Email Marketing Newsletter Basics

For many businesses, well-designed and carefully written email marketing newsletters are an integral part of their marketing strategy because they help to build customer trust and repeat sales.

If your business hasn’t started an email marketing newsletter here are a few suggestions to help you get started.

Your Mailing List – Anticipate Growth!

The first step for your new email marketing newsletter campaign is to choose an email marketing company that will grow with your business. Look for one that has several account options that allow for small to very large email lists. This would include sliding scale rates based on the number of emails sent per month, unlimited send based on the number of subscribers in an account, and/or bulk send options designed for businesses that send out 100,000 or more emails but only once or twice per year.

Security for You and Your Customers

An equally important element in building a successful email marketing strategy is providing your subscribers with reliable and recognized security measures that can only be ensured when you use web-based permission email marketing solutions. This guarantees the email marketing company that you choose fully complies with the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 and provides you with opt-in subscriber features. Anti-spam policies vary, however, the best email marketing services clearly state their policies and procedures for dealing with suspected spamming. This is your guarantee that your emails will not end up in your subscriber’s junk folders. Click here to learn more about these policies.

First Impressions – Start with the Subject Line

What is the most compelling information in your newsletter? Is it a sale, upcoming event, or new information about your business? Have you just launched a new website or are you launching a new product? Whatever this information is, take a few moments to craft a concise and compelling teaser line. Make sure you don’t exceed 50 characters, including spaces. This will ensure the entire subject line is displayed, helping to increase your open rates.

Better yet – make your subject line your call to action and then make sure that this is followed up in the top half of your email marketing newsletter by repeating it and then provide a link or links for your follow up!

Remember- Quality Not Quantity!

You don’t have to include every word of an article or include complete product specs in your newsletters. In fact, a few lines about a product or a paragraph or two from an article along with links to more information work quite nicely in peaking your subscriber’s interest. And don’t forget to test your links to make sure they take people where you want them to go.

Pictures are still worth a thousand words.

Well, maybe not a thousand words but they are very valuable for introducing new products, people, and places. These too should be linked to either larger images that include more detail, to the full article text, or more information.

Once you have created a couple of email marketing newsletters the process will get easier and you will be well on your way to creating your own email marketing best practices and building your business.