The most frequent mistakes made in corporate newsletters (that are easy to fix!).
One of the easiest ways to stay in touch with your customers (both B2Bs and B2Cs) is by distributing a weekly, monthly, or quarterly e-newsletter. You can quickly share product or service news, company updates, press releases, sales promotions… the list goes on.
As long as you’re tactical about your approach, you have a shot at getting your newsletter read by the recipient. There is an abundance of lists on what your newsletter should have (a good subject line, updated contact list, etc.) and when it should be distributed (best days of the week and times of day dependent on your industry and customer).
But what about the things your newsletter may not be doing? These are our top “Yikes” items for newsletters:
Not Mobile Optimized
Your email is being read on mobile. Even if many of your readers are at their workplace and most likely working on a desktop, most are reading their personal email on their phone. If it’s a B2B email, it might be read on desktop; but if not, you certainly don’t want to give the impression that you’re not technically up to date.
Most email providers now offer responsive email templates that look great on both desktop and mobile devices, but not all companies have made the leap over. Do yourself a long-term favor and spend the time or money to revamp your template so that it is responsive. It is a small detail that makes a big impact.
Not Short Enough
We all know the reality of inboxes—they’re always full. And we’re always trying to clear them out and keep up before they overflow again. So how do you get your message read and avoid inciting the dreaded “unsubscribe”?
KISS. Keep It Short, Sweetie. If your email is cluttered with information, your readers’ eyes will glaze over and you’ll lose them. Write an intriguing headline, a simple intro, and get that reader to “click here” for more information. Keep it short, direct, and super-relevant to what your reader wants to hear.
No Links
Newsletters are of course meant to inform; but what is your real end-game? Our guess is that you want to drive your visitor to your website, a landing page, social media profile, or some other digital platform to take ACTION!
Make sure that it is as easily as possible to get them to click. Link your images, your headlines, and bits of your copy. Send yourself a test email and try clicking the links to make sure even those with big thumbs can easily click through to your site.
Honorable Mentions
No Analytics—How are your emails performing? One of the easiest ways to improve performance is to… look at your performance. Learn what works best for you and do more of it.
No Branding—Your newsletter template should be professional, clean, and directly reflect your brand. Use your logo, brand colors, and strong images.
Not Emailing Subscribers—Okay, you have certainly heard this before. But please hear it again. If you’re not emailing people who have subscribed to your newsletter (i.e., people who have provided consent), you are sending spam. Do us all a solid, and don’t spam. It’ll help keep all of our inboxes a little bit cleaner.
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