While extremely popular and a must in any marketing strategy, writing newsletters that get opened and read is extremely challenging. You have to come up with fresh ideas all the time and make sure that the topics speak your audience’s language. You have to pay attention to the call to action and click rates and share it in as many channels as possible.

So how can you send the right newsletter to the right person? How do you know that your newsletter is effective in getting results for your business and product?

Here are some tips that will make your newsletter stand out.

Segment your target audience

Do Americans look for the same goods as Europeans? Do mobile users shop the same way as desktop users? Do visitors who come from organic searches look for the same items as visitors who come through a specific referrer or campaign? Segmenting visitors enables businesses to target campaigns according to their preferences.

What are the buyer personas of your business? In the travel industry, for example, there are four types:

the general browser, who window shops looking for common deals and locations;

the researcher who looks for opportunities, multiple locations, discount rates and dates;

the targeted travel shopper, who has a specific goal in mind (including dates and locations) and looks to compare prices;

and the buyer, who has already done the research and compared prices and makes a final visit to a site to make a purchase.

Segmenting your audience by buyer type will enable you to write newsletters that are targeted to the specific groups, giving them exactly what they are looking for.

Keep your database clean and accurate

Your database of prospects, potential and existing customers must be accurate and up to date. You invested in defining the buyer personas, wrote an excellent newsletter and mapped each target audience’s journey – none of it will be of any good if you don’t know who to send the newsletter to. Keeping your database current and up to date is essential for reaching your marketing objectives.

Send the Newsletter When the Time Is Right

When is the right time to send a newsletter or email? Since you’ve already defined the buyer persona and drawn the customer journey, you know when to send the newsletter to each prospect or customer. If you are sending a newsletter about your next conference, send it early enough so that you can send reminders and give people ample time to register. If you’re targeting an audience overseas, make sure you have your time zones right because they may not open an email that they get in the middle of the night!  

Go mobile

As we wrote in our Creating B2B Content with the Right Purpose article, most people today use mobile. Therefore your newsletter or email must be adapted to responsive design so they can be opened and easily read on mobile devices.

Personalize

Make your newsletter as personal as possible. Since you’ve already segmented your target audience, this should be easy. Write only about what the specific buyer persona is interested in. Use the language they understand, address their specific need, write the story they want to hear.

Don’t Forget the CTA

You’re providing information and education about your product or service, but you do have a purpose. So don’t forget the call to action. Place it in a clear but unobtrusive location, make it clear and as attractive as possible.

Last but not least – thank your readers for reading and being your partner. This will keep them opening your newsletters.

So thanks!