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8 EssEntials of an EffEctivE

Email nEwslEttEr

First thing’s first: If you don’t publish a regular email newsletter, you should start.

Email newsletters give you an opportunity to be a regular presence in your prospects and customers inboxes. Email has become the dominant method of communication for both business and personal use. Your newsletter is an opportunity to prove your expertise, show prospects how much you can help them, update customers and prospects on company news and upcoming events, as well as to generate traffic on your website. In this report, I will go through the 8 Essentials of an Effective Email Newsletter, so you know what your email newsletter should include and what each component does for your company.

In a 2007 case study published by the marketing experts at MarketingSherpa, they showed that ConAgra Foods generated 34.25% more product sales from consumers who subscribed to email newsletters, as opposed to consumers who did not.

Essential 1: A Regular, Predictable, and DEPENDABLE Schedule

Your newsletter subscribers are busy people. The average person receives over 100 emails a day. If they don’t know exactly when to expect it, you have very little chance of getting their attention.1 You can choose to send your newsletter weekly, biweekly, monthly, quarterly, etc. However, once you have decided on a schedule, stick to it! You lose the benefits of steady reliable exposure to subscribers, if you don’t follow a predictable pattern with your email newsletter.

1 www.radicati.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/Email-Statistics-Report-2011-2015-Executive-Summary.pdf

Essential 2: A Predetermined and Well-Defined Target Audience

Before you start sending out your newsletter emails, you need to decide who you are targeting. Are you trying to nurture leads? Build the brand loyalty of your customers? Promote specific products or services? Deciding what the purpose of your email newsletter is helps you determine who your target audience is. When you operate with a predetermined and well-defined audience, your content is more attractive to readers and more effective for your company. It can be tailored specifically to those who are going to be reading it, and this produces better results for you.

Essential 3: Useful, Valuable, and Shareable Content

This point is CRITICAL. As I said before, people receive an outrageous amount of emails these days. That means you aren’t given a lot of second chances. If a subscriber gets your newsletter and doesn’t get anything out of it, they are much less likely to read it again. You need to understand the situation from their perspective, and offer them something of value in each of your newsletters. This can be great industry advice, insight into your company’s products and services to show the value that they offer, etc. Just make sure you are giving readers a reason to look forward to the next issue of your newsletter. Offer content that your subscribers can use in their everyday life. If you can deliver content that improves their lives, they will be led to share your content. Great content builds trust with your prospects, loyalty in your customers, and generates free exposure through sharing.

Some examples of great newsletter content are...• A landscaping company giving seasonal advice on how to care for their garden or plants

as each new season approaches.• A dental hygienist breaking down the seemingly endless variations of toothpaste, and

explaining which ones are best for which situations.• An auto-repair business warning prospects of the kinds of car troubles that most often

catch people by surprise, but can be avoided if caught in time.

Essential 4: Expanding Your Subscriber Base

Just because you choose a target audience for your newsletter doesn’t mean it can’t expand. You can do this is by putting a form on your website, which asks for site visitors email addresses in exchange for helpful weekly content (or whichever regular schedule you choose for your newsletter). This offers visitors the chance to subscribe to your newsletter, if they like what they see. These opt-in subscriptions are going to be easier to convert, because they were already interested enough to choose to receive your newsletter. Maybe they just need a few emails to get to know your company a little better, before making the leap to become your customer. You can also expand your base by adding in all the leads that come in through other venues. You want to get as many leads as possible to experience consistent marketing from your company.

Essential 5: A Company News and Updates Section

In a survey done of email newsletter users by the Nielsen Norman Group, over 60% of users rate company news as VALUABLE content for an email newsletter. That means they generate more revenue and click-thru traffic, when they include company news and reminders in their newsletter. So, make sure you set aside a small section to give them a few updates, such as new product releases, new endorsements, upcoming events, etc.

wHat wE’vE BEEn UP to...

Essential 6: Special Incentives that Encourage Subscriptions

Earlier I wrote of the importance of offering value to your readers. One way you can do this is by including coupons or special offers in your newsletters. This will encourage anyone who is a regular customer of yours to subscribe to your newsletter, and will attract interested prospects as well. Once these readers are subscribed you can introduce them to new products, develop trust and build loyalty to your company through your quality content.

SPECIALOFFER!

Essential 7: A Link to Your Business Website to Drive Prospects to Your Site

This is another incredibly important part of your email newsletter. You absolutely need to include a link in your email to create a bridge from your email to your website.

Your emails should focus on two purposes: 1. Offering valuable content to encourage regular reading.2. Driving traffic to your website.

So, based on the topic you are discussing in that newsletter issue, provide a link to a related landing page, where you can introduce your reader to relevant products and services. This facilitates the conversion process and makes it as easy as possible for your subscribers to become customers or make new purchases.

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Essential 8: Your Contact Information in an Easily Visible Location

It is always important to allow your readers to contact you as easily as possible. Same goes for your emails. Make sure your contact information is prominently featured in your email, either right at the top, or in your signature at the bottom. If your subscriber reads something that sparks their interest, you want them to be able to pick up the phone and call you immediately.

Each of these elements make up a truly effective email newsletter. It will consistently build trust, nurture leads, build customer loyalty, and drive traffic to your website, where you can generate more revenue. Take a few minutes to make sure your newsletter has all 8. If you don’t have a newsletter yet, we recommend you get started right away. You’re missing out on the extra revenue it could generate for your company.

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Take Action: Now you’ve got the knowledge. It’s time to put it into action.

1. Set a schedule you can stick to consistently with your email newsletter.

2. Define your target audience (unconverted prospects, current customer, prospects who would be interested in a particular product or service, etc.)

3. Brainstorm a list of content ideas to write about in your upcoming newsletters.

4. Add all leads into your newsletter email database.

5. Make sure your newsletter’s include the important components we discussed (Company News, Contact Info, Website Links, etc.)

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If you need help with your email marketing, we would love to help you out! Give our marketing experts a call at 1-866-803-2421 today.

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