Creating a newsletter that people will read is all about building trust in a website and brand. The key to success is really simple, interesting content sent to people who want it. In addition to this simple principle, there are easy ways to reward subscribers for their attention that keep them reading the newsletter.
The Basics of a Good Newsletter
The basics of a newsletter involve two items:
- Unique content
- People who want to read it
That means people should not go out and buy a list of email addresses and start spamming away. Instead, put a subscribe box on a website and ask people to subscribe. Ask customers on the phone if they would like to be on the newsletter. The key is to get the customer’s permission to subscribe them by asking them directly or via a subscribe box. This not only makes the customer more likely to read the article, it also creates an email list of highly targeted customers who are interested in hearing what businesses have to say.Once there is a decent number of people on a newsletter list, begin sending out the newsletter consistently. Consistency is key because it promotes any business as having their ducks in a row and allows businesses to stay in front of their customers.
Giving Customers Incentive
One aspect of the newsletters that is often overlooked is examining the incentive for a customer to join the newsletter. No, hearing someone’s amazing literary skills in an email does not count as a good enough incentive for most subscribers. Pens or other give away items are nice, but are a one-time benefit to the subscriber. What subscribers want is great content coupled with discounts, product updates and exclusive deals that they can take advantage of because they let businesses advertise to them. The customer explicitly gave permission to the company to advertise to them, reward them by giving them something they will use in every email.
Need Help Getting Results?
Onepax has helped many websites get the customer attention they desire. Using a methodical and persistent approach with newsletters, we achieve the goals of our clients one month at a time and build results that last. Contact us today for more information.
Other Reading
Seth Godin has a great article on newsletters and how different online email services actually punished their users for using their free products.
December 6, 2007 
