Email marketing is still one of the most popular and effective ways to promote goods and services on the Internet. Well-prepared and customized newsletters help reach the widest possible audience at the lowest cost. In addition, they allow you to accurately track the conversion and other important indicators of each email or series of emails.
Content:
1. Content of the letter
2. Personalization and context
3. Contacts database management
4. Types of email newsletters
5. Design of the letter
6. Analytics and strategy
7. Conclusion
However, not every email newsletter is guaranteed to be successful. On the contrary, many of them do not achieve their goals, showing rather modest results. In this article we want to share our secrets of effective newsletters and tell how to make them work for the development of your business.
What to look for when preparing email newsletters?
Content of the letter
- Quality and subject matter. The main success factor of any newsletter is the content quality. Pay attention to the content of the email first, then to everything else. It’s crucial that the content is niche and subject matter, that is, as interesting and informative as possible for the particular segment of subscribers to whom this newsletter is meant for. Emails about everything and nothing is not your choice.
- More graphics. Long texts are not interesting to anyone, so we advise you to add some graphic content. Feel free to experiment, adding not only pictures to your newsletters, but also GIF animations and videos. Infographic is especially effective because it helps you present any data in a colorful and interesting way.
- Subject and preheader are important. It’s worthwhile paying special attention not only to the subject of your email but also to the preheader, the first sentence that is visible in the list of emails next to their subjects. Tempting and intriguing subjects and preheaders significantly increase the openability of email newsletters. However, do not overdo it with creativity, otherwise you may lose the trust of your subscribers.
Personalization and context
- Segment your audience. Competent database segmentation helps send more targeted content to subscribers, which will be more useful and interesting for them. Modern analytics systems and mass mailing platforms will help you flexibly segment your audience on a number of indicators: demography, geography, preferences, activity, etc.
- Contact by name. Appealing to the subscriber in the headline is a well-known, but still very effective technique that increases the openability of emails by 30-40%.
- Send dynamic content. Users should receive emails not only in accordance with your content plan, but also based on the context, which will significantly increase the efficiency of email newsletters. For example, you can prepare email newsletters with selections of products from recently viewed categories, any current promotions, etc.
Contacts database management
- Control the clarity of your database. An orderly and "cleaned" database with real, active and engaged subscribers will be much more effective for your newsletters than a chaotic, albeit more numerous. Invalid email addresses should be removed from the database, and inactive users transferred to separate lists.
- Use double subscription confirmation. Double-Opt In is another important clarity factor of the database. Thanks to it, your base will be replenished only by motivated subscribers, which will positively affect the results of newsletters.
- Offer a subscription bonus. It’s a great way to attract the audience's attention and add new interested subscribers to the database. Not only discounts or gift certificates, but also useful guides, video instructions or checklists will be appreciated as a bonus.
- Don’t forget about reactivation. At times, you need to conduct a series of reactivation newsletters to the addresses of inactive users, including with bonuses, promotions or other tempting offers. With their help, you will be able to expand the database, increasing the openability level and other email indicators.
Types of email newsletters
- Welcome series. Prepare a special welcome email series for new subscribers. You can not only thank them for their subscription, but also offer a digest of useful information: talk about the key features and benefits of your brand or product, etc.
- Email chains. Email chains are much more effective than single newsletters. Serial newsletters smoothly lead the subscriber to perform the targeted action, placing an order, paid subscription, etc.
- Trigger emails. This is a very promising type of email that is sent automatically to subscribers when there is some trigger. For example, if a customer added an item to the cart, but did not complete the order, then after a while he receives a trigger email with a reminder.
Design of the letter
- Adaptive templates. If you use ready-made email templates or create them yourself, make sure that they are adaptive. Make sure the email content is displayed well on all modern devices before you start the newsletter.
- Optimize your email size. As for the email width, a value of not more than 600 pixels is considered optimal. It doesn’t matter how long the email is but remember that a very long email will scare off many subscribers, so don't make them scroll too long.
- Attention to the first screen. Think carefully about the email structure. It is better to place the most important information on the first screen, and not to litter this space with a bulky "header" or pictures.
- Avoid spamming tricks. If you want to provide your newsletters with maximum deliverability, then try to make your email as little as possible like spam mailings. Avoid variegated fonts, unnecessary exclamation marks and using caps lock. It is also recommended to place only direct links in emails, without redirects or abbreviations.
Analytics and strategy
- Test options. Regular A/B tests will help you significantly increase the efficiency of your newsletters. Moreover, this feature is present in all modern mass mailing services, so do not forget to use it. When preparing any newsletter, make several different email versions and test their results. After that choose the most effective one.
- Monitor indicators. Modern analytics services allow you to carefully monitor the effectiveness of newsletters on a variety of indicators. For example, they include the delivery of emails, the number of openings and click-throughs. You can also use them to get other important information, to determine the most and least active segment of subscribers, the most suitable time/day for mailing, etc.
- Start with a strategy. The success key of effective newsletters lies in a single strategy. Think about which audience your newsletter is intended for, what goals you want to achieve with it, what types and email chains you will send out, in what order and with what frequency. Be sure to draw up a content plan with email subjects. This will make your newsletters more orderly and effective.
Conclusion
Email newsletters are a universal and very promising way to attract new customers. Its effectiveness depends on a number of factors, compliance with which will help you to send really useful and interesting emails. It is important to give maximum attention to the quality of your email content, both text and graphics. Try to make as personalized emails as possible according to the context.
Think over the subjects of emails, organize them in the content plan, send different types of newsletters, both single and serial. It is worth considering not only the text of the mails, but also their design. Track the key indicators of your campaigns and use this data when preparing new ones. Prepare multiple email options and choose the most effective one using A/B testing tools.
For your newsletter to be even more effective, it needs to be automated. By integrating Facebook Ads Manager and the email service you are using, which can be done with SaveMyLeads, you can make sure emails are automatically sent to potential customers who have left their contact information in a lead form on the Facebook. You will never have to manually transfer contact information again! Sign up for free trial!