Three Best-Practices for Email Newsletters to Fix Marketers’ Content and Trust Issues

Companies and brands consistently create useful content, which then sits on a website, hidden on a page that requires too many clicks to find.

Want more from your content, including blog posts? Put it in front of the right audience at the right time. Otherwise, it goes unnoticed.

How can marketers increase content engagement? You can count on Email Newsletters.

• Making Use of Email Newsletters
• Newsletters: The Cornerstone of Your Email Strategy
• Newsletter Optimization Best Practices

Making Use of Email Newsletters

Using email newsletters to distribute your thought leadership and content has a big impact on readers. It increases brand awareness and spokesperson awareness. Also, newsletter subscribers engage with the brand more.

As a result, every company offers personalized newsletter content, from news publications to martech providers. Consider these figures:

• Subscribing to a Times newsletter increases the likelihood of paying subscribers by 2X.
• Newsletter subscribers spend 80% more time on site than other visitors.
• Newsletters have a 22% average open rate, compared to 1% for Facebook audience/ad interactions.
• Vox newsletter subscribers spend 110 seconds on the site, compared to 40 seconds on Facebook.

Newsletters: The Cornerstone of Your Email Strategy

Newsletters are essential to building trust with your subscribers.

But brands can’t just send content links and hope subscribers get it. No way. Instead, marketers must make the newsletter enjoyable and engaging for subscribers.

Emails bombard us daily, and have done so for the past two years. Marketers hoping to get more out of content and blogs must adapt to the increasing competition for subscribers’ attention.

Improve reading experience by encouraging readers to read the entire newsletter. Add personality and a company narrative/voice to your newsletter. Include the right content in the newsletter..

Newsletter Optimization Best Practices

1. Connect with your readers

The goal of a newsletter campaign, like other campaigns, is to connect with a target audience.

To connect, you must know what your subscribers want from you and what they want from you. To maximize newsletters:

• Develop content to achieve your main goal. Newsletters can increase website traffic, app usage, and more. Choosing one main goal increases your chances of success. It also ensures only one call to action is used, reducing confusion and diluted results.
• Set clear expectations. In a welcome email, let subscribers know what to expect from your newsletter—content, frequency, etc. Offering a “exclusive” report or a free trial is also helpful.
• Send at the same time. Your newsletter should be delivered on time. Our monthly newsletter, for example, is sent out on the last Tuesday. If you’re unsure, send a test newsletter. Send it on different days to test engagement.

2. Provide relevant content and messaging

Including relevant content in your newsletters may seem obvious, but many marketers simply include random links and graphics to fill up space and appear informative. Avoid such a mess. Instead, offer a mix of educational and promotional content to encourage engagement. Provide context for your subscribers’ actions instead of using call-to-action buttons or phrases like “learn more.” This also makes your email accessible to screen reader users.

Make it easy for stakeholders to sign up for and unsubscribe from the newsletter. Email deliverability and reputation are at risk if newsletters are marked as spam. If you’re unsure, ask your subscribers. Make it easy for them to provide feedback, or they won’t. A poll at the end of a newsletter works wonders.

3. Ensure a more better reading experience

Make your newsletters easy to read and pleasing to the eye:

• To make newsletters scannable, they need a clear hierarchy of content and sections. Use eye-catching headlines and CTA buttons. Make white space your pal. Using it well makes even the busiest newsletter digestible.
• Keep your newsletter under 102KB in size, especially if you have a lot of Gmail subscribers. Gmail clips emails over 102KB, displaying less than half of them.
• Use a variety of images. Use illustrations, stock photography, and animated GIFs to keep subscribers scrolling.
• You can also use bold colors if they fit your brand, look, and feel.

B2B brands are less likely to be creative with newsletters, but it can be done.