Seven Tips for a Successful Email Newsletter

The most successful companies are the ones who develop and maintain relationships with their customers over time. And email newsletters are a great way to communicate and engage with customers easily and cost-effectively. Here are seven useful tips to make email marketing more successful.

1. Create a punchy, action-oriented, or time restricted email subject.
Besides making the subject relevant to your target audience, it is also important to instill a sense of urgency or importance. Consider “You are Invited to a Secret Sale Friday from 3-6 p.m.” The reader feels special; they have been selected as part of an exclusive group. There is also a specific time and date range for the sale. The reader cannot put it off, they have to look now.

Remember the email subject in your email marketing campaign is the first thing a reader sees. Make sure the first impression compels the reader to want to open the email. Also don’t make the mistake of choosing a clever “From” line. Make sure it is clear who you are. Most people will delete a message coming from “A wild dealmaker at ACME automotives.” But if you just put an identifiable person or company chances are your email gets opened.

2. Make Sure your Graphics are Gorgeous
So your tempting subject line lured a potential lead to open the email. Do not lose this sale by incorporating unattractive or irrelevant graphics. Of course, your copy is very important. But text-heavy emails with no graphics tend to scream “Intense Concentration is Necessary to Read this Document.” People want snippets of information set in an attractive backdrop.

3. SPAM-FREE ZONE
Some basic rules: Don’t be misleading. Your emails from address and subject line must be accurate. Do not use spam-linked words in the subject line. Don’t write “free” or use exclamation points. Spam filters are gauged to pick these types of words up, and your customers won’t like it either (if they get it). Give an easy way to unsubscribe, provide fast suppressions of opt-outs, and include the sender’s physical address.

4. ACTION, ACTION, ACTION
An effective newsletter not only informs and educates, it also provides a call to action. For example, if you send out an e-newsletter for an online cooking club, you are probably sending out recipes, a great way to inform and educate. Already your newsletter has a purpose. Ask the email newsletter readers to submit their own version of this recipe for a “Twisted Chocolate Chip Cookie Contest.” The winner receives a year free subscription of the hard copy of the magazine. Calls to action arouse interest in your product or service. They also allow for you to have a built-in purpose for sending the email.

5. Avoid Sending Emails at Certain Times
It’s Monday morning and average working people just arrived at their jobs. With a morning cup of coffee in their hand they turn on the computer. And there pops up 50 new messages. AHH! Aren’t Mondays great? Chances are, if you have sent an email campaign over the weekend, it will be deleted on Monday. The scenario is the same for Friday afternoon. People are getting antsy for the weekend and aren’t really going to be excited about your business newsletter, or they may not even be around to read it. For B2B (business-to-business) email marketing, the best times to send email are Tuesday and Wednesday mid-morning or mid-afternoon. Try to avoid sending your newsletter outside working hours or during lunnch. If you are marketing a consumer product, you can be a little more flexible. For example, if you are a resort sending out a newsletter with weekend escape packages, try sending email on Thursday afternoon or Friday morning. People may be looking to get away at the last minute. Make sure you know who you are sending to, keep in mind your content, and then tailor the timing to their schedules.

6. No Frivolous Emails
To ensure your email campaigns are opened and effective, pay close attention to the information you are sharing in your emails. If you send out unnecessary information, you will lose the interest of your email subscriber list. Sometimes, less is definitely more with email newsletters. People tend to get peeved when they open their email inbox and have received 15 emails from one company over a week span.

7. Send It Already!
And the last one speaks volumes without saying too much. To get people to respond to your email marketing and specials, you have to make it a priority to actually send it! Get it crossed off your to do list and you will see how easy, cost-effective, and powerful email marketing can be for your business. It’s like the lottery - you can’t win if you don't buy a ticket!

Nothing in life is a guarantee. But using these seven steps gives your email campaign a better chance of getting opened, thereby leading to sales for your company.