Small Business Newsletters that Make a Big Impact

Newsletters are an excellent way to help your business connect with customers and prospects. While newsletters can take some time and effort to create, they are definitely worth the effort.

In addition to connecting with customers and prospects, a newsletter has several other benefits, as well. A quality, well-written newsletter can:

• Increase brand awareness
• Position a business as a thought leader in the industry
• Help to convert sales
• Grow a database

While it is easy to understand the benefits of a newsletter, it won’t provide any of them if a newsletter never gets read. Therefore, when crafting a newsletter, it helps to know what the most successful ones have in common:

1. They are mobile-friendly. Many of your subscribers will be reading your newsletter from their smartphones. This means that it must be easy to navigate on a small screen, and the content must be short and to the point.
2. They have creative subject lines. Open rates improve when subject lines are enticing, short, and to the point.
3. They contain unique content. A newsletter isn’t a place to sell. Instead, it should contain educational content that connects, educates, and inspires readers.
4. They get personal. Using a subscriber’s name when sending a newsletter will go a long way toward increasing open rates.
5. They include exclusive offers. Special offers that only newsletter subscribers receive are a big draw. These types of offers have been shown to significantly increase open rates.
6. They are routine (in a good way). If your newsletter is a hit, people will begin to look forward to it. Make sure you send it to loyal subscribers at the same time of day on the same day of the week or month.

No matter how successful your newsletter, it is vital that you continue to optimize and test it. This will help you to make sure it is continually improving. You may be surprised at how even a tiny adjustment can increase newsletter readership.

A newsletter is a cost-effective way to build relationships and stay in regular contact with customers and prospects. And in case you are wondering if newsletters are worth the effort, research shows that 90 percent of consumers say newsletters are their preferred way to receive updates about a business.