13 Tips on How to Send an Engaging Newsletter

Are you tired of your newsletters getting lost in the inbox abyss? Want to capture your audience’s attention and drive real engagement? Look no further! In this post, we’ll share 13 proven tips to help you create newsletters that your subscribers actually want to read. From crafting compelling subject lines to optimizing your email design, we’ve got you covered. Let’s dive in!

1. Define your goals

Before you start creating your newsletter, it’s important to define your goals. This will help you focus your efforts and ensure you’re not just sending a newsletter for the sake of it.

Ask yourself what you want to achieve with your newsletter. Are you trying to drive traffic to your website? Increase sales? Grow your email list? Or maybe you just want to keep in touch with your subscribers?

Whatever your goals are, make sure they are specific and measurable. This will help you track your progress and see how effective your newsletter is.

2. Choose the right email marketing software

If you want to send out a professional newsletter, you need to use the right tools. That means you can’t just use your regular email account.

Instead, you’ll need to use an email marketing software like Mailchimp, HubSpot, Aweber, or Constant Contact. These tools are specifically designed for sending out newsletters and other types of marketing emails.

They make it easy to create beautiful, professional-looking emails, and they come with a lot of other great features, too. For example, most email marketing software will allow you to segment your email list, track your email open and click-through rates, and even run A/B tests on your emails.

3. Create a subscriber list

The secret to a successful newsletter is to have a list of people who want to receive it. You can’t just send newsletters to anyone. You need to create a list of people who have opted in to receive your emails.

To do this, you’ll need to create a sign-up form on your website and social media channels. You can also add a sign-up form to your email signature or your email marketing campaigns.

You should also ask your customers and prospects to sign up for your newsletter. You can do this by adding a sign-up form to your website, including a link to your sign-up form in your email signature, or by asking your customers and prospects to sign up when they make a purchase or when you contact them. An AI form builder can help you quickly create dynamic sign-up forms for this.

4. Personalize your newsletter

Personalization is a key ingredient in any successful marketing strategy, and your email newsletter is no exception.

In fact, personalized email marketing can increase your open rates by as much as 26%.

The easiest way to add personalization to your email newsletter is to use your subscribers’ first names in the subject line and/or the greeting.

But you can also use personalization to segment your email list and send different versions of your newsletter to different segments or languages, for example an Italian museum might send out versions of its newsletter in Italian and English.. This allows you to tailor your content to the specific interests and needs of each segment.

You can also use personalization to recommend products or content that are relevant to individual subscribers based on their past behavior and preferences.

5. Create a catchy subject line

The subject line is the first thing your subscribers see when they receive your email. It’s what will determine whether they open your email or send it straight to the trash.

That’s why your subject line needs to be catchy. It should be short and sweet, but it should also tell your subscribers what to expect from your email.

If you’re having trouble coming up with a subject line, try using one of these subject line formulas:

• The “How to” Formula: How to [achieve a specific result]
• The “Quick Tip” Formula: [Number] Quick Tips to [achieve a specific result]
• The “List” Formula: [Number] [adjective] Ways to [achieve a specific result]
• The “Question” Formula: [Question]
• The “Controversy” Formula: Why [something controversial]

6. Apply the 80/20 rule

The 80/20 rule is a common principle in marketing. It suggests that you should spend 20% of your time creating content and 80% of your time promoting it. One good way to spend only 20% of your time in content creation is by enlisting the help of AI tools like an AI copywriter that can create tailored content within minutes.

In the context of newsletters, you should apply this rule to the content of your newsletter. Spend 20% of your time creating the content of your newsletter and 80% of your time curating content from other sources. This will help you to keep your newsletter fresh and interesting.

7. Add a call-to-action

If you want to drive traffic to your website, encourage your subscribers to take a specific action, or provide an outlet to learn more about a topic, include a call-to-action (CTA) button in your newsletter.

Your CTA button should be a short, action-oriented phrase like “Shop Now”, “Read More”, or “Get Started”. You can also change the text on the button to fit your specific CTA.

Make sure your CTA button stands out by using a bright color that contrasts with the rest of your email. You can also create a sense of urgency by adding an exclamation point or a countdown timer.

8. Test your email before sending

Before you send your email, test it to ensure it looks good and works properly. Many email marketing platforms have a feature that allows you to send test emails to yourself before you send it to your list. You can also send a test email to a colleague to get their feedback.

In addition to testing the email itself, you should also test the landing pages and other elements of your email to make sure they work properly.

9. Send your newsletter at the right time

The time you send your newsletter can have a significant impact on its performance. You want to send your newsletter at a time when your subscribers are most likely to open and engage with your content.

The best time to send your newsletter will depend on your audience. For example, if your subscribers are business professionals, you may want to send your newsletter during the workweek, in the morning.

If your audience is more casual, you may want to send your newsletter in the evening or on the weekends. You can also experiment with different send times to see what works best for your audience.

Most email marketing platforms will allow you to schedule your newsletters, so you can write your content in advance and then send it at the best time.

10. Analyze the results

As with any marketing campaign, it’s important to analyze the results of your newsletter.

You should be tracking things like open rates, click-through rates, conversion rates, and more.

By analyzing the results of your newsletter, you can learn what’s working and what’s not, and you can use that information to improve future newsletters.

You can also use the data you collect to segment your audience and send them more targeted newsletters in the future.

11. Make your newsletter shareable

If you want to increase your reach, you need to make it easy for your subscribers to share your newsletter. Make sure that your newsletter is shareable on social media and via email.

You can add social share buttons to your newsletter, or you can create a landing page for your newsletter and share the link on social media. You can also include a “forward to a friend” button in your newsletter so that your subscribers can easily share it with their friends and family.

The more people who see your newsletter, the more potential leads you can generate for your business.

12. Monitor your competition

If you’re really stuck for ideas, then you can always look at what your competitors are doing.

Subscribe to their newsletters and take a look at what they’re sending to their audience.

You can then use that information to create your own newsletter content.

Just be sure that you’re not copying their content directly.

You want to use their content as inspiration to create your own unique content.

If you do decide to use their content, then be sure to give them credit for it.

That way, you can avoid any potential legal issues.

13. Learn from your mistakes

Last but not least, learn from your mistakes! The only way to get better at email marketing is to see what works and what doesn’t.

If you have a low open rate, try a new email subject line. If you have a low click-through rate, try a more engaging call to action.

The key is to keep testing and experimenting with your email marketing strategy. Over time, you’ll get a better sense of what your audience responds to and you’ll be able to create more engaging newsletters.

Conclusion

Email marketing is a great way to stay in touch with your customers. It’s also a great way to build brand loyalty over time. Newsletters are a great way to provide valuable content to your customers and keep them interested in your brand.