Imagine that you are a painter. If you are doing your job well, your customers won’t be calling you every week for your services.
But when they need the house painted in five year’s time, you want them to call you, not the competition down the road. How will they remember your name?
Newsletters are a free and easy way to keep in touch with your customers. They constantly remind your customer base of your business so they remember you when they need you.
However, there’s no point in having a newsletter work if no one reads it. Here are these 7 handy tips that will entice your clients to open it and read:
- Catchy title
Don’t call your newsletter ‘House Painter Newsletter #3’. Emails with ‘newsletter’ in the subject line are opened 18.7% less often.
Find a catchy title that describes what you do. For instance, a voice coach I know whose business is called Clearly Talking names his newsletter ‘Your Voice’.
- Quality content
Don’t blatantly advertise, unless it’s a once-off special. Entice your customers with helpful articles on products and services that they will be interested in.
For instance, our house painter could write about the latest trend in colours, or what’s the best season to paint various surfaces.
- Easy-to-read language
Make sure that your newsletter sound like you – not too chatty, certainly not formal. It has to appeal to the reader but not be dumbed down.
- Short sentences and paragraphs
We absorb information in smaller chunks every time we focus on a computer screen, tablet or mobile phone. Paragraphs should be two sentences long; sentences not much more than 20 words – as in this newsletter!
- Call to Action
Your newsletter should always have a call to action, especially if you are advertising new products (e.g. the painter with his new colour range) and services. Be sure to include your contact details and refresh your newsletter every few months with new offers.
- Links
The more internal links, the better. Links to relevant pages (on your website, your blogs, your social media pages) drive traffic to your site, and increases your lead generation.
- Images
Images look good, give breathing space to a reader and can illustrate something which is hard to describe. Personal or humorous photos can be very effective.
If your business is service-based, as is mine, there are many free images to download over the internet; Wikimedia Commons also has millions. Be sure, though, to credit the photographer.
If you would like advice on newsletter content, or would like to save time and have someone else write it for you, contact me at susan@creativetext.com.au
Creative Text Solutions 