E-mail Communication Basics
by Erika Pitera
E-mail Marketing
Email newsletters have become a favorite marketing tool for small and large businesses alike. They are inexpensive, instantaneous and easy to modify, and when done correctly, they can produce a terrific return for minimal investment. We have a few tips to help you create your own email advertising campaign.
Determine what information would be useful to your current customers and those customers you wish to cultivate. The content of your newsletter should not be solely geared to selling your product or service. Remember that people sign up for your newsletter because they believe they will benefit from it in some way. About 75% of your newsletter should be relevant, useful information which establishes the value of doing business with you in the minds of your readers. You build trust and credibility by demonstrating that you are an expert in your field.
Know Your Competition
Sign up for the email offerings of your competitors and similar businesses. Read them carefully and decide what you like and what you don’t. By having these comparisons available, you will be better able to create something that is unique and a cut above the competition. Some ideas for content include regular columns, quick tips, fun facts, and local news and events. With the right mix of content and promotion, your newsletter can be a publication your customers look forward to receiving.
Easy Reading
Your design should be clean and consistent and the overall length of the newsletter should be limited. Email that is overly busy looking or much too long is far less likely to be read. Additionally, you will need to determine a schedule for sending your newsletter. Frequency and consistency are important, but you need to be careful not to become a nuisance. Try to think like your customers to figure out when they would want to hear from you.
Personalize your newsletter by incorporating humor and using speech that is conversational. A newsletter format is somewhat informal by nature and you can capitalize on this quality with a friendly tone to better engage your readers. You can involve your subscribers further by offering a question and answer section, feedback form, or a survey.
Get Recognized
Your email newsletter should integrate easily with your website. You should have a simple newsletter sign-up form on your website, perhaps with an incentive offer of some type in exchange for the subscriber’s permission to contact them. In addition, the look and feel of your emails should mimic the look and feel of your site and of course, all of your email communication should have links to your website.
The right combination of content, design and frequency can be the determining factor in your ability to grow and retain your readership and these loyal readers have the potential to become loyal customers as well.
