It’s easy to launch a newsletter, but maintaining high retention and creating an engaging experience can be tricky. Following best practices for email newsletter creation is essential if you want to see success from your efforts. Follow these tips below to help you grow your subscriber list and maintain high retention.
The Advantages of Using an Email Newsletter
Email newsletters offer significant opportunities with low resources required to launch. An email newsletter builds stronger connections with a community, customer or subscriber list. When done well, an email newsletter also reminds subscribers of why they should work with you, purchase from you, or trust your brand.
1. Use a responsive, appealing design template.
Having a well-designed email newsletter lends credibility to your brand. It can increase the number of clicks and amount of time people spend reading your newsletter. hunter harris’ email newsletter provides a great example of how responsive, engaging design can benefit email performance.
US adults spend nearly a third of their total daily media time on mobile devices, more than watching TV. 60% of all emails are opened on either Apple iPhone or the Gmail app.
2. Prioritize lead nurturing and relationship development.
The purpose of an email newsletter is less to make immediate sales and more to develop positive sentiment around your brand. Newsletters exist under the umbrella of marketing nurture campaigns. Nurture marketing campaigns allow you to focus on building relationships with both prospective and current customers.
3. Run A/B tests on a regular basis.
The purpose of an email newsletter is less to make immediate sales and more to develop positive sentiment around your brand. Newsletters exist under the umbrella of marketing nurture campaigns. Nurture marketing campaigns allow you to focus on building relationships with both prospective and current customers.
Some A/B tests to do on your email newsletter include:
- A/B tests on your email newsletter include the following:
- The colour of the call-to-action (CTA) button
- The number of hyperlinks
- The number of photographs
- Total number of words
4. For the optimal reader experience, accessibility is crucial.
Over 1 in 4 adults in the US have some kind of disability, which could affect their access to your newsletter content. The colors, font styles, and font sizes you choose impact how readable the email newsletter will be for all your readers. Adding alt tags to images helps those using screen readers enjoy your content.
5. Don’t talk about yourself too much (or your brand).
If your email newsletter is just a channel for you to brag or talk about yourself, it will result in a higher unsubscribe rate. As this is a nurture tactic, you don’t want to talk too much about yourself or your brand. Ultimately you want to use your newsletter to deliver some kind of value to the reader.
6. Use a format that is easy to skim.
An email newsletter should be skimmable – meaning it doesn’t require a huge commitment of time to digest. You don’t want to present your content in a way that makes it feel like it’ll require a lot of time, energy or effort to read.
Here are some suggestions for making your email newsletter more skimmable:
- When feasible, use bullet points.
- Subheadings should be used to break up the information.
- Summarize key points, takeaways, or value propositions.
- The most essential sentences or paragraphs should be highlighted or bolded.
7. Use a call-to-action, but don’t overdo it.
You want to make the purpose of the newsletter clear. End with a clear call-to-action letting the reader know what they should ultimately do with the information you’ve shared. Email marketing newsletter example – hubspot calls to action at end of content pointing to just 3 blog articles.
CTAs that work well include:
- When I click on a link on your website to learn more,
- If you want to help spread the word about your newsletter, send it to others. or
- I’m going to send you a response of some form (such as about what the next newsletter topic should be).
You need to exercise caution about including too many CTAs or links in an email, and don’t confuse or overwhelm your reader.
8. Make your subscriber list more segmented.
Segmented email campaigns result in an average of 14% higher opens, 101% more clicks, and 9% fewer unsubscribes. The best way to segment your list depends on a number of factors, such as your list size and your newsletter goalThe best way to segment your list depends on a number of factors. For example, an ecommerce business could segment its subscriber list by purchasing behavior. If certain customers have bought specific products, they could send information about a complementary product to only those buyers. It also depends on how much customer data you have available.
Or if a B2B business wants to help accelerate lead velocity for a sales rep in a specific territory, they could send specialized content to that area.
9. Create an engaging subject line.
Subject line is the first thing people see when they sign up for your email newsletter. It determines whether someone takes the time to open your email or ignores it completely.
The best email subject lines are short and sweet. A good email subject line should be enticing, with a strong hook, but not misleading. If you’ve collected subscribers’ names or company name, you can add those into the subject line to increase the likelihood they’ll open.
10. Build a community, not a list of subscribers.
Some of the best marketing newsletter creators understand that a subscriber list can also be considered a community. Your subscribers likely share a number of common interests, which is why they signed up to receive an email newsletter. Long-term growth and retention circle back to making subscribers feel like part of something special.
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