email newsletters
Your email newsletter is a great way to communicate with your customer base and keep it informed on what’s new with the industry and your company, as well as encourage new business. But there are a few things to keep in mind to make it successful.
In 2011, email newsletters will remain a great tool for keeping in touch with an audience. While this form of communication has been around for a long time, some elements of creating and delivering email newsletter are changing.
E-mail marketing has a huge ROI (return on investment), but it doesn't happen on it's own. It takes a lot of hard work, smarts, and creativity to achieve this kind of return. You have to work hard to track and measure it.Landing pages are a key component of many online marketing activities. Their goal is to to convert the traffic that these campaigns send — this may include subscribing to a service, buying a product, or making a request for more information.
E-mail creative is very different in almost every element than any other marketing creative, including other digital mediums.
Your e-mails do not show up looking the exact same way for all of your users. Surveys have shown that almost 2/3rds of all your recipients have their email images turned off by default.
best practices
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ContentReaders want to read about what’s relevant to them – what can save them money, time or both. Here is an opportunity to become an expert in your field and write about newsworthy information that is relevant to your business and your clients’ interests.
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Subject lineIdentify yourself, so readers know immediately that this is your e-newsletter. But be wary of using any phrases like “free” or even “newsletter,” as those words can send your email straight into the spam inbox.
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IntroductionCreate an Editorial for your readers. According to a recent survey, subscribers are engaged more by newsletters with an editorial, than a newsletter without a proper introduction. Another positive effect of the editorial is that you can highlight particular elements of your newsletter to your audience.
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Table of contents Once an email is opened, a reader will only take 2-3 seconds to decide whether to read it or not. Buy putting information up front, your reader knows what they can expect to find in your e-newsletter.
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Strategy and timelineYou need to develop a comprehensive marketing strategy. What are the objectives? How often will you send it? What messages do you want to get across and what is the call to action?
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Forward to a friend Let them pay it ‘forward’. Build your readership by offering an easy way for current readers to forward your newsletter to others. But make it easy to unsubscribe, too. These features make the user feel in control and more accepting of your email.
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Directory If your newsletter consists of several articles, then a link directory is essential. This way your recipients can reach the article they are most interested in reading with one simple click. But make sure you don’t over burden them with too many articles.
