The perfect newsletter? This is how it works!

• #How To

Newsletters are one of the most important external marketing measures. How do they succeed? 

It’s hard to imagine most companies’ activities without them: newsletters. Whether as an advertising tool, for acquisition purposes or simply for information – each of us is certainly subscribed to at least one newsletter. For companies, they are among the most important marketing measures. But how do you create the perfect newsletter and what do you have to pay attention to? 

How customers click on a newsletter  

Let’s start at the very beginning: After hours of hard work have been put into the newsletter and it has been filled to perfection with content, it has now been sent out. Now it is important that it is opened and then read. Because that’s the only way to measure the success of your newsletter. 

The prerequisite for the newsletter to be opened is that the right people are reached – accordingly, the target group is correctly defined. Are more and more company representatives signing up for the newsletter? Then, of course, the content should not start at 0, but can calmly pick up the customers at a somewhat advanced level. Here also the topicality should not be forgotten. For example, there are innovations on the popular social media platforms that offer advantages for companies? Then these should be presented to the readers. At this point, it makes sense to do a good segmentation. This means that you divide all the subscribers into different groups. For example, you can do this in “beginners” and “advanced” or just by professional groups. The content of the newsletter should then vary depending on the segment.  

But for the newsletter to be opened at all, the subject line must already pick up the customer. “Professional clickbaiting” is the keyword here. This does not promise the recipient anything that is not ultimately expected, but it is worded as if he or she absolutely has to read it in order to remain successful. A current hook or reference should be used.

When to send a newsletter? 

There will probably never be THE answer to this question, because it simply depends on who the newsletter goes to and how the individual people organize their day. First and foremost, it is important that the newsletter is sent neither too infrequently nor too often. Reporting can be used to determine what the open and click rates are. If it is determined that these are high when it is sent out once a month and very low and there are more unsubscribes when it is sent out once a week, the ideal frequency can be derived from this. 

However, it can be said that it probably makes no sense to send the newsletter in the early morning hours, nor to send it at night. Everything else depends entirely on when people have time to check their e-mails and then actually open newsletters and read them. Here, too, you should try things out and check at what time of day the most opens and clicks are generated. Roughly speaking, however, it can be said that B2B e-mails tend to be checked during working hours and B2C e-mails tend to be checked in the evening or at the weekend. 

Another way to increase click-throughs is to include as many engaging visuals as possible and to include links everywhere. The more opportunities recipients have to click on links, the more likely they are to do so. Also, be sure to include Call To Actions to improve click-through rates. 

The Design

An appealing design is, of course, in the eye of the beholder. Nevertheless, there are certain things that should be considered. One of these is the recognition value. The recipients should always know at first glance who the newsletter is from. This way, the design can be memorized. Of course, it is recommended to incorporate your own corporate identity and to work with the corporate design. The logo should definitely be reflected and a uniform font should be used. To get a second opinion on this, a test mail is highly recommended – not only to have the design evaluated, but also to get a second opinion on the content. 

Newsletter – A must in marketing

It is indisputable: newsletters can bring the decisive step when it comes to successful marketing. But in order for this to be fulfilled, there are some important things to consider. In addition to the design, this also includes an objective as well as the segmentation of the target group. If the tips in our blog post are followed, then nothing stands in the way of a successful newsletter.