Many of our clients are interested in ways to make their email newsletters better. And, why not? In our opinion, email newsletters are the most powerful and effective way to reach out to your customers. Below, you’ll find a distilled version of things that we’ve learned over the years. FYI, as many of our clients are wineries or wine-related, I’ve used that industry for examples.
Who to Use
There are many good email management solutions out there so you’ll want to spend some time looking over their features and pricing structures. Here are the ones that we like the best.
List Building Tips
- Make sure that your website has a signup form in an obvious and prominent location.
- Make sure that your Facebook page has a signup form (you can encourage signups in a variety of ways…offer a coupon, discount, etc.).
- If you are a business with a retail area, make sure you have a signup list at the Point of Sale and/or make sure your employees are asking for email addresses.
- Export your online store’s email list to your email management program.
List Management
- Use different opt-in forms at each of your collection points. That is, make separate forms for your website, facebook page, etc. That way, you can see what collection point is working the best (you could even have two different signup forms on your website…one on the front page and one on a newsletter page and then judge which one is working better).
- Segment your lists! You can target specific newsletters, for example, to people who have physically visited you, or to people who have purchased wine from your online store, or to your wine club members.
From and Subject Lines
- The “From” line and the “Subject” line are the two most important parts of any email. If the user doesn’t know from whom the email is coming, they won’t open it.
- The subject line will take a bit of testing. Although it may sound counter-intuitive, in most cases, boring is better. People are so used to spam that they have an automatic negative reaction to a sales-pitch. Also, keeping your subject line a bit more generic keeps an air of mystery about what’s inside. Of course, every list is different and that’s why you’ll want to do some testing…see the next point.
- For the more advanced users, most email providers allow you to do A/B subject line testing (MailChimp even has a subject line tester built in). When you’re ready to send out a newsletter, take 10% of your list and slice it, sending half of them one subject line and half another. Wait 24 hours to see what one is working better, then send out that subject line to the remaining 90% of your list.
Write at a 5th – 8th Grade Level
Not that you want to dumb down your copy, but when you write at a 5th grade level, your reader is thinking about what you’re saying, not how you’re saying it. Keep sentences simple, never use a big word when a small one will do, and make sure that your calls to action are at the end of paragraphs and/or prominently featured (like a link on its own separate line).
Curious about this blog post? Well, it’s written at a 7th grade level. Want to find out how you’re doing? Check out this free tool:
http://www.perrymarshall.com/grade/
Thanks to Perry Marshall for the above advice. He is a good resource to follow if you are interested.
Biggest Mistakes
- Too much content jammed into your newsletter. Do I still have your attention? Granted, this is not a newsletter, but the same principles can be applied to a successful blog post. I’d be willing to bet that a good number of you have stopped reading by now. My advice? Keep it short, keep it simple, keep it to one or two topics. If you find that you are regularly sending a monthly email with 4 items, it’d be better to send a bi-weekly newsletter with 2 items.
- Content that is too long. Even if you have only one item in your newsletter, try to keep it to one or two paragraphs. If you want people to “read more,” then link to it. For example, if you have an event, quickly tease it and then say, “click here for details,” linking to an event page on your website. In this way, you can quickly give readers the gist of the event and then entice them to make the jump to your website for more info (they are now at your website where, hopefully, you can get them to look around a bit and purchase).
- A muddled or unprofessional template design. Even if your content is great, if you have an overwhelming, confusing, or just plain ugly template, people will associate that with your brand. You may even want to try a plain-text newsletter. They often get a better response than a graphic-laden one.
Some Practical Advice
You probably get a bunch of email newsletters every day, be they from Groupon, Amazon, political parties and action groups, non-profits, and any other place you’ve ever shopped. Start looking at these newsletters with a critical eye. What is drawing you in? What would make you want to buy something? What makes you not want to open one? When you see something that makes you happy or makes you cringe, make note of it and learn from it for you next newsletter.
Please post your questions and comments below!
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