How to write a newsletter that converts

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Aug 3, 2018 / by
How to write a newsletter that converts

If you’ve read any marketing blogs recently, you may have found that marketers are obsessing over PPC advertising platforms with the potential to deliver huge returns on minimal investments. With this in mind, email marketing can seem somewhat antiquated.

However, regardless of what customer acquisition channels come and go, email marketing will pass the test of time. Retention marketing will always be reliant on email as a medium and list building is something on which all marketers should focus.

Although it’s important to send emails to build relationships and engage your audience, you also need to encourage conversions to keep your business afloat financially. Here are some top tips for ensuring that your newsletter will help make that happen.

Use directional cues

Daniel Tay, writing for Crazy Egg, says:

Directional cues are elements that very explicitly point the reader towards a certain desired action – in this case, the call-to-action button. These elements include arrows, lines, pointing fingers, or even an image of a person staring at the goal.

Your newsletter should be structured with your CTA as the end of the journey. Subtle visual elements such as arrows and lines can encourage your readers to arrive at the desired destination. However, you also need to write your newsletters with this in mind.

Alluding to the CTA in your headline and in the body text will help to keep your readers on course so long as you emphasise the emotional benefits (rather than logical features) of signing up, registering or purchasing. Just don’t push it too far!

Consider personalisation

Did you know that repeat customers are likely to spend five times more than first time buyers? With this in mind, it’s recommended that you tailor your email content to match the needs of your most valuable customers.

Newsletter Many well known e-commerce sites send email recommendations based on the past behaviour, search queries and purchasing data of their existing customers. If someone bought a portable protein blender from your fitness site, there’s a good chance they’ll be interested in receiving an email promoting a decent protein powder. Likewise, if someone has initiated a purchase from your site but hasn’t completed it, you may wish to send them an emotive ‘abandoned cart’ email.

The most simple form of personalisation is including your customer’s first name in your email copy. Something as easy as this can help to make your newsletters feel more intimate and less formal.

Deliver value

If your newsletter isn’t converting, it’s likely that you just aren’t delivering value to your audience. Try to analyse the keyword data for people arriving at your site from search engines. Can you make any inferences about their values or common problems? Try to tackle these issues in your newsletter content. Likewise, customer survey feedback and other qualitative information can be tackled in your newsletter.

Visual elements should take a supporting role

Clean and professional visuals are important, but it’s worth remembering that people are reading your newsletter for the content. A minimal, uncluttered design is usually a wise choice so that you can keep the main focus on delivering value. When you do include images, make sure they’re powerful, professional and consistent with your brand. Given that mobile internet usage has now overtaken desktop, please make sure that your newsletter is mobile-friendly!

Conclusion

By personalising your content, delivering value and structuring your emails in a way that encourages readers to easily arrive at your CTA button, your email marketing is sure to be a profitable tool for many years to come. If you’re interested in learning more about our newsletter service, please check out our pricing options here.

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