This is a question that's asked a lot at the moment, suggesting that it’s something many brokers are keen to find the answer to.
Firstly, you need to be clear on what a newsletter is.
Newsletters inform and engage and include high-value, topical and relevant content that you know is valuable to subscribers. They nurture the relationship – and don’t attempt to sell.
Our weekly Marketing Memos, for example, are classed as newsletters, even though the content doesn’t usually include ‘news’.
What can a monthly newsletter achieve for your business?
Follow best practice and you could achieve a considerable return; research shows that this can be as much as £38 for every £1 spent. But be careful, create something of little value and you could potentially harm your customer relationship.
So why is this newsletter email effective - and what can you learn from it?
- The subjects lines we use try to be eye-catching and intriguing
Your subject line is critical to your open rate. This particular email’s subject line was created to pique the interest of anyone who sends out a regular newsletter, or is interested in starting.
- Our emails are personalised
According to Dale Carnegie, a person's name is, to that person, the sweetest and most important sound in any language; so use it.
- Keep it relevant
Segment your database. Filter your contacts into categories to ensure that the content they receive strikes a chord. Our Memo is only sent to those interested in Marketing, i.e. members of our Broker Marketing Community.
- Maintain the quality and value of every word
Bore your clients just once and they’ll stop reading, and are unlikely to return.
- Keep the content concise
Long newsletters get filed for ‘later reading’ and are destined for oblivion. Use short words, short sentences and bullet points.
- Use the proven PAS formula
The three step PAS formula is commonly used by copywriters.
- Keep the design easy-on-the-eye
Don’t lead with your brand; it’s not what people care about - they care about what's in it for them. Keep the layout open and use plenty of white space, plus the closer it is visually to a letter, the better.
- Split test your subject line
Relevance, open rates and bounce rates are key to your success and each can be improved by split testing with A/B copy This is easily done using most email management systems.
- Use your business domain name
Avoid being labelled as junk. Many spammers send e-newsletters from personal accounts such as Hotmail, Gmail and Yahoo.
Finally use your newsletter to make people feel that they belong to a community; including social media links within the design is a great way to do this.