Simple Steps for Ensuring Subscribers Open Your Email Marketing Newsletters
Email marketing newsletters are by far the least intrusive, yet the most effective method of reaching thousands of subscribers. Marketers have known for years and battled the reality that cold calls, in most cases, are intrusive and direct mail usually ends up in recycle bins unopened. Yes, free email marketing newsletters can end up in the digital trash as well, but unlike printed media, the number of email newsletters that weren’t opened can be identified using some of the best email marketing services available today.
To better ensure that your free email marketing newsletters will be opened and read by your subscribers there are a few steps that should be taken. The first and maybe the most important is to make sure your company or organization is clearly identified in their inbox list of incoming emails ideally in both the “from” address and the subject line (if it works well- depending on the content of the newsletter). This helps subscribers recognize that this email is from a trusted source. And if you are using web-based permission email marketing software your subscribers have requested your email marketing newsletters. You don’t want them deleting what they clearly wanted to receive because they didn’t recognize who or where the message was coming from.
The next step you should take for better open rates and participation is to spend a bit of time crafting the all-important subject line. And while you’re at it, research the latest words that major email services are routinely filtering and blocking. Some of the most common of these are: Buy now; Free anything; click here; money-back guarantee; other phrases of undue urgency; and anything written in all caps. Of course some of these may get through, but most people who use email regularly are wary of these subject lines as well and may or may not click the delete button even before reading your email marketing newsletter. To create a winning subject line, consider what introduction would entice you to read a newsletter- surely you receive enough of these yourself, so the next time you review your email inbox pay attention and make note of the best subject lines and follow your instincts in creating your own.
Now that you have properly identified yourself to your subscribers and written a well-crafted subject line it’s time to move on to your content. One of the most common mistakes that email marketing newsletter editors make is to include too much text or content for each subject included. Most people, no matter how engaging the subject may be, just don’t have time to sift through paragraph after paragraph of text. Learn how to write your article titles like the email’s subject line – engage, entice, and intrigue with a clever title and then a teaser intro with a link to read more -- this is for an informational article. Always include a quality image for products you are offering with links to purchase, a short description, price and if on sale, how much the subscriber will save if they take advantage of your offer. And last but by no means least, double and triple check all links in your email marketing newsletter. The last thing you want after all your hard work is to have dead or misdirected links.