This is a guest post submitted by Mailify, an email marketing firm located in Barcelona, Spain.
Email marketing has many advantages that we’ve all heard of; it allows us to save time and money while communicating with our customers and engaging them, it has great conversion rates when turning subscribers into actual clients and its ROI (return of investment) is incredible: 4300%, that is, $43 per each dollar invested!
Nowadays, it’s easier than ever to create your perfect email marketing campaign, as modern mailing apps offer countless email newsletter templates that you can customize to your taste, adapting it to your business and to your audience.
They also connect their apps with many other tools so you can track your success and learn from your mistakes, improving your campaigns little by little.
We’re all convinced, then, that email marketing is efficient and, moreover, the latest trend. However, it is true that it has to be properly used in order for it to be useful and effective. Sending newsletters is not the same as sending spam, but people sometimes mix them up, and this is easily avoidable by learning a bit about newsletters.
What should an email newsletter template include?
There are some essential elements that a newsletter should include. It’s nice to know that mass mailing services, apart from offering those amazing email newsletter templates, are often prepared to include all of them.
First of all, the title of our email, the subject, must reflect the objective of our campaign. It has to be creative and original so it can catch our subscriber’s attention, but remember, it has to be closely related to the email we will write down below! The preheader, the text that follows the subject, is just as important and must meet this standards too.
We should make sure that our email is not only text; include some nice images! They should be, again, related to your purpose, and make your client want to purchase whatever product or service you are promoting. If they match your corporate colours, which you should have previously chosen and used in all of your emails, even better!
Mailing apps make choosing images very easy as well; platforms like Mailify offer galleries with more than 1000 royalty free photos!
We now get to one of the most important ones: the CTA or Call to Action buttons. These are the typical buttons we see on emails that say “buy now” or “read more” and that, when you click them, they lead you directly to the company’s website so you can easily make a purchase. They try to catch the client’s attention and facilitate sales, being responsible of the amazing conversion rates.
The one thing we can not forget nowadays in the twenty-first century is to include our social media buttons. These are part of a strong communication strategy and make it easier for our clients to reach out to us.
Last but certainly not least, as it is mandatory by law to include it, we have the unsubscribe button. What differentiates newsletters from spam is, among other things, that the client has given us permission to send them campaigns, so it has sense that we give him to option to unsubscribe whenever they wish to. As we said, it is established by law that we must include it, so it’s highly convenient that mailing apps include it for you so you don’t forget.
How to not annoy your subscribers
First of all, they’re your subscribers! As we mentioned, they have agreed to receive your campaigns or even personally subscribed, so they are probably interested in your products or services.
The best way to not annoy them is by sending quality content; discounts and offers are great, but people value more useful information; tips and tricks on how to use a product, tutorials, recipes, news… depending on your business, you have plenty of possibilities!
Of course, sending discounts is still a good idea; special offers can make your subscribers feel unique and privileged and foster the sales.
Lastly, space your sendings! Make sure not to be a pain for your subs; do not send them an email every single day, they will be sick of seeing your emails in their inbox all the time!
How to surprise them
Yes, it is possible! You can be original and creative with your design, which is easy thanks to the email newsletter templates the apps have. Choose your corporate colours and play with them, include gifs and funny pictures, maybe even videos.
It’s also possible, and even better, to surprise them with your content! Everybody sends discounts, but how many people send tutorials, lookbooks, recipes or any of the things we mentioned before? You can differentiate yourself by sending content that nobody will be sending. Think about your business and open your mind; the possibilities are endless.
There are also some special email newsletter templates that can be very attractive to receive, and these are the seasonal email newsletter templates. Happy Birthday, Merry Christmas, Happy Mother’s Day… you can send best wishes to your subscribers using as an excuse almost any holiday/special day in the calendar. If people usually shop during a holiday in particular, make sure to send a special discount to boost your sales!
Finally, the ultimate way to really catch your subscribers by surprise is to invite them to an offline event. This is the opportunity to get to know them personally and to create a close relationship with them. Trust me, it’s way more difficult to forget about a company if you’ve had a drink with some of their employees!
Send them an invitation to a cocktail or dinner, your exclusive shopping night or to the presentation of your new product. Let them bring a friend, because you will probably gain a new client, and make sure that they have a nice time; offer snacks and drinks, put up some nice decor and celebrate a giveaway. This will make your event difficult to forget for your subscribers and make them feel unique, and it’s the best way of creating brand awareness and, of course, to surprise them.
Test it out!
We’ve given you the info you need to create an amazing newsletter; use the email newsletter templates and make sure you include the main elements we mentioned, be creative and provide quality content, and use one of our strategies to amaze your subscribers. We’re sure that you now have the key to a successful campaign, so go put it to the test!
