Digital advertising programs or successful online marketing?
If they don't end up directly in the spam folder anyway, they are often deleted unread. Newsletters sometimes behave like the online version of advertising mailings. They were completed at some point and somehow you just haven't taken the step of unsubscribing them again. That's why they end up in the trash can week after week. So that your customers don't feel the same way with your newsletter and that you can use this form of advertising as successfully as possible, the following tips and tricks can help.
Strategically to the goal
It is particularly important not to simply provide the newsletter. Each mailing should serve a specific purpose, whether it's to inform customers about a new campaign, share knowledge, or directly encourage them to buy. The desired success can only be achieved with a clear strategy. The target group in particular is decisive for the design and content of the mailing. Only by addressing specific target groups can a higher response rate be generated.
The time at which the newsletter is sent should also be strategically selected. Depending on the target group, it is recommended to send messages during the day or in the evening hours. For B2B mailings, times between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., are usually more successful in the B2C sector. In general, however, these are only indicative values that serve as an initial decision-making aid and can lead to the ideal sending time through targeted testing and analysis of previous mailings.
Convincing right from the start
The first impression in particular counts and the subject line usually determines whether the customer opens the newsletter or not. Here is a brief and concise description of what it is about and tries to persuade the recipient to open and read. Especially in local marketing, subject lines with place names are useful in order to additionally show relevance and arouse interest.
However, not only the subject line, but also the first sentence is particularly decisive. The so-called pre-header is usually displayed without opening the message and can generate additional interest as a supplement. Beginnings that point to free products and promotions are particularly convincing and encourage interaction. In particular, newsletters that offer free extras for download convince customers to engage with the content.
The external values also count
Not only do the content and the message influence the recipient, the external appearance is also very important in newsletter marketing. The newsletter can ideally be integrated into the entirety of communication and is therefore based on the corporate design and structure of the website. Overall, communication should be clearly understandable, direct, without phrases and extreme advertising language. Please also note that the newsletter is a concise form of information that is only intended to provide an overview; more detailed information can be provided via further links.
Newsletters and the GDPR
However, there are a few things to consider that have become important, especially as a result of the new General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). The GDPR describes some rules that can also be important for senders of newsletters. Since names and email addresses are personal data, they are also affected by the GDPR. Customers to whom a newsletter is sent must have clearly agreed to this and therefore have consciously decided to receive the information (double opt-in). You can often offer this to your customers when buying products or processing contracts. However, the check mark for sending information and newsletters must be clicked separately and must not be a standard setting. You must also give your recipients the option to unsubscribe from the newsletter at any time.
In general, a successful newsletter should not give your customers the feeling of being spam, but rather conscious information about your activity, products and promotions. If that is the case, customers will gladly and voluntarily engage with the content.