How to Write an Email Newsletter that Builds Trust with Your Audience

You can easily do a little research into your competitor's email marketing strategy and your ideal buyer persona.

After compiling your research, it’s time to compare it to your goals and make that final judgment call.

Still not sure if an email newsletter is right for your business?

That might be because what you really need is an email marketing campaign instead.

The same newsletter can also act as a kind of lead magnet, to get more people to join your mailing list.

Let’s see what ingredients you’ll need if you decide on writing newsletters.

Emails that rely too heavily on images and other graphics look like spam or impersonal email ads.

Several mobile devices also won’t have the downloads of images enabled, so you need to use them sparingly.

A simple, clean newsletter design is key.

With attention spans of just 8 seconds, your subject line doesn’t have long to capture your readers’ interest.

You need to use your words to stand out of a crowded inbox and get your audience to open your newsletters.

Stick to paragraphs of 1-3 lines max, with just a single idea or suggestion in each one — use short sentences too.

This will make your newsletter content easier to digest, especially for skim readers.

Your audience is probably already suffering from information overload — an excessively long email will most likely just irritate them.

Acknowledge that your readers also have busy lives and stick to relevant content.

There’s nothing worse than building a connection with your readers in an email and then leaving them hanging.

You need to include one primary call-to-action that pushes your subscribers to take them to the next step.

Once you’ve got your newsletter structure right, you’re nearly ready to start writing.

However, there are some important email marketing best practices to take into account before you get stuck into writing.

A newsletter, like a welcome email, falls under the jurisdiction of email marketing laws.

Because of this, there are several best practices you need to follow to ensure that your emails don’t violate these laws and get delivered to your subscribers’ inboxes.

While spammy subject lines will trigger spam filters, being deliberately deceptive could get your sender domain blacklisted and damage your email deliverability more permanently.

When it comes to your newsletters, you need to create and stick to a sending schedule.

Here are some sending schedules used by different digital marketers:

We suggest you don’t opt for a monthly newsletter — if the gap between your messages is too long, your subscribers are likely to forget you.

A month is also a long time to wait and release timely information.

It’s also possible that if you then launch a new product and suddenly send several daily emails, you’ll trigger spam filters as well.

Commit to a sending schedule that suits you and your business.

Setting up an unsubscribe link can be tricky — save yourself the hassle and use systeme.io’s email marketing tools with a built-in unsubscribe link in every email.

There are many key performance indicators (KPIs) and marketing metrics that you can use to analyze the success of your email newsletter.

According to Kennedy, an email marketing expert and consultant, there’s just 1 metric that you should focus on — earnings per subscriber per month.

Open rates and click-through rates used to do a great job of indicating a successful newsletter, but recent developments in mobile device software have changed that.

For a full guide on which metrics to monitor, and how to calculate them, click here.

Once you’ve got a handle on the different rules affecting your emails, it’s time to begin.

Follow our step-by-step guide and write your first email newsletter!

Sending a newsletter full of random, irrelevant, and cluttered content is a sure-fire way to end up in your subscribers’ spam folders.

The best tactic here is to decide what kind of newsletter you want to send and choose one topic to focus on.

You can use your newsletter to:

The first thing your email subscribers will see is your newsletter’s subject line — it’s your chance to create a positive impression on your audience.

Here are some tips on how to create an enticing subject line:

When it comes to any marketing content you send, personalization can’t be ignored.

72% of consumers won’t engage with emails or marketing messages that aren’t personalized.

Because of the nature of newsletters, they get sent to a wider audience, so personalization can be tricky.

Here are some ways to add a personal touch to your newsletter:

One way to create relevant, original, and interesting content is to use your newsletter to tell your story.

Storytelling is a common tactic employed by digital marketers to build brand awareness and trust.

Using personal stories brings the following benefits:

Your call-to-action link is the one essential component that your newsletter cannot do without — it’s how you mention your engagement.

Unlike automated email sequences, newsletters often include multiple calls to action.

Here are some rules to follow:

Images in newsletters have many benefits:

However, more and more people are disabling the automatic downloads of images and videos in their emails.

In fact, Apple and Android’s email applications have taken steps to make this block on imagery a default setting on their devices.

This is because of the influx of tracking pixels disguised in email images.

The question remains: should you use images in your emails?

Here are some suggestions to help you minimize the risks:

Our second pro tip is to test out different opt-in forms on different platforms, like your website, landing page, and social media profiles.

Look at where and how your subscribers sign up for your newsletter and experiment with different lead magnets and offers.

It’s that easy!

On top of that, you’ll get the following features to help you ramp up your newsletter strategy:

You’ll be able to create unlimited newsletters that help you reach your audience while building brand awareness.

Some software will only cater for your email strategy, leaving you to battle with other software to get the rest of your business running.

This can be time-consuming and pricey.

That’s why systeme.io is an all-in-one digital marketing solution — everything is built in so that you don’t waste your effort or cash on clunky integrations.

Here are some of the other powerful features you’ll get access to on our platform:

And more!

Feature-rich software often comes with a price tag that’s only built for the rich, but not this time.

And more.

Our Unlimited plan comes with unlimited access to all of our features, so you’ll never pay more than $97/month for our software.

If you opt for annual billing, you can save 30% on your fees — nearly $350 a year!

Email newsletters are a tried and trusted method of reaching your audience and building trust with them.

That relationship is how you convert them into new customers and retain them as loyal fans of your offers.

Choosing the right software is half the battle won, and systeme.io is the perfect partner.

Sign-up for our Free plan and take our email builder for a test drive today.