The online newsletter is used by many companies to stay in touch with (potential) customers. Why? It is relatively inexpensive and the results are easily measurable. Creating a good online newsletter can be quite tricky. How do I make sure my newsletter stands out and doesn’t immediately disappear into the recipient’s trash? Or how do I make sure someone doesn’t unsubscribe from the newsletter right away? Many entrepreneurs ask themselves those kinds of questions. Curious about the eight ingredients for the perfect newsletter? Then free up 6 minutes of your time and read on quickly.

Online newsletter subscriptions

Before creating an online newsletter, it’s helpful to have recipients. Otherwise, what’s the point of making one? But how do you generate sign-ups? My first tip is to send a personal message to customers by email or social media. It is also useful to link a subscription form to your website so that (potential) customers can subscribe themselves to your newsletter. Aren’t you forgetting about the AVG legislation?

Already have a list of recipients and want to expand it? Then make the threshold as low as possible for the recipient to spread it further by placing ‘share’ icons from Facebook or LinkedIn, for example, at the bottom of the newsletter. This way, the recipient can share your newsletter through his or her own social media channels.

Determining target group

Before you get started enthusiastically, it is important to select your target audience. Who do you want to reach and what is the purpose of the online newsletter? It is important that you match the content to the information needs of the target audience. Why? You write for the recipient, right? So be as relevant as possible! So sometimes it is better to create a separate newsletter for each target audience.

Message of the online newsletter

Once you have identified the target audience(s), it is important to think about the message you want to convey. At this step, it is important that you make it immediately clear why it is worth reading your newsletter. Is this not immediately obvious? Then chances are your newsletter will not be opened and will disappear directly into the trash. Want to notify the recipient about an upcoming event for clients? Or inform the recipient of a competitive discount offer? Then mention this at the top of the newsletter or in the subject line. This increases the likelihood that your newsletter will be read.

Attractive subject line

This tip is perhaps the most important one to keep in mind when creating an online newsletter. Weekly, we all receive one or more newsletters. How many of these newsletters do you immediately move to the trash? Personally, I have unsubscribed myself from a large number of newsletters in recent months. Therefore, it is important that the subject line immediately invites further reading.

Curious about a possible example? Onward then! In this newsletter, 10 tips for the perfect newsletter!

Keep it short and to the point

In addition to an attractive subject line, it is important to keep it as short as possible. A common mistake is that companies want to include as much information as possible in the newsletter. A matching image is also often forgotten. This makes it boring to continue reading and chances are that someone will hit the delete button immediately despite that attractive subject line.

I myself provide brief summaries of the information I want to share in the newsletter, combined with a matching image. In this way, it is possible for the recipient to quickly screen for relevance. Is the message interesting enough to continue reading? Then the recipient can continue reading on my website by clicking on the button. This way you can measure which content is read well. And of course figure out what content doesn’t. More on that at the end of this blog.

Why else do I choose to continue reading content on my website? In order to generate traffic to my website as part of search engine optimization(SEO). If you want to know more about this topic, I would like to refer you to the article SEO tips for 2020.

Frequency

In what frequency do I send my online newsletter to customers? This question is difficult to answer. This is because it varies from company to company and industry to industry. In any case, it is important that you send the newsletter only when you really have something to say. Don’t have anything to report for a while? Then postpone the time of sending until a later time. Do you have additional news to report? Then it certainly doesn’t hurt to send out an extra newsletter. As long as you are relevant!

Timing for sending the online newsletter

What is the best time to send an online newsletter? The most appropriate day and time depends on the target audience, but it is still a matter of trial and error. Want to inform recipients of a discount promotion on consumer products? Then it’s best to send the newsletter at the beginning or end of the day. Why? Look around you on your way to work. Almost everyone is busy on their cell phones. On the train, bus and even while driving in a traffic jam(foe!).

In my experience, the newsletter is best read on Tuesdays and Thursdays. One possible explanation is that recipients who work part-time are often off on Mondays, Wednesdays (afternoons) and Fridays. In addition, in my experience, it also makes no sense to send out a business newsletter during school vacations. In fact, there is a good chance during these periods that your newsletter will disappear directly into the archive without being opened.

For some companies, this period may actually be particularly appropriate. Consider, for example, providers of travel (continuing) insurance. Handy to close just before departure right?

Evaluation

Did you send out the online newsletter? Then it is good to evaluate the results at mid-term and afterwards. Compare several newsletters to find out the best time to send and check which content is scoring and which is not. Personally, I always check how often the newsletter has been opened by recipients and to what extent people click on the buttons to continue reading. What program I use for this? I enjoy working with the world-renowned Mailchimp.

Finally, it doesn’t hurt to ask customers for feedback from time to time. Regular evaluation will eventually result in the perfect newsletter.

Good luck!

Good luck with creating the perfect newsletter. After reading this blog, do you still have questions? Or would you like me to write the content of your newsletter? If so, please contact me without obligation using the contact form below. No help needed? If so, I would greatly appreciate sharing this blog via the share button(s) below.