One of the topics related to email marketing that I like to address in my own blog, is how to create newsletters and integrate these emails as another communication channel within our online marketing strategy.
I can guarantee that even after reading hundreds of articles about creating newsletters and the aspects to be taken into account, there is always the possibility of making mistakes. Among them, some users may cross the tenuous line between creating newsletters or emails that look just like another ad.
What you will find in this post?
I will give you tips to prevent the content of your professional emails from being considered an ad (from a visual and contextual point of view), and we will also see some examples of newsletters with a commercial layout that could be changed.
Although the technical part to avoid being labeled as spam is also important, in this post I will focus on content creation, to understand how you can do so that your newsletters are attractive, without being considered only propaganda.
Are you ready to learn a lot about how to adapt the design and the content of your emails to promote your products without creating just an ad?
Let’s start!
Creating non-intrusive professional newsletters
When thinking about creating a newsletter, you must try to think about your reader and analyze what you would like to receive in your own inbox.
We all prefer to read an email with good design and interesting content that will bring us something new.
And that’s precisely what you should do to offer newsletters that your subscribers will want to read.
Create targeted newsletters (segmented according to your visitors) as it is essential to improve the reputation of your brand and credibility of your company. From personal experience, I can confirm that this is true.
Main advantages of sending professional emails that are not intrusive:
You will improve the open rate of your campaigns
You will increase traffic to your website
You can earn more money because your readers will become your customers
Benefits of sending professional emails
Without a doubt, email marketing is one of my favorite channels to get closer to my readers, as it allows me to do it on a professional, economic, fast and measurable way.
And, as I explained earlier, creating professional email campaigns is key to your digital strategy.
So, let’s see some important benefits:
You will have a higher open rate: If you send interesting emails, readers will not ignore your newsletters.
The number of unsubscribe requests will decrease: With interesting content, that meets the needs of readers, the subscriber databases will not get many unsubscribe requests.
The number of clicks will increase: Both the call to action, as clicks on social profiles or other links that you have included in the email.
You will strengthen your brand image: a coherent design with other communications channels, can increase brand credibility and will help improve your reputation.
You will set yourself apart from your competition: If your newsletters are better than those sent by your competitors, you will have better results as well.
You will have a non-intrusive relationship with your users: As subscribers previously authorized the sending of these emails, most of them will open the messages you sent.
General tips for designing your newsletters
Creating design according to your brand image is one of the most important aspects to differentiate mere commercial advertising from more custom emails.
The first seconds, that look “at a glance” is what will influence the user to decide within seconds whether to read your email or delete the message.
Therefore, the layout can be decisive when users evaluate your newsletters.
Before giving tips about the content of your emails, as is common in the posts I write, I want to talk a bit about design so that you can create visually attractive newsletters:
Avoid overloading your newsletter with lots of information: a newsletter with many itens can be difficult to read, especially if you include many images or texts about different products (let us be honest, the campaign will end up looking like an advertising brochure).
I recommend simplicity: The cleaner design your email, the easier it will be to read its contents. And it is better to focus on some aspects that are effective (such as banners and CTAs), than using a lot of information and creating a confusing newsletter.
Use the correct images: it is highly recommended to use a main image for the header, which helps to understand the content. However, using several images is not recommended, as spam filters can’t interpret these images and so they could block your newsletter.
Avoid tables with several information: the newsletter is a Tool that you can use to attract users to your website. If you include a huge amount of information about the products, features and prices, the message will eventually be just like a web page (without any real value).
I know you’re thinking that in fact, above all, you want to increase sales, but when you send your promotions, you should be very careful to not overdo it or the effect will be the opposite.
I’m not saying you can’t talk about your product or service, but your campaign needs to offer more than just advertising.
Continue reading as we will speak in more detail about this topic!
Promotional information you should include in your newsletters
While avoiding creating newsletters with a commercial design, you should not forget your goals and what you want to achieve with these campaigns.
Email marketing is a communication channel, and as such, it is oriented to achieve goals and promote your brand with visitors who have subscribed to your newsletter.
Therefore, there are promotional items to be used in your campaigns, for creating a clear and professional message:
Banners: at the end of the email, after presenting the relevant content, you can include promotional banners. Try to fit these banners in the layout of the newsletter and take advantage of these images, adding links, icons, ETC.
Calls to action: To where do you want to direct your users? What do you want them to do? Don’t forget to include a clear and well-defined call to action.
Images with text: the main image of your newsletter, summarizes visually the content you are sending. When you include text in this image, you can explain what the reader will find ” in a snap”, because he will know what this email is about and decide whether to read it or not.
Infographics and images with text: something I like to do, is to include graphic content in many emails (either promotional or not), and small infographics can be a good addition to your email campaigns.
Tips for creating newsletters and avoid the spam folder
Using consistent and relevant subject lines is a decisive factor so that your newsletters are not considered as spam.
If your professional emails are perceived as ads by a large number of subscribers, your sender score reputation may be affected.
As I said at the beginning of this post, an email can land in the spam folder due to technical issues, such as configuration and HTML code, but I will summarize the most important points to consider:
The subject line: avoid using too much text in this field, don’t write words with all capital letters and don’t abuse of words like “Promotion”.
Sender: specify who sent the email. Although you probably prefer to always use the same design, this will facilitate for the subscribers to identify you, there are many users who will appreciate that.
Anti-Spam filters: In general, avoid using words like “Free” or “money” repeatedly throughout the emails, because the message can be considered as spam by the filters.
Balance between images and text: If you use more images than text, it is likely that the email will be considered spam (either by the filter, or be your subscribers). The proportion between text and images must always be correct, this means, you should use more text than images.
The legal text: don’t forget to include at the end of each newsletters a legal warning explaining how the emails are collected and information on the treatment of your databases.
Unsubscribe Link: last but extremely important, you must offer subscribers options to unsubscribe from your newsletters at any time if they wish. If this is not done, some users may prefer to mark your messages as spam.
You may be interested in 20 tips to prevent your newsletter from being considered as SPAM
Examples of newsletters with many commercial texts
As you can see, there are many factors involved when creating a professional but not intrusive campaign, and the other factor is the tone used in the content.
If the text of your emails is very commercial, many users may lose interest quickly.
When you think about creating an interesting newsletter, try to use a more personal text.
Examples
“What are you waiting for? Get the best training to start working as a Community Manager. Get access to the profession of the future to start working now! No prior knowledge is required. Work from your own home without schedules. Don’t wait! Click here
“New courses available! Don’t miss our new courses and register today. The first week is free. Visit us and get 25% discount for annual payments.
Remember that a newsletter, in addition to promoting products or services, needs to offer some kind of relevant content, or useful information which is not only commercial.
Personally, I ignore most commercial emails (I usually delete these messages quickly), and certainly this happens with most of users, don’t you think so?
6 extra tips to generate compelling content for your newsletters and prevent the messages from looking just like propaganda
Once you understand how to create the newsletter design correctly, it’s time to talk about my great ally; content.
If you create attractive and interesting content for your newsletters, you will create a lasting relationship with your readers.
When thinking about how to properly create a newsletter, it is possible that you don’t know how to find content of interest to your subscribers.
Over time, you will discover what works best, as you understand your subscribers (but at the beginning it’s all a mystery).
Based on how your other publications are being received on social networks, blogs and other online channels, you will get lots of information about what your readers want to receive.
But for you to achieve your goals faster, I will give you some tips about content creation:
# 1 Avoid always talking about your products
Users don’t want to read all about you, you need to give them something more than they could find on your website, your emails should offer useful information, so that you can keep their interest in your newsletters.
# 2 Offer something more
Research the topics that interest your readers to talk about these subjects from different perspectives. Make your content valuable and you’ll find that your subscribers will want to receive your messages.
3 # Listen to your users
The best way to know if something works (or not) is to know people’s reactions. You should always listen to users, analyze their behavior, and act accordingly.
4 # Professional Writing
Be careful in all aspects of the creation of texts. In other words, try to not make many mistakes, like checking spelling, use short texts and a structure that facilitates reading.
5 # link to the full content to find more information on the subject
If the newsletter is just displaying a summary or part of the content, add a link so that users can continue reading the article on your blog.
# 6 don’t always talk about the same thing
Although a theme can be very interesting, try to provide variety. If you always talk about the same thing, in the end you will be left without what to say, and your readers will eventually get tired of the monotony.
So you already know! Keep these tips in mind when preparing your newsletter, to prevent users from considering it as just advertising (and end up in the spam folder).
Conclusion
Starting to create newsletters for your online marketing strategy can be difficult in terms of organization, but if you work hard, you can get benefits for your brand virtually from the beginning, and streamline communication with your audience.
When thinking of creating your next newsletter, you must do everything possible to not send advertising emails that end up scaring users and could tarnish the image of your brand.
And you ?, Do you care about the conceptual design and quality of all your content?