Atomic Email Marketing Blog ePochta.ru

When you have an opt-in newsletter for your website or blog, your focus is getting your subscriber number as high as you can. Obviously, the more people that receive your newsletter, the more effective it will be in helping your image and your business. However, there is one person that should be subscribing to your newsletter…the most important one.

You.

Why is it important to subscribe to your newsletter? Because that’s the only way you can get the “end-user” experience. This can be very valuable if you take the time to read your newsletter with a critical eye, and ask yourself some objective questions:

• How does the title of your newsletter look in the subject line of your email client? Can it be improved to better reflect your goals?
• Does the content display the way it should? Most stand-alone email clients will do a good job of displaying your newsletter the way you intend, but online-based email systems (such as Hotmail, Yahoo and GMail) can sometimes mangle your newsletter’s formatting.
• Is your newsletter easy to read?
• Does the marketing message overpower the content, therefore running the risk of turning some subscribers off?
• Is there an easy method of opting out included in your newsletter?

There are other reasons for subscribing to your own newsletter, but to me the most important is this…you need to experience your newsletter from the perspective of a subscriber to truly know what your subscribers are receiving…and how to make it as effective as possible.

When putting together your newsletter, it’s easy to get so caught up in concentrating on the sales aspect that you forget something very important, especially when it comes to email newsletters.

Content.

If your newsletter offers the subscriber no content, except for new product or service announcements and a run-down of how things are going for you, then your marketing plan will probably get little or no value from it.

I’m not saying a newsletter shouldn’t have those elements included…far from it. But if that’s all you have in your newsletter, you’re limiting its effects, because the vast majority of people that will opt-in for it will be that group that’s already interested in what your company provides.

However, if you provide content…whether it be industry news that has an impact on your customers, ways in which your products have been (or could be) used to solve a customer’s problems, or…best of all…tips, tricks and information that are useful to your potential customers and help them to succeed. Providing this kind of content will accomplish several things:

• Entice people that have no current interest in what you have to offer to subscribe anyway, simply because the information they will get for free has obvious value to them.
• Give you an opportunity to point out ways in which subscribers might improve their business, and allow them to see how your business can help achieve that.
• Help establish you and your company as an “expert”…someone who knows their stuff, if you will. Customers are more likely to believe the marketing message of someone they already trust, especially if they already trust them to be an expert in the field their company specializes in.

All of these can be very effective in turning browsers of your site into customers, but only if the content you provide has value.

Share your wisdom. Give advice and tips on a subject your subscribers will find interesting and important, and don’t skimp on it. This is the “free offer” in stealth mode; subscribers to your newsletter don’t think of it as a “free offer”, but that’s what it is…you’re giving them content for free that you could be trying to sell to them. It’s the difference between someone loaning you money to entice you to babysit their kids, and someone handing you money because “You look hungry.”

In the minds of a customer, the first offer of help seems tainted; the second builds trust and thankfulness. Make sure you’re building trust with your newsletter…with high-quality, informative content.

You’ll see the results.