You know your newsletter is a big part of your marketing campaign, it is one of your best tools to communicate with your customers and keep them engaged with your brand and product. Email marketing is also the channel with the best ROI. However, you can’t just do anything and expect it to work. Actually, do you struggle with the open rate and feel lucky if it hits 17%? Are you scared your contacts would hit the infamous “mark as read” button when they get your newsletter?

If you answered yes to those last 2 questions, this guide on how to write emails is for you!

Be niche and target your audience

First of all, an email newsletter is part of the overall marketing strategy, so it should be planned in advance and promote the different milestones, product launches, achievements and news of your business. And it should also provide some valuable information. It’s not something that can randomly come out when you need it.

Then, focus on your target audience and write something that appeals to them. You don’t need to create a newsletter for everyone, but just for the ones that matter, your customers. If you carefully choose who is going to get the email and make it relevant to them, you won’t need to segment it. You will have a specific list in a certain niche.

Like we said many times before, quality is better than quantity!

Try to please the people you are sending the email, making it seem like a friend who is casually writing to update them. The secret is, try to make them feel excited about reading your newsletter.

Write good content

It goes without saying, if your content isn’t good and interesting, people won’t be happy to read it. There are certain tools that can automatize the curating process of the newsletter. Don’t use them, because curating means to carefully choose and pick what is good, remove what does not work, refine the text in a methodical and thoughtful way. Only a human brain can do this job. So, read what you’re about to send out and make sure there is no random content a software put together. Of course, you can automatize the tedious procedures, but never have the machines replace you entirely.

First you need a good understanding of what your audience likes and cares about. Then, make the effort and deliver accordingly. You might need to do a lot of research to put together something interesting for them. But it will be worthy, they will be happy to receive your updates.

Don’t forget the context

The context of your newsletter is you writing to your customers to update them on your business, products and provide them with some useful information. So, your tone should be friendly, making your business seam more approachable and closer to their needs. Also, try to be casual and to make your brand’s personality stand out. This way, you will make your communication seem like a conversation between 2 people and not you blasting them.

Don’t just put a list of events or links you recommend, always comment on them, saying why they should read them. Make everything you write relevant to them.

When adding a link, you can also not reveal too much about the content of it, to create expectations and make people want to click on it. Another idea is to put links in the body of your email, incorporating them in the context of what you are saying. It will make it more interesting and sort of gamify the content.

Be like a scientist: test and act accordingly

Your email marketing campaign is an eternal work in progress. You can always do better and you can always learn from your mistakes. When it comes to email marketing campaigns, you should be like a science: experiment and act accordingly.

A great way to see what works and what doesn’t is to do an AB test. Most email marketing software provide this option. You will split your receivers into 2 groups and deliver them slightly different content. You can test one variable at a time, it can be the subject line or something in the content. The reports of the campaign will tell you which option worked best. Next time you will implement the option that had the best results and test another aspect. It will give you a great insight on what your audience likes.

Don’t overdue with the design

The new trends in writing newsletters is to have a very neat design and a good content. You want people to read the email and not just look at how pretty it is.

Don’t overwhelm them with flashy design. It’s better to keep it simple, with a lot white spaces to provide a break from the content.

Put one content block at a time with relevant images between them. It will highlight the single sections and make it easier for readers to skim to the part that most appeals to them.

Personalisation

Every email marketing software offers an option to personalize the email, from putting the greeting at the beginning of your text (“Dear Name”) to customize part of the content in the body. We all like to receive something that looks as if it was written for us personally.

As previously said, the aim of an email marketing campaign is to interact with your customers, offering them valuable content. It’s not just a one-way communication tool. So, make it personal, act like a human being. Always remember to whom you are writing and create something that will appeal to them.

Don’t bombard your readers with your offers, or they will hit the “mark as read” button. Provide them with reasons why they should be excited about your newsletter. Did you know that over 50% of the emails in an average inbox is promotional?

Writing a good email is not a mysterious science. After all, it’s all about caring about your readers and value their time. Make them want to stay in touch with you and they will be happy to read your campaigns!

If you need further help with your email campaigns, please don’t hesitate to contact me at mail@annafranchi.com. If you are looking for support for your digital marketing, please check out my services for startups and small businesses

We just left Halloween behind us, and this means only one thing: it’s time for your holiday marketing campaign. This is that time of the year when you can increase sales and get new customers!

Here are some marketing tips for holiday season to survive the madness and get the best out of it.

The customer journey starts on mobile

As said in the previous post, nowadays many customer journeys start on mobile. And it’s ok to assume the holiday shoppers are not different.

People look at their phone for information on a product and they want to find the most relevant one to their search regardless of the brand providing it. So, try to give them the answer they are looking for and they will be more likely to purchase from you.

Mobile users are also increasingly more impatient. Give them a seamless online experience, especially for what concerns the payment, but also in store. For instance, provide the opportunity to pre-order an item online, so that they can just come and pick it up. You will make them save some time, and they’ll love it.

Look at your past holiday marketing campaigns

Look at your data from the past. Which products sold the most? What got the most engagement? On what dates did you have the biggest sales peaks? This is very valuable information to help you prepare for this year:

Get enough stock of last year’s top sellers
Create campaigns that address that specific need
Adjust your calendar with tactics and promotions according to the business spike days
If you sell online, make sure your website can handle extra traffic on those months

Plan a social media campaign

Social media are key in this season. You should plan your strategy in advance to make sure everything is ready and you can actually focus on customers and sales. However, this doesn’t mean you can just let the campaigns run without ever looking at them

Be creative with compelling and attention grabbing visuals
Don’t forget video
Provide enough information why your product is a season must have
Interact on Facebook groups to show the human side of your business, don’t focus on ads only
Be responsive to people’s questions to show you care about them

Holiday season is also a great opportunity to provide value to your target audience. So, go to the “places” where they “hang out” and comment, offer useful information and, of course, promote your products. Your goal is to grab your fans’ attention, in order to get them do the job for you and save some money on ads.

Plan your email campaign

Your email marketing campaign for the holiday season should obviously be mobile friendly, as many of the customers will read the emails on their phones.

The first step is a compelling subject line that will make people open the email. To stand out you should write something that makes them feel the need to buy immediately or that contains blessings or words of gratitude. If possible, personalize it to deliver a more authentic experience and put funny emoji. If you have a special offer for holiday season, put it up front.

In the body of the email, add a call to action, especially with a “buy now” button that smoothly redirects the readers to your website.

Create holiday coupons, specials and discount codes

Create a coupon or special for the holidays, to attract more people to your store. Make people feel FOMO (fear of missing out). Use a slogan such as “going fast”, “last chance” etc. They will have a further reason not to miss your product!

It’s also good if you create deals:

Make a deal for new clients, to attract them
Create another one for returning customers, to encourage them buying again

This way you make them more loyal to your brand, and they will visit you again, even after the holidays.

Of course, promote those offers on social media and in your email campaign.

Create a product that will be available only during holiday season

Sell a specific product at that time of the year only. People will feel FOMO and will want to buy it, as it will be something exclusive.

If you sell online, create a specific landing page for that offer and optimize your entire website around it. This will give it the right visibility while creating expectations for that unique product.

This message should also be integrated into your social media and email marketing campaigns, to make sure everybody knows about it.

Create an early holiday preview sale in November

Running a sale in November is a smart move for many reasons:

You will get rid of some hard to sell products
Your customers won’t be in the holiday rush
People will buy, even if just for themselves and not feel bad about it
Satisfied customers will come back to you to buy more gifts
You will stand out from competition

You should promote this campaign very heavily, on social media and with your emails. Don’t worry if you feel like you’re exhausting your clients, you’re doing something special and they need to know about it. An idea is to encourage them to spread the word and bring some friends, rewarding them with additional discounts.

Segment your holiday marketing campaign

It’s always easier to get an existing client come back rather than acquiring a new one. Customization can be a very good tool to effectively re-engage your customer base and stand out.

First of all, pick your list of people who purchased in the last 6 months and segment it. It can be based on demographics, purchase preferences, how much they spent etc. Some individuals might fall in different categories, but it’s important to have each one in only one group.

Then, create targeted messages and offers for the different segments and reach out to them on the channel that best suits them.

Quality is better than quantity! You might get to fewer people, but they will be more valuable and more likely to convert.

Don’t forget to measure your results and check them in January. This will help you figuring out what worked and what didn’t and if your segments were accurate. You will replicate this model next year or in other peak seasons, but in a revised and improved way.

Don’t forget about the last-minute shoppers

Your customers are probably as busy as you are before the holidays and some of them will want to buy last minute. Google reports that in 2016 there was a peak on Christmas Eve for searches such as “where to buy”, “shops open on Christmas Day”.

So, make sure you still have enough inventory and, especially, inform your clients about your opening hours during the holidays. Put this information already on the landing page of your website, share it on Facebook and in your email campaign.

Send a post-holiday email

Once the holidays are over, keep your customers engaged. The best way is to send a post holiday email where you thank them for their purchases, but you also inform them about new sales.

You can send this email in early January, wishing them a happy new year and informing them on a limited time offer you made for your loyal customers. They will keep you in mind over the year. It’s also a great way to remind those people who received a coupon from your store to use it.

So, are you ready to rock this holiday season? Check out my services for further support.

Tag: marketing campaign

Email marketing tips: how to write emails people will actually open and read