Why e-Newsletters?

Do you have time to ring every past client, every prospect, or business partner? Make a point to communicate your new products/services? Give them value by educating them in small, helpful ways?  Yes, e-newsletters can do all this for very little cost.

While most know it’s good for business, some businesses seem to go about sending a newsletter in a haphazard way, or only make it all about them. First of all, you need to ask a few clients what they want to know about (pertaining to your industry). You’re in your world, but they are in their world. Hop over to their world and see what the weather’s like, see what the problems are there.

Which Style?

Look at the e-newsletters you like reading; they are probably clear, concise and have a simply designed layout. While you can send out newsletters in just plain text, some folks find it less professional or harder to read. Plus, you want your brand to be prominent, and this is usually put in a small header. The whole template can be custom designed for you by a graphic designer, and it must stay consistent.

It’s really important to keep the content as simple as possible, remembering your audience is more likely to be a wide cross-section of people who happen to use your services rather than all industry experts.

The number of articles should range from three to around eight. Some of these could be: about an upcoming event’s speaker (to generate interest before an invitation), talk about a new employee (reveal their reason for joining and their unique talent), or a review of an industry-related book that you’ve read, and of course news/topical articles or “how-to” tips.

Writing to Entice

By keeping this interesting variety in a regular newsletter, and by getting a copywriter to write it, you ensure that readers will take an interest. A company insider is more likely to fill it with news of the company and insider jargon, thus killing off any early interest. Your reader might have no knowledge of your products or systems at all, so the writer must ensure the meaning of the content is unambiguous.

While headlines in the newsletter are important, don’t forget the subject line has to be enticing so that receivers want to open it straightaway. The “from” should be recognisably from your company.

If your newsletter is going to be long, the usual strategy is to put the first one or two paragraphs only, with a nice clear link to the website to “read more” (I advise a text hyperlink since graphic hyperlinks are firstly not loaded by many email readers). This will drive traffic to your website, and the article should stay on the website for a good while and be surrounded by the usual navigation, encouraging customers to read on.

Analysing Reader’s Responses

If you use a content management system or email marketing system, then it will be easy to analyse your opening rates and click-through rates and work out which features are the most popular. Email marketing systems with autoresponders and segregated lists start from $18 per month on up.