Top 10 E-Mail Newsletter Mistakes
11/20/2008
By Rebekah Donaldson
Business Communications Group LLC
B2B e-mail newsletters are a cost-effective way to nurture contacts during long sales cycles and over the life of each client relationship... Effective, that is, if you steer clear of these common e-mail newsletter mistakes.
1. Trying to be all things to all people versus segmenting or targeting your audience
Trying to be all things to all people usually backfires. If you can segment your audience and deliver information targeted to their specific interests and needs, they’ll be more likely to engage.
If you send out one newsletter, strive to categorize the information so your readers can zero in on what’s helpful to them.
2. Being company-centric versus user-centric
We’re all suffering from information overload. The surest way to watch your newsletter go straight into the circular file is to focus on your company news.
To create interest, put the reader first. Give them valuable and relevant information that helps them work smarter, stay abreast of latest trends, or justify that they’ve made the right choice by working with you. Include items such as:
- Tips
- Useful resources they can find on your site and elsewhere
- Customer success stories and testimonials
- Announcements of workshops and other educational events
- Executive profiles
- Special incentives
- Reader responses/feedback to surveys or previous newsletter content
3. Having an overly busy or lackluster layout
Too much information is just that – too much. Readers should be able to get a grounded sense of what’s offered and what they might be interested in on an initial scan.
How? Through good spatial design, effective use of color and instructive headings and labels.
Providing good visual segmentation and hierarchy will do wonders for reader comfort and, ideally, help guide readers to take the next step - interact. Good design also instills confidence and trust.
4. Not offering readers multiple opportunities to take the next step
If you’re addressing 1 – 3, you should have readers’ attention by now.
Don’t waste it by not including a clear invitation to take the next step in the relationship-building process, whether you’re inviting them to register for an event, sign up for special offers, request a quote or download a tool.
5. Not making it clear what the next step should be
While it may be tempting to display your contact information and special offers in one section of your newsletter, don’t.
For best results, match your invitation to a related topic so you can capitalize on your readers’ interest and attention when it’s at its peak. They may never make it to the bottom of the page.
6. Not including easy-to-use Web or e-mail links so readers can get to more information
Not only do links help your readers find out more, they ensure that, if shared, new readers can also find out more about you. And who doesn’t want that?
7. Not proofreading and testing, and testing
Typos, grammatical errors, misspellings, broken links, broken images and broken functionality – all of these negatively impact your readers’ perceptions and impair their ability to find and use your information.
8. Not having a reprint policy
Include a clear statement, or link to one, that explains your reprint policy and permissions. Your readers are an additional distribution channel; help them all you can.
9. Not including a privacy policy, subscribe option, unsubscribe option or option to update a profile or e-mail address
To alleviate concerns about unsolicited mail, always include a short privacy statement that explains how you use e-mail addresses. Provide a link to your full policy for an expanded explanation.
Be sure to also enable readers to subscribe, unsubscribe or update their profile or address.
10. Not measuring or tracking activity
Keep track of reader interest and other trends by measuring the percentage of recipients opening the newsletter, identifying which elements are the most popular and learning how much time readers spend with each. Furthermore, not evolving based on what your stats tell you is a tremendous missed opportunity to fine tune editions and keep interest high.
By keeping tabs on what works and what doesn’t, you can better refine your e-mail newsletter to deliver more relevant and valuable content, engage your readers, and grow your list!
B2B marketing specialist
Rebekah Donaldson heads
Business Communications Group LLC, a Sacramento business to business marketing consulting company helping clients gain visibility, sales leads, new markets, and bigger deals. Contact Rebekah Donaldson with questions or comments at
ask@b2bcommunications.com or call (530)231-5397.