It’s easy to overlook the power of email newsletters. Decades old, and with many of us seemingly subscribed to dozens of mailers, email newsletters sometimes exist in the shadow of shinier, shoutier digital marketing tactics like Instagram, Linkedin and search.
But, think twice before dismissing them: email newsletters can very often be a secret weapon in a marketer's arsenal. Think about it. A customer sharing their email address is a much bigger signal of brand trust and loyalty than a simple follow on social. It’s a direct link into their inbox and an exchange of data.
As a result, newsletters power some of the highest conversion rates for product and event sales. Done right, they can be a backbone for business. Below, discover the three key ingredients for a successful newsletter strategy.
1. Think about what value your newsletter is really offering the reader
Which newsletters do you always open, click on, and read until the end? Even better, is there a newsletter you look forward to seeing ping in your inbox each week? Consider what it is that these newsletters have in common – the chances are, they offer real value that enhances your business, personal growth or lifestyle.
The best newsletters offer content that is simply not available elsewhere, meaning users absolutely have to subscribe if they want to read it. This could be a written article that only exists in email format, an exclusive shopping curation, or a hot take on current industry events. The worst newsletters are an amalgamation of links, offering nothing outside of an automated RSS feed.
Even better: mix it up. Surprise your audience with a longer personal essay, a video, or a curation of beautiful images.
2. Never make assumptions – using data is paramount
Access to data lies at the heart of why newsletters are so valuable – but to be really successful, get to know the numbers and make them work for you. If you add three metrics to your vocabulary, make it these: open rate, click rate and list growth rate.
Open rate is, as the name suggests, the percentage rate of how many people open your emails once they’ve received it. Test different dates, times and styles of subject lines and see how they positively or negatively affect your open rate percentage. Give any tests at least two weeks of consistency before you make a judgement – just one email sent on a different day or time isn’t enough to make a strategy change. Get to know the benchmark open rates for your industry (it differs between sectors). Retail and ecommerce have the lowest rates at around 15%, publishing a little higher at 20%, and educational emails better still at approximately 28%.
Click through rate is, again, self explanatory: the user has opened the email, but what percentage of recipients are clicking through to your website or to make a purchase? Test and measure where you place content and how you brand links (think colours, fonts, sizes).
Finally, list growth rate: because an email newsletter is nothing if it doesn’t have a list of subscribers. Take a note of boosts to the size of your data list. Did some great publicity pay off? Or was there a particularly successful Instagram promotion you did?) And, on the other hand, pay attention to unsubscribes. (Was a piece of branded content or promotion really, really commercial and turned people off?)
3. Make every step of the journey as compelling and simple as possible
So your newsletter is excellent. You’ve read the data and optimised what’s working. But wait – how does someone actually find it and subscribe? How are you going to grow?
One of the most common stumbling blocks with even really great newsletters is that they’re just so difficult to find and subscribe to. If a potential subscriber has to click through the nav bar, scroll down to the bottom, entire their life’s story and click a confirmation email, let’s face it – they won’t. So long as a sign up process is GDPR compliant, make it as simple as possible for customers to sign up.
Want to really level up your sign up process? Show potential subscribers exactly what they can look forward to from your newsletter at the sign-up stage. Teaser screenshots and details of any offers, exclusives or brilliant content will really entice users to subscribe.
Unlike social platforms and SEO, with newsletters, you hold the power – algorithms cannot disrupt your direct relationship with the audience. If you take time to reconsider, refine and refresh your email newsletters, you will be rewarded with a loyal community and strong conversions.
Alyson Lowe is a the founder of Vireo and a specialist in custom audience growth strategies @VireoWorld