The 5 Ingredients of a Successful E-Newsletter

Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash

We have all received an e-newsletter or two in our time on the Internet. We may have even sent an e-newsletter or two in our time on the Internet. What ingredients have the e-newsletters that you have seen or sent had that made them a successful e-newsletter?

We all know that our e-newsletters must be relevant to our brand, provide content, and reach your audience. But, the ingredients of a successful e-newsletter go beyond just the “known” attributes of an e-newsletter. 5 ingredients of a successful e-newsletter that we have identified include:

1) Having the right list:

It sounds simple and almost a no-brainer, but having the right list is crucial to a successful e-newsletter. You must regularly manage your list of e-newsletter recipients. Some may have asked to be included, others may have asked to be removed, or you have the wrong list altogether! You may even have the wrong email addresses for certain people. All of these possibilities can be a detriment to the click through rate, as well as the success, or your e-newsletter.

2) Provide interesting content:

Although we may not have a lot of time to come up with creative content for our e-newsletters that would capture the attention of our readers, we can provide them with interesting content. Take the time needed to do some research or put together some interesting content for your readers. They will be more likely to continue to read your future e-newsletters or share them with their friends, family, and colleagues.

3) Provide relevant content:

It is ok to provide some fun content on your e-newsletters, but try to remain as relevant to your business as possible. The content you are sending out should be about your business or the industry your business is within.

4) Know the time you should send:

Whether it be from analytics, past experience, or research, knowing what time you should send out your e-newsletters is crucial. Your cliental could be in different time zones, work different hours, etc. Look into when to send your e-newsletter for future success. After you have discovered the appropriate times to send, make sure to regularly post for consistency!

5) Use a catchy subject line:

Do not title your newsletter: [Insert Company Name Here] E-Newsletter May 2014. Yuck! Although it tells you exactly what the email is about, you’re unlikely to catch the attention of your readers. Use something more attention grabbing in your subject line to draw your readers in.

There are many ways to gain success in your e-newsletter. Be informative, but be creative. Keep in mind your audience and don’t lose your brand voice. But, one of the most important ingredients to a successful e-newsletter: PROOFREAD. Receiving an e-newsletter with typo after typo can lead to quickly losing readers.

These 5 ingredients are the puzzle pieces to creating a successful e-newsletter. Have you been successful in your e-newsletters? What have you done to see success?

Bonus- The layout: The layout of your e-newsletter should be aesthetically appealing to the eye. Having a color scheme to match your company’s logo and other branding, don’t crowd information, provide hyperlinks to sections of the newsletter (table of contents), and add tasteful/relevant images. This will draw in your consumers time and time again.

-Jamie

About Jamie Teasdale

Jamie Teasdale founded Propel Businessworks, a small business development company, in 2009. Since then, she has been lending insight and creativity to businesses all over the U.S., giving them the tools they need to plan, promote, and prosper.