The Complete Guide to Business Newsletters: From Sign-Up to Strategy
One of the most reliable ways for a business to communicate with its customers is, and has always been, through email. This is primarily due to two factors. When a customer subscribes to a newsletter, that customer has taken an action toward receiving future communications from your company, otherwise known as ‘permission marketing’. Due to the fact that newsletters are based on this consent, they typically create more meaningful relationships between a company (your brand) and its customers.
Newsletters are likely going to become the center point of your relationship based marketing campaign as a result of this. From a strategic standpoint, newsletters can also provide a function that social media platforms do not: Control over your audience. Although a customer may choose to ‘follow’ your company's social media account, ultimately, it is the social media platform that decides how frequently your company's communications will appear in the customer's feed. With that said, as long as the customer remains subscribed to your newsletter and continues to engage with it, your communications will appear in the customer's inbox regardless of the frequency you choose to send them.
This is one of the main reasons why newsletters consistently produce strong returns on investment and is why they are worth your time and attention. Your company can use a newsletter to develop leads, offer expert advice, introduce new products, regularly communicate with customers who may make a purchase months or even years after subscribing to the newsletter, or simply to have some fun! We’re all still human afterall, it doesn’t have to always be about business.
In this post I’m going to give mostly an overview of the process of getting set up with the newsletter process, and generally touch on all the pointers that are important in developing a mailing list. In the coming days and weeks I will go much deeper into each part of the process, so even if you’re interested in getting a strong mailing list going but don’t want to pay someone (me and Newsletter Writing Services) to do it, all of the information will be available still! Let’s get started.
Setting Up the Newsletter Sign-Up Process
The first actual step in developing a successful newsletter is to set up a method by which potential customers can subscribe to your newsletter. This is done using a sign-up form on your company's website (surprise!). From a technical perspective, once a customer enters their email address and perhaps their name, if you make that option available, into the sign-up form, the information is sent to an email marketing platform where your customer's information is saved and tracked within the subscriber database.
Where you place your sign-up form is just as important as how it works. Most companies place sign-up forms in several areas of their site, and it’s always going to be a good idea to place a sign-up form in a prominent area on your home page, that way visitors will be able to easily locate the opportunity to subscribe to your newsletter. You’ll also want to place sign-up prompts near or within your blog posts (a call to action of sorts), particularly if that article offers some valuable insight or information that your customers would like to access further or later on! With that in mind though, you’ll also want to be wary of adding excessive forms, especially ones that may interrupt your prospective customer’s viewing experience on your site.
The opt-in process is also something to think about, with many companies we work with using a ‘double opt-in’, which just means that a confirmation message is sent to your new customer / newsletter recipient before officially adding them to your list. By doing this it’ll help keep your list full of engaged subscribers who are actually there to read your content, and you won’t end up with accidental sign-uppers (if that’s a word).
Selecting a Newsletter Platform
There’s quite a few email marketing platforms out there, with brands like Mailchimp, ConvertKit, and HubSpot, being popular as they provide a number of fundamental functions. They also let users to design email templates, schedule campaigns, segment audiences, and evaluate the performance of their campaigns, enabling users to create segmented lists of their subscribers. Mailchimp (which I prefer) also has free to use basic options that are ideal if you’re just starting out with your newsletter campaigning.
These email marketing platforms will handle your subscriber lists and can be used to send out campaigns while tracking the performance of the engagement metrics. They are also easy to integrate with your website, and things like customer relationship management software, though that’s a different topic for a different time.
Choosing a platform that lets you segment your audience will be important, and that’s because, rather than sending the same email to every subscriber, you’ll be able to organise your lists based on the individual behaviours or interests of your audience. For example you might use one segment to include prospective customers who have accessed a free guide that you have to offer, or another could include any current registered customers, and by sending targeted emails in this way to each of your audiences you have the potential to increase newsletter engagement by a considerable amount.
Another function that some users may want to consider is automation. Several platforms allow users to automate their processes, such as sending welcome emails to new subscribers immediately after they subscribe, or sending a follow up message that is based on the subscribers level of engagement with your brand. It means that instead of being a simple stand alone email communication, your newsletter will become a large part of your company’s overall communication and growth strategy.
Increasing Your Subscriber List
The value of your newsletters will grow in tandem as you grow your audience, as each new subscriber effectively becomes a prospective customer every single time you send out your emails. With that said, developing the right strategy to actually build those numbers up does require planning, time and know how.
Lead Magnets are a common method that industry leaders use to encourage people to subscribe to a newsletter. A Lead Magnet is simply anything that includes items like downloadable guides or industry reports, and really anything that offers unique content to the user in exchange for their email address. You will want to have a Lead Magnet ready to send to your new subscriber once they’ve signed up to your newsletter, so it’s worth bearing in mind if you currently have nothing to offer! (Lead Magnets aren’t a be all and end all of newsletter success, but they are a proven thing that helps with subscriber numbers).
As well as Lead Magnets, you should also consider the power of good old content marketing (kind of like this very blog). Articles and guides, along with useful educational material, can all help to bring in new and repeating traffic to your website. That traffic may then choose to subscribe to your newsletter in order to get further insights from your business, or stick around for the information you already have available. Social media is also a great place to advertise your newsletter topics, and if they see you talking about subjects or issues they’re interested in, there’s a good chance they will click through to your website and sign up.
It’s important to establish some early expectations of the type of communication your subscribers will receive in the newsletter too, so make the reasons why your newsletter will continue to be a benefit to them obvious!
Creating Newsletters that Readers Want to Read
The primary reason why newsletters fail is because businesses just can’t be bothered to remain consistent in writing them up and sending them out to their subscriber base. Another one, however, is that many businesses think that their newsletters should be about promoting themselves, rather than focusing on their readers.
Your newsletters need to be written in a conversational style instead of just making business announcements in a way that suggests all you're interested in is sales, rather than talking to and personalising with your audience. Your writing should address your readers directly, and anticipate their interests or problems instead of sending dense promotional messages. By presenting consistent, regular insightful articles, practical tips, or commentary about current industry trends you can position yourself as a thought leader in your industry, and prove to your readers why you should be trusted in selling the products or services that you do.
Subject lines will always play an important role in the success of creating an engaging newsletter for your readers. The subject line is the first point of contact between you and your audience, and almost always determines whether or not your email will even get opened! The effectiveness of a subject line then should focus on clarity and specificity, and less towards ambiguity, and certainly not towards excessive brand promotion.
In terms of the structure of the newsletter, you’ll want to keep it simple, short, with small paragraphs and logical transitions, all while maintaining a consistent tone throughout the to help your reader move through the content smoothly. (The smoother they move, the more chance they have of arriving at your call to action!) A call to action within your newsletters can direct the reader to additional content or product pages, though always be subtle and not pushy when doing this. You may also have events going on that you want to bring attention to, or community initiatives going on. Regardless, the call to action should appear as an organic extension of the conversation as opposed to a sales prompt.
Designing Newsletters for Readability
Although it’s within the writing of your newsletter that you will be working to convey your ‘message’ to your audience, the design and structure of the newsletter is also just as important, as it will affect how easily your customer can take on the information that you’ve put into it.
Most email is now accessed on mobile devices, so you need to make sure your newsletters are formatted to take advantage of this. Designing a clean layout, utilising a readable font, and leaving enough space between different areas of the newsletter will all help to keep the reading experience pleasurable. (Perhaps the word pleasurable isn’t the correct one to use with regards to reading an email... But it’s staying there).
Thoughtfully selecting your images can also enhance the content of your newsletter, whether those images are of products, infographics, or even illustrations, they’ll all help to provide additional context and explanation to your words. Do avoid an excessive amount of images however, as it can easily cause your newsletters to become bogged down and could easily detract the reader from what you’re actually trying to speak about.
Developing a Consistent Publishing Schedule
One of the most important decisions you’ll need to make when producing your letters is deciding on how often you want to send them out. At Newsletter Writing Services we think the sweet spot is bi-monthly, whether that’s at the start and halfway through the month, or halfway and at the end. Some of our clients prefer weekly, others in slower industries opt for a monthly ‘wrap up’. Regardless of what you choose, your audience will get used to your rhythm, and as long as you’re consistent, you can also remain present on Socials as well as in their mailboxes as you continue to share thoughts and information.
Content planning can help to create consistency, and that’s something we’re happy to help you with. If you’re more ‘current affairs’ based that’s also fine, as there’s always news stories out there to talk about! It’s also why having a bi-monthly release is effective, because you can switch your newsletters up between discussing industry trends or news and focusing more on informational content.
Creating a Long Term Strategy for Your Email Newsletters
Let’s wrap this one up by touching on longer term strategies. Our clients tend to use their newsletters to share insights and trends related to their industry, publish case studies or present examples of previous project successes. Some like to notify their readers of the launch of new products or services or create educational content intended to establish their brand as a credible authority within their industry. Some also use their newsletters as the primary means of communicating with their subscribers, and this helps to drive traffic towards their blogs and website, and ultimately to the call to action and sales, which is your product or service.
All this makes it important to look at your newsletters as part of a larger communication plan and seeding strategy. With the right management and consistency, your newsletters can create a long term relationship with an audience that has shown interest in hearing from you. Once you’ve established a relationship you can maintain a customer base that appreciates what you offer, and sales or marketing become something mutual.