Are your Customers Actually Reading Your Newsletter?

Newsletters can be one the best ways to open up to a customer and gain important information about your customers that you can then use to sell them a product or service. Often times many businesses that I’ve consulted with for Search Marketing spend hours crafting a Newsletter and many more hours sifting through their email list to send out targeted emails. The problem is, how do you ensure that those customers are actually going to read that email?

Newsletters are tricky for 1 main reason; they’re a dime a dozen, you can probably find quite a few in your email box, or even wose, in your spam folder. How many people ACTUALLY READ a newsletter and come away from it not feeling like they were just SOLD something? This 1 reason is why so many people feel like their newsletter campaigns aren’t getting the ROI or buzz that they feel like they should have.

So what does an effective newsletter need to be successful?
Four concepts should be addressed in a successful newsletter:

Informative - Eye Catching - Interest Holding - Wanting More

Create valuable information for your readers, are you an expert in your industry, or better yet, does your company want to position themselves as an authority in your industry? This is key, if you’re an authority, then show it! Be the source for updates and inside access for your industry. Give the reader a little more than they’re expecting and far more than your competitors are giving. As you write your newsletter, take a few seconds and think to yourself what you’re leaving out of your newsletter, then do 1 of 2 things. Either you should write a little extra and answer those lingering questions or you should provide a link to your own site where that information can be found.

Energize your readers with eye catching photos or commentary. Technical talk has it’s place, but so does uniquely presented content. If you can figure out a way to differentiate how you discuss and position your product from your competitors, you’ll be miles ahead.

Your readers are valuable; show them just how valuable they are!
Don’t forget that often the best stories come from the “trenches” – do your customers have a really cool application for your product or some enhancement ideas that you think others may enjoy hearing about? Take the time to listen to your customers and showcase some of the best aspects of how your product or service is being used in the “real world.” I guarantee you that if a customer submits a question or comment and you include that in your newsletter, that they will forward your newsletter to all their friends and family…How’s that for buzz marketing?!

One of the last but most important strategies that you can use is to place the contents of your newletter online with a little bit of extra content. Then invite your reader within the newsletter to visit your site if they want more information. You’ll be gaining traffic and, if done correctly, you will have created an excellent conversion opportunity for yourself.