Ten tips for a successful customer newsletter

Editorial - January 19, 2016

E-MAIL MARKETING Lars Tinnefeld, Email Marketing Manager at Trusted Shops, uses 10 practical tips to show how online retailers can design their email marketing correctly and unleash its full potential.

What should a successful newsletter look like? Ten simple tips will help you answer this question.

1. make optimum use of the opening impulse

Make it clear to the reader at the beginning in an appealing and concise way what this newsletter issue is about. The coherent combination of subject line and teaser text in the email must immediately arouse the reader's interest.

2. no e-mail without an A/B test

An interesting subject line is essential. If you want to find out how an email is received, we recommend the so-called A/B test, in which two variants of a subject line are tested. By comparing the key figure (subject line), you can determine which variant worked better based on the open rate, for example.

3. subject line no more than 75 characters including spaces

Each additional character is automatically truncated by the e-clients and is therefore no longer legible (Gmail: 70 characters, Outlook: 73 characters, Thunderbird: 66 characters, iPhone: 41 characters vertically / 64 characters horizontally, Apple Watch: 16 characters, Android: 27-30 characters vertically / 46-62 characters horizontally).

4. test shipping time

Test at different times (day of the week and time of day) when you achieve the best results with your newsletter for your recipients. The opening and click rates of the respective newsletter content provide information.

5. personalize salutation

A personal salutation should always be included in a newsletter - this increases attention and the likelihood that the newsletter will be read further. Depending on the target group, this can be the first name, the surname or a combination of both.

6. briefly summarize

Present the content of your newsletter briefly, precisely and interestingly so that it can be quickly grasped by the reader. This is because newsletters are usually only scanned and not read in full.

7. set click incentives

Provide your mailing with easily recognizable text links and a clear "call-to-action". This will guide your readers and give them clear instructions such as "Buy now" or "Find out more". Further links to the online store and/or the Facebook fan page should also be integrated in useful places.

8. imprint information

Every advertising email must have a complete imprint in accordance with Section 5 (1) of the German Telemedia Act (TMG) (name and postal address (PO box alone is not sufficient), legal form and authorized representatives, a valid telephone number, fax number and email address, registration court and registration number, VAT identification number).

9. integrate unsubscribe link

Don't forget to include an unsubscribe link in your e-mail. This is required by law. The consumer must be given the opportunity to unsubscribe from the newsletter quickly and easily at any time.

10. evaluate mailings

Never stop learning. To maintain a successful newsletter, you should always evaluate it. Using important KPIs such as open, click and delivery rates, you can learn about successes and failures in order to optimize it for future mailings.