Tips for Successful Email Newsletters

- Know your purpose and be realistic: Before starting one of your own email newsletters, do your homework, know your goals and what you’re trying to achieve. Are you trying to market your website? Are you selling some type of product? Who will your audience be and how will you connect with them? Are you able to offer unique and interesting information in each issue? Are you able to meet deadlines?

- Create a section devoted exclusively to customers/subscribers: If it makes sense for your particular niche, feature a regular section that’s devoted to your readers and showcases their work or business in some way.

- Routinely ask for feedback: Readers like it if they feel they are a part of the “creative process” and that they have a voice that wants to be heard. Create surveys or simply ask for feedback about what your subscribers want to read and learn about the most.

- Offer something for free: People love getting things for free, and what better way of attracting the attention of your readers than by giving them something for nothing? Depending on your type of business you could offer free samples, e-books, software downloads, or other incentives to keep your subscribers interested and coming back for more.

- Offer useful information: Email newsletters that are full of fluff, repetitive, or out of date information, or are filled with graphics, useless charts and advertisements are routinely deleted and never read.

- Use an appealing, professional format: Pass on the exclamation points or capital letters and instead use an easy to read, visually appealing format that conveys a sense of professionalism. Short, succinct paragraphs work best, and important points should be emphasized with simple bullet points.

- Be accurate: Religiously check your work for grammatical errors, typos, broken links or other problems. It helps if you are able to have someone else edit your work as it’s often difficult to catch your own mistakes, especially if you’ve been working on the same thing for a while. If you’re editing the newsletter in addition to writing it, walk away from it for a day or at least a few hours, then re-read and look for any mistakes you may have missed before.

- Provide contact information and working links: Besides being the law, it’s also good business practice to be sure that each issue contains a way for subscribers to remove themselves from your list, or to get in contact with you. Some business owners choose to send out newsletters with all of their information such as their physical address and phone numbers, while others opt for links to email addresses and their company’s website.