Send B2B Newsletters People Want To Open
If you are a human, every Tom, Dick, and Harry want you to subscribe to their newsletter.
In 2019, the average business email will receive 126 emails per day. How many of those 126 emails go unopened? If you’re like most of the population, a vast majority. Even with the sea of ignored emails, we all have a choice few ‘golden nugget’ B2B newsletters we habitually open, and consciously read.
The simple and short answer is valuable content. These ‘golden nugget’ emails have consistently delivered info that makes our jobs easier and more effective. This means we have grown to look forward to the tips and articles they provide, knowing we will find actionable insights.
So how do we create these valuable B2B emails?
It’s all about focusing on the basics. There doesn’t need to be a song and dance and full design team to offer a great newsletter people want to open. Stay in your wheelhouse with your content, offer a short and sweet message, and stay mobile friendly.
The goals of B2B Newsletters
Add quick and direct value to the viewer or enquirer
Depending on the reason they signed up, this could be gated content, additional info on a company, or just to stay up-to-date with any industry trends. Understanding WHY your audience is opting into your newsletter is the single-most-important thing you can do to create a newsletter worth opening.
Tip: A/B/C test your CTA (Call To Action) at all points of subscription. The CTA that brings in the most subscriptions is going to give you information on what info individuals hope to receive in your newsletters.
Establish Industry Expertise
Set yourself up to be the #1 to go to when your audience is seeking answers. This means understanding evergreen content and current trends of your industry, and more importantly, talking about them in your emails. Create blogs, how-tos, op-eds, and highlight case studies that back up your industry knowledge. Building this trust with your followers creates loyalty to your information and industry insight.
Stay front of mind to your loyal consumers
Be a dependable source of information to your audience. Sending consistent and valuable B2B newsletters will strengthen relationships and keep your company’s current info available and easy to find.
Example: Moz sends a beautiful mini web series email every Friday at the same time, so their followers know exactly when to set aside a few minutes to watch a quick video on the latest SEO trends.
Let’s break down successful B2B Newsletters
Every newsletter we love follows most (if not all) of these guidelines.
They have a brand personality and voice
Don’t write something that isn’t worth reading. Look at any newsletter you consciously open – they have a specific voice and personality behind the words. The Hustle newsletter uses witty and concise language to intrigue the young professional that wants to be equally informed and entertained. The Moz newsletter includes a detailed analysis to cement their total domination of the technical SEO industry. The Niel Patel newsletter will suck you into their website with just a few clickbait-y sentences. So whatever your brand personality is, make sure it’s prevalent in your emails.
They don’t try to be something they’re not
They speak to their niche expertise and the information their audience expects them to have. As with any marketing strategy, addressing and offering solutions for the pain points in your market will always yield the highest engagement. So, understanding your audience persona is imperative. For most, this means a balance between overly rudimentary and over-technical. If you track the engagement success of each topic, you can understand where your audience sits on that spectrum.
They are short but valuable
A common misconception that comes with writing newsletters is that there needs to be a certain amount of content available for it to be worth sending. With newsletters, quality should be a much higher priority than quantity.
There is no need to include info or sections that don’t add direct value to the viewer. There are high-performing newsletters that barely have a design at all and only talk on one theme instead of having multiple sections. Some of my favorite newsletters look exactly like this:
“Hey, Amanda
Do you waste hours spending time on ? We know how valuable your workday is, so we created this to save you time on .
Cheers,
ABC Company Team”
There is no need to be sales-y or over-designed. If the template is clean and easy to navigate, then the value of your newsletter falls to the content and information that it houses.
They are extremely mobile-friendly
At least 50 percent of emails are open on mobile. That means having a clean mobile view is not just a perk anymore, it is a requirement.
When you test your newsletter, check it out on your phone and play the viewer role. Do you have to scroll for 10 minutes to find a CTA or valuable info? Are there uncomfortable orphan words (one-word lines) or awkward title transitions? As a result, seemingly small issues add up to make a bad mobile experience.
Sending a B2B newsletter people want to open is not impossible, but it does take time and research to create valuable output. Take the time to find the right info, and the leads and loyal openers will follow!
Ready to jumpstart your email strategy? Reach out to our team!
