What do e-mail newsletters and oysters have in common? It’s tasteless until you learn how to cook
We underestimate the power of speech and writing as such. It seems to us that all e-mail newsletters have long since sunk into oblivion, that no one is opening their e-mail, and, therefore, there is no sense from it.
But is it true? We live in the heyday of digital technologies, we get no longer paper receipts, but electronic ones, we tie our bank cards to mailboxes, we ask to send invoices by mail, we also give out statements by e-mail. Therefore, there is a completely different question, a question not in the effectiveness of e-mail distribution as such, but in how to win 2 minutes of user attention. According to the World Research Organization, we decide to purchase the product only after 7-8 touches with the brand. For example: we saw the advertisement of the company in Google search, then we noticed the banner of remarketing, then we forgot about the site, and we ran into the company already on the social network, here again, we were again caught up with remarketing, went to the site, scrolled on it, subscribed to the news, received 2-3 interesting letters and made a purchase. This is an approximate scheme if we buy something “heavyweight.” Now it’s not a secret how to set up and send out a mailing list based on e-mail addresses, a secret in its effectiveness and in its correct analytics. Unfortunately, in the CIS, the rules of creating a really good newsletter are often underestimated, so let’s look at what is needed for this.
1. Stop shocking readers.
No matter how ridiculous it was, but all letters that go to spam have flashy headlines designed to interest you “Shocking prices for kitchen furniture!”, “Here lies 1000 $!”, “Here is the key to your happiness.”
Where do you think these letters come from? That’s right, in spam. Now there is no need to make screaming headlines and to indicate something crazy in the subject line, as some companies do, in order to increase the percentage of opening letters. The modern Internet user sees a lot of advertising every day, every minute, therefore, it needs to be hooked, stand out among the screaming hawkers with an elegant header that will match the values and interests of the reader. It is important that the user does not close the letter in the first 2 seconds, strongly disappointed in the sense of mailing.
2. Be helpful.
Enough to turn e-mail newsletters into the catalog of goods, do not need to make huge tapes with the maximum number of products on them, a huge number of such letters goes into spam, and the percentage of the answer simply goes off scale.
Be brief and useful to get something you need to first give something. Are you a travel agency? Wonderful, describe how to walk for free on all the sights of London or Warsaw, tell us how you can save on air tickets, tell us what to bring to Paris, and how to behave in Saudi Arabia. Do you sell heaters? Tell us, than one heater differs from another, tell us which one to choose the source of heat in the nursery.
3. Stop joking.
Each of us has a very specific sense of humor, and not always, it will be appropriate. Remember, humor should be subtle, relevant and politically correct. If you are not sure that your humor does not offend anyone, then do not take it.
4. Stop writing to robots.
Copywriters stamp letters to the right and to the left, designers draw fashionable chips, and marketers do not bother to think: “And who reads this” and as a result, a wild mix of newfangled tendencies and a terrible text that simply explodes the brain.
Before sending out, brew coffee and sit with the sales department and your company’s support service, think, describe the people you work with, what they would be interested in. Remember, people read the correspondence, with feelings and emotions, consider this, talk with the reader, engage in dialogue.
For example, if you provide services, create your opinion leader, set up a subscription on his behalf, let this person be the idea of your company and product. For example, in 2016 a well-known travel agency began to sign their letters and put a photo of the employee made on the trip. They received a tremendous response, because the letters have ceased to be faceless, she talks about all the novelties, tests the buses, shows photos of hotel rooms. Does this make one person? No, the team does it, and this gives the result. In the era of social media, users prefer personal communication.
5. You can always reply a letter.
Yes, forget about “no-reply” and “No need to answer the letter,” why can not the user immediately answer the letter? It’s just great when your letter is so liked that it has an instant reaction. It is necessary to respond quickly, but in essence, without long clarification of the circumstances and reasons for the appeal, and God forbid to answer something like “We will reply to you in the near future, thanks for contacting us!”. Forget, the lead has just come from the hot ice cold and has changed his mind about making a purchase. And one more subtlety, if you have a “face” of mailing, then you need to answer on his behalf, then, the level of trust is significantly increased.
6. Analyze and segment the audience correctly.
After the e-mail newsletter is launched, carefully follow the statistics, the basic indicators look like this:
- Delivery of emails
- The value of open letters
- CTR links in letters or share conversions from letter to site
- Conversion rate
- Unsubscribe rate
- The indicator of “spam” marks
Be sure to make sure that you have several directions in the mailing list, for example, you have 500 e-mails from which no opening of letters has been made. Why not send them a letter with a super offer for only these 500 addresses? You either get conversions, or you realize that these mailboxes do not work. Always look at which headings or texts are responding, what is most interesting for your audience, what letters there are feedback on.
What conclusions can be drawn from this article? – before making an e-mail newsletter, make a preliminary analysis of the audience, feel it, create a living letter for living people, stop selling everything in one letter, remember you need loyal subscribers who will eagerly await your letter and conduct a dialogue with the company. No one canceled the results analytics, however boring it sounded, only a clear understanding and analysis of the situation can give the right decisions with respect to new experiments with the mailing. As a result, you will not only increase the customer base, but also increase the trust in the company’s brand. Try it, and you will succeed!