Personalize it.
Rather than starting on an impersonal note with Dear Customer, make it more personalized by using their first names. As for the rest of your email newsletter, remember to directly address your customer. Using their first names once in a while would also be a nice touch.

Also, make sure to configure your email newsletter software to send birthday greetings to your subscribers. Although it’s a programmed action, subscribers will still appreciate the thought behind it.

Be careful about making assumptions.
Misassumptions can make you end up addressing your customers incorrectly. If you are introducing a new product in your next newsletter, should you write in with the assumption that they’d be automatically receptive to your new product? Would they have prior knowledge about it already? Exert time and effort in researching about your subscribers to be able to address them properly.

Know your target market.
Be sure about your target markets demographics. If you thought your products appeal best to adults and wrote your newsletter accordingly, what would happen if your subscribers turn out to be teenagers? You would have lost them right away once they see the formal tone of your letter or the topics you’ve discussed and which they can’t relate to.

Always use a respectful and courteous tone.
It doesn’t matter what kind of target market you’re addressing. It never hurts to be respectful and courteous. This doesn’t mean you’ll have to address them by Sir or Madam all the time but opening your letter with pleasant salutations could be a nice touch. Issue your call to action with courtesy rather than stating it as a command.

Take care with how you write.
Capitalization helps in providing emphasis, but they can also be interpreted as shouting or talking down to someone so make sure you use it appropriately. Be just as careful with punctuation marks and underlining.

Get feedback.
Lastly, is there any better way to know how to properly address your customers than asking them yourself? You can do this by conducting polls, surveys, or behind-the-scenes research. Be careful though. People can be pretty tough when it comes to giving feedback so don’t take it personally. Use it instead to further improve your public relation skills. After all, what the customer wants, you try your best to provide!

Make subscribing to your email marketing list your call to action.
Even blog posts adhere to the same format with most marketing articles. You start with a strong paragraph, proceed with the body, and finish with an equally strong call to action. In this case, your call to action should be for readers to join your email marketing list.

Naturally, making that your call to action won’t be appropriate if the rest of your blog post has no direct connection to your list. But we’ll get to that later. For now, it’s important to remember ending every post, if possible, with this kind of call to action.

Choose topics that can be related to your email marketing newsletter.
What’s your next newsletter issue about? Can you write a blog entry about it? It’s important to establish a clear connection between your blog entry and your email newsletter. Your blog entry should provide readers a reason to subscribe to your list.

As for the topics discussed, your blog entry doesn’t have to focus on exactly the same issue. It would help, but it’s not always necessary. If your email newsletter is talking about the latest pet luxury products in the market, consider writing in your blog about the newest pet food flavors. They may not be directly related, but they do still fall in the same general category and is sure to be of equal interest to them.

Don’t give everything away.
Let’s say your next email newsletter tackles the 7 top reasons why puppies are so difficult to train. Your blog entry could feature two out of the seven reasons you’ve mentioned. Leave the rest to their imagination and let your call to action remind them that they can read the continuation of your topic by signing up for your email newsletter.

Market your email newsletter.
Of course, lets not forget to write posts which simply focus on convincing people to subscribe to your list. Today’s blog entry, for instance, may focus on the five best reasons why teenagers should subscribe to your email newsletter. Next week, you can write about the greatest benefits one can enjoy upon subscribing to your email newsletter.

The great thing about blogging is that it’s your turf and you can say anything and as much as you want. Use it to your advantage and it’s sure to have a positive effect on your email marketing list!

Make your subject line brief, detailed, and powerful.
Try keeping it to four or five words. Anything less might not completely deliver the message while anything more than that could lessen the impact of your emails subject line. Subject lines can take various forms. You may turn it as a teaser that’s meant to intrigue your readers, an announcement that’s meant to make your readers sit up and take notice, a question to make them ponder, or simply a greeting that’s just meant to make them open your email with a smile.

Don’t be afraid to insert first and second person pronouns.
Pronouns like I, you, we, our, and us makes your email more personalized and less like a plain marketing copy. It also establishes a relationship between you and your readers, and puts them in a more receptive mood with regard to your message.

Use headers.
Use headers to make it easier for readers to get the gist of your email and convince them at the same time that your email is worth reading from start to finish. As for creating headers, just use the same tips and guidelines provided for creating your subject line.

Keep paragraphs short.
As mentioned earlier, email newsletters are generally skimmed so you should keep your paragraphs short and focusing on one topic at a time. If the article you’re basing your email on contains long paragraphs, don’t be afraid to break them down into several short ones.

Have your email proofread and checked for plagiarism.
You and another person, preferably someone qualified, should proofread your email newsletter before sending it to your readers. Double-check spelling and grammar. Be sure you’ve got all your facts straight and the flow of thought is orderly and cohesive. A professional editor or proofreader will also let you know if there are unnecessary paragraphs to be cut out.

Lastly, use plagiarism-checking software to ensure that there are little, if any, similarities between your work and the article you’re basing your email newsletter on, never mind that you’re discussing the same topic. If your work passes then congratulations for a job well done!

Email Marketing Tips on Making a Clearer and Stronger Call to Action

Place it right after your concluding paragraph.
For strategic positioning, your call to action should be directly below your concluding paragraph. Your concluding paragraph contains the strongest points of your email as well as whatever conclusions you’ve drawn. With key points still fresh on your readers mind, you’ll have an easier time achieving desired results if you issue your call to action right after.

Be specific.
Call to action doesn’t need flowery and elaborate statements. Brevity, simplicity, and power are what you should focus on. Make your sentences short as this will create greater impact. Lastly, be precisely clear about what you wish them to do so there won’t be any confusion about it.

Stick with one link.
Calls to action can become quite tedious if readers are asked to click multiple links. One or two links would do but links numbering four and up might be too much. If various links are however necessary then use the main pages link in your call to action. When they get there, that’s when you can explain more about the other links. Remember: your call to action is still a part of your email newsletter and you want to retain its uniformity and cohesiveness till the end. Don’t use your call to action to create a new letter within a letter.

Don’t be afraid to use font effects.
There’s nothing wrong about making your call to action more visible, but of course make sure that the distinctions you make are appropriate and appealing. You can underline and place the words click here in bold letters, maybe even change its font color, too.

Avoid using images.
Pictures may say a thousand words, but they don’t always show up and that’s going to be a big problem if you’ve got an image link serving as your call to action. As much as possible, avoid using images but if its necessary, make sure to double-check its links and provide a textual replacement just in case it doesn’t show up.

Now you know how to make your call to action clearer and stronger, what are you waiting for? Go and make your readers do what you want!