Email marketing has been popular since the days of dial-up, but much like how the Internet has changed, so has how we market to customers. The key to steady conversion is a newsletter template that engages your subscribers and leads them back to your products. If you’ve noticed your email marketing isn’t working like in the past, then you probably need to update your newsletter template for today’s savvy customer.
Building a Newsletter Template
There are a handful of great email softwares on the market including Mailchimp, Constant Contact, and AWeber. Each of these options has their own unique pros and cons – user experience, features, price, etc. There’s also a handful of great newsletter template designs you can download or pay for from sources like Themeforest and Litmus.
Whether you are just getting started with your newsletter or you are looking to get better results from the one you have, you’ll need to know some important factors that ensure more opens and clicks. Here are the important newsletter template best practices to ensure email marketing success.
Narrow Your Focus
Many businesses try to cram every aspect of their business into their newsletter. You’ll have sales information next to an article about an industry trend, along with product information. The newsletter feels cramped and disjointed. If you want a newsletter that converts, then narrow your focus. You don’t need to sell an entire store in a single newsletter. Put the focus on a single sale and why your customers need to take advantage of it. You can have an article about an industry trend and connect it products or services.
Don’t Focus on Sales
The last thing customers want is for their inboxes to be inundated with product offers. They want to be entertained and educated. When your newsletter is filled with nothing but products and prices, they get turned off. They’ll either ignore most of the email or not open it all. You need to give them a reason to open your email. If you focus your newsletter on quality content, then the sales will follow naturally. Provide articles that educate them on your business or products, but don’t make it a sales pitch.
If It’s Not Responsive, It’s Not Opened
When most people check their personal email, it’s not on a desktop at home. It’s on their phone in the subway train on the way to work or in the doctor’s office waiting room. When they hear the notification sound or see the icon on their phone screen, their first instinct is to check what it is. If your email newsletter looks great on a desktop, but not on a smartphone, you’re wasting your money. A responsive newsletter template makes sure your newsletter looks good on a smartphone, tablet and desktop. A newsletter can’t convert if customers are confused at what they’re seeing. It’s important that any graphics are resized appropriately and calls to action, headers and footers look good too.
Design for the Skimmer
We all like to think that when our email arrives, customers spend hours looking at every article and word, but in today’s digital world, you’re lucky to get 30 seconds of their time. Most people will skim emails for items they’re interested in, and you need to prepare for that. Use colors and type face to emphasize the important aspects of the newsletter. Use images with bright colors, bold, important words in the text, and make sure your call to action is attention grabbing. You only have a few seconds to make a sale before your customers move on to the next email.
First Impressions: The Subject Line
You can spend hours and thousands of dollars on a gorgeous email newsletter template, but if your subject line is drab and boring, then customers may never get to see it. The eye-catching subject line is an artform and the Achilles heel of many business owners. First, you need to know your audience and the tone of your newsletter. If your newsletter is more business-oriented, then the subject line should match the tone, but still be creative. If the newsletter is fun and lighthearted, then do the same with your subject line. You can even include emojis in the subject line to really grab attention.
Don’t Forget Your Call to Action
Just like when writing an advertorial, every newsletter should have a call to action. This is the button, link or phrase that leads them to the next stage of the buying process. It could be a link to a product, blog post, or specially created landing page. You can have multiple CTAs in a newsletter, but there should be one primary. It’s the one you want everyone to use. Put it in a place of prominence and make sure it stands out with a bright contrasting color. Be creative with the CTA just like the subject line. The goal is to grab their attention and get them to click to the next area of the sales funnel.
Are your customers ignoring your emails or newsletter templates just not converting? Leave your thoughts and comments below and make sure to subscribe to our newsletter for weekly digital marketing insights!
Source: B2C
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