Email marketing can be very effective. Unlike fliers and other mail, it’s relatively inexpensive and easy to access.
But you have to be careful and do it right. Email can be an extremely personal thing. You’re delivering a message directly to someone’s inbox. You need to make sure it’s good and something they will actually be interested in. Otherwise, you’ll end up in the spam folder with the rest of the crowd.
First off, what are you trying to accomplish through your email newsletter? Are you wanting to have sales conversions, keep your customers in the loop? Once you answer that question, you can move forward with your messaging. You should know why before you jump in. If there’s no reasoning behind it, your readers will be able to tell.
- Frequency — How many times are you emailing your list? What’s your subscribe to unsubscribe ratio? Find a frequency that you’re comfortable delivering, and one that your recipients are OK with as well. It’s all about balance. Too few or too many can affect your email marketing success.
- When — When are you sending out your email newsletter? First you need to think about your audience. What do they do for a living? Are you sending it in the morning before they go to work? Should you be sending it in the afternoon? You can test out a few times and see what works best for your audience. If you aren’t delivering your message to the right audience at the right time, it won’t resonate.
- Subject lines — Are you catching their attention? People get a lot of emails in their inboxes. What makes yours different? Catch their eye with a subject line that they will be excited to open. But remember, there’s a fine line between catchy and clickbait.
- What does it look like? — Is your newsletter visually appealing? Is it cluttered? It needs to be easy to read. If your readers get lost in it, your information won’t stick with them. You should also form your newsletter’s design around the type of content you’re delivering. Not all newsletters are created equal, so do what works best for your content.
- Not everything’s about you — Yes, this is your newsletter that is about your business. But it should be for your readers’ benefit. If it’s all about you and what you want, your readers won’t care. Ask yourself, “What value am I adding to their lives?”
- Talking to your best friend — Depending on your business, your email newsletters should have a certain tone. They should fit your brand and your readers should know it’s you talking to them. If you have a personable business, your email newsletter shouldn’t be stuffy, it should reflect your personality.
- You’re targeting the wrong people — Your email list should be up to date. Go through it every few months to make sure everyone is still a current client, that their email is still in use, etc.
Now go out there and be an email marketing rock star!
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