Brace yourselves, a long post is coming.
Fear not, though, this is all useful stuff. Ready? Superb!
Raise your hand if your inbox is crammed to the brim with newsletters you haven’t had time to open yet. You have every intention of checking them out. After all, you are fans of the writers, bloggers, and entrepreneurs who put them out.
You know most of them offer invaluable advice. Some are genuinely funny to boot. The problem? There isn’t enough time. So you hit delete if you are feeling pressed for time, or you’ve lost your will to work (or do anything) after you have seen your inbox always has hundreds of unread messages, and this is not even your work email. Your friends don’t email you. This is all newsletters. Aargh!!!
Right. What was that thing on the top of your to-do list?
“Write newsletter. Send it to email subscribers.”
Oops! How do you stand out, get read, and keep the subscribers when you yourself can’t keep up with the newsletters you wanted to receive?
Don’t despair. It is less art and science, but more empathy and trial/error. Oh, and our dear friend common sense.
I’m assuming you already have decided on an autoresponder, but if you haven’t, I recommend ConvertKit. (Yes, this is an affiliate link.)
I use ConvertKit for this blog. It is fairly easy to use and costs $29/month for 0-1000 subscribers.
Now to the essential dos and don’ts:
Don’t write an epic!
While you might occasionally need to write a very long newsletter issue, you shouldn’t do it every single time. It is not just about attention spans; people have work to do.
Do think twice before promoting a product.
Before sending a glowing recommendation on this amazing bundle/course/book/webinar/whatever, ask yourself this question: How hot is this product?
I’m not asking you if you trust the product. I believe you do. Otherwise, you’d not be encouraging your audience to check it out.
But I can’t tell you how many times I’m recommended the same product. The first person to send the newsletter is the luckiest. I get curious, check out what is all about, and if it is of interest, I subscribe/purchase/etc. The second person gets a nod from me, but I delete the email quickly. Boredom is slowly kicking in. Because I know I’m about to get more emails promoting the same thing.
The third person? It’s already annoying. So if you have gotten the recommendation email from another blogger, maybe don’t send it to your subscribers. Send something else instead.
Look, I get it. It is your income we are talking about. You are thinking about potential purchases. Or you are thinking about how impressed your affiliate partner will be when you send many new potential customers and fans their way.
Never forget, however, that your most important relationship is the one with your own subscribers. You don’t want to annoy them.
Think about your timing. If it has been recommended it to you, if you aren’t one of the first people the creator notified about it, people have already gotten the promotional email.
Do occasionally do a Seth Godin.
If you have something meaningful to say and you can say it in a few words, do it. It is all the rage nowadays to send long, long text. Change it up when it comes to length. Your subscribers will thank you for it.
Marketing master Seth Godin excels at the short stuff. Okay, admittedly he is great at longer stuff too, but you get the point.
Don’t send them too often.
I unsubscribe from a lot of newsletters because I can’t keep up with the sender’s frequent messages.
It is commendable that you want to educate and entertain your audience frequently. You might be thinking “I’m not even promoting anything! This is just valuable information!”
Great, but we all have Google. What I mean is, as much as we might be dying to become experts on any given topic, we don’t want to stay married to our inboxes. I strive to save as many excellent newsletter issues as I can, but occasionally I’ll just say, “Sod it!” and start deleting everything to get to Inbox 0.
And gasp!, I might even unsubscribe. The good news is, if you are so productive that you’re flooding my inbox daily, I already know your name. I will even occasionally remember to check out your blog. The bad news is, you’ve still lost a subscriber.
Don’t be that person.
Do offer your subscribers options.
Some sayings are cliché because they are true: You can’t please everyone. Even people who enjoy your blog enjoy it for different posts and reasons. So it’s wise to check in with your subscribers every once in a while and asks them what kind of news, topics, and frequency they are interested in. It is more work on your part, but I assure you, it is worth it.
Don’t send them too infrequently.
I have to admit this is one of the sins I commit. I tend to send a newsletter once a month or less. This bullet point is a reminder to both me and you to remind your audience of your existence more often.
Once a week or at least once in two weeks is fine – unless your audience notified you otherwise.
Do write an engaging subject line.
We all know subject lines matter at this point. However, writing a captivating one is easier said than done. If you don’t want to spend too much time obsessing over this (and you shouldn’t), at least try to capture the essence of what it is about.
Don’t be a drama queen with your subject lines or the content itself.
This point might seem like it contradicts with the previous one, but it doesn’t.
When we study marketing, we are encouraged to be personal. To determine an urgent need/want of our target audience and to capture their ever-fleeting attention. But when you overdo it, you can end up losing people.
What do I mean by not using too much drama?
I literally just deleted this email from a publication I like and subscribe to without opening it. The subject line said: “You Will Wonder How You Ever Lived Without These Tips and Tricks.”
No, I won’t. I don’t think you have found the holy grail of tips and tricks (and congrats on not even telling me what they are about, by the way!), and there is much doubt on my part that a subject line like that can deliver on its promise.
While I advise being specific, you might hurt your chances if you are too specific, or if you appear condescending.
For instance, let’s say you are launching a product or service that promises to help your audience increase their income level from a certain point. That’s awesome!
But how do you frame that certain point without pissing off the audience that is at or below that income level and find that interval not disappointing or low at all?
Saying “Want to make …. $ more a month?” can yield better results than “Ever grow tired of making just …. $?”
It doesn’t matter if you deliver on your promise and every client you worked with succeeded through your advice. You don’t want to make your readers feel less than.
Don’t use emojis.
This might be me giving away my age, but we are all adults here. Do emojis really belong in the newsletter? Let me know if it is my own personal pet peeve.
I’m in my 30s, and I have seen the times when emojis didn’t exist. Of course, I might be wrong, but I’m willing to bet I’m not the only annoyed by this.
It is okay – even recommended – to use images and a fun, friendly language in your newsletters. Even emojis, depending on your personal style and subject matter. But use caution when dropping emojis in subject lines.
Do balance the promotional with the informative.
We all have something to promote, even if we aren’t selling anything. Otherwise, we wouldn’t need a newsletter.
You might just want to be heard. You are still promoting your ideas. And that is fine.
Writing is meant to be read and shared. Ideas are meant to be spread and talked about.
And it is more than okay – expected even – for you to be selling something. You need to make a living. And what better way to make money than by helping others achieve something?
So your readers are ready for – and mostly fine with – emails that want to sell them something. Still, you don’t want to do that with every email, or even every two emails.
Balance them. It is best if even your promotional stuff is filled with freebies, helpful links (that go to free-to-read articles and resources), and a ton of practical information.
Do pay attention to your formatting.
Technology pisses off even the more experienced or patient of us. Formatting can get awry even though you didn’t do anything wrong or different. The best thing you can do is to preview the email you are planning on sending, and then send it to only yourself to check how it looks before everyone on your list receives it.
That said, the same format might look different on Hotmail vs. Gmail vs. Yahoo, so there is only so much you can do.
Still, for peace of mind, I recommend previewing and sending it to yourself. And if a subscriber alerts you to an issue, you can take a look then.
Do include images and links when you can.
I touched upon this in a previous bullet point, but it deserves its own. It’s tempting to send someone all text. Some readers might even prefer it that way. But most people are not happy without much white space to wake them up. You don’t want an active subscriber, someone who bothered to open your message, to get lost in all the writing.
So spice it up. Make it visually appealing. Links and images mean you have gone the extra mile. Your readers will appreciate it.
Do lure them in, but deliver in the whole post as well.
I talked about enthralling your audience with a subject line that will attract their attention. Now, your newsletter has to deliver. Don’t just work on getting opened; work on being read fully.
Do send them freebies and promotional codes.
Have you created a freebie resource yourself? Did someone you admire craft one? Let your audience know. Is the hosting company you are using offering a discount? Is your autoresponder running a sale? They should know.
If people need that service, they will take you up on it. The one thing you need to do is let the audience know if you are getting paid for the recommendation.
Do share your favorite resources.
What are you reading? What courses are you taking? What blogs are forever bookmarked on your computer? Share these with your readers.
If links are applicable, use them so you will save your readers time. They appreciate people who make their life easier.
Do disclose affiliate relationships.
This is worth repeating. If you are getting paid, just noting “aff. link” next to the whatever you are linking to will suffice.
Do choose a reliable autoresponder.
There are free options out there. You can also opt for a different autoresponder later down the line and migrate your existing subscribers. Just read the features of the service you are interested in.
- How much does it cost?
- Do they offer a free trial?
- Do they allow affiliate links in emails?
and so on.
Do a bit of reading. I’ve used TinyLetter (free) before for this blog. I later converted to (pun intended!) ConvertKit (aff. link), and for my travel blog, I’m currently experimenting with MailerLite (which is free for 1000 subscribers) on my travel blog.
Do brainstorm ideas with friends and colleagues.
Don’t know what to put in your newsletters? Brainstorm with writer friends. Also take a look at what your fellow writers are putting in theirs.
For instance, my good friend Olga Mecking invented a sort of national newsletter writing month where she is sending her subscribers a newsletter every day for November.
Yes, I told you not to flood people’s inboxes, but this is a special, themed occasion inspired by NaNoWriMo, and will only last a month. And people know what they are in for when they sign up.
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Now that you’ve armed yourself with information on how to rock your newsletter, get to work on applying these babies.
