You want your email marketing to bring in sales. Hear the kerching when you hit send. Well, there is sending good emails and sending a newsletter so damn brilliant that people actually look forward to getting it. Following the 3 Cs of email marketing will give you a foundation for creating that golden newsletter that people want to open.
Let’s dig into these three Cs and start creating better email marketing for business.
Why bother with a newsletter?
Newsletters are great for every type of business. They put you directly in your ideal customer’s inbox and that person has invited you into their lives. They actively opted-in to you telling them about the great things you are doing. Plus, you can see who is opening your emails and clicking through to your content. Mega bonus when you want to root out those customers.
There is a lot to creating a great newsletter. You’ve got to get the format right, the subject line spot on and not bore the socks off your readers. Plus, it can feel super personal when someone unsubscribes. All of this can create newsletter paralysis and you end up sending nothing at all. So, rather than try to do everything all at once, start with a good foundation for your newsletter strategy. This all starts with the 3 Cs: consistency, clarity and cutting right to it.
Consistency
You want your potential customers to know when your newsletter is going to land. Whether you do this monthly, fortnightly or weekly depends on what is right for your business but it must be consistent. Don’t confuse consistency with constantly. You need to work out what output works for your time and resources.
Consistency with your publishing builds trust and expectation. If you send your newsletter on a Friday every week then your customers will expect it to arrive on a Friday. If you are putting the right content into your newsletter then you are going to be building anticipation. You don’t want to let your customer down.
I’ve heard consistency described as an unwritten contract between you and the reader. I like this description. You’ve agreed to send them something on a particular schedule, in return your reader will open it, and well, read it. It’s a two-way deal. So no matter what, make your newsletter consistent.
I pay for a newsletter (yes, pay cold hard cash for an email) that arrives on a Thursday. I love this newsletter and supporting the writer. It enriches my life. One week the email landed a day early. I spent the whole afternoon thinking the day was Thursday. I was in a total flap that I’d missed a deadline and a meeting because this email that I’d come to expect turned up unexpectedly.
This is how powerful consistency can be: people will work their week around it.
Consistency doesn’t just stop at your email timing. It also includes your subject line, your layout and what you put into your campaign. When you’ve got a consistent format, you consistently have great subject lines and you are consistent in your content then you’ve got the makings of a great email marketing plan.
Did I say the word “consistent” enough?
Clarity
- Why are you sending this newsletter?
- What do you want people to do when they open this email?
- What is your goal?
You need to be able to answer these questions before you hit send. If you are going to email people for the sake of emailing them because it’s ‘newsletter day’ then you’ll lose the trust of those following you. You need to keep in mind when writing your newsletter what your audience wants to know. What is going to get them to open your newsletter over the many other emails they receive that day?
Essentially, readers don’t give two hoots about you or your business, they care about what’s in it for them. Some of the best newsletters – in fact, I’d argue all of the best newsletters – treat it like a magazine. So if you’re a product business then line listing like a catalogue will work for some people who happen to want or need your product at the time you send that email.
But, if you treat your newsletter like a magazine and show off your products in action, maybe write features about them or show them in the wider context of how they get used, then you’ll catch people who didn’t know they wanted what you sell. Likewise, if you provide a service just linking out to your blog isn’t enough. Delight your readers. It’s not all about educating them, it’s about entertainment and building the brand.
Start thinking about how your newsletter could emulate a magazine and understand what you want to achieve from it and you’ll see better results.
Cut Right To It
You wouldn’t tell your parents the same anecdote you’d tell your friends, would you? So why would you talk to everyone on your mailing list with the exact same email? Why sell to people who are already buying your product? Did you let the people who signed up last week know who you are and what you are about?
You need to segment your list and for each segment talk directly to them. You’re not emailing a group, you are speaking directly to an individual. What do they need to know? And what can you leave out that they don’t? Tweak your email content for each segment of your list.
Most email marketing software has dynamic content which will save you a butt-load of time creating multiple emails and lists. Go and check out how this works and how you can best use it.
There is so much potential in properly segmenting your list. It’s a bit of an art form in itself and there is far too much detail for this little blog. But as a starter, try separating people out by how interested they are in your services and tweak your next few messages to them. See how that impacts your open rates and interest overall.
Email marketing
There is a lot of complexity in email marketing. It takes time to build on your knowledge through testing and tweaking what you already know. By keeping the 3 Cs in mind, you’ll have a good basis to start really making the most of this marketing tactic.
And if you’re finding yourself in an email marketing muddle (it’s easily done) it might be time to book a content clear out so it’s clear for both you and your customer.