With so many people utilizing social media for marketing purposes, some business owners might wonder: Is email marketing still necessary?
Having an email newsletter go out to your customers/potential customers is vital to the success of your marketing efforts and your business as a whole.
Email newsletter examples
Read on to find out why email newsletters are relevant and to discover some exceptional email newsletter examples.
What are email newsletters?
Email newsletters should be implemented because they help you accomplish the following:
- Communicate regularly with your customers
- Build relationships with those on your list
- Provide your customers with the latest updates, like sales or promotions
- Get insights about what your customers want and need.
To get all of that information, you need to figure out what makes an email successful in the first place. The best way to figure that out is to look at what other companies have done.
Following are just a few email newsletter examples to inspire your next campaign.
Example #1: SMASHING Magazine
A great way to welcome new potential customers: Give them access to valuable information (like free eBooks) they wouldn’t otherwise receive.
Source: Really Good Emails
Example #2: SXSW
Let your email list in on upcoming events, even giving them the chance to save money by taking advantage of early bird specials.
Source: Campaign Monitor
Example #3: MacMall PCMall
If you’re launching a new product or are planning a sale, letting your email list in on it will ensure higher sales figures.
Source: Milled
How do you measure the success of your email newsletters?
The best way to measure your newsletter’s success is to utilize some valuable metrics.
- Your Email Open Rate: This is the number of emails opened divided by the number of emails you sent.
- The Click-Through Rate: One of your main goals in sending an email is to get the recipient to not only open the email, but to also click on the link within. Divide the number of click-throughs by the number of emails you sent.
- Your Conversion Rate: The content of your email should move the reader to take some sort of action, like reading your blog or taking advantage of a special offer. If your customers complete that action, your email is successful. Divide the number of conversions by the number of emails sent.
Following these metrics (and more) will show you which campaigns performed the best, or had the highest ROI. Having this type of information will allow you to create even more effective campaigns in the future.
Does it really matter?
There are other ways to get some of these results, but you won’t get all of them at once or as quickly with anything other than newsletters.
Will it take time to create your newsletter campaign? Absolutely, but the ROI will be worth it. According to Search Engine Journal:
Email marketing can increase your ROI at a rate of 4300%.
That is a considerable return, a number you’ll rarely—if ever—see from social media marketing.
While marketing on social media platforms has its place, this is not a good substitute for email newsletters.
Another reason why you should make newsletter campaigns a significant part of your marketing campaign is that you own your list. If your favorite social media platform shut down tomorrow, you’d have no access to your followers and, if you don’t have an email subscriber list, you’d have to start your marketing efforts from scratch.
Additionally, because you own your list, you have control over what your customers see. The same can’t be said for social media. While it’s nice to have hundreds or thousands of followers on Facebook, Twitter, or some other platform, those platforms decide what your customer-base sees and when.
What now?
Email newsletters are one of the best ways to ensure the success of any marketing campaign you put into place.
Once you’re committed to implementing emails in your business, the next step is to create a targeted email campaign. Focus on finding the best way to appeal to your customers, and you’ll soon see success from your email marketing efforts.