According to the Direct Marketing Association’s 2013 study, email is the most effective channel for direct marketing. Business people prefer to stay in touch via email rather than social media. This puts a lot of pressure on crafting the right newsletter to appeal to customers.
If you are finding that your newsletter is not resonating with new and existing customers, or that it is failing to generate any new business, then it is time to take a look at your newsletter’s metrics and input some better practices.
“Email marketing produced above average lead conversions for 27% of marketers in 2013.” (Source: HubSpot)
Metrics You Should Be Tracking
• Email open rate: the percentage of people that received your newsletter who opened the email.
• Click-through rate: the percentage of people who clicked on URL links based on how many people opened the email.
• Bounce: emails that failed because of incorrect email addresses, etc.
Additional Metrics That Provide Insight
• Time of Month: when was the newsletter sent throughout the month?
• Time of Day: you must have a consistent schedule, otherwise your open rates and conversions will be scattered and random.
• Links with the most clicks: which links were clicked on the most?
Once you have a handle on some of these basic metrics, you want to get more in depth and start calculating how, if at all, your newsletter is increasing business and making you money.
Calculate Cost per Conversion
Calculate how much it costs you to put together the newsletter and divide it by the number of conversions you received. This is also part of how you determine the ROI of your newsletter. Whether that number is worth your efforts, depends on your type of business.
Other Calculations for Your Newsletter’s Value
• Cost of Each New Customer
• Revenue per Subscriber
• Average Lifespan of a Customer
How Can You Get the Most out of Your Newsletter?
• Unique Design: customize your newsletters design. It’s worth the extra money.
• Fresh Content: Give your customer’s relevant content, otherwise, they won’t take the time for your newsletter. This is one of the biggest ways that businesses lose money on their newsletters.
• Keep the Word Count Low: keep the overall word count to just a few hundred words.
• A Page for Your Newsletter on Your Website: try integrating your newsletter with your website and circulating the content there as well.
Newsletters Reflect Your Brand
If there is one thing you should keep in mind, it’s to represent your industry and brand in the best light possible in your newsletter. Newsletters should be informative and reflect your business. Keep track of metrics and calculate conversion rates to help you determine your ROI.
If you need help developing your newsletter and increasing ROI, learn more at IndustryNewsletters.com.
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