Photo: MailChimp
Keep your writing snappy
It's easy to overthink and get bogged down trying to perfect your copy. Remember, you are cultivating relationships here, so keep things personal and positive without being long-winded. Email newsletters are most effective when they are short and to the point, with the writing enticing your readers and getting them excited for the news you are announcing.
If for some reason you need to go in-depth about a particular topic, there's always room for that on your website and you can simply link out from within the email without clogging up your design with too many blocks of text.
Still unsure of yourself? Before you hit send, take a little break from your screen and come back after a few minutes. With fresh eyes, read your words aloud—this will also help you catch any typing errors—and go with your instincts. Does the copy intrigue you and get you invested? If it feels plodding and heavy, try trimming things and focus on the main reason you are sending the newsletter in the first place.
Extra tip: Use the Hemingway App or Grammarly to improve your writing.
Harness the power of segments
Why waste time sending news to someone if it's not applicable to them? One of the most overlooked areas of email marketing is segmentation, which is the ability to target specific emails to our network based on myriad factors like age, sex, and location. If you are opening a new creative space in California, try sending a targeted mailing just to people in-state. Do your Etsy sales show that women age 25 to 35 are your strongest customers? Consider sending them a special sneak preview of your new jewelry collection.
MailChimp's recent analysis shows that segmented mailings have 14.31% more opens and 100.95% more clicks than non-segmented mailings, so it's worth giving a try!
Extra tip: Services like MailChimp often have preset segments, such as most highly engaged subscribers.
Test your campaigns
Aren't sure if your new design is really making an impact or find yourself torn between two different subject lines? Testing should help you see what's working and what you need to improve. A/B testing is quite common and by focusing on one factor at a time, you'll be able to effectively decide what changes are making an impact. You can even use testing to see what time of day is the best for sending out your news.
Services like MailChimp and Campaign Monitor allow you to test on a small pool and then send the winning newsletter out to the rest of your list, ensuring that your very best goes out to the widest audience.
Extra tip: Kissmetrics has an excellent beginner's guide to A/B testing.
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