As more and more companies take up e-newsletters to communicate with their audience the need to make them standout, engage, add value and not be considered annoying is critical.
It’s a common scenario; we find a cool website, like what the company has to say, and decide that we want to be kept informed. We type in our email address and subscribe to their newsletter.
A month of cool newsletters later, our Inbox is full and we find ourselves deleting and unsubscribing just as quickly (and far more systematically) than when we signed up in the first place.
So how do we make sure our e-newsletters are not the victim of a mass abolishment?
Below are our top 7 tips for giving your company e-newsletter the best chance of survival in an overflowing Inbox:
1. Understand Your Audience
We’ve all heard it a gazillion times – ‘knowing our target market is critical for success.’ This applies to our e-newsletter audience too. If we know and understand the people who have subscribed we can go over and above to give them everything they want in an update.
2. Keep Text to a Minimum
Newsletters filled with small black text become a chore. They can become just another thing we have to read on a busy day. Make sure your company newsletters don’t look or read like long reports. We’ve all got enough of those to wade through as it is. If you have value adding content that you want to share, provide a brief summary in your e-newsletter along with a link to your website where the full content can be found.
3. Highlight Key Messages
We’re a busy lot us people and when it comes to newsletters, we often skim. If there are key messages you want to relay, make them stand out. Don’t be afraid of bolding important text and using bullet points. Acknowledge that your reader is probably skimming your e-newsletter and guide them to the really important information you want them to take away.
4. Use Imagery
A picture says a thousands words…and it breaks up the boring black text! Where you can get a key message across with an image, use it. And where an image relates to your text, again, use it. Keep in mind that all images should be relevant.
5. Ditch the Pitch
If someone is reading your newsletter they’ve already bought into your business, you don’t need to tell them every week why you’re the best at what you do. This is the job of the information you’re disseminating and the value-add it’s giving.
6. Be Consistent
It’s important that your e-newsletters remain consistent. Readers need to be able to recognise ‘your’ newsletter and over time they will have certain expectations for what it delivers. This applies to your style, tone, distribution frequency and format.
7. Add Value
‘Value Add’ is the buzz phrase of today when it comes to content. This is largely due to its ability to add credibility and build rapport with audiences at a relatively low cost. The information you share should be giving something back to your audience in return for their valuable time. This can be expert advice, recommendations, education or insight, just to name a few.
