8 Essentials of an Effective Email Newsletter via PostcardMania. Email newsletters give you an opportunity to be a regular presence in your prospects and customer inboxes.

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8 Essentials
of an Effective
email Newsletter

2. First thing’s first:
If you don’t publish a
regular email newsletter,
you should start.
Email newsletters give you an opportunity to be a regular presence in your prospects and
customers inboxes. Email has become the dominant method of communication for both
business and personal use. Your newsletter is an opportunity to prove your expertise, show
prospects how much you can help them, update customers and prospects on company news
and upcoming events, as well as to generate traffic on your website. In this report, I will go
through the 8 Essentials of an Effective Email Newsletter, so you know what your email
newsletter should include and what each component does for your company.
In a 2007 case study
published by the marketing
experts at MarketingSherpa,
they showed that ConAgra
Foods generated 34.25%
more product sales from
consumers who subscribed to
email newsletters, as opposed
to consumers who did not.

3. Essential 1:
A Regular, Predictable, and DEPENDABLE Schedule
Your newsletter subscribers are busy people. The average person receives over 100
emails a day. If they don’t know exactly when to expect it, you have very little chance
of getting their attention.1
You can choose to send your newsletter weekly, biweekly,
monthly, quarterly, etc. However, once you have decided on a schedule, stick to it! You lose
the benefits of steady reliable exposure to subscribers, if you don’t follow a predictable
pattern with your email newsletter.
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4. Essential 2:
A Predetermined and Well-Defined Target Audience
Before you start sending out your newsletter emails, you need to decide who you are
targeting. Are you trying to nurture leads? Build the brand loyalty of your customers?
Promote specific products or services? Deciding what the purpose of your email
newsletter is helps you determine who your target audience is. When you operate with a
predetermined and well-defined audience, your content is more attractive to readers and
more effective for your company. It can be tailored specifically to those who are going to
be reading it, and this produces better results for you.

5. Essential 3:
Useful, Valuable, and Shareable Content
This point is CRITICAL. As I said before, people receive an outrageous amount of emails
these days. That means you aren’t given a lot of second chances. If a subscriber gets your
newsletter and doesn’t get anything out of it, they are much less likely to read it again.
You need to understand the situation from their perspective, and offer them something
of value in each of your newsletters. This can be great industry advice, insight into your
company’s products and services to show the value that they offer, etc. Just make sure
you are giving readers a reason to look forward to the next issue of your newsletter. Offer
content that your subscribers can use in their everyday life. If you can deliver content that
improves their lives, they will be led to share your content. Great content builds trust with
your prospects, loyalty in your customers, and generates free exposure through sharing.
Some examples of great newsletter content are...
• A landscaping company giving seasonal advice on how to care for their garden or plants
as each new season approaches.
• A dental hygienist breaking down the seemingly endless variations of toothpaste, and
explaining which ones are best for which situations.
• An auto-repair business warning prospects of the kinds of car troubles that most often
catch people by surprise, but can be avoided if caught in time.

6. Essential 4:
Expanding Your Subscriber Base
Just because you choose a target audience for your newsletter doesn’t mean it can’t expand.
You can do this is by putting a form on your website, which asks for site visitors email
addresses in exchange for helpful weekly content (or whichever regular schedule you
choose for your newsletter). This offers visitors the chance to subscribe to your newsletter,
if they like what they see. These opt-in subscriptions are going to be easier to convert,
because they were already interested enough to choose to receive your newsletter. Maybe
they just need a few emails to get to know your company a little better, before making
the leap to become your customer. You can also expand your base by adding in all the
leads that come in through other venues. You want to get as many leads as possible to
experience consistent marketing from your company.

7. Essential 5:
A Company News and Updates Section
In a survey done of email newsletter users by the Nielsen Norman Group, over 60% of
users rate company news as VALUABLE content for an email newsletter. That means
they generate more revenue and click-thru traffic, when they include company news and
reminders in their newsletter. So, make sure you set aside a small section to give them a
few updates, such as new product releases, new endorsements, upcoming events, etc.
WHAT WE’VE BEEN UP TO...

8. Essential 6:
Special Incentives that Encourage Subscriptions
Earlier I wrote of the importance of offering value to your readers. One way you can do
this is by including coupons or special offers in your newsletters. This will encourage
anyone who is a regular customer of yours to subscribe to your newsletter, and will attract
interested prospects as well. Once these readers are subscribed you can introduce them
to new products, develop trust and build loyalty to your company through your quality
content.
SPECIAL
OFFER!

9. Essential 7:
A Link to Your Business Website to Drive Prospects to Your Site
This is another incredibly important part of your email newsletter. You absolutely need to
include a link in your email to create a bridge from your email to your website.
Your emails should focus on two purposes:
1. Offering valuable content to encourage regular reading.
2. Driving traffic to your website.
So, based on the topic you are discussing in that newsletter issue, provide a link to a
related landing page, where you can introduce your reader to relevant products and
services. This facilitates the conversion process and makes it as easy as possible for your
subscribers to become customers or make new purchases.
VISIT US ONLINE! WWW.WEBSITE.COM

10. Essential 8:
Your Contact Information in an Easily Visible Location
It is always important to allow your readers to contact you as easily as possible. Same
goes for your emails. Make sure your contact information is prominently featured in your
email, either right at the top, or in your signature at the bottom. If your subscriber reads
something that sparks their interest, you want them to be able to pick up the phone and
call you immediately.
Each of these elements make up a truly effective email newsletter. It will consistently build
trust, nurture leads, build customer loyalty, and drive traffic to your website, where you
can generate more revenue. Take a few minutes to make sure your newsletter has all 8. If
you don’t have a newsletter yet, we recommend you get started right away. You’re missing
out on the extra revenue it could generate for your company.
CALL US AT 1-800-555-5555

11. Take Action:
Now you’ve got the knowledge. It’s time to put it into action.
1. Set a schedule you can stick to consistently with your email newsletter.
2. Define your target audience (unconverted prospects, current customer, prospects who
would be interested in a particular product or service, etc.)
3. Brainstorm a list of content ideas to write about in your upcoming newsletters.
4. Add all leads into your newsletter email database.
5. Make sure your newsletter’s include the important components we discussed
(Company News, Contact Info, Website Links, etc.)
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If you need help with your email marketing, we would love to help
you out! Give our marketing experts a call at 1-866-803-2421 today.
www.postcardmania.com