Customers like to be kept up to date with brands they trustOne of the best ways to connect with customers is through a newsletter campaign.

Managing Director of ORCA Websites consultancy franchise, Dean Watmough, offers free advice to small businesses, who realise the internet is a lifeline they need to survive.

BOB: Tell us why newsletters are the best way to market…

Dean Watmough: Newsletters are effective for one simple reason: customers like receiving targeted messages from companies they care about.

They want to stay up to date on what you’re doing, they want to hear about new products and they want to hear about hot deals. The newsletter that lands in their inbox forces them to constantly be thinking about you.

Adding a newsletter function to your website makes it quick, simple and practically free to build on existing relationships. Building a strong business base now will pay dividends when the economy picks up.

BOB: What does a newsletter ensure?

Dean: An effective newsletter is all about customer retention. It’s about building stronger relationships with customers who already know you and decided they want to keep hearing from you.

BOB: What makes an effective newsletter?

Dean: You need to think like your customers; what do they want? Do they want to hear about your upcoming deals and special offers? If you can understand why they subscribed to your newsletter, you can meet their needs and help them to associate positive things with your brand.

You want to get your customer out of their inbox and back onto your site. That’s the goal.

BOB: And once you’ve done this?

Dean: Once you’ve done this you need to start thinking about segmenting your newsletters. You should already know quite a bit about your customers based on past actions and behavior.

You can create separate newsletters with different content, to appeal to different types of customer. The more targeted your newsletter is to customers; the more likely they are to listen to what you have to say.

BOB: Any other tips?

Dean: Don’t forget to write high-impact titles (subject lines). This is one of the most important steps to writing an effective newsletter, because the quality of your subject line will determine whether it gets opened or not!

Your newsletter also must have a clear call to action that will pique their interest and make them click through to read the rest of it and get the benefit. If no one opens the newsletter, it doesn’t matter what gold is tucked away inside. They’ll never know.

Your subject should only be about six or seven words; but should inform, intrigue, excite and be compelling enough that they’ll want to know what’s inside.

Also, one thing that people often forget about when sending newsletters is the best day to send them. Things have a habit of getting ‘lost’ on Monday and ignored Friday or through the weekend. However, there may be a particular day that works especially well for you based on your industry. Test it and see.

BOB: Can ORCA Websites help with newsletters?

Dean: Try sending some campaigns on different days and times, to see what combination provides the best results. You can use our statistics tools to see which days your website receives the most visitors, and send out the newsletter accordingly.

BOB: Finally, what makes a business successful?

Dean: The most successful businesses are the ones who keep a database of their customers’ details, and use it to proactively market their products and services to them.