If you read this article, you are definitely into email marketing and interested in one important thing, how to make your customers to read your e-mail newsletter and react on it. First of all, I would like to talk about the content of email newsletter template, then we will discuss some technical issues that many people experience while delivering newsletters based on email newsletter template.
There are several misconceptions about how a good e-mail newsletter must look like. The most widespread mistake made by almost everybody is when a customer is treated as a customer and not as a human being. Thus misconception number one, customer just must buy something form you no-matter what you sell and how hard you do it. Please, note, customer is not a robot with a credit card. He or she has a soul and may like your product or may not. When you design your email newsletter template, you goal is to present product information in a short and intriguing manner in such a way that the whole e-mail newsletter could be read in a single glance.
Always start from a personal salutation such as "Hello, Mike!". Do not use the full name like this "Hello, Mike bush!" because it looks weird. Also, avoid abstract salutations such as "Dear friend!", "Hello my friend!" or "Hello customer!" because many anti-spam filters may filter your e-mail newsletter out. This is the reason why you need to use an email newsletter software that can reference customer information in email newsletter templates using macros as follows: "Hello, FIRSTNAME!".
If you send e-mail newsletter about the product related to the originally purchased product, you should express your gratitude for the previous purchase in any polite form. Your customer is your best friend. Say: "Thank you Mike for purchasing a pack of Christmas email newsletter templates on 12/18/2008. We really appreciate your support!". Then go strait to the point.
Do not use abstract sentences like this: "In our new age of cosmic speeds and technical progress, every human being should not ignore the way email marketing works blah blah blah...". I am sure, you will sound smart but nobody will ever read this. Human brain ignores irrelevant information and useless words. Start right from the point this way: "Professionally designed ready-to-use Valentine's Day stock email newsletter templates, 8 basic designs...".
Spend some quality time highlighting the key product features only. The less topics you have in your email newsletter template the better. You can always list all the features on your website and link the page in your e-mail newsletter. If a customer is impressed by the key features he or she will follow the link to get more information.
Avoid colorful html newsletter templates with heavy graphics and try to use plain text whenever it is possible. If you have to use html though, use formatting and graphics in moderation. Your e-mail newsletter must look the way as if it was created by a human being. If it is too colorful or too long, it will be ignored. Background must be plain white and text should be black. Make your links underlined so that users could recognize them as links. May be you have exceptional designer skills and want to express yourself by drawing grey text on a yellow background, but believe me, humans got used to reading text black on white and click underlined links.
Spam filtering is the most common problem in email marketing. You may get your e-mail newsletter to be delivered to the spam folder if it looks like spam or if your IP address is blacklisted on spam blacklists. Spam filters analyze email message text and detect word combinations used by spammers such as: "dear friend"; "hurry up"; "buy it today"; "only $9.99"; "super sexy"; "cheap something" and "act now" therefore avoid them. If your IP address gets blacklisted on a spam blacklists accidentally, you can always contact the list owner and remove it from the blacklist.
Finally, take care of the unsubscribe feature. Do not forget to place some instructions at the end of your email newsletter template so that your customers could easily unsubscribe from your newsletter. You can use a clickable link or ask user to reply to the e-mail newsletter with the UNSUBSCRIBE word anywhere in subject. Unsubscribe must work without a hitch.
Below, is a sample newsletter template that is designed based on the guidelines described above:
Hello, FIRSTNAME!
Thank you, FIRSTNAME, for ordering PRODUCT1 on DATE1. We really appreciate your support!
Valentine's Day is just across the corner and you can take advantage of professionally designed ready-to-use Valentine's Day stock email newsletter templates in 8 basic styles including:
- aqua blue Mac-like transparent style; - aqua blue XP-like plastic style; - sunny orange style with red links; - girly pink style with pink links.
Please, take a look at all available email newsletter template styles by following this link: LINK2
If you wish to unsubscribe, reply to this message with the UNSUBSCRIBE word anywhere in subject.
Best regards, FROMNAME
There are several misconceptions about how a good e-mail newsletter must look like. The most widespread mistake made by almost everybody is when a customer is treated as a customer and not as a human being. Thus misconception number one, customer just must buy something form you no-matter what you sell and how hard you do it. Please, note, customer is not a robot with a credit card. He or she has a soul and may like your product or may not. When you design your email newsletter template, you goal is to present product information in a short and intriguing manner in such a way that the whole e-mail newsletter could be read in a single glance.
Always start from a personal salutation such as "Hello, Mike!". Do not use the full name like this "Hello, Mike bush!" because it looks weird. Also, avoid abstract salutations such as "Dear friend!", "Hello my friend!" or "Hello customer!" because many anti-spam filters may filter your e-mail newsletter out. This is the reason why you need to use an email newsletter software that can reference customer information in email newsletter templates using macros as follows: "Hello, FIRSTNAME!".
If you send e-mail newsletter about the product related to the originally purchased product, you should express your gratitude for the previous purchase in any polite form. Your customer is your best friend. Say: "Thank you Mike for purchasing a pack of Christmas email newsletter templates on 12/18/2008. We really appreciate your support!". Then go strait to the point.
Do not use abstract sentences like this: "In our new age of cosmic speeds and technical progress, every human being should not ignore the way email marketing works blah blah blah...". I am sure, you will sound smart but nobody will ever read this. Human brain ignores irrelevant information and useless words. Start right from the point this way: "Professionally designed ready-to-use Valentine's Day stock email newsletter templates, 8 basic designs...".
Spend some quality time highlighting the key product features only. The less topics you have in your email newsletter template the better. You can always list all the features on your website and link the page in your e-mail newsletter. If a customer is impressed by the key features he or she will follow the link to get more information.
Avoid colorful html newsletter templates with heavy graphics and try to use plain text whenever it is possible. If you have to use html though, use formatting and graphics in moderation. Your e-mail newsletter must look the way as if it was created by a human being. If it is too colorful or too long, it will be ignored. Background must be plain white and text should be black. Make your links underlined so that users could recognize them as links. May be you have exceptional designer skills and want to express yourself by drawing grey text on a yellow background, but believe me, humans got used to reading text black on white and click underlined links.
Spam filtering is the most common problem in email marketing. You may get your e-mail newsletter to be delivered to the spam folder if it looks like spam or if your IP address is blacklisted on spam blacklists. Spam filters analyze email message text and detect word combinations used by spammers such as: "dear friend"; "hurry up"; "buy it today"; "only $9.99"; "super sexy"; "cheap something" and "act now" therefore avoid them. If your IP address gets blacklisted on a spam blacklists accidentally, you can always contact the list owner and remove it from the blacklist.
Finally, take care of the unsubscribe feature. Do not forget to place some instructions at the end of your email newsletter template so that your customers could easily unsubscribe from your newsletter. You can use a clickable link or ask user to reply to the e-mail newsletter with the UNSUBSCRIBE word anywhere in subject. Unsubscribe must work without a hitch.
Below, is a sample newsletter template that is designed based on the guidelines described above:
Hello, FIRSTNAME!
Thank you, FIRSTNAME, for ordering PRODUCT1 on DATE1. We really appreciate your support!
Valentine's Day is just across the corner and you can take advantage of professionally designed ready-to-use Valentine's Day stock email newsletter templates in 8 basic styles including:
- aqua blue Mac-like transparent style; - aqua blue XP-like plastic style; - sunny orange style with red links; - girly pink style with pink links.
Please, take a look at all available email newsletter template styles by following this link: LINK2
If you wish to unsubscribe, reply to this message with the UNSUBSCRIBE word anywhere in subject.
Best regards, FROMNAME
About the Author:
Kirill Vasilyev is a leading expert in developing email marketing software who is very experienced in this field. Read his free guides and advices on creating a good email newsletter template.
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