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Steps to Creating a Successful Newsletter

Is the newsletter intended to generate traffic to the company’s website? Should it allow the brand to demonstrate its expertise or communicate its news? It is common for the same newsletter to meet several objectives. The main thing is to ensure that these objectives are perfectly aligned with the company’s overall marketing strategy.

2. Identify the target

A company can choose to send a newsletter to all of its subscribers indiscriminately or to only one target group. In the latter case, it can personalize the newsletter based on its personas, i.e., fictitious representations of groups of consumers with common characteristics, or on the different phases of its subscribers’ life cycle. In 2017, recipients were 75% more likely to click on marketing emails from segmented campaigns than from non-segmented campaigns.

3. Determine the content

To have the desired effect, a newsletter must fit perfectly into a company’s content strategy and be in line with its editorial line. Guaranteeing the adequacy between the brand image and the content produced, an editorial line provides information on the tone to use as well as the themes to be covered or the information to be highlighted. When writing a marketing email, it must therefore be scrupulously respected.

Regarding the subject of the email, it must be the result of careful consideration. Indeed, it is after reading it that the recipient will choose whether or not to open the newsletter received. The title must be short and punchy to attract attention and encourage action, without being intrusive. A study conducted by SEJ in 2020 showed that, despite a higher click rate, the presence of emojis in the subject of an email campaign leads to higher unsubscribe and reporting rates.

Finally, the call-to-action must also be carefully studied. This button, which invites you to perform a specific action (“read more”, “discover”, “buy”…), allows you to move the Internet user forward in their purchasing journey. It must be introduced by a value proposition, contain an action verb, be dressed in a color contrasting with the background of the newsletter and be strategically positioned, ideally in the center, above the waterline.

4. Choose the design

It is not necessary to seek visual originality. A sober, aesthetic design in accordance with the graphic identity of the company is generally the most relevant choice.

The most important point of vigilance concerns the format: the newsletter must be able to be consulted on all types of devices, especially on mobiles which represent half of the opening rate of emails. It can therefore be interesting to use emailing software in order to create, personalize and optimize your marketing emails easily.

5. Test the newsletter

A/B testing is a technique for testing several variables of a marketing content. It is useful to use it when creating a newsletter in order to be sure to make the best strategic choices. Thanks to an A/B test, it is possible to compare the performance of several objects or CTAs and therefore optimize the opening and conversion rates of a marketing email.

The compatibility of the newsletter with the various existing email providers should also be checked. With HubSpot, it is possible to easily carry out tests to ensure that the marketing email will be displayed correctly in the subscribers’ inboxes.

6. Select a day, time and frequency of sending

The frequency of sending a marketing email must be in line with the objectives. To highlight blog articles, a company will opt for a weekly or bi-monthly frequency. On the other hand, to develop its brand image through the story of its france telegram data commitments, a quarterly frequency will be more appropriate.

As for the best time and day to send, you need to take into account the company’s sector of activity and the target audience. However, according to a study conducted by Sendinblue , Tuesday and Wednesday are the best days to send, across all sectors. In addition, 10 a.m. or 3 p.m. are the ideal times.

7. Respect the GDPR

It is essential to obtain explicit consent from an Internet user before sending them a newsletter. In addition, the newsletter must contain a link to unsubscribe. In 2019, according to a study conducted by Check Point Software and relayed by Affiches Parisiennes , 75% of companies believed that the entry into force of the GDPR had had a positive impact on consumer confidence.

8. Renew and increase the number of subscribers

The success of a newsletter is based on regularity. In order to keep up, it may be interesting to conduct competitive monitoring and carry out active research on the web and social networks. The goal? List ideas for themes and gradually build a real editorial schedule.

With the number of contacts in a mailing list decreasing by around 22.5% each year, it is also essential to increase the number of subscribers to a newsletter in order to ensure its sustainability. To do this, you must start by taking care of the registration form by ensuring that its design is in line with the brand’s graphic identity, by integrating it with content with high added value, by using social proof and by limiting the amount of information required.

KPIs are key performance indicators. They allow you to measure the results of an email campaign, to determine whether the previously james benham chief executive officer defined objectives have been achieved and therefore to make the appropriate adjustments if necessary.

The bounce rate

To calculate the bounce rate of an email campaign, the formula is: (number of undelivered emails ÷ number of sent emails) x 100.

A low bounce rate is a positive signal: it indicates that many subscribers have received the newsletter.

The opening rate

To calculate the open rate, the formula is: (number of emails opened ÷ number of emails sent) x 100.

This data provides information on the relevance of the chosen subject line and can also reveal whether the email is regularly classified dating data as spam. The average opening rate for a newsletter was 17.8% in 2020.

The click rate

To calculate click-through rate, the formula is: (number of clicks on a link ÷ number of emails sent) x 100.

This is a reference data, allowing to evaluate the effectiveness of the campaign carried out. In France, the average click rate of an emailing campaign was 5.22% in 2020.

The reactivity rate

To calculate the response rate, the formula is: (number of clicks on a link ÷ number of opened emails) x 100.
A low result indicates that the content offered lacks relevance and that the chosen CTAs are not engaging enough.

 

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