The weekly email newsletter that your company sends out can be a great source of new B2B leads. However, too many companies make this email newsletter “all about them” and not all about their customers. That’s a mistake. Here’s a quick list of “do’s” and “don’ts” to make sure that you are streamlining your lead generation process with email newsletters.
DO: Discuss business challenges
If there’s one type of content that’s been shown to consistently convert leads into sales, it’s a discussion of unique business challenges faced by a company within a specific industry. The focus on industry-level detail helps to make your product or service more “real” in the minds of potential buyers, rather than being a mere abstraction. They can visualize themselves using your product and understanding how it can make them more successful at business.
DON’T: Hype your products
Busy executives aren’t opening up your email newsletters to read all about your new products. I know, I know, that has to hurt a little bit. But if your email newsletters feel like one big product plug, then you are doing something wrong. Sooner or later, you’ll see your open rates start to trend down.
DO: Provide new, original content
If you’re just recycling old content or cross-purposing content that has already appeared on your website or on your social networks, then you’re not really giving readers a reason to open up your newsletters. They want to see what’s new, what’s trending, and what’s hot off the presses.
DON’T: Rely on text only
In case you haven’t noticed, the web is a visual place these days. Therefore, anyone staring at a massive, text-heavy email is likely to save it for later when they “have more time” (which may or may not ever happen). So provide visuals – infographics, photos or even GIFs are a great way to break up a page of text.
DO: Use streamlined copy
Imagine you’re opening up the email newsletter on a digital device – you need a brief subject line and text that dances off the page. People are much less tolerant of long, rambling sentences that are hard to read on a mobile screen. And always let readers know at the very beginning of your email what the lead article is all about.
DON’T: Rely on buzzwords, jargon and lots of technical terms
It may seem easier to tell you story using buzzwords and jargon, but that’s just a crutch. Talk to people as you would talk to them in real life. If needed, use bullet points and/or numbering to help break up a complicated discussion. Remember – you want to simplify things for the reader, not make it harder. For new leads, some of the industry jargon may not be as obvious as it seems to you.
By following these basic rules of email newsletters, you should begin to notice a real uptick in the number of leads that you are generating. As a result of word-of-mouth buzz, you’ll begin to see improving metrics for all of your key performance indicators.
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Dane
Dane Cobain is a published author, freelance writer, book blogger, poet and (occasional) musician from High Wycombe, UK. Before going freelance, he worked as a social media marker, now specialising in writing about publishing, technology and marketing.