7 Tips for Successful Newsletter Marketing

You think newsletter marketing is a phase-out model in times of social media? Far from it! Customer contact via newsletters is and remains an important part of marketing. With a well thought-out strategy, companies have the opportunity to bind their customers for the long term and strengthen customer relationships. Like every marketing measure, the preparation of a mailing takes time and needs a plan. We provide you with seven valuable tips on how to make your newsletter marketing successful.

1. The strategy

Before you start creating your first newsletter, you should first answer a few important strategic questions. What is the goal of the campaign, what is to be achieved? Is it about reactivating previous customers? Do you want to strengthen your customer loyalty through smaller activities? Which target group should be addressed? The last question is particularly important because not every campaign is suitable for every target group. Once you have defined the target group, you should also consider how and when you can reach it.

 2. First impressions count: Top seller subject line

Imagine you see an attractively designed shop window. Are you going into the store to take a closer look around and maybe even buy something? Most likely, yes. The same can be said about the subject line of your newsletter: if it is formulated in an appealing way, it invites your customers to open the email. If it doesn't animate them, it's likely that the newsletter will end up in the trash unopened. The subject line is limited to 40 characters on average and should therefore be as crisp as possible. The supreme discipline is to personalize the subject line. This detail significantly increases the opening rate. Some email programs also allow the display of a so-called pre-header. To do this, a preview of the first sentence is displayed in the inbox. Insert a short sentence here that supplements your subject line and gives a good impression of the content of the email.

3. Personalisation at all levels

Create your newsletter as personalized as possible. No matter which goal you have set for your email campaign (see point 1), always address your customers personally. In order to create even more relevance, the content of the newsletter should also be personalised. These can, for example, be developed on the basis of previous shop orders, or you have already collected information about customer preferences elsewhere (e.g. via a survey). To personalize the content, divide your recipient lists into meaningful segments. Depending on the target group, the dynamic content is then displayed in the newsletter.

 4. Keep it short and authentic

Consider your newsletter as the entrance door to further content - your website or your online shop. Stay concise and clear in your communication and prefer a natural approach instead of excessive marketing phrases. If your mailing texts are formulated in the same language as the texts on your website, you will create a feeling of authenticity with your readers and customers and at the same time create a recognition value for your brand.

5. The design must also be well thought out

Not only the Corporate Identity is decisive for the creation of the newsletter, also other points have to be considered during the design. With a well thought-out design you help your readers to find their way around your newsletter. Call-to-Actions should stand out visually from the rest of the content and catch the reader's eye directly. Here it is recommended to use buttons. Highlighted subheadings, pictures and graphics loosen up your newsletter. Very important: Use a responsive design optimized for mobile devices.

6. The right content at the right time

Finding the right time to send out your newsletter is a particular challenge. Of course, this depends strongly on the target group. In the B2B area, you reach your customers best on weekdays between 9 am and 6 pm, while B2C customers read your newsletter in the evening and on weekends. Emails that are sent on Mondays are often drowned in the mountain of mailings that have already accumulated over the weekend. Fridays are also not very suitable, however, as many customers start their weekends earlier. Of course, the right time cannot be generalized. Make an experiment: Create two different variants that you send at different times. This way you can find out when the opening and click rates are highest.

7. With tests and analyses to success

The last and most important tip: Test and analyze your newsletter campaign regularly. Because everything that sounds good and plausible in theory doesn't have to be successful in practice at the same time. Test all components of your newsletter: different subject lines, different delivery times, formulations and images. There is always room for improvement.