Creating a newsletter that your customers want to read is very challenging. More than most people can imagine. And I see three very common mistakes repeated over and over again in many of the customer newsletters I see.
Mistake 1: Not taking advantage of the golden rule.
Frequency Trumps Quantity and Quality. Just getting a newsletter in the mail on the same day every month is the best way to ensure newsletter success. It creates readership just by being predictable – like a magazine they subscribe to.
Even if the quality of the content is relatively low, a predictably mailed newsletter will outperform an erratically or less frequently mailed higher quality newsletter. It is sad but true.
Mistake 2: Not making it about the recipient.
Many newsletters are used for self aggrandisement. Which is okay in small doses. But what does seem to happen is that the business doesn’t include any content which the recipient will want to read. Often times newsletter content can be translated into “me, me, me!”
So be sure to make content that is all about your customers and their lives and things they will find interesting rather than about pointless self promotion. It will increase readership when the content is about your customers and making their lives better.
Mistake 3: Making it all about what you do.
The truth is, no matter how much it hurts to hear it but nobody and I mean nobody, is as interested in what you do as you. If they are, you can create a subscription newsletter to go out every month that they will gladly pay for. Meaning that you get paid to send your newsletters – what a great idea.
Think of health and wellness newsletters as well as investment newsletters or business and marketing related newsletters. All are 8-24 pages of content on a specific topic and most of them charge between $39 and $99 a month for a subscription.
Most customer newsletters are not subscription driven so they shouldn’t be just about what you do. They can afford to be a lot more warm and fuzzy. Full of fun, happy, interesting content that will bring a smile to the face of your customer and build good will.
Most of the feedback I get indicated that ‘Reader’s Digest Lite’ content is better to receive than anything about what you do. So check your ego at the door and give ‘em what they want.
To find out how you can get a customer newsletter out the door every month full of fun and interesting content that your customers will love reading and at the same time increase repeat business and referrals, download the Business Owners Guide to Getting more repeat business and Referrals from www.morebusinessandreferals.com