Starting an email newsletter is an excellent way to reach new customers and foster long-term relationships with existing ones. Even with the rise of social media platforms, people continue to rely on email as a crucial means of communication. Email marketing, in general, tends to supply a robust ROI, and—according to estimates—around 300 billion emails are sent every single day.
With so much email activity making up the fabric of the business and consumer world, it’s only reasonable to use email to your business’ benefit. So how do you get started? In this step-by-step guide, we’ll discuss how to start your own email newsletter.
1. Make a Plan
First and foremost, you’ll need to devise a plan for your email newsletter. Be sure you know what you hope to accomplish; your goals will inform key metrics that you can use to test the efficiency of your email newsletter.
What To Include
Consider what you might include in your newsletters; you might inform recipients of up and coming developments in your field, new products you are offering, how your company is getting involved in social issues, developments in your company, or anything relevant to your brand that you might expect customers and contacts to be interested in.
When To Send
The best time to send emails depends on your audience. Consider whether or not recipients work 9-5, Monday through Friday. For instance, if they do, sending emails around 9 AM might be particularly effective, as many people check their emails when they first start their workday.
2. Make a List
Once you have goals in mind for your email newsletter, the next step—and a crucial one—is building a useful mailing list.
Organize Contacts
Start by organizing existing contacts, if you already have some. If you have an ink-and-paper list, it may be time to digitize it.
Obtain New Contacts
If you don’t have any mailing list yet, or you intend to grow the one you have, it may be time to start building. Be sure that your own site has an easy-to-find form where users can opt-in to receive emails from your company. If you use social media to attract leads, be sure to post a link that will take users to your opt-in form.
Consider using a lead magnet, like a how-to guide or some other type of free content users can expect in exchange for supplying their personal information. Do not buy leads or contacts. More often than not, they will not have opted in to hear from you or your company. At best this will yield you a hostile audience, and at worst it can be illegal.
3. Design Your Newsletter Emails
So, you’ve got a mailing list and a goal in mind. It’s time to design your emails to meet that goal for your list. A lot goes into designing your newsletter.
Formatting
Remember that your contacts might be reading their emails anywhere; they might be using mobile devices like tablets or phones, and they also might be using a desktop to view emails, either in a web browser or an email client software, such as Thunderbird or Microsoft Outlook. Try to keep your newsletter easy to read, uncluttered, and to the point.
Email Personalization
With so many emails being sent and received every day, you can count on your recipients’ inboxes to be full of both spam and unwanted emails, and the last thing you want is for contacts to lose your emails in the flood. Personalizing emails goes a long way in increasing your newsletter’s odds of being opened.
If your emailing software allows it, you can use personalization tokens to address recipients by first name. Signing emails with a human signature rather than simply that of your brand or company also goes a long way toward making emails seem more inviting and personal.
Subject Lines
Your subject line is always crucial. This is your chance to get recipients interested in what you have to say. Be sure to keep subject lines short, to the point, and as compelling as possible. A good subject line can make all the difference in the world, especially when it comes to getting recipients to open your emails.
4. Test Your Emails
Test Before Sending
Now that you’ve devised a mailing list, some goals, and your newsletter, it’s time to test it out. Make sure your messages are optimized for mobile use and different email clients by trying to open them on mobile devices and through those clients. If you only use one email client, consider sending a test version to a colleague and asking for feedback on formatting and content.
A/B Test
Another great way to test the effectiveness of different formatting or content is by performing a simple A/B test. Using mailing list segmentation, you can send out two different versions of your newsletter to different contact groups, and this may lend you some valuable insight into how your different emails perform.
Test After Sending
After your first newsletter goes out, check back using any analytic tools you have at your disposal to see if they’re being opened, and if they are, if they’re being clicked through, or any other key metrics you might have outlined during your planning phase. Adjust accordingly, and repeat!
Conclusion
Even in today’s social media-oriented, online world, email remains a crucial and widely-used means of communication—and creating an email newsletter is a great way to keep up with existing customers, and even make some new ones. By creating and optimizing your newsletter appeal, effectiveness, and timing, you can open a new channel of communication between your brand and your customers. If you’re hoping to foster new customer relationships and strengthen existing ones, this may be the next step for your brand!