INTRODUCTION
The popularity of email newsletters for business has come and gone with the tides of new technology. Once dominant, social media knocked email off it’s high ground, only to fizzle in the last couple of years as consumers experience social feed fatigue. Regardless of what’s trendy, establishing an email audience of customers and sales leads should be a priority, every year for small business.
COLLECTION
There is no shortcut to collecting email addresses. Once collected, addresses are typically only valid for a few years at best which means you need to continually collect new addresses, and prune your existing lists. Below are some ideas on how to gain subscribers:
- Website opt-in form.
- Giveaway or promotion (promoted in website and social media).
- Point of sale.
- Networking.
CONTENT
Keep your newsletter content concise and focused. Recipients will not read hundreds or thousand of words. Use bold headlines, bullet points and links to your website to read “full articles”.
SCHEDULE
Don’t overdo it! Recipients will fatigue & unsubscribe if your frequency exceeds their tolerance. Start slow, quarterly, or monthly and measure open rates. Speaking of…
PROVIDER
Use a third party email newsletter service provider such as Constant Contact or MailChimp. Your deliverability will improve, and they provide tracking which is important for measuring results and guiding future content and scheduling.