Do you need a newsletter strategy?
You are in the right place.
Often untraceable email newsletters can seem like an unnecessary blast from the past.
After all, bloggers are now more often concerned about shares and visible interactivity than newsletter strategy.
However, we mustn’t overlook the value of getting this marketing mainstay right.
After all, whether or not they’ve subscribed to email newsletters is the #1 determinant of if visitors to the New Yorker’s website convert into paid subscribers.
Email is also still one of the best indicators for retention, with the Globe and Mail particularly able to increase retention rates by as much as 140% across email subscribers alone. Furthermore, average open rates of 32% across industries provide an undeniable boost to marketing ROI.
Open rates that don’t necessarily fluctuate depending on business size especially highlight this as a viable way to attract and retain interest.
One important note…
This is regardless of where you are in your blogging journey.
But none of this is possible until you take time to consider the following ways in which to supercharge your email newsletter strategy that might not be delivering the results you expect right now.
Let’s dive into a newsletter strategy that works.
Effective Newsletter Strategy
1) Put analytics to good use
Social media has shown us all the value of expansive analytics that take into account everything from impressions through to conversions and even consumer trends.
Yet, while platforms like Instagram have all of these things built right in for us, email newsletters aren’t quite as easy to follow.
In fact, for countless bloggers, this marketing technique can feel a lot like shouting into the ether with no real reward. In reality, though, that needn’t be the case, especially not when you consider that there are some surprisingly simple ways to track every last element of the emails you’re sending.
Notably, incorporating links into your email newsletters makes it far easier to trace overall impact using simple tools like Google analytics. Unique discount codes and PR trackable URLs can especially further this benefit, showing you not only who’s clicking, but also providing a unique profile that makes it easier to understand who you’re best appealing to with your efforts, and how exactly that aligns with your blogging objectives.
Let’s examine our next newsletter strategy.
2) Incentivise sign ups
Analytics aren’t going to make much of a difference if people aren’t signing up to your newsletter in the first place, highlighting the need to incentivize sign-ups that truly get attention rolling.
Luckily, there are now plenty of viable ways to achieve this goal – you just need to make sure that you’re providing goodies that your target email market actually wants.
To do this, it’s worth both going back to the analytics of the email subscribers that you have, and generally consider the desires of your audience.
For example, if your blog is a how-to for knitters, would a free download of a knitting pattern ebook be a good idea?
Equally, if your blog is more on the lifestyle side of things, could a personalized note from you in your own custom foil greeting cards do a better job at sealing the deal?
A highly technical blogger might even find that a free video interview with industry experts does the trick. Either way, you need to make the incentive so good that people sign up without even thinking about it, and allow you to reap the ongoing rewards of their doing so.
Remember, a newsletter isn’t a blatant marketing scheme, so you won’t be able to personalize specific offerings according to consumer histories, etc. But that’s certainly not to suggest that you can’t still enjoy the benefits of well-done personalizations here. In fact, email newsletters with personalized subject lines can enjoy 26% higher open rates overall.
Further to this, personalised discount codes offer not just the ability to track conversions, but also the ability to more specifically tailor discounts to consumer needs.
Meanwhile, efforts at personalization that include inter-email interactivities (sort of like a choose-the-ending book in email form), or even just automated systems that allow you to refer to everyone by name can all help to create the intimate, and ultimately trusting relationships that you started your email newsletter to achieve in the first place.
4) Find faster ways to offer value
If your newsletter is one of five that a consumer receives on a given day, then content that’s slow to get going means they’ll inevitably click away without interacting. Instead, keeping your audience engaged largely relies on your ability to offer value fast.
In fact, research goes as far as to show that the ideal length for click rates here is a mere 20 lines or 200 words. That’s not long, and it means that you need to jump straight in, make your point without preamble, and ultimately call everyone to action in a few simple steps.
Obviously, length is going to vary depending on your audience (e.g. professionals may prefer more detail than lifestyle readers), but whoever you’re appealing to, the chances are that they won’t stick around if you don’t make a clear point and get to it quickly.
5) Add visual appeal
We’ve left this point until last because it feels like an obvious one – everyone knows that newsletters should look good. In reality, though, outside of a great font and the inclusion of your logo or a few images, it can be difficult to know what a great-looking newsletter entails these days.
Expectant modern audiences certainly require a little more than these basics and are likely to appreciate the addition of everything from personal QR codes to some well-selected GIFs. Again, the audience should play a part in your choices here, but generally speaking, images and interactivities should especially be used to break up chunks of text that will undeniably feel difficult to penetrate without these additions.
Newsletter Strategy Frequently Asked Questions
You need to get people onto your email list. The best way is to offer free incentives that people in your niche want. These are incentives so enticing they will gladly exchange an email address to get.
Wrapping Up: Effective Newsletter Strategy
In closing, use this newsletter strategy as your action plan for boosting your email marketing success in 2022.
Email newsletters nowadays are too often overshadowed by social media and everything that comes with it, but the ability to land directly into your follower’s inboxes still offers undeniable value. Just make sure that you’re able to bring an otherwise floundering newsletter back to life using this newsletter strategy.
Readers, please share so marketers discover this newsletter strategy.
I look forward to your views in the comments section. Can you suggest another effective newsletter strategy?
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