How to get people to love your newsletter (1/2)
10 tips to go from mediocre email to sensational digest
These days a lot of folks claim that the email is a dying entity. We live in the social media era where it seems that not having a Facebook profile is ludicrous and people look at you with confusion once you tell them you don’t have Snapchat. No one really talks about email the same way though. Our good old friend “Email” does not get nearly the same attention as all the flashy social media channels do. That’s why you might’ve witnessed a very heated discussion about Instagram’s new logo but I doubt you’ve seen such passion when people talk about subject lines.
Is email really a disappearing tool that is used less and less? Is it true that email will not be used in the future anymore due to all other channels of communication out there? We really have to ask ourselves those questions in order to realize this is not the case whatsoever. Email nowadays is more relevant and necessary than ever before. Try to sign up for anything and see if you can without having an active email address. Go to any website of a blogger, a company or an organization and carefully observe how long it takes you to find the section on the main page asking you for your email. It will be like playing “Where’s Waldo” but much easier. And sometimes you don’t even have to look for the signup box; the pop up asking for your email will hit you right in the face. Well, figuratively speaking, of course.
Do this with several websites and you’ll notice that this is what happens pretty much everywhere online. And then you realize that everyone has a newsletter and they want you to read it. And by everyone, I mean everyone. Then how is email dying?
The newsletter is a phenomenon that is not to be underestimated. I honestly believe that having a carefully curated email digest is a brilliant way to subtly grow your following and most importantly create a good relationship with your audience. That is an opportunity to be seized, yet before you go at it you need to know a few key elements that create the value of the newsletter.
Remember that what you are going to send to your subscribers goes to their email inbox. Many have previously compared the holy inbox to people’s homes in order to stress the importance of being careful with what you distribute to them. Sending out something you just put together in 2–3 minutes that has zero value for your reader will do no good for you or your business. You do not only put your reputation at stake, you also risk your credibility. Thus, I can’t stress enough how big of a role content curation plays here.
Also, once you’ve gotten your foot in someone’s inbox you have to make sure you stay there. You have to be able to grab your reader’s attention with the subject line or the first sentence. Then you have to entice them with what follows next in that newsletter. But how exactly do you do that?
1. The Major Key 🔑 To Success
If there’s one thing that can make or break the success of your newsletter, it is indeed valuable and relevant content. Of course the definition of valuable content varies depending on what kind of business you are in and what is your goal. Nevertheless, it is crucial to deliver to people what they want and what they need. That is something you will have to figure out on your own because sadly there is no universal recipe to quality content. But, if you manage to master the art of sending out appealing content to your readers, then they will open your newsletters each and every time you send one out. Putting together a digest that does not correspond with the message you are trying to get across or the image you want to create, will only hurt your venture. People sign up for newsletters because they follow you somehow or because your CTA worked well and they are thinking of following you. You have to grab that opportunity and make the most out of it. Do not give in to the mass thinking that email newsletters are an inefficient marketing strategy. Use the fact that still many see newsletters that way, because it makes email marketing that much more powerful. If you manage to grab the attention of your readers with your digest, then you’ll be able to not only create a more personal relationship with them, but you will also drive bigger traffic to your website, increase your exposure and ultimately grow your audience.
How do you create quality content?
That is a great question. As I already said, there is no universal recipe to quality content. That is something that differs immensely between everyone. Yet, there are a few things you can do to make your newsletter stand out among the sea of newsletters. Keep in mind the competition is savage out there, so you really need to step up your game in order to make your digest as awesome as possible. Just use some of the tips and tricks mentioned below to stay ahead.
A. Great, valuable content
Find out who you are targeting with this newsletter and most importantly, figure out what you want to achieve with your newsletters. Ask yourself if you want to update your readers on what’s been happening or maybe you are aiming at a different goal? Are you promoting your business? Is there a specific message you want to get across? All of those questions are a great starting point when it comes to realizing what your newsletter is going to be about. Once you are able to answer all of them as detailed as possible, you will have a better idea of what quality content will look like for you and your audience. That is a good first step when you want to decide what you will do with your digest. One of our users, Azeem is a great exmaple of delivering quality content regularly.
B. Make it personal
Some of the best newsletters I’ve ever read, have been written as if the author is directly speaking to me. And that strategy is no secret. It is super easy to have the same newsletter structure every time, but if you spend a few minutes to write at least an intro that is personal and makes your readers feel as if you took the time to think and talk specifically to them, it makes the experience that much more special. You will see that your open and click rates will jump significantly, once you start exercising that personal communication element in your emails. After all, people want to feel special and they often disregard generic emails. Nobody has time for that.
C. Visuals
Use visuals when you can. They might not be appropriate always but in a lot of cases they add so much more to the newsletters. The attention span of humans in the information age is not what it used to be decades ago, so you really need to find ways to capture people’s interest in any way possible. If done correctly, images or videos can complement the written content in a very strategic way. Here is a great example of one of our users and how they use visuals.
2. It’s Not All About Eve
Your newsletter is not all about you. It is not the email you send out to thousands or millions of people where you get to brag about what you’ve done for two pages or go on about how great your company is. If you want your newsletter to be read and enjoyed by the people you send it out to, you have to first and foremost ask yourself “What do the people on the other side of this digest want to read about?, What will interest them the most from what I have to offer?”. Make it a point to sit down and carefully research your posts on your website, blog and social media channels and see what type of content has received the most attention. Which posts of yours have had the biggest success among your audience? Don’t stuff your newsletter with content only you find interesting or details that might not resonate with your readers whatsoever because that will eventually kill your email digest.
3. R-E-S-P-E-C-T
People are busy. And busy people do not like to have their time wasted. We already spoke about how the inbox resembles people’s houses as well, right? That is why you need to be very cautious with what you send out. If you’ve managed to complete step 1 and deliver quality content, you also need to focus on some other things now. Making your digest interesting is essential, but there are other things that you need to take into account. Being concise and organized makes a world of difference. I’m not saying your newsletter can’t be long, but you have to make sure it is easy to follow and that there’s structure. That way people can jump from section to section if needed, see what the key points of the letter are and decide what to read, click on or to come back later to. Simply respect your readers’ interests, time and inboxes!
4. Engagement
One of the main goals of the newsletter is to create engagement with your audience — so think about that the next time you are putting together your newsletter and ask yourself if what you are including is something that will interest your readers. Really consider a way that you can use your digest to create extra engagement with your readers, don’t rely solely on social media for that. Newsletters can be a great way to drive new traffic to your website. More importantly you can establish great connections with your readers and get to know your audience better. So go ahead, think how you can use your newsletter to make your product better by engaging with your readers!
5. Value, Value And Oh..Again, VALUE!
One of the main points of this article is to get you to understand the absolute necessity of quality content. It was mentioned that there is no universal recipe that can do that for you. But there is one ingredient that you must always aim to have in your digest-VALUE. That is by far the biggest, most important stepping stone to success when it comes to newsletters. You have to give something back to your readers. You have to find what value you can provide them with. One way to help yourself in this situation is to think about a problem they have or often run into and try to give them a solution for it. Maybe it’s a “how to” article or you maybe you have an e-book that will make their lives easier. Maybe you are an expert in a certain field and your knowledge can be of great use to them. Or maybe your company offers a certain product or services and your newsletter can present your audience with the best deals! There’s an infinite amount of options as to how you can give back. The key element here is value. You need to focus on it and build your newsletter around it.
Those were the first 5 tips we at Revue wanted to share with you. Stay tuned next week for the second part of this article where we add 5 more tips you can implement in order to create the most kick-ass newsletter.
If you’d like to share any techniques that work for you let us know in the comment section below or just drop us a message at support@getrevue.co. We’d love to hear from you! ❤
