In recent years, it’s become more important for small businesses to have email newsletters. A newsletter gives you the ability to reach your customers, sell products and nurture relationships. But not every email has to be a sales email — you can provide a discount or free information so that you’re not always asking for something.
In the past few years, social media channels have changed their algorithms often. If you have a following on Instagram but the algorithm changes and suddenly your audience doesn’t see your posts, you may feel like you’re at a dead end. But if you can convert those followers to email addresses and add them to a mailing list, you can reach your contacts consistently.
There are a couple of ways to get people to sign up for your email list. Take advantage of the platforms where you do have a following, and remind people to sign up for your newsletter there. You can also offer a simple lead generator to incentivize signing up. By providing an asset to the customer, you’re adding value to your newsletter.
There are several ways to find out whether your newsletter is effective. It’s important to consider what you want out of your newsletter. Do you want sign ups? Do you want to sell products? Do you want to increase engagement? Regardless of your goals, you can track the number of sign ups, the number of products sold through your newsletter or the number of times people clicked on your email.
If you decide to start an email newsletter, try to avoid spamming people. Let people opt in on their own, and don’t send too many emails. If you’re sending emails consistently, try to send more nurturing emails than sales emails.
Carrie Rollwagen