What is a newsletter

According to the Content Marketing Institute, 40% of marketing specialists consider email an integral part of the success of any digital content marketing campaign.

Other studies indicate that 49% of consumers prefer to receive promotional content from their favorite brands via email at least once a week (Statista).

Moreover, an email has a high conversion rate, reaching 66% compared to other channels such as social media or physical mail, etc.

For these and many more reasons, newsletters have become one more tool in the hundreds of effective digital marketing strategies.

So then,

¿What is a Newsletter?

Newsletters or bulletins are a marketing strategy traditionally used in the market through physical mail delivery…

But now, the growing trend is to offer this type of communication from companies via email, requesting data registration on the website so users can authorize periodic information delivery.

This powerful tool allows you to adapt regular content to an email marketing campaign or even a content marketing campaign.

The Purpose of a Newsletter

A newsletter is one of the most powerful digital marketing tools at your disposal. It allows you to communicate directly with your prospects and customers in a personalized way, offering them valuable content and relevant promotions directly in their inboxes.

Newsletters are more focused on educating and entertaining your subscribers than on direct sales. Receiving a newsletter should feel like getting an update from an interesting and helpful friend, rather than an aggressive sales pitch from a pushy salesperson.

However, this doesn’t mean that newsletters should only be used to keep in touch with your subscribers.

Ideally, your newsletter will motivate your readers to take some form of action, such as:

• Reading the latest blog post
• Signing up for an upcoming event
• Checking out a new case study
• Participating in a giveaway or contest
• Making a purchase in your online store

Benefits of a Newsletter

There are numerous benefits to newsletters. To name just a few, they are a customizable, affordable, and accessible form of marketing communication. What truly sets them apart from other mediums, however, is their ability to provide direct access to your audience’s inboxes.

Sending newsletters can elevate your content marketing strategy thanks to advanced automation and segmentation features. If you’re already contacting your subscribers regularly, why not personalize your communication and offer more valuable content?

Email segmentation features allow you to connect with your subscribers in a more personal way. You can track their order history, send reminders, personalized discounts, and more.

That’s something social media can’t do for you.

Another advantage of newsletters over social media: if social media platforms disappeared tomorrow, you would lose your followers. But an email list is yours to keep. Like a website, newsletters form an important part of your company’s owned media.

Why It’s Important to Keep an Audience Engaged with Newsletters

The advantage of having newsletters as part of marketing strategies is that companies can share various industry-related topics, interesting statistics, or related subjects in this format. This can facilitate community growth around the business.

Sending newsletters with content about products like updated catalogs and detailed information can be done for initial contacts with users, to introduce additional services or products that may complement an initial purchase.

Likewise, links for direct purchases can be included in case the user is interested in a particular product, potentially reducing the friction of the first purchase.

Another advantage of creating content for newsletters is the practicality and accessibility of emails. They are not limited to a certain length and can include short videos, links to drive traffic to websites, social media, or company blogs.

Newsletters are an excellent technique for strengthening and maintaining a customer relationship based on trust and loyalty, providing added value to your brand, especially when you offer quality content that is relevant and interesting.

In terms of commercial goals, according to the Direct Marketing Association, the ROI can be as high as 122%, which is about four times higher than other channels.

Quite surprising, isn’t it?

So then…

¿How to Design Effective Newsletters?

Before you start sending out emails as newsletters, we recommend reading our post on lead magnets and how they can help you gather personal data from your audience for a segmented database.

Once you have your updated database, you can start designing better email marketing campaigns and customizable newsletter content for those users who have expressed interest in receiving informative emails from your company.

Now, regarding newsletters, some content marketing experts believe that these bulletins should fulfill three pillars:

1. Design.
2. Content.
3. Added Value.

With this in mind, consider the following elements when creating a newsletter campaign:

• Use creative headlines that accurately represent the content and entice the recipient to open the email.
• Include your logos and use graphic elements that represent your brand.
• Accompany your textual content with attractive photographs and/or illustrations.
• Organize your content with headings and subheadings for easier email navigation.
• Include Call to Action buttons to prompt desired actions from your readers.
• The email schedule should be specified when capturing user emails, meaning you should clarify if the emails will be received weekly, biweekly, or monthly.
• Include links to your privacy and data handling policies, which will build trust in how the information provided at the time of subscription will be used.
• Include an “unsubscribe” option.

How Long Should a Newsletter Be

The appropriate length for your newsletter depends on your subscribers’ preferences and can vary from segment to segment. You don’t need to send the same newsletter format to everyone.

However, the right length also depends on your newsletter’s specific content and the actions you are asking your readers to take. For example, if you’re encouraging subscribers to confirm their attendance at an event, they will likely need enough information to help them decide if it’s right for them. In this case, your newsletter email might contain several sections, including bios of keynote speakers or featured artists, information about the purpose of the event, venue details, etc. Meanwhile, a newsletter email inviting readers to check out your latest blog series might do well with minimal copy.

Ultimately, however, the best way to discover the ideal length for your newsletter and optimize other crucial metrics in your email campaigns is to conduct some A/B email testing.”

Tools for Sending Newsletters

On the web, you can find multiple platforms where you can find customizable templates for your emails. Some examples are:

• MailChimp
• Marketo
• ActiveCampaign
• Campaign Monitor

Tracking Newsletter Metrics

When creating this type of content, it’s important to have established from the start the goals you want to achieve with your audience through this channel.

Constantly measuring your digital marketing KPIs will greatly help you optimize your processes and enhance ROI. So, let’s look at some indicators you can track:

• Bounce Rate: The email bounce rate. If it’s too high, you could be classified as SPAM. You can read more about this metric here.
• Delivery Rate: The opposite indicator of the above, it tells you exactly how many emails were delivered correctly and also provides information on active emails.
• Click Through Rate: This provides the percentage of readers who clicked from the newsletter to your website. You can also identify where readers click most with a click map.
• Open Rate: Indicates the number of users who opened your email.
• List Growth: When the rate of new subscribers increases, it can be interpreted as business growth.

Some of the platforms mentioned earlier come with these and many more data points about the behavior of your users when they receive an email. Therefore, consider what type of analytics reports each platform offers.

How to Design a Newsletter Strategy

Now that you have a better understanding of what an electronic newsletter is, you might be wondering how to try it out. Here are some steps to start building your electronic newsletter strategy:

1. Define Your Business Objectives

Firstly, what exactly do you want to achieve with these emails? Yes, business growth is probably your ultimate goal, but the truth is, it’s a rather vague and hard-to-measure objective.

Instead, it’s better to set clear and specific goals from the start, so it’s easier to measure your progress in the future. Do you want to increase brand awareness? Do you want to nurture new or disconnected customers?

By setting these criteria in a structured way, you can assess their effectiveness and consider how to replicate similar initiatives in the future.

2. Choose the Best Platform

The next step is finding the best email marketing platform, like the ones previously mentioned, to meet your business objectives.

Here are some essential features to look for to help you create winning electronic newsletters:

• Newsletter templates
• Drag-and-drop editor
• Integration options
• Marketing automation Landing pages
• Sign-up forms
• Reports

Choosing a good platform is crucial for creating newsletters without knowing HTML or web design, which can greatly reduce your operational costs. All you need is an all-in-one platform to get the job done.

3. Acquire New Subscribers

Okay, let’s say you’ve completed the initial strategic steps and have now set your main objectives. How exactly do you get people to subscribe to your electronic newsletters?

All you need is to direct visitors and customers of your website to your electronic newsletter registration form. Create a dedicated registration section on your website with the format you prefer and write attractive text to catch the readers’ attention.

For example, you can offer incentives, such as discounts for your e-commerce store or free content, and get those email addresses on your list.

Additionally, consider adding double opt-in confirmation and securing the final reader’s consent through an additional email to ensure GDPR compliance.

4. Segment Your Subscriber List

Not all visitors and customers are the same. To build an impressive newsletter strategy and reap its benefits, it’s best to try customer segmentation.

With segmentation, you divide your customers into different lists based on similar characteristics to offer highly personalized experiences.

Here are some examples of email segmentation:

• Demographics – age, gender, location, economic status, birthdays, etc.
• Customer/User Behavior – major purchases, inactive customers, re-engagement, etc.