Learning how to write a good newsletter can be a difficult task. If you’ve never done it before, you might think that you can’t do it or don’t need to. However, every company can reach potential customers by offering them a way to keep up with various events and industry news.
Those who want to write a newsletter may find that writing is an art form. If you do it right, it makes you money. However, if you do it wrong, it could hurt your website and make you lose business.
Your site is where people go to learn about you. You may have different article options in your blog, but that doesn’t help with your email campaigns. Writing newsletter articles gives your readers another way to engage with you. It’s helpful because they can get the information they need without having to type in your URL and go to your website.
If your goal is to learn to create a newsletter, the tips below should help you. With that, you can always hire us to handle your newsletter writing needs!
What’s a Newsletter?
A newsletter article is an online report that people subscribe to. They often contain useful content, news, updates, and all the rest. Ultimately, they are an extension of your site on the web and can provide exclusive content for your email campaigns.
Companies often send them out to share information, stories, and resources to help employees and subscribers perform better.
A marketing newsletter article can help you generate sales, drive traffic to your website, and grow relationships through the written word with your subscribers. In a sense, it can encourage engagement from your readers and turn them into loyal fans.
With so much important information you can offer, getting ideas for writing each article shouldn’t be hard. However, the point is to get them on your page, and it’s possible to do that through writing and images. If nothing else, can start with the company news and go from there!
Newsletter Subject Line Requirements
The headline of your email can make or break email campaigns. If it’s boring, it sits in their inbox and does nothing for you because they don’t open it, and you don’t make money.
Roughly 35 percent of recipients open emails based on the subject line. Therefore, you must focus on a good quality one that makes it irresistible to the readers.
Though your goal is to write a newsletter, it’s much the same as with the articles in your blog. The title makes a huge difference, and your company must focus on producing the best headlines possible.
Ultimately, the best newsletter headline often includes the person’s name. You can get much higher open rates when you use the names of your subscribers. This can enhance their feelings of you talking directly to them.
A subject line with a simple “Hey, {NAME}” or “To {NAME}” works wonders.
Why is that, though? It’s been proven that when you call someone by their name, you are using conscious processing. Ultimately, it peaks their awareness and makes them more likely to go further.
One of the best tips here is to create a sense of urgency with your written words. In this idea, the fear of missing out entices others to open your email to get something great. With that, the recipients are interested immediately.
For example, if you say: “{NAME}, We Are Sorry,” it instantly hooks the reader and makes them interested. Why are you apologizing? Did you do something wrong?
Best Practices for Writing Articles/Newsletters
Now that you fully understand what a newsletter article is and the components, you should focus on the best practices. That way, readers are attracted to your site through your email campaign.
Provide an Opt-Out
You could offer all the information in the world, but you must include an opt-out. The FTC has laws called the CAN-SPAM Act, which covers commercial email laws. If you break them, you could find yourself and your website in legal trouble.
Therefore, you must:
- Tell the readers how to opt-out of any future emails
- Honor those requests immediately
As long as you’re aware of the rules, you shouldn’t have anything to fear. Most email services offer opt-out options.
If they don’t opt-out, you can send the subscribers more articles that meet their needs.
Don’t Mislead the Readers
If you’ve ever added “RE” or “FW” to an email without any other contact with them, you have broken the law. The second requirement of the FTC rules is that you can’t use deceptive subject lines. Whatever the title is in the inbox, it must reflect the body that the readers see.
You may have an amazing article to share with your target audience, but if you use the “forward” or “reply” abbreviations without ever sending that person an article to read or any other correspondence, you could get in trouble. Plus, you’re less likely to get them to stay on the page or go to your website this way.
Monitor Team Members and Employees
Do your employees email prospects or subscribers for you? If so, then they must follow the CAN-SPAM act laws and best practices.
Even though someone else is sending those emails, your address is the link they see. Therefore, make sure that you offer the resources necessary so that your employees understand the rules of sending a newsletter article.
Don’t Go Overboard
Spamming is a bad practice to get into, and it could make your readers turn away from your page.
Ultimately, when you send fewer emails, you get higher open rates. Therefore, you don’t necessarily have to send an article to your readers each week. With that, make sure that you’re using imagery because images can visually separate the information and ensure that people can take breaks while reading.
Include Social Sharing Buttons
Visual content within an article is more likely to be shared than something that’s only text. Social sharing is the best way to go viral with your content and get feedback from the reader.
Ensure that you put Twitter and Facebook sharing links in each newsletter. That way, subscribers can click the link to forward it to their followers or friends.
Ultimately, your business should be using links to offer more resources to everyone who might come into contact with your content.
The Main Focus for Writing a Newsletter
Now, you have a better idea of what the newsletter is, what it achieves, and how to get readers to click on the subject line.
Ultimately, your goal is to write a newsletter article, and that starts with having an idea about the different sections. The way you go about this can depend on your business goals, but the general principles are the same. Here’s what you should know:
Use Storytelling to Offer Interesting Content
Stories can help your audience relate emotionally to your business, the product, and the message. You can get your story in three ways:
- Offering your own experience
- Sourcing another person’s story
- Writing a fictional tale
Personal stories are effective because you can effortlessly tie that into your newsletter. Just make sure that the information you provide is relevant. For example, if you’re promoting an eBook about affiliate marketing, you could tell a story of how you were in debt and broke and stumbled on affiliate marketing to change your life.
While that’s pretty simple, you can use your life experiences within the article and mention them to promote whatever news you want.
If you don’t have stories to share, you can use someone else’s. Publications do that all the time. On top of that, create the topic for your newsletter to be about case studies or research stories.
Making up a story can be helpful, but be careful with your claims. If you say a previous customer made a billion dollars from your product, people lose trust because it’s unbelievable.
Make It Slippery
The goal of your headline is to get the readers to move to the first sentence. From there, you must make it interesting enough that they go to the second sentence, and so on until they get to the call to action.
This is the same thing as when you write a blog post. Focus on your words and their flow. The subject line intrigues them and relates to their wants, needs, and pain points. Then, the first sentence is a bold statement. You can use a question, statistic, or absurd comment. Now is your chance to hook their attention.
Typically, short and snappy sentences work best and are easy on the eyes. Just make sure that each sentence has substance and meaning while leading effortlessly into the next.
Make It Feel Real
Imagine that your company sold expensive cars, such as Lamborghinis. You want to increase the number of subscribers who call and schedule a test drive for your new arrivals. How do you get people to test out a $500,000 car?
It’s quite simple, really. You have to make them feel as though they already own it. You could write something interesting and relevant like this:
“Everyone is now staring at you and taking pictures. Those in sight can hear the scream of your V12 engine. As you tap the gas peddle, you’re pressed into the back of your seat and feel like you’re shooting out into space. A quick glance at this car makes you excited, but then you remember you own it! Test drive our new Lamborghini today!”
You don’t even have to sell the vehicle because your writing did it for you! In a sense, you’re speaking to the reader’s interest of wanting to feel special and drive fast. The goal is to help them imagine that they own the product and get those experiences. As a result, that generates the right emotions, and they’re more likely to take the right action.
Predict Questions and Provide Answers
To make the email newsletters slippery, you must predict the thoughts and questions your audience has. That way, you can answer them sooner and keep them moving through the message you’re trying to convey.
Consider the information possible customers want to know about prices, benefits, features, refunds, or other details. Weave that into the copy you write, and they believe you’re a mind reader. With that, you’re preventing obstacles.
The best feedback we can offer here is that if people are stopping to question you or are suspicious, you’ve already lost them. They click off the email, and your business loses a sale.
To do this right, you must have the right buyer persona and understand the ideal customer. Once you do that, you can use a free form tool to build templates. Add the questions you want to know about the reader. Then, send it out as a questionnaire so that you answer all the pain points when you craft the content later.
Include a Call-to-Action
A call to action is quite literal. It tells your reader to take a specific action, which brings them closer to the sale.
Everything you write should include a CTA, such as a blog post or a newsletter. Just make sure that it is relevant to the content and what you want from them. Here is an example of the best CTAs:
- Buy Now
- Continue Reading
- Schedule a call to ask about services
- Request a free eBook
Humans invariably want to be told what to do. In a sense, it makes our lives easier because we don’t have to think as hard. The CTA immediately moves us to the next step.
When to Send Email Newsletters
Now that you have a relevant newsletter, you may wonder the exact frequency of when to send it. Typically, the best time to email anyone is after 5 p.m. and before 9 a.m. Why?
That’s after they get off work or go to work. Ultimately, that email is the first thing they notice when they check their inbox.
Hubspot also discovered that emails sent at exactly 11 a.m. on Tuesdays, Mondays, and Wednesdays have the highest open rates.
However, each business has a specific audience. Monitor your data to see when it’s ideal for you to send your newsletters. For example, you might see that they’re opening emails at 2 p.m.
Conclusion
Now that you know how to write a newsletter article, it’s time to craft one. They’re a great way to reach your audience and start an email list. In fact, it’s the wisest thing that you can do as a business owner!
Focus on the ideas you have that could make a great subject line. These are the ones that are helpful and make people take notice and want to open them. Using the person’s first name or using urgency are proven tactics that can be beneficial to you.
Then, you should take the time to craft the body that uses the slippery slope. Each sentence needs to flow into the next, but you should also answer the person’s questions. Ultimately, your goal is to get them to subscribe to the next newsletter, and you can’t do that if they don’t finish reading the first one.
With that, you can add personal stories or find something that relates to you. Use vivid details to poke their imagination!
These tips for writing a newsletter should help you on your journey. If you’re still not sure you can craft one yourself, you can always hire our services.
