Email newsletters are one of the most versatile marketing channels. Email newsletters provide an intimate, personal way to communicate with your audience. They offer a nearly 40x return-on-investment ($40 per dollar spent), and are easily scaleable and practically free.These benefits can only be realized if you are strategic. I will share with you some of the strategies Demand Curve has used to increase our newsletter subscriber base to more than 50,000 highly-qualified subscribers, and to maintain an open rate above 50%.The 60% rule can increase popup conversionPop-ups are often criticized for being intrusive but they actually work. They convert on average 3% of site visitors. Strategic, high-performing popups can achieve conversions of around 10%The 60% rule is a way to make more conversion-friendly, less intrusive pop ups.Select the page that you would like to have a popup. We recommend pages that don't focus on conversions (like checkout pages, product pages and sign-up pages). Content pages are the most effective and can be used as a signal to visitors looking for a specific item. Check out your website analytics to see the average time that each page spends. Your pop-up will appear after 60% of the page's average time has passed.If a page's average time is 50 seconds, your pop-up should appear for 30 seconds (or 60%) after visitors have landed on the page.Why 60%? Your content is being read by readers who are not yet finished. It will be fair to ask them to sign up for your newsletter in return for more relevant content.You can encourage new subscribers by breaking the welcome email template using delayed gratification or a recognizable sender to get them to open it.To prove your quality, send samples of your newsletterAsking a visitor to sign up to your newsletter if they are new to your content can be a difficult step. Most visitors won't convert. A sample of your newsletter can be used to bridge the gap between new readers and subscribers. To prove your quality content, use your most popular newsletter as a sample.Filter by open rate and replies to find the most interesting content. Sort your past editions using your email service provider. This will allow you to identify the most popular subject lines with your existing readers. To make your newsletter sign-up page more appealing, modify your most popular subject line.Next, open your email and sort your replies to your newsletter. Next, identify which newsletter received the most responses from your subscribers. This indicates that the newsletter that received the most replies from your readers resonates with you and is worth a free sample.Emails from real people get opened more oftenAfter signing up, people tend to ignore welcome emails. Those who open your welcome email more often are more likely to open your newsletters.You can encourage new subscribers by breaking the welcome email template using delayed gratification or a recognizable sender to get them to open it.Your welcome email should be delayed by 45 minutes. This will eliminate the instinct that new subscribers may have to ignore emails that arrive within seconds of signing up. 45 minutes is the ideal time, as the delay breaks the pattern but not too long to cause your email to get lost in their inbox.Your welcome message should be sent from an individual and not from a business account. This tactic is especially effective if the sender of the email is the founder or someone who has a large audience. To make your email stand out, use a photo of the person rather than your company logo.Create a subdomain on your website to send emails only. This will prevent the inbox from becoming too full. Start using your subdomain for your newsletter by creating an account for your sender. This will prevent them from being overwhelmed and it will also maintain the health of your domain.Send superissues to new subscribersNew subscribers will be eager to receive their first issue. You can make a superissue by combining the best content from previous issues. Be careful to not use the same content that you used as samples in your sign-up page.This superissue should be sent together with your welcome email to ensure that new subscribers receive value from your newsletter. Your subscribers will be more likely to open your future emails if you start with the best content.We've found that shorter welcome messages perform better than longer ones. Your welcome message should be short and your first issue concise. After they have received the superissue and the welcome email, you can add them to your regular email list.Consider sending fewer emailsWe surveyed over 24,000 Twitter marketers to find out if people are suffering from newsletter fatigue.Results: 80% of respondents unsubscribe if they receive too many emails.To ensure that your subscribers don't feel overwhelmedYour subscribers have the ability to control how often they get emailed. Some subscribers prefer them weekly while others prefer them monthly. Create opt-out links in the footer of each email so subscribers can choose the frequency they receive emails. You can give them the option to stop receiving emails and still keep them on your list. It is important to not lose them as a subscriber.Send less emails: Limiting the number of emails you can send each quarter will make it more difficult to think about what your emails contain. You and your subscribers can be burned if you send too many emails. There is very little correlation between the volume of emails received and the conversion rate.Your emails should be fun and not only educational.Many emails you receive are serious. You can make your email stand out by adding humor, jokes, or interesting links to the internet.This tactic has proven to be extremely effective because it gives your subscribers a dopamine boost in every email. Every subscriber will not like every piece of content in your newsletter. Humor can be a great way to reach a broad audience. Every reader will feel satisfied if they are provided with interesting and entertaining content.It helps to establish a routine. Your reader won't know what each edition contains if it is different. Our experience has shown that putting something entertaining at the bottom of a newsletter is a great reward.Each issue is given a meme. We get a response from people to let them know how much they appreciate it.Refer friends seamlesslyReferrals are an easy way to increase your newsletter's reach. Referring to other subscribers is a great way to increase your chances of them referring you. The process should take no more than 25 seconds.At the end of every issue, remind readers that they can refer other people. Ask readers to forward the email to someone they think would be interested. In the introduction to your newsletter, include a brief sentence telling people where they can subscribe. Include a link.A sophisticated tactic is to provide a unique link to a referral program to allow subscribers to track how many people have been invited. Allow them to share via email or social media.A web version of each issue should be available so that content can easily be shared beyond email. Many email service providers will automatically create a link to the web that you can share on social media and elsewhere. To generate search engine traffic, you can also copy and paste the content to your blog.You might consider offering rewards for those who sign up for your newsletter. If your brand is very well-known or unique, merchandise will not work as an incentive. Referrals can be incentivised with exclusive content. Subscribers who refer five or more friends will receive a bonus issue each month. This will help you keep your costs low and allow your subscribers to get more of the things they want.Referrals are only effective if there is a sufficient number of subscribers. We have found that the threshold is approximately 10,000 subscribers. There is virtually no downside to a referral program if your audience has a lot of engagement or is active in your community.How to convert followers into subscribersWhile your subscribers will most likely be aware of your content via a social media channel they are not able to access directly. One way to increase your connection with your audience is to convert followers into subscribers.Include a link in your bio when you are asking your followers to sign up for your newsletter. Although it may seem obvious, many people don't do this. Make signing up for your newsletter the call-to-action when someone sees your social media profiles. If they don't, they won't know that you have a newsletter.Another option is to cut down a LinkedIn thread or LinkedIn post and encourage people to subscribe for more insights. This tactic is not something you want to use too often.Make a newsletter exclusive offer that only subscribers can access. Your followers will be motivated to sign up for your email list in order to receive exclusive content and/or unique offers.RecapPop-ups are a great way to get new subscribers. With sample content, show them why they should sign up for your newsletter. Your best content should be included in your welcome email.Keep your subscribers happy: Send fewer emails to keep them coming back for more. Humor and interesting links can make your newsletter a habit.Promote your newsletter by using exclusivity and offers to get your followers on social media to subscribe to your newsletter. To increase your subscriber base, ask your subscribers to recommend your newsletter to other people.
