TIP OF THE MONTH: How to make effective E-mail Newsletters

March 2009  |  Posted by Carolyn Pikoulas
E-mail newsletters are a great way to maintain a relationship with your customer. They can produce leads, keep your brand healthy, and can also "nurture" prospects who aren't quite ready to buy. They position your company as an industry expert and are far more cost-effective than printed mail. But how do you know if your newsletters are successful? Do they produce sales or keep your company in your customers' minds? Or does your audience view it as spam? Writing a successful newsletter is not an easy task, so here are a few tips on making the most of your newsletter campaign.

There are a wide range of newsletters for just about every topic related to products and services. In order to write effectively you must understand how people read on the web. For one thing, people don't actually read online-they "scan." A study by Nielsen Norman Group found that 79% of their test users always scanned any new page they came across; only 16 percent read word-by-word.

Your newsletter should be scannable:

• Highlight keywords (links can serve as one form of highlighting; typeface variations and color can also point people to the articles they're interested in. Just don't get too link-happy).
• Use bulleted lists (like this one).
• Write only one idea per paragraph.
• Write with an "inverted pyramid" style (say what you're going to say; say it; then, say what you said).
• Halve the word count. (If people see a long article, they may think they don't have time to read it.)
• Avoid promotional writing styles with boastful claims. Especially with a newsletter which is intended to be informative and helpful to your readers, the moment you start to sell your company's services & products is when you will lose your audience.
• Include pictures that relate to the topic. Just don't make it too image heavy, so that it takes long to download.

Another important key for an effective newsletter is the ability to track your campaign to see what people are actually clicking on. From this observation, you'll be able to see what areas need cut or improved upon. If you add keywords that link back to your company's website, you'll see which sections generate the most traffic

Questions to ask yourself:

• Who will be reading my e-mail? What do I want to achieve-more traffic to my site or brand awareness?
• How often does my audience want to receive my e-mails? (In a study by Bredin Business Information, 45% of users want to receive their e-mail newsletters weekly, 34% monthly and only 11% wanted them daily.)
• What time of day would they most likely open my e-mail?
• Am I able track my campaign in real time? (For example, once we send out a campaign, we use one program to see in real time who's going to our site from the e-mail and another program to report on the entire campaign later on).
• Can people sign up for my newsletter through my website?
• Why would they want to sign up in the first place? If I was a customer, how would it benefit me to sign up?
• Should I hire a professional copywriter, since I'm strapped for time?

Other things to consider:

• Don't automatically subscribe people to your newsletter. You'll lose all credibility if you're perceived to be spamming people.
• Think of your newsletter like a magazine or newspaper: give it distinct sections so people can build up a relationship with it and skim it easily. E-mails should be useful or entertaining, and always worthwhile.
• Give your readers some added benefits like a discount. Call-to-actions are often forgotten, but are the most important for getting your customers to contact you. If you're on the hard sell all the time, people will soon lose interest.
• Make sure that the sender's name is your website or company name and not the name of an individual in the company who sends or edits the newsletter. In a study by Bredin Business Information, when users were asked what is most important in deciding whether or not to read a vendor's e-mail newsletter, 64% said it was who the newsletter was from. The subject line (16%) was secondary.
• Make it easy for people to unsubscribe from your mailing lists. Just because you're losing a mailing list member, it doesn't mean you're losing a customer.
• Remember that company news isn't very interesting to readers. They're looking for information that is valuable to them.
• People are naturally drawn to "How to" articles (assuming it's actually something useful). Tap some of the knowledge within your company to develop ideas.
• Make it fun. Business is serious, but doesn't always have to be humorless. Include a cartoon, a link to a fun website, a trivia question, a quote-of-the-day, or a survey.

Formatting and Technical Tips

• Provide both HTML and plain text versions. Most hosted e-mail services allow you to set this up automatically. Some readers prefer the nicer HTML look, while others won't be able to view an HTML version due to firewalls, filters or their mobile device.
• Provide an RSS feed of your newsletter content for readers who prefer that option.
• Use a hosted e-mail service. Unless you have a very sophisticated IT department with time on their hands, it's best to let a professional service handle the subscribes, unsubscribes, bounces, CAN-SPAM compliance, list management, and reports.