Great newsletters as a form of e-mail marketing can sell stuff!
It’s happened to me, and I’m sure it’s probably happened to you too. In the past I have seen a good email newsletter and signed up to receive it in order to get hold of what looks like a good source of free information.
Things went well to begin with and I really came to enjoy that particular email newsletter when it arrived every week. But then things started to change. It became less about offering good information to its readers and more about promoting certain products each time. Eventually I stopped subscribing altogether.
Connect to you Customers
Now I know that a lot of people make a lot of money from their email newsletter, and I’m not saying that you shouldn’t use it as self promotion and to promote products in them because that’s half the reason you send them out in the first place. There are some great newsletter tips out there.
But notice that I said half the reason. The other half is to connect with your customers and give them real value, even though they are getting your email newsletter for free. If you don’t give people enough reasons to keep on reading your email newsletter they will simply delete it as soon as they see it arrive, because they know it will be nothing more than an advert in disguise.
Create a Steady Balance
You need to maintain a balance between giving your customers valuable information and also letting them know about certain products – and ironically if you take the bonus off of selling they will actually be more likely to provide you with an income, since they will view you as someone to be trusted and they will pay more attention when you tell them you have something to recommend them to.
So make sure you pay attention to what you are putting in your email newsletter. It could mean the difference between people opting out of receiving it, or carrying on reading it for months and years to come.
Have a most outstanding day.
Sean RasmussenAussie Internet Marketing
www.SeanSEO.com © 2008 - 2010
{ 9 comments… read them below or add one }
Hay Sean
Do you have any examples of newsletters I can model off
There is obviously a lot to know about this. I think you made some good points in Features also.
Thanks Sean
I have been in your situation. Things are going along fine and next thing it is all sales,sales,sales. Obviously they think that’s enough of the nice guy now its time to push. All they do is push me to push the unsubscribe button.
Hi Sean,
This is great advice. I agree that it’s all about building a relationship with your customer. We need to be conscious of adding value continually before we try to get anything from them.
I guess if we can build a relationship where the customer feels valued and respected, they will be more likely to come to us when they do want to buy something.
Hi Sean
I totally agree with what you are saying here. I have created a newsletter because I thought it would be great to receive one each month for work at home people like myself and I couldn’t find one.
I like my newsletter to have really helpful information that is of value to my customers and can help them time wise and health wise. I don’t want my newsletter to be an ulterior motive to get sales.
Blessings
Elly
now that’s very good common sense and why didn’t i think of that!
free newsletters are the last thing i read, so it must be a more compelling reason than a sales pitch. i will take that with me and add some real value to people’s lives not just bombard them with a sales pitch.
In then end, that’s about respecting clients as human beings and not money-machines. I am always taken by the integrity and thoughtfulness of your suggestions and appreciate it greatly.
Hi Sean,
I know that newsletter emails are an important part of the internet marketing strategies, I would rather get a newsletter once a month, to just keep me up to date with new products if its the same thing they to push all the time then I just unsubscribe.
I haven’t ventured into email marketing myself yet in time I guess I will.
A great way to do non-promotional email that drives well is to send out a weekly or monthly newsletter that just gives summaries and links to 3 or 4 of your most recent blog posts. People will click through to read more about something that they missed that was interesting to them, and then convert from there if it’s natural and easy for them to do. The content is fresh and engaging and not just the same junk over and over that pushes them to unsubscribe.
By doing this, you can keep you unsubscribe rates under .5% usually and get some great click through rates as people have engaging content to click on and not just ads
I have had exactly the same experience with signing up to a newsletter which then just became a weekly sales pitch and it was really disappointing and didn’t want anything really to do with that site/company again as they “used” me.
I have a smal business for which i send out a montly newsletter for which I stick to a template to ensure that there is a good mix of information and tips and then the latest products as well as specials. I am pleased with this format and think I have got the balance right.
In setting up my blogs…I actually think that the information will be dominating over the affiliate product!