Make Your E-Newsletter Stand Out

During one of our client catch up meetings today; we discussed the topic of e-newsletters and it got us thinking about how valuable they actually are.

How do you get useful content into a newsletter, without making it look like an emailed essay, and what is it that makes people want to open the email rather than send it straight to their deleted items folder?

If done correctly, e-newsletters can have a successful opening rate of anywhere from 15% to 40%, and can be an excellent marketing tool for most online businesses.

First things first; you need to come up with useful content to go into your newsletter. The subject line needs to be eye-catching enough that the email won’t be deleted straight away; “Company Newsletter – July 2013” probably isn’t going to get anyone’s attention, but something along the lines of “Your Exclusive Offers!” could just do the trick.

Bear in mind that people use a wide variety of email services; including Outlook, Hotmail and Gmail to name a few. Some services offer previews of the email content so you want to have something really eye-catching “above the fold”. Obviously you’ll want your company logo in there near the top too, even just as a reminder of who you are, but it’s probably not going to get you a very high opening or click through rate on its own.

Another good tip is to make the content accessible for everyone. You may be emailing out to potential clients and they may not understand your industry as well as you do. SEO for example, can work for any number of online businesses, but someone who sells clothing online may not understand the full ins-and-outs of an SEO strategy. However, if you’re a fashion wholesaler trying to sell to other fashion companies through your newsletter, then you can afford to be a little bit more technical. Try to make the copy easy for everyone to read and understand as you don’t want to put off potential clients with technical industry jargon. Alternatively, you can choose to send your newsletter out to a specific subset of people in which case you can tailor the content to their requirements.

Try using a bit of humour in your newsletters, or write about something light-hearted. People like to get to know the individuals behind the company name so it can never hurt to add in some funny stories as well as industry-related information.

Finally; it pays to be consistent. Make sure you send your newsletter out at the same time every month/week. Avid readers will be expecting a newsletter at a specific time of the month and a missed email could mean a missed opportunity.

Polaris are a leading SEO agency in Kent. We specialise in ethical SEO, PPC, affiliate marketing and web design. For further information on our SEO services in London, Kent or Essex, contact our friendly team today on 0203 475 6799.