Email marketing is probably the least flashy marketing channel out there, but don’t judge the book by its cover. Though one of the oldest digital marketing tools, email has an impressive return on investment of $36 for each $1 spent. With 4 billion daily email users, this return on investment doesn’t seem far-fetched. In fact, 37% of brands increased their email marketing budget in 2022.
If you were unconvinced before, with these numbers you’re probably wondering how you can get a slice of pie, and we’ve got you there. We’re here with tips for newsletter writing to help you send out emails your subscribers want to read.
Why does email marketing work? Newsletters allow readers to catch up on their favorite topics and learn how to do things in a few minutes. Subscribers subscribe to newsletters expecting that the information you share will add value to their lives. For that reason, newsletters need to be relevant, interesting, and valuable to your subscribers to grab and hold their attention. A relevant newsletter will speak to the subscriber’s industry and share on topics that interest them. Also, an interesting newsletter entertains, educates, or delights your subscribers.
Remember: Your newsletter needs to add value to your reader’s lives.
Newsletter Writing Tip #1: Ensure your newsletter is focused
It is important to remember the number one rule of marketing. You can’t be everything to everyone. Keep this tip in mind when writing your newsletter. Focus on one thing so your audience knows what to expect before opening your newsletter.
As previously mentioned, when people subscribe to your email newsletter, they expect that you will offer them something valuable. It is important to outline what you’ll be offering them in your newsletter on your sign-up form so subscribers know what to expect. That ensures that you’ll be capturing an audience that’s interested in the things you have to say. They are also more likely to read your newsletter.
For that reason, when writing your newsletter be careful not to change the content of the newsletter over time. You may choose to write a newsletter focused on new product releases, industry trends, or anything else your business might need to share. However, you need to stick with whichever focus or niche you’ve chosen. If you need to share more than one type of information, create additional newsletters.
Newsletter Writing Tip #2: Curate and segment your audience
In selecting your audience holding true to that marketing tip is key to ensuring your newsletter adds value. Remember, don’t try to be everything to everyone. Ensure your audience is curated. One way of ensuring your newsletter audience is curated is by avoiding purchased email lists.
The audience in a purchased email list will have varied interests. That means writing and sharing one newsletter will not appeal to their varied interests. Writing a good newsletter is also harder because you won’t know what these interests are. You’ll be writing blindly. As a result, you will have a lower email open rate and a higher unsubscribe rate. This can mean your newsletters will start going to junk and writing them a complete waste of effort.
Another method of curating your email list for your newsletter is ensuring you outline what subscribers can expect when they subscribe. Add this to your newsletter sign-up form. This approach serves as a filter to ensure that persons subscribing to your newsletter are actually interested in receiving it. That way you ensure that you’re writing newsletters that offer value to your subscribers.
After curating, you need to segment your subscribers. Segmenting your subscribers will allow you to deepen the value your newsletter offers. Segmented email campaigns get open rates as high as 94% and click-through rates of 38%. If you’re a beauty brand, you can segment your subscribers according to whether they’re interested in beauty tips and trends, lipstick products vs eye make-up products, tips for applying make-up or hairstyling tips. Doing this will increase your newsletter open rate and the likelihood that they will click on a link or take the intended action you recommend in your email.
Newsletter Writing Tip #3: Personalize your newsletter
We all like to feel special and remembered, and this is no different with newsletters. Statistics show that personalized emals have 6x higher transaction rates. You can personalize your newsletters by adding the subscriber’s name in the body of your emails or you can do one better and add their name to the subject line.
You can take it a step further by adding your brand personality to your newsletters. A great way to do that is by using emojis. Newsletters with emojis in the subject lines have a 56% higher open rate than plain text subject lines. Writing and sending text-only newsletters can not only be boring to read but they are limited in expression because of the absence of tone and body language. Emojis, pictures, and even videos makes your newsletters more interesting and helps to add tone and body language to your writing. In fact, Mailchimp’s studies into email design found that mobile users are 15% more likely to click and interact with responsive email designs.
Depending on your branding, emojis can be magical. They help you express your brand personality, and help the brand seem more like a relatable person and less like a cold indifferent corporate wall.
With today’s technology, it’s possible to make an email newsletter incredibly personal, increasing your open rate and click-through rate. Take care not to cross that thin line into creepy though. Ensure you’re adhering to governing data protection laws and only use information you have explicit permission from the subscribers to have. Avoid scary. Keep it pleasant.
Newsletter Writing Tip #4: Write a compelling subject line
After you’ve chosen your newsletter’s focus and ensured you’re got the right audience, you need a head-turning subject line. Your subject line is the main hook of your newsletter and it needs to be compelling. By this time, you’d know your audience very well, because you’ve taken the time to ensure you’re talking to the right people. You’ve also gotten to know what’s important to subscribers, so you’re only sharing things they’re interested in. After you’ve put these tips into play, being compelling is much easier.
Ensure you’re writing a subject line that shares the highlight of your newsletter, is catchy and simple. You’ve only got a few words to do that, so you want to get straight to the point. You also need to ensure that the most important words are at the beginning of your newsletter’s subject line. That way, they are not cut off in the inbox making your hook ineffective.
If your newsletter offers a discount for a shoe sale, you could say in your subject line, ‘Shoe Madness Sale’. Your newsletter’s pretext could complement your subject with “20% off. Get yours. They’re going fast!” At a glance, your subscribers will know they can expect that they may get a discount on that shoe they’ve had their eye on.
Newsletter Writing Tip# 5: A/B test & re-test
It’s impossible to know what’s the best way to make your newsletter appealing without actively trying to find out. President Barack raised an additional $2 million dollars in donation by split testing his subject lines. A/B testing allows you to try different approaches to your newsletter to see which is the most effective. For this, you will split your audience into groups and send slightly different newsletters to each group. Ensure you’re only changing one aspect of each newsletter. That will help you to learn what your audience is most likely to respond to. Using this method to finetune your newsletter will no doubt boost your KPI once you’ve discovered what works and what doesn’t.
Newsletter Writing Tip #6: A strong CTA is key to engagement
Whatever you choose to make the focus of your newsletter, your primary goal is probably to move your audience to take action. That action may be visiting your website, watching a YouTube video or making a purchase.
The key to an engaging CTA is making use of power words. The right power words convey specific emotions in your newsletter and give your conversion rate a boost. You can consider words like:
- Create
- Explore
- Join
- Save
- Try
Summary
There you have it! Six newsletter writing tips that will help you with writing newsletters your subscribers love. Here they are for you again all in one place.
Ensure you’re writing newsletters that are focused.
Focusing your newsletter helps your subscribers know what to expect.
Select your newsletter’s audience carefully and group them.
Ensure you’re writing personalized newsletters with compelling subject lines.
Use A/B testing to help you finetune your newsletter writing.
Finally, ensure your newsletter has a strong CTA by using power words in your writing.
Here’s a bonus newsletter writing tip for you. Take some time to review examples of effective newsletters. Make a note of what’s great about the writing. Putting these newsletter writing tips into play will no doubt help you keep your readers engaged and coming back for more.
One surefire tip on how to get ideas on how to structure your email newsletter or autoresponder series is to subscribe to the mailing list of your top 3 competitors, and you save the emails you receive from each. Compare and contrast these emails for awesome ideas, and try the ones that inspire you.
Looking for a professional email newsletter service?
While the market is oversaturated with dozens or hundreds of email newsletter services, we have tried and tested most of them and have listed our top 2 providers below, with the pros and cons of each.
