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How you can use newsletters to increase your popularity

Build relationships and recognition by staying in touch

"Good news is rare these days, and every glittering ounce of it should be cherished and hoarded and worshipped and fondled like a priceless diamond."

Hunter S. Thompson

Maybe you think you should be producing a newsletter because looking around, you see other companies are doing it or you want to increase your email marketing output. But don't just jump on the bandwagon without understanding what a newsletter is, what it should do or why it's important.


So, What is a Newsletter?

The clue is in the name itself - newsletter. It's a mass mailing that reaches out to customers and potential customers, telling them the latest information and updates related to your company, products and services. Examples of "news" include events, deadlines and important dates. As long as they're significant enough, you can also include sales and price changes.

A newsletter is also a teaser, giving readers just a taste of the juicy bits. For the full details and to feast their eyes on all your amazing content, they will need to go to your main website and a great landing page!


What Are the Benefits of Producing a Newsletter?

It's a great and low-cost way to build a relationship with customers and people who may become customers. Research shows that when a newsletter is done right, it increases your revenue by keeping them interested in your company or brand and driving them back to your main website - hopefully more purchases, but if not, then at least this increases your brand recognition and makes you more popular. More visits to your main website may have a positive effect on your ranking with search engines like Google. 

If people are away or busy, a newsletter with relevant information will be their friend - keeping them up to date on the latest developments. 

A newsletter is also a good way of getting your content seen on social media without paying for advertising. Done right, your newsletter will be posted, shared and tweeted on the likes of Facebook and Twitter.

Even if you know what a newsletter is and what it should do, the key is making one that people will want to subscribe to and read time and time again. The Odoo newsletter is a great example of how we try to follow the formula, striving to get it right each time. Below are some other great reasons from an infographic done by iContact:

Length / Frequency Ratio

There's no golden formula revealing exactly how long a newsletter should be or how often you should send one out. However, best practice shows that the more often you send out a newsletter, the shorter it should be. No one wants to read page after page on a daily basis, but a couple of paragraphs every few weeks isn't going to encourage your readers to stick with you. Be aware though that research shows a top complaint when it comes to newsletters is they come too often, so really think about how often you have "news" to put in a newsletter.

It's best to keep newsletters short, breaking up text by putting chunks of it around a particular topic and picture. Then you should include a targeted call to action around each part, so those interested can click on the link to find out more. Remember, the newsletter is the teaser - juicy content is on the site or landing page!

Being Ignored Is Not So Bad

You may think this idea goes against the time and effort you've put into a newsletter, but a customer not reading some of your newsletters is better than the same customer hitting the unsubscribe button. Remember, you're building a relationship, so you might not get immediate results. Use mass mailing reports to monitor how many people are opening your newsletter and how many are just hitting the delete key. That way, if the stats are bad, you can tweak your newsletter to see if you can improve the numbers. It's also worth checking the open rates and click through rates for mailings in your industry and country so you don't have unrealistic expectations.


The Ultimate List

Remember, a newsletter is part of your email marketing strategy. The same rules apply as when you're sending out any mass mailing. Find out more tips and tricks on how to do it right in parts one and two of our mass mailing blog post.
 

Now, why don't you try making your own newsletter with the mass mailing app in our demo. You can use an existing template or create your own - and then see how easy it is to monitor the results!

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