How to Create an Email Marketing Newsletter

Email marketing newsletters, or e-newsletters, are a great way to turn first-time buyers into loyal customers. An e-newslettes can create a positive image for your company, and bring repeat business. The key is to offer interesting, useful content that enhances your relationship with your customers, and to be prepared to continue for the long haul, as a loyal base of readers starts small and grows.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

1. Choose an email marketing newsletter service that can deliver all the features that you need, if your company can't do all the work in-house. A small home business can start a newsletter on a shoestring budget, but as your business grows, you'll probably want a newsletter in HTML rather than plain text, so your e-newsletter can include eye-catching photos and graphics. Also, you want to be sure that your email newsletter complies with all spam laws, so there's an easy way for readers to opt out. Just as important, you want it to be easy for customers or potential customers to opt in to your email newsletter even if they're just browsing your web page. If they like the email newsletter, it should be easy to forward to their friends too. Being able to keep track of click-through rates and other statistics will be useful too, to see what your customers respond to best.

2. Dedicate someone to the task of creating your email marketing newsletter on a regular schedule, whether it's once a month or every two weeks. If you have an enticing newsletter that attracts customers, don't lose the momentum. The newsletter is your best opportunity to keep your business fresh in your customers' minds.

3. Think about the newsletter from your customers' point of view. You want to sell them something, but what do they want? Plan for each newsletter to have something useful and related to your business--recipes if you're selling food, free market insight if you're selling investments, and so forth. Readers like to feel that you're doing something for them, and not just trying to sell them something.

4. But don't forget to sell them something! Give your readers news of a sale, a special promotion, or a coupon, to entice them to act now. Put in a call to action, suggesting specific steps they can take to save money or buy now. Keep track of the click-through rate, or sales made with a code or coupon in the newsletter, to see what offers are most apt to turn readers into customers.

5. Get your readers involved. Ask them to send questions for a Q&A section, or to contribute personal anecdotes, or send in tips for how they solved a problem. They'll be looking for their name in the next newsletter and will be waiting for it eagerly.

6. Keep your e-newsletter short. Leave your readers wanting more. If you have more information to offer, include hyperlinks to articles on your website, where the most interested newsletter readers can continue reading and visit your online store as well.

7. Don't forget the fine print at the bottom: a link to unsubscribe, a privacy statement, a copyright notice, and so forth.

8. In addition to sending your email marketing newsletter to subscribers, consider archiving previous editions on web pages. It will allow search engines to access them and bring more readers and more attention to your business.