Email newsletters are still an effective way for companies of all sizes and offerings to stay in touch with both prospects and customers. A statistics report by The Radicati Group confirms that “Email is remains the go-to form of communication in the Business world. In 2013, Business email accounts total 929 million mailboxes. This figure is expected grow at an average annual growth rate of about 5% over the next four years, and reach over 1.1 billion by the end of 2017.”

Email marketing is practiced by small and large enterprises regardless of their product or service offerings. The challenge marketers continually face is keeping their customers’ attention and converting those leads into buyers. With the majority of readers being bombarded by digital ads and email campaigns, here are some dos and don’ts to keep in mind when writing your next newsletter.

DO:

• Provide useful information – While it’s tempting to start off by educating readers about your company’s latest products or services, it may instantly turn away some people. The better approach is to provide relevant and industry-specific news your target audience will find useful.
• Keep the tone conversational – Writing in a clear and concise manner helps you deliver your message to your audience most effectively; don’t assume they understand technical language.
• Optimize it for mobile – Chances are, people will be reading your email newsletter in the subway on their way to or from work. Keep in mind that a mobile optimized email template will have a higher retention rate than not.
• Have a call to action – So you took all the right steps and have your readers’ attention, now what? Having a clear call to action provides a window for the next step, whether that’s to sign up to find out more about your new product or clicking on a link to your shopping page.

DON’T:

• Write a long email – Keep in mind that most people have limited time when browsing their emails. Nothing will prompt a reader to click delete faster than an email that scrolls like a manuscript.
• Send campaigns sporadically – The ideal frequency of email newsletters are once a month or bi-monthly. Make sure to optimize these campaigns by sending them at peak times when emails are actually read. This means acknowledging the peak hours of the time zones of where your readers are located.
• Have a bad subject line – A subject line can either make or break your email newsletter. Companies such as MailChimp or Constant Contact have tools that help optimize the subject line’s keywords.

The effectiveness of email newsletters always changes along with technology and the attention spans of readers. That dynamic will make it interesting to see how these do’s and don’ts hold up 5 or 10 years from now. But for now, these are the tips that can help you with your campaign.

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