1. Determine the acquisition

First of all determine the audience of your newsletter. Your audience can be either an end customer who has made a purchase, but also leads, B2B customers or employees. You will have to approach your different target groups in a different manner through a newsletter. A perfect newsletter is useless if it does not reach anyone. Make sure your email list is large enough. You can do this with social media campaigns and targeted email opt-in content offers and landing pages on the website.
 

2. Set the goal of your email campaigns

What is the goal of your email? Do you want to sell a product? Do you want people to register on your website for a training or schooling? Do you want your readers to download an app? By first setting your goals, you will get more conversions out of your campaigns in the future.
 

3. Choose the right tools

There are lots of online tools that can save you a lot of time and money by offering user-friendly templates for e-mails. The following tools are perfect for quickly combining good newsletters and personalized campaigns: MailChimp, Hubspot, ActiveCampaign and others.
 

4. Select consistent plans

Spamming your readers with daily newsletters will quickly result in a lot of unsubscriptions. You may have relevant and interesting content, but too much is too much! On the other hand, a newsletter that is initially sent weekly and then every 6 months, cannot work profitably for both brand awareness and conversions.
 

5. Be relevant for your target-group

Your audience will only interact with your newsletter if the subject effectively captivates them. A customer who has just bought a television at a online store will not immediately read a newsletter about an offer on kitchen mixers. The relevance plays an enormous role in convincing the right recipients.
 

6. Give something worthwhile

Offering one-of-a-kind content or something valuable is a necessity to convince recipients to open and read your newsletters. You will always have to motivate your recipients to take action when they receive your newsletter. Offering a promotional code is an example of something that is valuable in a newsletter. Furthermore, mentioning a new product that competitors do not yet have in their product range could be unique enough to convince your recipients to open your email.
 

7.  Subject and description newsletter

The subject of your newsletter is one of the most important factors that determines the opening rates. In fact, an appealing title has one goal: attracting the attention of your recipients.The description or the text just below the subject of an e-mail has two purposes: it gives more context to a newsletter and also functions as a CTA. By using a combination of a thoughtful subject and a great description, you convince recipients to open your newsletter and read more about your offer, content etc.
 

8. Personalize

Numerous studies have proven that personalisation delivers better results. An example of this is the mention of a name of your recipient in the subject of a newsletter. This can also be explained in a logical way, because seeing your own name will have the same effect as hearing your own name. Addressing someone on a personal level demands your attention. You can also choose to personalize the content of the newsletter.
 

9. Use a header

A header or banner appears at the very top of all newsletters. So it' s a very important element. Be sure to use the name and the logo of your company in your banners. To prevent readers from scrolling down in a newsletter each time, your banner should not take up too much space either.
 

10. Use images

Use images to clarify your message and cut up your text in easily digestible chunks. But don't overdo it: you create a newsletter, not a news gallery. Too many pictures also mean that your recipient has to scroll a lot to read your mail.
 

11. Use titles and subtitles

Create a catchy title at the top of the newsletter to make your newsletter reader feel more positive. Dividing the newsletter into themes or subtitles provides more structure and makes your mail more scannable for fast readers.
 

12. Less is more

Too much text, too many products or too many banners will make your newsletter very crowded. People also have an ever shortening attention span. So keep it to a minimum. This does not imply that your mail should only be a certain length. Good content has no maximum length but keep your sentences short and avoid using overly complicated vocabulary. Less is more.
 

13. Think mobile first

Most newsletters are read on mobile devices. Content on desktops will be displayed differently through mobile or tablets. Make sure you always view and optimize the mobile, desktop and tablet versions based on the device. This way you avoid lowercase characters, vague CTAs, incomplete sentences and so on.
 

14. Use a consistent design

It' s important to be consistent in the designs of your newsletter. Also before your A/B tests, try to stay consistent and not make too many changes to the structure of your newsletter. Too big changes to a layout increases the chance that your recipients doubt the intentions of your newsletter. Trust and brand awareness play an important role in achieving more conversions through newsletters.
 

15. Write frequently about trending topics

Connecting with your recipients is made easier with relevant threads. During the holidays, most people search for nice bargains to offer as gifts. So it' s obvious that more recipients will respond to a newsletter with good bargains or to informative gift tips during the holidays.
 

16. Choose a tone of voice

Personality inspires confidence. You can give a newsletter personality by always using the same tone (e.g. cheerful, comical or confidential) or by using a mascot in your newsletter. This creates an invisible bond with your recipients because they recognize your email by the tone of voice.
 

17. Think about CTA' s

A newsletter without enough CTA's or Call-To-Actions will achieve very little. The first goal of your newsletter is to convince your subscribers to do something or take action. Therefore, use well thought-out CTAs as you would use them on your website. Make your CTA' s stands out with a striking color. In addition, make sure you use soft CTA texts such as "Discover more products or check out our discounts". Hard CTA texts such as "Buy now or Order here" immediately require a lot from your recipients and may cause potential customers to drop out too soon. Using these hard CTA's on your website is a different matter. 
 

18. The power of the footer

The footer is next to the header one of the most important parts of a newsletter. The footer allows you to mention the most important social channels on your online platform with hyperlinks. In addition, a mention of the contact details of your company is good to win people' trust. It is also necessary and mandatory to place links where recipients are able to unsubscribe or make adjustments. Would you like to know more about the legal obligations when building a webshop or an e-commerce platform?
 

19. Test, measure and optimize

It' s essential to test your newsletters before sending them out. Feel free to send a template to yourself and a few colleagues and ask for feedback. This allows you to check how user-friendly your newsletter really is. In addition, you must also always perform A/B tests. By making minor adjustments and by observing the results, you can also make adjustments where necessary.
 

20. Learn how to write copy

We will conclude with one of the most important topics to use in our newsletters: great copywriting. In a newsletter, copywriting that increases conversion should be equated with a good salesperson. So why? They both generate more turnover by generating more sales. Great copywriters follow certain rules but also know when to be creative. Effective copy means the difference between a sale and a bounce. Be sure to give us a call if you are interested in learning to write conversation-increasing copy!

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