hope the algorithm overlords kindly show it to your audience, with email you have a direct line to your recipient and a one-to-all message often falls flat. Sending the same email to your entire newsletter list sounds like a great way to save time, but for most purposes, it’s the fastest way to fail. Instead, make sure to segment your audience as they sign up so that you can personalize content for their needs. While the exact segments you’ll need vary by your industry or newsletter type, the exception to this seems to be topic-specific newsletters or those covering a single product or service. In these cases, a generic newsletter often works well as the audience has segmented themselves just by signing up to receive these emails.
Set an expectation and stick to it
When someone first signs up to your email newsletter they should know two things: 1) what your newsletter is about and 2) how often they will receive it. Setting an expected schedule helps to convey professionalism and trust and keeps your audience engaged. It’s a good idea to also send your email at the same time each send, but it is more important to keep the frequency than a specific time of day.
Share good content
If you’re serious about building your email newsletter and gaining more subscribers, content is king. Creating well-written, thoughtful, funny, or helpful content is one of the fastest ways to keep existing subscribers and gain new ones. Email newsletters are intended to provide information to the reader whether the topic is funny, serious, or a mix of both.
Design & write for mobile
Emails should be easy to read, especially on mobile devices, with small blocks of text and bullet points instead of long paragraphs. It’s also important that colors provide enough contrast to be clearly seen and fonts should be easily legible, even on a small screen. It’s important to use the test sending functions and any mailbox rendering tools available in your email newsletter provider.
Have a point and make it clear
Even if your email newsletter is purely informational, there should always be a call to action. For most business newsletters this directs the reader to a product or service website, but other newsletters can benefit from sharing related sources of information or even social media links where the reader can join in on the conversation.
Track and learn
Collecting data allows you to tweak your email newsletter to perform at its best. Use the tracking and analytics tools available in your email sending platform to track the open rates, click-through rates, and unsubscribe ratios for your email campaigns. Then, adjust according to your audience’s preferences.
Creating an email newsletter is a great way to stay top-of-mind with clients and customers and build an engaged following that can set you up for future success. Need more help reaching your audience? Contact Tolbert Marketing & Events for your complete marketing solution.
