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Do you have a newsletter that isn’t performing as well as you wish it was? Maybe it’s not getting many opens, or worse, not many clicks. It might be time for a newsletter MOT.
Here are 3 mistakes to avoid when you’re crafting your newsletter, and how to fix them. They are basic errors but I’ve seen them countless times, and they really hold your newsletter back.
1- Your newsletter doesn’t look professional
If you want people to take you seriously, your newsletter needs to look professional. This doesn’t mean it can’t look fun, approachable, friendly, depending on your brand. But it should look neat and well put together.
THE FIX - If you’re using a software such as MailChimp, play around with content blocks and create a simple template. Remember, you’re not a graphic designer (if you are, disregard this last comment!). Simple and sleek is the way to go. You’ll need to use the same template for each newsletter. I know it’s tempting to update it a little to fit whatever you want in this month’s newsletter. But you should adapt the content to fit the template, not the opposite.
2- It has lots of text, and not many links
A common error is to tell your customers everything in the body of the newsletter. But a newsletter is a bit like a menu. You tell them a snippet of information, and if they’re interested they’ll click to read more.
THE FIX - You need to keep your description short - Three lines is usually enough (this will be dictated by your template too). Always add a link at the bottom that says “read more” “find out more” or something like that.
3- The links don’t point to YOUR website
If you’ve already put in place the “short text, lots of links” fix mentioned above, that’s great. But the links need to point to your website. If they don’t, you’re missing out on an opportunity to get your potential customers on your website. You want them on your website because that’s where they can find out what you do and how they can buy it.
THE FIX - Ideally, your website should have a “news” or “blog” section. These news or blogs don’t need to be long. If you don’t have much time to create content, you could create an article with the top 3 articles on the chosen subject for example, and link to them. It’s fine to link to other websites on your websites, but not in your newsletter.
I’ve implemented these changes for many organisations before and it will always increase visits to your website! Let me know if you try them and how it works for you!
If you find that this is all fine and well but you don’t have time to look into this, get in touch to schedule a newsletter MOT.