One thing that a lot of marketers fail to notice is the fact that newsletters are basically a one-way communication; kind of like an announcement. The content of your newsletter and the value it brings will greatly affect the success rate of every bulk email you send to recipients. That success rate, however, can be fine-tuned to perfection.
The way to do that is by improving the content of your newsletter. There are several steps you can take in order to improve your newsletter content. These next several tips and tricks we are about to discuss in this article will help you get started right away.
Personalize the Subject Line and Greeting
The first two things you want to improve are the subject line and the greeting included in the email. The subject line will greatly determine if your email gets opened, so you want to write it for maximum engagement. Generic subject lines are no longer good enough in today’s competitive inboxes.
What you want is the name of the recipient added to the subject line in the form of a greeting. “Hi first-name” is much more effective than going straight to “These Promotional Offers Are for You!” The latter sounds too generic to be interesting or engaging.
The main greeting added to the first line of your email needs to be personalised as well. Most email marketing tools support the use of strings and values for this type of personalisation, so personalising the subject line and greeting should not be difficult at all.
Ensure In-Context Delivery
Speaking of email marketing tools, there are many ways to send bulk email to hundreds – or even thousands – of recipients. You can even use Gmail to send bulk email manually or in an automated way, despite Gmail limiting the number of emails you can send to 500 per day.
However, there is one element that often gets neglected when running email marketing: in-context delivery. The email you send needs to arrive in the recipient’s inbox the right way. For example, updates and general newsletter needs to go to the Updates folder on Gmail.
The only way to do this is by using a well-managed SMTP server run by a reliable service provider. When the SMTP server is configured properly, you can expect every email delivery to remain in context and highly pleasant for the recipients.
Be Creative with Layout
You are no longer limited to the traditional email layout when running an email marketing campaign. Your newsletter can include visual elements and incorporate unique design ideas. You are not even limited to the older table framework of traditional HTML email.
However, don’t let the temptation of using complex designs fool you into thinking that you can just go above and beyond. You still have to think about some aspects before moving forward with a particular design, the first one being performance; your email still needs to load quickly.
On top of that, you have to make sure that the layout is compatible with mobile devices (responsive). Over 70% of recipients will open your email using their mobile devices, which is why you need to make sure that the content is still delivered properly despite the smaller screen.
Limit the Content
Trying to cram as much information as possible into a newsletter is the biggest mistake you can make. Once again, I know how tempting it is to add more for the sake of delivering more value, but more isn’t always better.
Rather than trying to cram long excerpts and a lot of headlines into an email, focus on personalising the content based on users’ interests and preferences. Pick content that really works for the audience and don’t hesitate to drop the rest.
Trust the process and learn from how your recipients interact with your newsletter. Do A/B testing and track key metrics to know the best content to offer them. The longer you run the email marketing campaign, the more you will understand your audience.
Be Clear
Similar to writing an engaging subject line, the headlines you include in the newsletter will also determine the level of engagement of your recipients. The best way to engage the audience is by adding simple headlines that make them want to read more content.
Keep it clear. You’ll be surprised by how simple and clear headlines work. This is also where white space matters. Adding sufficient spacing between elements of the newsletter will greatly affect its readability and, in turn, the level of engagement you have.
As an added bonus, make sure you let your content shine and keep visual elements in check. Overpowering headlines with images or design elements is another mistake you want to avoid at all costs.
You now have five tips that will help you keep your newsletter in context and highly refined. If you are serious about improving the content of your newsletter, these are the tips to use today.