How To Create A Newsletter People Will Look Forward to Reading

What did you do with the last newsletter you received?

Did you actually open it and read it or did it go straight to the trash?

While it’s common for businesses (and individuals as well) to send out newsletters to their subscribers, getting people to actually read them is easier said than done.

It’s a given that newsletters should offer a ton of value but how do you get people to take notice?  How you do get them excited enough to look forward to next week’s installment?

How do you create a newsletter people will look forward to reading?

What Is A Newsletter?

The best way to understand the psychology behind newsletters is to define what a newsletter is.

Generally speaking, a newsletter is an email you send to your followers and readers who subscribed to one of your offers they may have found via announcements, promotions, or your most interesting content.

It’s a tried and tested way to keep your audience updated about your brand as well as your latest products or services.  It is also useful in generating traffic.

Since keeping your audience interested is one of the goals of a newsletter, sending them regularly is best practice.  Some companies would send them several times a week while others send one every month.

The Benefits of Having A Newsletter

Sending newsletters has become a standard marketing practice due to the benefits it brings to the table.  Below are a couple of reasons why you’d want to send newsletters to your audience:

Provide an Avenue to Connect With Your Customers

It’s safe to say that if you want to stand out from your competition, you need to give your customers a reason to continue to buy from you.

How can they do that if you’re not informing them about your latest promotions and offers?

Newsletters provide you a way to get connected and engaged with your audience.  It gives you the opportunity to provide exceptional value by sending them exciting and engaging content.

What does this mean for you?

Constant engagement builds loyalty and trust.  It gives people the impression that you value them when you keep in touch.

Would you rather buy from someone you barely know or from someone that’s tried and tested, so to speak?

If you don’t want your customers to look somewhere else, sending them a newsletter regularly is a good way to keep them.

Increase Website Traffic

Driving traffic to a website isn’t the easiest thing to do.

While there are several ways to achieve this organically, it does require hard work and creativity to attract visitors and keep them coming back.

Newsletters can help point your customers back to your website, go through your content, and eventually make a purchase.

All it takes is the right targeting and a convincing and powerful call-to-action and you’re good to go.

Position Yourself As an Authority Expert

More than promoting your stuff, a newsletter is best used as a means to educate your audience by providing them valuable content consistently.

What this does is give people the impression that you are an expert in your field and that they can always look to you for answers.

This kind of relationship can help boost your reputation enough to build brand loyalty and trust which, as we all know, leads to bigger sales and profits.

More importantly, it guarantees you the support of loyal, raving fans who always look forward to your next offer.

Drive More Sales

What makes a newsletter so powerful is the vast opportunities it presents if done the right way.

We’ve already established that it is an excellent way to keep your audience informed and educated but more than that, it also allows you to drive more sales.

Newsletters allow you to introduce new products, explain the benefits they offer and tell them about the discounts and promos you have for the said product.

Keep in mind that most consumers can be impulsive.  Give them a special promo or a coupon code and you’ll get them to take action.

This would be all the more effective if you know how to create a newsletter the right way which we will discuss in the next section.

How to Write A Newsletter

We can all agree that a well-written newsletter can do wonders for one’s business but the question is, how do you create a powerful and effective newsletter?

What are some of the factors you need to consider for your newsletter to be convincing enough to drive people to action?

Below are a few guidelines you can implement.

Craft a Powerful Subject Line

People’s attention spans nowadays are very short.  With our newsfeeds and inboxes filled to the brim, it’s almost certain that they will simply scroll past your email if the subject isn’t interesting enough.

Create a smart, funny, and intriguing one and they’ll more than likely open and start reading the email.  When it comes to newsletters, first impressions last, and you are given the opportunity to make a good impression via your email’s subject line.

This is why it’s essential to make your subject line as catchy and interesting as you possibly can.  Add a personal touch to it and make sure to change it every time.

Subject lines also need to go straight to the point.  Keep it under 50 characters if you must because anything longer can turn your audience off.

Make sure that your subject is relevant to the topic discussed in the newsletter and more importantly, encourage people to take action.

Your subject lines don’t have to have all of these elements to make them efficient because every newsletter sent has a different purpose.  As long as they’re relevant to the newsletter’s purpose, you should use them.

Keep it Balanced

What would you do if the newsletter you receive from a certain brand is always trying to sell you something?

None of us like being sold to especially if it’s what we always get to read every time we open an email which is why it’s essential to keep your newsletter balanced.

It should be 90% informative and 10% promotion as much as possible.  While a self-promotion here and there wouldn’t hurt, try to give more value whenever you can. Make your audience get something worthwhile before you convince them to try your new product.

Being too “salesy” with your newsletter is an effective way of driving people away and making them unsubscribe.  Focus on building relationships instead by sharing value-packed content that will help them address a certain pain point.

Share Valuable Content

We couldn’t stress this enough because ultimately, this is how you attract and keep customers coming back but saying “valuable” content is a bit too broad, to say the least.

That being said, when we say valuable, what we mean is curated content like blog posts, videos, and infographics that are relevant to your customer’s needs.

You don’t always have to come up with content to share.  By building relationships with other experts in your field and sharing their content, you are giving your audience the best information they can consume.

By doing this, you’re not only making life easier for them and yourself, but you’re also giving other experts a reason to work with you in the future which can be beneficial to your brand.

Use Mobile-Friendly Design

We can all agree that most people today view their emails on mobile more than they do on computers which is why it’s important to make sure that your newsletter is optimized for mobile devices.

Use larger fonts whenever you can and try not to make your newsletters text-heavy.  Have more white spaces instead and use large buttons for your calls to action.

These are simple tweaks you need to keep in mind because when it comes to newsletters, sometimes less is more.

Stick to a Schedule

One of the best ways to keep your audience looking forward is to keep a schedule so they’ll know when to expect your next newsletter.

You are likely to get a bigger open rate if your audience is informed about your sending frequency.  Do you send three newsletters per week?  What time do they arrive in their inboxes?  Which days do these newsletters get sent?

If they’re aware of the schedule and your content is always value-packed, you can trust people to always look forward to what you are about to say.

Conclusion

A newsletter is an excellent marketing tool that can help you communicate and build relationships with your customers.  Getting an email to their inboxes wouldn’t be enough though.

If you want your newsletter to serve its purpose, you need to give your audience a reason to click on the email, read it entirely from top to bottom, and more importantly, take action.

The tips provided should help to create a newsletter that will not only keep your audience looking forward but also make them happy enough to recommend your products and services to their friends and family.

If you need help writing a newsletter your readers will love, you may want to consider hiring an experienced copywriter to take your content to the next level.