Are Email Newsletters Still Effective for Marketing?
Email Newsletters?! What is this? 2005?!
Regardless of whether you, personally, read - or mass unsubscribe - from email newsletters, they have their place in your marketing strategy.
Not everyone will see everything you push out via other marketing channels. And more importantly, not everyone you want to work with will see it.
Email newsletters give your business a chance to speak directly to the audience that matters to you and guess what?
The data says that your audience wants to hear from you.
We’re breaking down the top questions we see when it comes to email newsletters, and we’ll share our tips on creating a newsletter not just worth the opens - but worth the clicks.
Do People Still Read Email Newsletters?
The short answer: Yes.
The real answer: Yes, and…
You can’t just throw everything at it without some understanding of your audience.
According to a Pew Research study, at least 30% of adults receive - and read - the newsletters in their inbox.
There is a lot of value to an email newsletter as long as you take these key steps first:
Segment your audience. Not everyone on your email list needs to see everything. Segment your audience by industry, lead value or whatever makes the most sense to your sales process. Move your higher-intent audience to more specific, specialized email campaigns.
Encourage opt-ins. For your main email list, include everyone you’ve ever met. As long as there is an unsubscribe button - they are free reign. But to find out who is really interested in your content, ask your list to opt-in for specialized newsletters tailored specifically for them. When they opt-in, they’ve just signaled how interested they are in your brand.
Clean your list quarterly. Don’t be fooled by a high number of emails. If a third of your list are dead accounts, you’re just paying for fake and inflated metrics.
How Often Should I Send an Email Newsletter?
The cadence of your email newsletter depends on several factors, including how well you have segmented your list (you did that first, right?).
For B2B, we recommend a monthly at most - general check-in. This can include some important updates about the company as well as some of your top blogs or social media posts.
Reusing content in this capacity is not only OK, it’s encouraged.
We call this service our “ICYMI - In case you missed it” package because a general email newsletter should be exactly that. A round up of any important content that your audience may have missed on other channels.
Anything more often than that should fall into these categories:
Bi-weekly: This is great for your segmented audience especially if you have a blog or specific case study to share with them that will help with any current problems they are experiencing.
Weekly: Use this for smaller lists that have opted-in for specific insights from your brand. Think of it like you are sharing a helpful how-to tip of the week to your closest friends.
Daily: Often this is best for B2C with promotions that require fast, transactional relationships.
Just because you have helpful information for your followers, doesn’t mean that every person on your list needs to know about every topic. Start with the monthly or quarterly emails, and invite your followers to sign up for more than that.
Speaking of… what should I include in a business email newsletter?
Content rules are the same here as they are in any other place in your marketing - lead with value, not sales.
If you are going to show up in someone’s inbox, you want to ensure that you are providing them with information that is helpful for them, not just a list of reasons of why your business is so amazing and you are doing so well (that’s why we mute people on Instagram, after all).
Here are some ideas of content that works well for email newsletters:
Tips, how-to’s, or industry insights
Employee spotlights such as recent work anniversaries or birthdays
New product or service updates where they can “click to learn more”
People spend an average of 1 minute skimming an email newsletter.
Make sure all your content is skimmable - for both desktop and mobile - and leave plenty of opportunity for external links (these are important - more on that in a moment).
How do I know if my email newsletters are working?
Like with any marketing channel you use, you’ll need to test several versions of your newsletter before finding one that works.
Be mindful of the metrics that you have at your disposal to determine what is working and what isn’t. Here’s what we recommend paying close attention to:
Open Rates: Regardless of industry, open rates typically hover between around 40%. But there are some caveats. Apple emails and some spam filters will automatically mark an email as read - even if it was never opened. As long as you relatively steady in open rates, you should be fine.
Click Through Rates: What matters more than open rates are your click through rates - which is why it’s important to have options for your contacts to click on. And those options should lead them to an action like filling out a form to access a whitepaper or booking an appointment. If at least 2% of your list is clicking on your newsletter - you’re succeeding.
Don’t just write an email newsletter to write an email newsletter. Sometimes, business owners think the more marketing tools they’re utilizing the better. But without some thought on the purpose of the newsletter - and what your audience actually wants to read - it could be a wasted effort.
Have more questions? We’re happy to help! Contact us for a quick call.