Succeed with your newsletters, step by step

1. Decide what value your newsletters should give, and to whom

When you work with email marketing it should give value to both your business and recipients. So ask yourself these two questions when you start (or restart) your newsletters:

• Who do you want to reach? Why?
• What value can you give in the emails?

Running a web shop you would probably answer "my customers, to sell more" to the first. That is fairly obvious, but depending on what you sell and how big the shop is, that group may need to be broken down (segmented) further.

You may also have additional groups, beyond customers, that you want to reach. Selling training gear and supplements, you probably want to reach the training-interested broadly, to strengthen your brand and eventually convert them to new customers.

Make sure to list the groups you want to address (and why), then write one sentence per group on why that group would want a newsletter from you.

A made-up example: Gymathome.com sells training gear and supplements for those wanting a healthy life at home. The shop's list could look like:

• Those who bought/are interested in equipment (so they buy for the first time or return). "Subscribe to our newsletter to get exclusive discounts on gear, training program tips, sneak peeks at new products and the latest training research."
• Those who bought/are interested in supplements (so they buy for the first time or return). "Subscribe to our newsletter for exclusive discounts on our supplements, sneak peeks at new arrivals, and loads of recipes for shakes, smoothies, meals and sweets."

Each group should ideally have its "own" email, but that may be impossible if you have many categories. Depending on time and resources you may need to cut someone and/or merge groups, which then affects the content (step 3) and the result (step 5).

2. Set up a system for collecting addresses

To send newsletters you need addresses, obviously. Still, a surprising number of companies have not thought through the collection itself! There are many methods, but the two most common are:

• Form on the website.
• Sign-up box at checkout.

You can also use lead ads on Facebook to collect email addresses.

Another option is to have a "gift page"/downloadable on your site, where the visitor must enter their email to get access to, for example, a discount code, gift card or guide. But the method does not always fit and is mostly used by B2B sellers, not B2C.

When you start collecting addresses, you will notice you need some sort of program/tool/service for your newsletters, if you do not already have one. It is through that program you build forms and collect addresses, then create the emails before sending them. Mailchimp, Klaviyo, Brevo, Apsis, Get a Newsletter, and ConvertKit are some examples of email marketing tools.

3. Produce relevant and consistent content

With addresses and an email marketing tool you are ready to produce the newsletters themselves. But what should they contain? How should they look? Some general getting-started tips and guidelines:

• Create a template to start from. With a template you ensure your sends look consistent over time. You also save yourself time, since you do not have to "remake" things every send. So invest time in a good template: use your brand colors, add the logo, tailor the text to a good style and size, add social media buttons, review the footer, go through it all! You can even add "labels" to remember what should be included, e.g. "Blog headline", "New product", "Instagram collage", so you know what to fill each email with when the time comes.
• One news item/ONE theme per email. To keep emails from getting scattered, pick one main headline or theme to be the focus. For Gymathome.com a supplements-focused email could focus on a new supplement and matching recipes, or center on a "sweets" theme. Or why not let it be seasonal: "do not let autumn stop you, how to cut when motivation drops"?
• Start from what recipients want to know, and give them that. The absolute most important thing when producing newsletters is starting from the recipient's perspective, not yours or the company's. Do not think "what do we want to say?" but "what do they want to know?". Only then will you spark engagement and potentially get more (returning) customers.
• Links, links, links! When you send a newsletter you want recipients to click through to your shop and, ideally, buy something. So make (basically) all content clickable, and have links go to your site. Nothing there for recipients to want (see the previous tip)? Then create it. It does not have to be complicated! For Gymathome.com it might be enough to compile a list of inspiring training videos on YouTube and publish it on a subpage (or in a blog), so you can link to it in a newsletter.
• Spend time on the subject line. It does not matter how good your newsletters are if no one opens them. Spend time on the subject line so it sparks interest and describes the content.

4. Send the emails on the right day, at the right time

Marketers have L O N G debated which weekday and time of day is best for newsletters. The answer is of course "it depends", but according to a CoSchedule roundup Tuesdays and Thursdays are good days, sending at 10:00 or sometime between 20:00 and 24:00. Use those days and times as a starting point, then test what fits your business. Or ignore "when" and focus on content.

Whichever day/time you choose, it is important to send continuously. The right interval depends on what you sell and who you target, but the goal is to send so often/seldom that recipients neither forget you nor feel you are "spammy".

5. Evaluate and improve your newsletters

Your goals with email marketing are fundamentally that people read your emails (so they remember you and hopefully come to you next time they shop), visit your shop, and ideally buy. But how do you know your emails are working? At least four things to evaluate:

• Number of subscribers. How many people you send to.
• Open rate. Share of recipients who opened. If low, it could be that: a) the subject line is not interesting enough. b) recipients have varying "interests" and the subject line is only relevant to some. c) you send too often or too seldom, so recipients tire or forget you.
• Click rate. Share of recipients who clicked something inside. If low, it could be that: a) you have not linked content, but put everything in the email. b) content is not interesting enough. c) recipients have varying "interests" and the content is only relevant to a few.
• Revenue generated. By connecting your newsletter tool to your shop you can track which revenue your newsletters generate. Weigh that against your production/sending costs, how much are you earning? If revenue is low but open rate and click rate are good, you may need to expand who you send to and/or optimize your shop.

Wondering what counts as "low" and "high" for opens and clicks? Mailchimp publishes average numbers (what is "normal") for different industries and company sizes, which you can compare against.

With a clear purpose, thoughtful address collection, relevant and consistent content, the right timing, and continuous optimization we dare to promise your email marketing will be successful. Maybe not overnight, but soon! Just take it step by step.