Email newsletters are a method of letting your customers know about possible updates on anything that is connected with your business, products, and services. Additionally, newsletters are also used as an electronic form of the humble newspaper – a reincarnation of the newspaper which is used by millions of net users worldwide. This method is so powerful that news bulletins can now be sent hot off the press and directly to end users – a privilege that was only granted to a select few who had direct access and the money to pay for it.
From a business perspective, there is not a lot of news making that you probably do. Even the biggest companies don’t have something to tell the world every day and more likely during a quarter. However, being a powerful medium that informs rather than directly sells, many companies leverage this tool to their selling benefit. Think about the swine flu craze and how many online pharmacies must have capitalized on spreading information about the disease and its cure – which was available at a mouse click. This doesn’t mean that a newsletter is all about creating a scare and inciting a sale as there are more subtle methods that you can use.
1. Information dissemination. People on the internet are more confident about buying a product once they have complete information about the product and what it is for. Therefore, you must use a newsletter as a method of informing people about the gap and everything about that gap before you state that there is a solution to the gap. Email newsletters gain an edge in this way by not become items of sales spiel, which some might see as a less credible source of information.
2. Formats. When creating a newsletter, form and formatting are absolutely crucial. There is always a danger that you could end up cluttering your newsletter with too much information and this is the first thing that you have to get straight by giving just the required information. Remember that a newsletter should ideally have seventy percent weight in favor of imagery.
3. Drive back traffic. This is a given considering the real objective behind a newsletter in the first place. Therefore, do not tire and exhaust the reader with too much information. Use “read more…” links to drive back traffic to your site. This has an additional benefit of having control over the content since an email sent cannot be retrieved, but information on a site can always be updated.
The fundamental tenet of email newsletters is that they capitalize on net users’ need to see information and rarely point to a sale itself. This provides a more secure environment for the user to indulge in before he or she starts thinking about a sale. Another important thing to note is that your chances of being caught by a spam filter when sending a news letter is less than if you sent a bulk email.