Have you been sending enewsletters to your list and bemoaning the dismal open rates? You know you should have a mailing list, you know you should be reaching out to the people on your list, but how to get your newsletters opened remains a mystery.
You may wonder, “why do I bother?” If you write a newsletter, send it out and hope for the best, that’s not the right enewsletter approach. You need to:
- Have something to say
- Have something your clients want
- Have a strategy for sending the newsletter.
How To Get Your Newsletters Opened
People are so busy and they have so much coming at them that you need to make your newsletter stand out from the crowd and make it a must read once it hits their inboxes. how can you do that?
We have tips to help you get your newsletters opened.
- Make it clear that the newsletter is from you. Don’t be clever with the “from” or sender’s address. If people signed up for the “John Doe newsletter”, then have it come from “John Doe” so they recognize it’s from you.
- Since most of us are reading from our mobile devices, make the newsletter mobile friendly. Don’t go heavy on graphics and make it easy to read. Give snippets of information and have “click here” for more links. Will people click? They may. They are more likely to click if they have been given great info in the past.
- Take time to craft unique and interesting subject lines. Don’t do the “click bait” type subject lines. You know, those that read, “You won’t believe what happened to me!” or “It took a devastating loss for me to realize…” You can be clever without lying or misleading people in your subject line. Keep the number of characters in the subject line to 32 or fewer; after that number, the subject line gets cut off on most mobile devices. Use those 32 characters wisely!
- Have a call to action. Don’t let the newsletter trail off with prompting some sort of action. Do you want them to click? Sign up? Buy? Forward to a friend? Be clear and put that CTA on all of your newsletters. Don’t feel you have to use the same CTA in each newsletter; in fact it’s best if you don’t.
Have a strategy in place. Don’t just do a newsletter because “everyone is doing it.” Why do you want to send a newsletter? Please don’t say it’s just because you want to constantly sell to your list. Send a newsletter that provides value and you will see your open and click through rates rise.
If you need help crafting a newsletter that provides value, reach out to us. We can help.