Maybe you’ve been sending email marketing newsletters for a while, or maybe you’re just starting. Either way, the newsletter is at the center of many customer nurture and email marketing programs, so making it as effective as possible is critical. Here are some of the lesson’s we’ve learned sending a few hundred of these in the past years.
First: Clean Up Your Email Lists
The biggest issue many people have is that they do not clean their email marketing newsletter list frequently. There is a tender balance between a prospect who might by at some point, and someone who is just dead air, throwing off your statistics. Your statistics will decline overtime, and the best way to combat this is to clean your list regularly. There are a couple ways to do this, but you can simply start removing anyone who has not opened an email or visited your Website in over a year. Delete them, or put them into an inactive list to try new tactics for, but your newsletter is not working for them.
Second: Your Editorial Approach Needs Some Attention
Its likely that your content is just not that good. Now, don’t get huffy, its not meant to be a dig on your expertise, we are simply stating that your content might not be written and formatted in a way that attracts clicks and reading. There is a bit of a science to this blogging and content marketing thing, and unless you are doing it right, you’re leaving interactions on the table. Start thinking about how you can make the titles very interesting. Does my title express a direct option, or challenging a norm?
Third: Getting Clear on the Point
It’s great to be blasting your clients with good information. But unless you are analyzing and improving that communication, you’re not approaching email marketing correctly. Each newsletter should be a time of data analysis, that allows you to see what interests your list and increasing the marketing action you desire. If you are not getting clicks, are you giving them enough opportunities? If you are not seeing conversion to another action, are you positioning in that well? Write the point of your email newsletter on the top of a piece of paper, and down it put a list of actions that would support that goal. If you’re not tracking those, or clear on those goals – you’ve got a problem.
Fourth: Timing is Everything
Have you done a proper timing analysis on your email sends? If you don’t know what I’m talking about, you probably haven’t. Do you know what time of day your newsletter does best with opens and CTR? Make the most of your effort and send it to your client the best times possible for them. Review the past 20 sends and look for any patterns or boosts in opens or CTR. Getting your timing right, could increase your open rates by 50-100%.
