Newsletters aren’t just for news, they are the building blocks of community in small businesses.
There are currently 4 BILLION email users, and the number is projected to increase over half a billion by 2025. 84% of all emails are opened within the first 24-hours of being received—in fact, 59% of respondents said that marketing emails influenced their purchases.
In this post you’ll…
- Understand why newsletters are important to digital marketing strategies
- How to effectively use newsletters
- Where to begin
Why Newsletters?
With the extensive advancement of social media, it is easy to think newsletters are outdated. Aside from the statistics mentioned above, there are several reasons it’s still important to have a newsletter, the first being that it is a community builder.
Lead with intention.
When a user subscribes to a newsletter, you know they are either a loyal customer or are strongly interested in you and and your brand, because unlike social media where they only have to press a button to follow, for newsletters, subscribers have to manually put in their personal information and email address to be added to the list.
It is self-motivated act, which is why…
Optimize sales and website interaction.
Offering exclusive deals to newsletter subscribers can attract more subscribers and boost your sales. Whether it be early access to a new launch or service, or exclusive access to information, newsletters offer a place for you to praise and reward the best of the best in your customers. Not only does this benefit you (providing an incentive to shop a sale for those who might not have otherwise), it also benefits your clients and builds their interest in your brand.
Connect with your customers.
While you can also use social media as an insight into your brand, newsletters can be your designated place to discuss various aspects of your business. From service updates to personal hardships as a business owner, newsletters can offer a new level of transparency, a quality that is highly valued by clients.
Affordable and easy-to-use marketing.
On top of all of this, most newsletter services are affordable and easy to use, so there really isn’t a reason NOT to have a newsletter.
The Right and Wrong Way
Just like anything, there is a right and wrong way to go about having a newsletter. Here are some of our top tips:
DO know your reader and what they are interested in.
More likely than not, this is your company, but what specifically? For few it will be your products and services. But for most, it will be what your company represents. Explore that.
DON’T focus on the sale.
Yes, you may want to sell your services and products, but remember: your subscribers didn’t sign up to receive another advertisement. If they wanted that, they could have followed your social media and that’s it.
DO keep your paragraphs short and sweet.
You want to deliver your message, but you also don’t want to bore your reader. If they want to know more, provide a link to the resource your summarizing—and don’t forget to use buttons when using a link!
DON’T rely on images and colors to inform the reader.
Accessibility is key, and the point of a newsletter is to engage with your readers, so write out everything. You never know who will be subscribing.
DO provide an incentive.
When wrapping up your email, you always want to provide a Call-To-Action (CTA) to promote user interaction beyond your newsletter. This can be a link to a new sale or recent blog post. Perhaps an exclusive deal or an event.
DON’T send without testing.
Your newsletter might look ready to send on the drafting side of your marketing platform, but you never know how it will look in an inbox or on a mobile device. Send a preview email to yourself to ensure it looks AND interacts as you like. Don’t forget to test your links!
Upgrade Your Inbox
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