5 easy tips to make people open your newsletters

E-newsletters are probably the easiest and the cheapest way of getting your business noticed. No matter how ‘old and forgotten’ this PR technique might seem, a good email newsletter will always help strengthen the relationship between a company and its subscribers. Although this sounds like a piece of cake, in this competitive era, it’s very complicated to get someone to subscribe to e-newsletters, let alone opening and reading them!

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In fact, a recent study actually shows how email open rates have drastically declined over the decade. If your newsletter is not done just right, chances are it will be lost inside a busy inbox, eventually finding its place in the trash.

Follow these five easy tips to get people to open your email newsletters.

Create a great subject line

Those 35 characters that people see in the subject line are what make or break your chances. It literally means that your subscribers are going to judge the email by its subject line and hence, the most amount of time must be dedicating to perfecting it. Many organisations miss the mark right here – they spend the most amount of time focusing on the body of the email while completely ignoring the subject line. A compelling subject line can make even the busiest of people glance at your newsletter, at least once!

Avoid looking like spam

We all know what a spam email looks like and how irritated one can get with those flashy newsletters popping up in our inbox. Instead of going all guns ablaze on the subject line, tone it down a little and make it look as credible as possible. The bottom-line really is that no one likes unwanted solicitation. Also, while you are at it, make sure that the ‘From’ email address is easily recognisable. The ‘no reply’ email addresses are really unworthy of being open by anyone.

Get the timing right

Many organisations undermine the importance of timing. As they say, everything has a perfect timing, and this can be applied best to the case of newsletters. Depending on what time of the day you are sending the newsletter, or on what day of the week, it can increase or decrease the chances of your subscribers opening a particular e-newsletter. Keep in mind that every audience is unique, so test out the timing in order to hit your subscribers’ sweet spot.

Customise it for multiple platforms

Following the smartphone revolution, a good number of people now check their emails on their phones and tablets. So, make sure that the newsletters you send are available on multiple platforms (just to be on the safe side).

Be crisp and concise

Follow the tip that every journalist swears by, that is, being crisp. There is nothing better than a well written, grammatically correct and concise e-newsletter, that makes people will feel good after reading. Overwhelming your subscribers with too much statistical data and paragraphs of boring information and useless links that no one will even click makes the subscribers lose interest after they have opened it once. As they say, it’s all about keeping it real.

Keep these in mind the next time you prepare your newsletter and see your subscribers pouring in!