Let’s not hide it; the newsletter is a web marketing tactic that’s been around for a while. Is it fair to say that it’s outdated? Not at all. In fact, at TREIZE, we have a knack for finding it still quite trendy.
Trendy, BUT STILL…
A newsletter is also a unique opportunity to maintain a special connection with your consumers, and trust us, you don’t want to pass that up.
WHAT EXACTLY IS A NEWSLETTER?
A newsletter is a marketing tactic that involves sending emails regularly to a subscriber list. Depending on your subscribers’ profiles (customers, prospects, brand relationship) and your needs, the goal and content of your newsletter can vary and can even be personalized.
IF YOU’RE LOOKING TO REFRESH YOUR WEB MARKETING TACTICS, SHOULD YOU GIVE THE NEWSLETTER A TRY?
In our opinion, a newsletter has immense potential for customer loyalty and conversion. But, please note! We’d rather be upfront about it now: the process of creating and maintaining a newsletter won’t happen in the blink of an eye.
In our view, a newsletter is a tactic to try only if:
- You have the time (or you’re willing to pay for someone’s time).
- You’re ready for a long-term commitment. Once the sending frequency is determined, you’ll need to meet your subscribers’ expectations.
- You have the energy to renew yourself and produce quality content that adds value to your subscribers.
WHERE TO BEGIN?
To send a newsletter, you first need a subscriber list. Getting your customers to sign up for the newsletter will be your initial challenge!
When one of your customers subscribes to your newsletter, that’s already a big high-five to your company. It demonstrates a significant level of trust and commitment while opening the door (quite wide, in fact) to consuming more of what you have to offer. They may not be a fully acquired customer yet, but they consider you, and the newsletter is the perfect opportunity to convert your prospects into customers and/or to foster customer loyalty.
HOW TO ENCOURAGE YOUR AUDIENCE TO SUBSCRIBE TO YOUR NEWSLETTER?
You can implement various communication tactics to promote your newsletter. For example, you can create original content on your owned media platforms (such as Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, etc.) to promote subscription to your new newsletter and direct people to your signup page (using a service like MailChimp, for instance). You could also create sponsored posts on Facebook and/or Instagram to reach a larger audience and directly target the profiles of the consumers you’re interested in.
However, if you have a website, it’s the ideal place to have a permanent call to action that promotes newsletter subscription and its content at all times.
ON MY WEBSITE, WHAT FORM COULD NEWSLETTER SUBSCRIPTION TAKE?
When it comes to web design, there’s no real limit to what we can develop. On your website, the call to action for newsletter subscription can take the form of your choice (a button, an article that redirects to a signup page, a pop-up, a form, a dedicated newsletter page, etc.). However, just because we can develop almost anything doesn’t mean it’s always the best idea to do so.
At TREIZE, we often like having the newsletter at the bottom of the page.
We set up a call to action at the bottom of the page that encourages subscription. It’s a non-intrusive tactic for users and provides multiple touchpoints and opportunities to engage the user (since the bottom of the page is consistent on each page). Here’s an example of a call to action at the bottom of the page:
At TREIZE, we often advise against using pop-ups.
Imagine the following situation: you’ve been browsing a website for a few seconds. You didn’t know this company, but quickly, you like what you see, appreciate the tone of communication, and want to learn more, when suddenly a pop-up appears on the screen, offering you a newsletter subscription. We advise against it because:
- It’s a major annoyance for the user who was just beginning to trust you and become familiar with your company. In this situation, a pop-up causes frustration as the user is awkwardly interrupted in their site navigation.
- A pop-up doesn’t allow the user the necessary time to consider your company and desire additional content through the newsletter. Newsletter subscription is a valuable conversion in itself, and you should let the website do its job to obtain it. So, let your customers navigate freely on your platform, make them fall in love with your company, and you’ll see, they’ll naturally want to subscribe to the newsletter.
YOU’RE ABOUT TO LAUNCH YOUR NEW WEBSITE SOON. IS THIS A GOOD TIME TO START A NEWSLETTER?
Riding the wave, yes. But in the right way. It’s true that the launch of a new website (with the help of good SEO) will pique the curiosity of your customers and attract new prospects to your platform. Leveraging this traffic to increase your newsletter subscription rate is a good idea, but it should be done carefully. For many, visiting your site marks their first interaction with your company. Remember that subscribing to the newsletter is a sign of attachment and commitment to your company. Therefore, you should give consumers time to familiarize themselves with it and consider it before pushing them to subscribe to the newsletter. For this, we recommend integrating an “newsletter” section into your website that is organic and appears in multiple places on your platform. This way, you don’t make the newsletter too aggressive, but you provide several opportunities for your customers to join.
HOW CAN A NEWSLETTER BE BENEFICIAL FOR MY WEBSITE?
We won’t hide it from you, a single visit to your website doesn’t guarantee that the user will return to your platform. Once a user has visited your website, it often takes extra effort to bring them back to it, and it’s not your fault. Even if your website offers an outstanding user experience, users are immersed in such a vast sea of content that constant renewal (articles, promotions, new products, etc.) is required to stand out again. The newsletter can serve as an excellent means of redirecting users to your website.
Every month (or at the frequency you choose), you have a special connection with your audience that allows you to say, “Hey, we’re still here, we have something new for you, and we’re just as relevant as ever!” This generates traffic to your website once again. It’s one of the few push marketing techniques (a marketing technique that aims to push the product to consumers rather than attracting them) that is possible and cost-effective (even free).
is it relevant to develop a newsletter in all domains?
Of course! Regardless of the industry you work in, you simply need to find a relevant content angle for your audience and ensure that the content is of high quality.
Creating good content is a topic we could discuss at length, but for now, I invite you to read a very informative article written by my colleague, Sarah, on content writing.
Do you want to continue the discussion? Feel free to reach out to me at ngarcia@treize.pro. I’d be happy to chat with you over a good cup of coffee (or a nice beer) during a video conference.
