Sure, you may have worked for days on your newsletter content, and it looks great, doesn’t it? The truth is, a newsletter is only an effective marketing tool if it’s opened. How do you avoid “trash,” “unread,” or even worse, “reported as spam?”
Here are some of the top things to avoid:
1. Making Your Newsletters too Generic
Your newsletter is your chance to appeal to not just any audience, but your audience. A great way to do this is by list segmentation, the process of creating smaller, more targeted email lists for special news and events. Once you do this, you can create the content that each segment will want to read rather than generic content that doesn’t focus on any targets at all.
2. Accidentally Triggering Spam Alerts
On a personal level, you know the words that make you delete emails unopened, or report them as spam. These words include “free,” “promotional,” and “buy now.” To make things even more complicated, Gmail has a tab that specifically filters messages containing certain trigger words into a “Promotions” tab. It’s a pretty sure bet that your Gmail readers rarely, if ever, open this tab. You can bypass these disastrous results by avoiding the common spam trigger words and encouraging your readers to whitelist your email to keep it out of spam or promotional folders.
3. Ignoring The Wonders of Modern Technology
It’s estimated that over half of all users access email through their smartphones. If you haven’t designed your emails with these users in mind, they won’t engage with your content. Designing emails for mobile devices includes formatting to fit screens, compressing images, and using shorter, more pointed subject lines.
4. Missing the Best Days to Send Your Newsletter
Think about your Monday mornings. Chances are you spend them opening priority emails from the weekend. Despite your best intentions, lower priority content such as newsletters will be saved for later…and later never comes. Likewise, Fridays are all about catching up to get out of the office for the weekend. Newsletters aren’t a weekend priority, and once again, they’re overlooked or deleted. The most effective days of the week to send your newsletters are midweek, specifically Tuesdays, followed by Thursdays, and then Wednesdays. Even the time of day matters; the most opportune time for your newsletters to get attention are 6:00am, 10:00am, or 2:00pm.
5. Making Subject Lines too Dull
It’s estimated that 47% of email users decide whether to read an email after reading the subject line. Having a subject line with a hook is the best way to ensure your emails are opened and read, so optimize this real estate. Try subject lines of between 6 and 10 words, and make those words count. You can even throw in an emoji or two as a way to catch a user’s eye. Don’t forget that most email services allow users to preview your first line, or “subheader.” Don’t make your first line generic; keep the action alive in the subheader, too.
6. Delivering Content That Isn’t Useful…or Interesting
A truly enticing newsletter is full of content your users will want to read. In fact, this is your chance to really stand out from your competition. Consistent, high quality content is the key, and once your readers know that your newsletter will be full of information they can use, they’ll be more likely to open them regularly.
7. Not Letting ArachnidWorks Plan Your Email Campaigns
At ArachnidWorks, we understand that successful email and newsletter marketing can make all the difference for a successful campaign. Our pros understand how to bring your content to life, how to test its performance, and how to design it to encourage higher engagement with readers. Ready to take your newsletter and email marketing to the next level? Contact us now, and let’s get started.