How do we manage this?
Sure, we’re skilled writers, but there’s simple tactics anyone can implement, even if you don’t think of yourself as a skilled writer, which help you increase those open rates. Here are a few of our tricks of the trade:
- Know Your Target Audience Well
This is always where it begins. Think about it – in order to have relationships with people in the real world, you have to know something about them in the first place in order to develop a connection.
Then, as you continue to get to know them, you find more topics to discuss or ways in which you can be of service to that person. You can continue to get to know your audience by asking them to fill out surveys to gain an understanding of what they want to learn about.
- Offer an Incentive for Signing Up
The hardest part is getting people to sign up for your newsletter. The best way to get people to do this is by offering an incentive to them in exchange for their contact information. Usually, you create a report, e-book, whitepaper, or something similar for them to download.
Make sure that whatever it is you create is something that you put your heart and soul into. People will share it more with others they know if it contains spectacularly helpful information.
The information you offer doesn’t necessarily need to be all that long – it could be just 5-10 pages, but as long as it’s very valuable to your audience, it will get shared.
- Make it Shareable
Speaking of which, make sure it’s simple to share your content. Get those sharing buttons in the PDF document. This tactic is often overlooked.
When people sign up, you could also offer another contact form that allows them to send the document to a friend.
- Write an Interesting Subject Line
If you’re going to do anything when writing your newsletter, make sure you write an interesting subject line. It’s the number 1 rule we see broken in newsletters.
A disinteresting subject line that won’t get clicked on looks like this:
ABC Marketing Newsletter
ABC Marketing Vol. 1 Issue 12
The problem is that it says nothing about what’s inside of the newsletter. And, I see large companies doing this with regularity. You never know exactly what is going to work with newsletter subject lines – some will work better than others. But, if you title it something like this, you’ll get a much higher average click rate:
5 Tips for Writing Better E-mail Newsletters
20% Service Discount Available – Check Inside to Learn More
8 Ways to Increase Website Conversions
- Use Personalization
It’s not hard to make your newsletter read so it uses the person’s first name. You could even include this in the subject line with something like, “John, Check out 5 Ways to Get People to Read Your Newsletter.”
If your newsletter opens with no greeting, or with one that says “Dear ABC Marketing subscriber,” it’s going to turn people off just a little. It’s not a huge deal, but every little bit counts and it does make a difference.
- Discuss Topics of Value to the Reader First
Readers are interested in your company, but they want to know what you have to give them first. I can’t tell you how many newsletters I’ve seen where the first 1/2 – 3/4 of the page is all about what the company is doing, changes with employees, and so on.
You’re going to lose your readers if you keep writing newsletters this way.
You can mention this information, but keep it brief and at the end. Marketing 101 dictates you should answer the question, “What’s in it for me?” first. Then, after you’ve captured interest, you can discuss your company. Actually, you should discuss it on occasion because that helps people get to know and like your company.
- Tell Stories from Personal Experience
Your experience is unique, so share it with your audience. Leave the bland, stale, corporate tone for your competitors. In the digital world, where it’s difficult to be unique, experience is something nobody can copy.
- Be Consistent
I’ve seen e-mail marketers be successful by writing 2-3 e-mails per week, while others are 4-6 times per week. Some do it once per week, and others once per month.
My personal opinion is you do it at least once per week. Keep in mind, your e-mail newsletter doesn’t have to be a huge production. I send out a simple one describing the blog post I’ve created for the week in a couple sentences, and this technique is used by a number of industry leaders.
Once per month seems too infrequent for your audience to remember who you are and what value you have to offer them.
Wise Swans seo consultant
