Newsletters are one of the most important tools that businesses can use to increase their brand value for their customers. According to the Nielson Norman Group, more than 90% of customers prefer to receive newsletters for company updates with only 10% saying social media. Despite that, it’s all too easy for companies to create long-winded, cookie-cutter content without focusing on crafting a compelling yet brief narrative for their clients.
So what do customers really want from their newsletters? It’s no secret that the average open rate for emails is less than 20%. That means the vast majority of customers aren’t even looking at your content! The trick is to create a subject line that’s neither pushy nor passive.
Write Great Subject Lines
Just like in face-to-face communication, customers perk up when their name is used in emails. Studies show that customers respond positively to subject lines that contain their own name, creating higher click-through rates. With DG1, you can easily make sure that your customers always receive communications with their own name listed.
It’s also a good idea to have a direct, easy-to-understand incentive in the subject. If you’re reaching out about a new promotion, consider condensing the relevant information into a few words to entice customers to read about what you’re offering. Emojis can be useful to make your email stand out — but use them sparingly as they can seem insincere.
Engage Them After They Click
Getting your customers to open your email is a great first step, but you’ll need to further engage their attention if you want them to click through to your site for more information. This is where focus becomes important — more content doesn’t necessarily mean more engagement, and can often mean less. Try to limit the theme of your newsletter to three promotions or articles or less. Think of a newsletter as the trailer for the Hollywood blockbuster that is your site; it should be short, enticing, and clear.
Use images as much as you can. Too much text can be boring if you aren’t already engaged with the material and chances are you could make the same point with a well-placed image instead of a paragraph of text. It’s easy with DG1 to add clickable images that take customers straight to the article in question, so they don’t have to hunt for links in your newsletter to take them to the content they want to see.
Keep Them Coming Back
If you’ve gotten them to read the entire newsletter, congratulations! Remember that your goal is mainly to redirect them to your website where you can entice them to purchase or read your articles, so if they end up reading everything you send, that’s a great sign. It’s a good idea to ensure they can receive more incentives for more engagement, so whether that is exclusive discounts, contests, new ways to subscribe via social media, or simply old-fashioned direct email, you should put some additional contact methods in your email in the event that they want to engage with you more directly.
Overall, keep your communications short and sweet. Customers can tell when you are being overeager if you send too many emails. Make sure to engage only when you have something that is worthy of attention, and get directly to the point when you do. DG1’s Marketing function is a great tool to make sure that you can track all the data from your customers, including click throughs, and personalized options for different demographics. It’s never been easier to track the success of your communications, and you can synchronize with push notifications from your app as well as SMS messages.
You can read more about the marketing features of DG1 here: https://dg1.com/features/marketing
Tags: newsletter, marketing, profits, promotions, customers, simple, easy, articles
