Yes, that’s harsh as well. In fairness to the “Subject Lines” section, it plays just as big a reason for people not reading your e-newsletter.

How a piece looks can be just as important as how it reads. That does not necessarily mean a lot of glitz and glamour, bells and whistles. Most times, a newsletter simply needs a clean look with stories and images laid out in a logical order.

The Fix:
If you do not have the skill set to use the templates e-mail marketing companies like Constant Contact, Vertical Response and any of the dozens of others offer then ask for help. Typically, those companies will customize a template for you. You may also want to consider contracting a freelance graphic designer or web designer.

Here’s one caveat. Writing and designing newsletters are both specialties. Expecting staff you hired for other reasons to produce a newsletter as good as people who do this stuff for a living is a bit unrealistic. Not to mention how creating the newsletter might negatively affect your day-to-day operations if people you hired for one reason are working on a newsletter.

Without knowing your budget, it’s easy to say, “contract it out.” Particularly if you do not know anybody who does that sort of work (chambers of commerce are a great place to start if you don’t). But if you do not have the staff and your budget can stand it, it will be worth it. In general, the pros do it better and faster.

Addendum:
Templates from companies like Constant Contact, MailChimp, Vertical Response, etc. continue to improve and be more user-friendly. Some of these companies will even design the template for you for a fairly modest price. Constant Contact, in particular, offers design services and phenomenal customer support. If you can’t do it, they will literally do it for you.

This blog was taken from Nobody Reads Your e-Newsletter…And How To Fix It.

Your mother might have said, “it’s not only what you say, but how you say it,” but it applies to e-newsletters as well. How you “talk” to your customers via the words in your newsletter’s articles can greatly affect the publication’s success or failure. Even if it’s a technical subject, your words must still speak to the reader, not at them.

The trap most e-newsletters fall into is one of voice. You see your e-newsletter as a representation of your company. Therefore, you want to use grammatically correct, complete sentences and an impressive vocabulary. But NOBODY speaks like that. If somebody does, he/she is in the vast minority. Therefore, you end up with a more “professional” voice, but in reality, you end up talking down to the reader or, worse, boring them.

The Fix:
Write your e-newsletter in a conversational style. Use words you would say if explaining that topic or subject to a person sitting directly across the table from you. As long as your facts are on the money, your e-newsletter will sound “professional.”

Using the word, ‘you’ can help you involve the reader and create this conversational style. That does not mean every sentence requires a ‘you’ reference. Just enough to keep the flow.

Unfortunately, wanting a conversational newsletter and being able to pull it off are two different things. Most non-writers will try to “write” when asked to produce an e-newsletter article. That’s when you get the thesaurus-ridden copy that’s so dry it’s a fire hazard.

As the boss/editor, determine if you have the personnel to create the kind of newsletter you really want or if you need to contract it out. Again, copywriters do not work for nothing, but when you factor in the final product and anticipated results, as well as the man-hours you save on non-writers trying to write, it’s a bargain

MOST IMPORTANTLY, no matter which option you choose, select one person to write your newsletter. Newsletters that contain articles written by several different contributors sound a bit like conversations with two or more people speaking at the same time. Unless you have bylined stories or columns, your newsletter should speak with one voice—whether that’s done in-house or contracted out.

Addendum:
The fix pretty much holds true. One caveat about conversational tone. There are many interpretations of what that might mean. What’s conversational to one person might seem improper to others. For example, emojis might be all the rage on social media, but probably have no place in your company newsletter.

This blog was originally part of Nobody Reads Your e-Newsletter…And How To Fix It.

You may genuinely want to educate people on your product or service (and that is a great way to do it). Yet, the prime motivation for that is to get your target audience to do something.

Whether it’s buying more mutual funds, making a charitable contribution, or renewing a membership, there’s always an objective beyond putting out information. Your story selection should never lose sight of that fact.

For example, Company Y puts a blurb in their client e-newsletter about their employee Bob Jones celebrating his 40th anniversary with the firm. It’s a nice human interest piece and makes a small statement about Bob’s loyalty and the quality of Company Y. Yet it really does nothing for the customer other than make them say “wow, that’s a long time,” or “when is Bob going to retire?”

Now, if Bob Jones’ department adds a new server that’s going to help Company Y process orders 10 times faster than the competition, that gets people’s attention. Especially if you are a potential client or a former client who may have stopped using Company Y because of slow service.

Make sense?

The Fix:
When creating a story list for your e-newsletter, take a step back and try to imagine what your customers want to read. What’s bothering them, making their day-to-day business life more difficult?

If you come up with a blank, ask one or two of them with whom you have a relationship. Most customers, when asked in a casual, non-confrontational manner, will tell you what’s on their mind and then some. From there, you have a good start to developing a story list. And if the stories in your publication make your customer’s life easier, solve a problem, save money, or make money for them, they will read your e-newsletter. Promise.

Addendum:

Giving your readers what they want is only part of it. You must give them the next step or call-to-action as well—even if that seems fairly obvious. So, if they read your article, enjoy it enough to want to receive more similar articles, you have to tell them how to do that: click on the attached link to sign up for future newsletters or our special report. You can even make a case that every article you include in your newsletter must ask for some type of action.

This blog was originally in Nobody Reads Your e-Newsletter…And How To Fix It.