Avoid email fatigue, use subtle selling and never let your list go stale
Do you know how often you should send out your company newsletter? Your email list is your most vital asset from a marketing point of view, so it goes without saying that getting your frequency right is important.
For many years now, marketing departments in all sectors have understood the power of a solid email list. Today I am going to cover the key aspects of working out how often you should be sending out your newsletter.
Here are the top 5 key points about email frequency
1 – Never let your list go stale
First and foremost, you want to make sure you never let your email list go stale. Your email list is often the most expensive asset to build and the most powerful.
There will hardly be another avenue of promotion that can generate such a fast and responsive result as a well-intentioned email with a solid call to action. Creating a powerful email list is not cheap, so it is vital for you to develop a strategy to ensure your list never goes stale.
So why do email lists go stale?
Your competition is doing everything they can to offer value to your prospects and woo them over to their list. If you drop the ball with your email communication, then you can rest assured your competition is picking up your slack.
Email lists go stale just as a result of the owners showing little to no interest in actively emailing their list. They provide little to no value and do not inspire people to stay on the list.
Don’t fall into the trap of becoming a statistic. Build a solid strategy around your email frequency to enjoy an excellent relationship with your list and remove any chance of your email list going stale.
2 – Understand the difference between pitching and offering value
This comes down to 2 key points.
First, you need to understand the balance between consistently selling and pitching your list versus offering real value that helps your list grow, get to the next level or become better at what your information provides.
A promotional email with a straight offer sent on a consistent basis is going to annoy your prospects and clients, whereas an email that offers real value will be welcomed with open arms. You will be rewarded with high open rates and solid click-throughs.
What about subtle selling?
The law of reciprocity has been alive and well since humans have walked the Earth. If you provide a good deal of value and then ask them to consider your offer, then all is right with the world.
On the other hand, if every email you send out is a blatant pitch to purchase your products, then the unsubscribe rates is likely to skyrocket.
Instead, why not involve some subtle selling techniques where you offer great value to your readers but tie it in with your primary product.
For CFD & Forex companies, one of the best solutions is to provide some video training on say MT4 tips and tricks. This allows your viewers to get involved with your MetaTrader 4 platform. They can see how you apply various techniques on the platform. In turn, they will likely take action and open a live trading account. If they are already live, this type of informative video will lead to higher trading volumes.
3 – What about email fatigue?
Another point to consider is email fatigue. Email fatigue is when you are emailing your list too frequently. The result will be lower open rates and higher unsubscribes.
How to avoid email fatigue with Marketing Automation
One of the greatest tools in any marketing department is utilising the power of Marketing Automation. Platforms such as Marketo, Eloqua, Infusionsoft or Pardot are four of the best.
One of the key reasons for email fatigue is your email your list with irrelevant information.
For example, you might have an interesting article on trading Silver. An article on Silver is likely of interest to many people but many traders may never even consider trading it.
Using the power of Marketing Automation, you can segment your list. Run a report on those who have visited the Silver page on your website in the last 12 months. This small qualifying criterion will put the odds well and truly in your favour regarding open rates and interest levels.
Another example is emailing your Australian email list about an upcoming live seminar in Sydney.
Clearly, those people based in Perth are not going to attend. As a result, running a state-based segment in your marketing automation platform is essential. Your message will resonate with those in the local area.
4 – How frequently can you commit to offering great value?
Initially, start by emailing your list as frequently as you know you can commit to as a company. This could be weekly, fortnightly or monthly. Then monitor your open rates and unsubscribes and adjust accordingly.
A high number of unsubscribes means you are not offering value to your target audience. You need to cut back on your send rate.
Sit down with your team and decide how frequently you can create brilliant content. If your team can create a daily Forex report or a daily stock market report, then put a process in place to make it happen.
If a weekly report is more appropriate, then make sure you offer great value once a week.
5 – Start testing and measure everything
Deciding on and then committing to a solid newsletter plan is essential. Nothing is ever set in stone, so commit to a frequency and then test it for a few months.
If you want to be proactive, phone your list and ask them what they think about your email frequency.
We often find key executives get over zealous in nominating their key analysts or staff to write too frequently. So you want to make sure you are asking your writers if their workload is too much.
What tends to happen when writing more than you can handle is the quality drops off. Unfortunately, you end up doing your company a disservice.
In addition to asking your clients and your staff how things are tracking, stay on top of your email analytics. Continuously monitor your open rates, click-throughs and those taking advantage of your call-to-actions.
What have you found to be the sweet spot with your company newsletter?
