How to Write Email Newsletters — Writing for Your Business
Email marketing puts your business right in front of your customers, and a well-written email newsletter is one of the most effective tools you can use. What will prevent a potential or former customer from reading your email? Completely self-promotional material.
Answer the question your prospects will ask themselves: What’s in it for me?
Content they can use will go a long way to answering that question, and you can insert one or two of your business’ blog posts. Newsletters typically have a more professional tone than blog posts, so you may want to rework them a little or leave out the more casual blog entries.
Your newsletter doesn’t have to be long — two to three sections minimal.
Create useful information in your email newsletter, mixed in with self-promotional material. If you can’t figure out what topics to cover, consider answering your customers’ frequently asked questions. For example, a plumbing company could include information on how to clean a garbage disposal safely, or a dog boarding and day care center could send out tips for clipping a dog’s nails with minimal fuss.
Just keep your readers (customers) in mind. Don’t throw in too much technical jargon, unless a majority of your audience will definitely know what the jargon means. Content needs to be meaningful and relevant to them, otherwise they will delete it or unsubscribe.
An often forgotten tip for getting more people to read your email newsletters: a table of contents. Put this at the top of the newsletter or in a sidebar so it is clearly visible when the email is opened. Knowing what the email contains will help your reader decide if they want to keep reading. If you make them guess, they’re likely not to take the time and move on to the next email.