Your e-newsletter is a vital communication method, encouraging your regular visitors to return to your site. But with the growing clutter in their in-box, how can you ensure it doesn’t get trashed or filed before reading? Here is a simple checklist that could make all the difference to your open rate.
1. Have a quality list
This sounds obvious, but you need to make sure you are only emailing people who have given you permission and have signed up for the right reasons. Are you sure that the sources of your email list are the people you really want on your site? As advertising revenue slips and sheer volume of traffic becomes less important it’s all about quality leads.
2. Use a trusted sender
The “from” field needs to be someone the recipient trusts to provide useful advice, not just to sell. On a magazine this is usually the editor, or a well-known contributor relevant to the subject matter.
3. It’s all about….timing
Make sure that your email lands at the right moment for your audience. This will differ for each market. FHM went out on Friday afternoon when office workers were looking for a good joke to lift their mood. A golf booking service went out Thursday morning – early enough to plan the weekend, late enough to be confident about the weather. B2B emails are best Tue-Thur when managers are more receptive. The only way to know in your market is to test.
4. Tease with your subject line
Know what is the biggest concern of your audience and make sure your subject line offers a benefit without saying too much. Motley fool do well with variations of “get over 5% on your savings”, especially as people know the best offers are often short-lived.
5. Hint at an exclusive offer
If you have tickets to give away, other freebies, or a limited exclusive offer, then people’s natural curiosity will get the better of them.
I’d love to hear about your best-performing e-newsletter campaigns – just click on the comment button.
Carolyn Morgan’s consultancy, Penmaen Media, helps media brands grow in a digital world. For more information visit www.penmaen.media