10 key things to consider when you develop an Email Newsletter.
- make it short, summarize or bullet where you can – people don’t always have time to read a long story and if all they see is a long, wordy story when they open your email, they are more likely to ‘delete’ and move on to the next eNews in their inBox.
- DON’T make it ALL about you – this is what your website is for. Your reader already knows who you are, that’s probably why they subscribed. Now is the time to shine in your area of expertise and share your knowledge and resources that will give your eNewsletter value.
- give it a CLEAN design – if you create a piece that has all sorts of graphics and photos and text jammed into each and every corner, you will NOT get your message through to your audience. Too much information confuses and frustrates your readers – it does not make reading your eNews a pleasurable experience.
- provide information YOUR readers are INTERESTED in – and if you don’t know… ask them! People simply won’t read what doesn’t interest them.
- don’t just SELL your STUFF in it – Readers are tired of being ‘sold’, they want to be informed, educated and even humoured in a field that interests them. Use this medium wisely and strategically; If you send out 24 eNewsletters a year, pepper in a promotion every 3 or 4 issues so that it makes readers pay attention because they know they might get a super deal just by being a loyal subscriber.
- choose the time you deliver it wisely. When does your target market read their email? If you’re a B2C it is quite likely evenings & weekends. If you’re a B2B, it will be during the day – Statistically, Mondays and Fridays seem to be a slightly higher engagement time.
- don’t cram in too many graphics and photos – even though most people have high speed internet, you can still loose readers if they have to wait 5 seconds instead of 3 seconds for your eNews to load. Yes, we have become an impatient society!
- make sure as many people as absolutely possible know that you’ve just sent out an eNewsletter. Social media is a great compliment to get people to ‘sign up’ or have a look at the latest edition… we say TELL THE WORLD!
- use a reputable email delivery system. You CAN NOT send a ton of emails through any email account – THEY WILL SHUT YOU DOWN. That is why services like the following 3 exist…
- constantcontact.com
- aweber.com
- mailchimp.com
- and there are more…
- watch your statistics. Any reputable email delivery system will have a stats portion that will tell you how many were sent, opened, bounced, opt-outs (don’t let this part discourage you – it happens!), click through’s and more. Keeping an eye on statistics allows you to strategize for the next issue – learn what’s working and what’s not.