HTML email newsletters can sometimes be overlooked as a potential tool to boost your website traffic, they often cop flak for their association with the form of email we all love, spam; but if done well email newsletters can be a top performing advertising channel!

It's no secret that for an E-Commerce store a skillfully designed email newsletter can be used to convert emails in to sales, especially as a tool for targeting repeat business.

Here at Zeroseven we deal with a lot of email newsletters so we thought we would share some tips and resources that may help you perfect that campaign.

Email Tips

Have a professional design your newsletter
I receive newsletters all day long in my inbox, they must grab my attention instantly otherwise they will be archived never to be read again. You want your newsletter to stand out and get the message across without the user having to work too hard. It is important to have a balance of images and text in your newsletters, too many images means that the email can not be read when first opened (as most email programs block images until approved).

Have a professional code your newsletter
Email newsletters require highly skilled coding to ensure they are readable in the plethora of email programs that your newsletter may end up in. They must be small in file size for speed and fit in the general reading pane (600 pixels) of most email programs.

Use an online application to blast!
Nothing worse than a major breach of privacy by sending out an email newsletter to your subscribers by accidentally including your list in the CC field rather than the BCC (Hey it happens!). If you're going to blast a marketing email use a program that adheres to stringent, courteous and in some countries; such as Australia, government regulation. At Zeroseven we recommend the Australian company Campaign Monitor for email blasting.

Read and listen to the stats
If you use email marketing you want to know the statistics , on average a 30% open rate is considered a successful campaign. However if your smart about your campaigns you will monitor statistics and use these to improve your campaigns. Campaign Monitor even allows you to A/B test your email content if you were unsure of a campaign slogan or subject line.

Be consistent
To improve the conversion rate of your emails and to increase the subscriber base send out regular and consistent newsletters that you yourself would want to receive (though regular is not every day). Content is king! and you want your emails to be regarded as something interesting to your readers, an email they look forward to receiving. Not old news, not repeating the last newsletter, but reward your subscriber base for receiving your newsletter!

Further reading

Resource: Campaign Monitor blog

Inspiration: Campaign Monitor gallery
Resource: MailChimp blog
Inspiration: Zeroseven email marketing portfolio
Resource: Be Relevant email marketing blog

Inspiration: Design blogs, such as Smashing Magazine

CR.

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Posted in: Tips and Tricks