Newsletters — Why You Need Them or Don’t
by Sonali Shah-Kadakia — May 25, 2023
In this blog Sonali talks about newsletters and how organisations can take advantage of the medium to talk directly to their customers and stakeholders
I am always left wondering about the number of websites I need to share my email address with to proceed. I remember a time when I would switch websites if they needed me to share my email address before accessing any of the content. Obviously, I wasn’t the only one who was bothered by this compulsive need to share personal information to access websites and now, I see so many website popups asking for my email and then mentioning at the bottom, ‘We promise not to spam you.’
I wondered how important it was for businesses to share marketing materials or newsletters straight to customers' or potential customers’ inboxes and the real business turnover they receive from it.
Here’s what I discovered about newsletters and the kind of businesses that benefit from them and the ones that don’t.
What are some intentions behind newsletters?
🎯 Informed Decision Making: There are many purchases we make after careful consideration such as purchasing things for children, investing in longer-term products and services, or expensive products/services. In such cases, businesses need to provide additional information to supplement potential customers’ knowledge and help them arrive at a more informed decision. There is a chance that those individuals on the fence may forget about the business. In such cases, delivering informative newsletters jogs their memory and helps them arrive at a decision.
🎯 Sense of Community: Developing communities is the new, quietly spoken-about concept in marketing. In a noise-filled social media environment, the inbox is a quiet place for organizations to share their views with people who relate to them. When a customer shares their email address with the business, there is either some interest or a purchase already made. To convert a potential customer or keep an existing client, organizations are recognizing the impact that a sense of community has on individuals. Newsletters are carefully drafted to invoke a sense of camaraderie and distinguish users of the product from others.
🎯 Converting Clients on the Fence: One of the main reasons why visitors to websites are often asked for their emails is to convert those who visit the website or browse through but are unsure whether they want to make a purchase. Newsletters share additional information about the products, services as well as the brand’s culture to help convert those customers.
🎯 Keeping Existing Clients Interested: In an increasingly loud digital world, a newsletter acts as the perfect space for brands to redirect customers to content that is relevant to the brand and piques their customers’ interests. It is also a great opportunity for brands to share important updates, upcoming product/service information, and supporting information on utilizing the brand’s offerings effectively.
Do you need a newsletter for your brand?
You might consider investing resources to develop a newsletter for your brand if the following criteria are met:
📨 You want to create a sense of community and share privileged information with your existing/potential customers.
📨 Your products and services require additional information to convert customers.
📨 The effectiveness of your services is greatly improved when clients use them in specific ways.
📨 You want to educate your customers about your products in detail and establish yourself as a subject matter expert.
📨 You are in the business of selling luxury products/services and clients would like to feel ‘catered to’.
📨 You are in the business of selling children’s products and services where it is always important to be invested in strong relationships with parents.
📨 You wish to collaborate with other businesses/bloggers to grow your community.
📨 You can invest time and resources to develop newsletters in a timely manner.
Carefully evaluate your brand with the help of the points above to decide whether your business needs a newsletter or not.
You’ve gone through the intentions of newsletters, evaluated whether you need one or not, and made your decision. I do have some additional pointers that you should go through before you make your absolute decision.
🗸 Newsletters or blogs — Never both: Both content forms share additional information with customers who are interested and are willing to invest time in reading more details or feeling part of a community. However, if you already have an active blog in place and plan to share the same information in a newsletter, I suggest you pick one or the other. Readers will feel bored reading the same content in a different format.
🗸 Frequency: A newsletter tends to have a standard frequency — either once a week, fortnightly, or monthly. Organizations that do have relevant information to share on a frequent basis — whether it be interesting articles, podcasts, blogs written by others that benefit their community, or organizational updates, a frequency needs to be maintained. It becomes an item that readers look forward to and one should venture into newsletters only if you can keep up with the regularity. Make sure you have the resources and choose a relevant frequency that you can commit to.
🗸 Toe the line carefully with promotional content: While many brands utilize inbox delivery solely to share promotional content, it is important that you evaluate your business before beginning to do so. Your customers may not enjoy being bombarded with calls to action for buying.
🗸 Set the tone for your newsletter: Determine what kind of a newsletter you would like to develop, after consulting your brand guide and voice. Will it be a preachy newsletter or a more honest and heartfelt (especially important for small businesses) or will it be more community oriented? This will help your audience choose whether they like the content or not. Use analytics to test your theories and make the changes necessary.
🗸 Include a call to action: In the end, a newsletter is a marketing tool. Always, always, always include a call to action in each newsletter. Make sure that your organization's details are accurate and visible when designing it.
I love some of the newsletters I receive, and I invest the time to go through them because they add value to my life. Often, I am amazed by the creativity some of them utilize, and love the design of others. I feel part of a privileged community of individuals who have made the right choice, which boosts my self-esteem.
Here are my top 3 favorite newsletters:
1. James Clear’s 3–2–1 Thursday newsletter. Subscribe here.
2. Marketing Brew by The Morning Brew. Subscribe here.
3. Kidsstoppress’s newsletter. Subscribe here
All 3 newsletters give me more knowledge, tips, and interesting links or actions to follow up and supplement my reading. If you do develop a newsletter, I would love to receive a copy. Let me know where I can sign up!
