avatarVishnu*s Virtues

Summary

The provided content offers strategies to revitalize email communication, emphasizing the importance of moving beyond traditional newsletters to engage and retain an audience.

Abstract

The article titled "Never Call It a Newsletter Again" presents seven innovative tips to transform the perception of email updates from mundane to must-read. It argues that the term "newsletter" is outdated and suggests renaming these communications to more engaging titles, such as "weekly roundup" or "wisdom bombs". The author stresses the importance of building a personal connection with the audience by avoiding impersonal labels like "subscribers" and instead referring to them as a "community" or "tribe". The piece advises on crafting captivating subject lines and making the content conversational and personal to foster a sense of exclusivity and intimacy. It also recommends initiating dialogues with readers to create a two-way interaction, ensuring regular communication to maintain audience interest, and providing value through sharing personal insights and experiences. By implementing these strategies, the author aims to enhance reader engagement and prevent emails from being overlooked or discarded as spam.

Opinions

  • Traditional newsletters are perceived as boring and ineffective, often ignored or sent to spam folders.
  • Renaming the newsletter to something more intriguing can significantly increase engagement.
  • Referring to the audience as anything other than "subscribers" fosters a sense of belonging and community.
  • Subject lines should be enticing, akin to personal text messages, to pique interest and encourage opens.
  • Email content should be conversational, as if speaking to a friend, to break down formal barriers and build rapport.
  • Sharing personal stories and behind-the-scenes content can make readers feel part of an exclusive group.
  • Encouraging reader feedback and participation creates a dialogue that can improve the content and its relevance to the audience.
  • Consistency in communication is crucial; failing to show up regularly can lead to a decline in reader engagement and increased unsubscribes.

Never Call It a Newsletter Again

7 tips that will compel your audience to read yours

Photo by Ivan Samkov from Pexels

Stop asking people to sign up for a newsletter.

Newsletters are what realtors sent out back in the day. Newsletters are what your local civic association mails to its members. Newsletters are boring, lethargic, and make people want to fall asleep.

People don’t want one more boring thing to read in their inbox. Common calls to action in most marketing and content marketing blogs advise you to get people to sign up for a newsletter.

Unfortunately, most people never sign up for a newsletter. Or they sign up and use their spam email account so your newsletter goes to an email account that people don’t use very much. Or worst of all, your newsletter arrives and people totally ignore it!

You may have thousands of people on your email list but people are not opening your newsletter. When I grew my email list for my online coaching business, I noticed that people were signing up but were not opening the weekly emails with updates to them.

What was I do wrong?

Boring my readers to death. Trying to be too formal.

I started experimenting to increase the reads on my newsletter and here’s what I found what worked.

If you have a newsletter and it’s not getting you very far, try some of these strategies below to help your readers open and read your weekly updates.

1. Vow to stop calling anything a newsletter

Never ever call your newsletter a newsletter again. Newsletters are boring and put people to sleep. Call it an update, call it a missive, call it your weekly roundup. People need a newsletter like they need a new phone app: they don’t.

People don’t want to get bored and fall asleep. They don’t want a magazine, newspaper or a newsletter anymore! They want something with personality and to look forward to. Tell people that they will get weekly tips to improve their writing. Sign up for breath-taking travel missives every week. Sign up to get the best marketing advice out there.

To take it up a notch, call your newsletter something like your “love letters”, “universal notes”, “wisdom bombs”, “no-nonsense advice.” Make it exciting, different and enticing. Whatever you do, stop calling your newsletter a newsletter today.

Oh — and the only thing worst than newsletter is calling it a list!

2. Don’t refer to people as subscribers

What do you think to yourself when someone calls you a subscriber? Generic. Faceless. Just another number.

Stop calling me your subscriber. I stopped calling people followers or subscribers in my communication to them. Call them your community. Call them your friends. Call them your “tribe”. Call them your “gang”. Call them your “soul-family”. Call them your “team”.

Strike the words “subscribers” from anywhere you refer to your readers.

3. Make your email subjects enticing

Don’t bore readers from the beginning. Think of your subject lines of your updates to your readers as texts you would send someone you know.

Would you text your colleague, “Weekly newsletter #18”. No!

You would say, “Guess what I just found out?” or “You’re not going to believe what I just heard?” or “This is the best thing ever!”

Share your enthusiasm and excitement with them from the subject line. Use your subject lines to create curiosity, surprise, or make them laugh.

4. Make it conversational

You are not your insurance company or the government. Stop making people feel like they need a lawyer when they open your emails. Stop making them feel like they are in university.

Start getting real with people and talking to them like they are a friend. I usually pretend that I’m sending my updates to one friend. Imagine if you had one reader and it was your best friend. Would you write to them with, “Hi, How are you? I hope this newsletter finds you well. I have some tips I want to share with you this week.” No!

You would say, “Hey, you’re not going to believe what I read. This made me change everything I thought about making videos. Read this asap and let me know what you think.”

5. Make it personal

People want to be in something exclusive. People want behind the scenes. People want intimacy.

You can provide all of this once people sign up for your weekly updates by sharing personal stories, behind-the-scenes stories, and little tidbits about your life. You wouldn’t be very familiar with people who are reading your posts for the first time but once they sign up, it’s like a family member.

You would reveal much more to your family than you would to a casual reader. You would try to help them. You would make them laugh. You would converse with them. You would ask them for their feedback and opinion. Do all of this with the content you are sharing with your tribe.

Share more of yourself with people you email your content to on a weekly basis to.

6. Have a dialogue

Don’t make your weekly updates one-way. Especially if you're a smaller creator or writer. You have time to talk to every single person on your list. The reason people don’t correspond with you is that you don’t create a dialogue.

Ask people for feedback, for suggestions or for opinions. Invite them to reply so that you’re engaging your audience. When you engage with your audience, you will understand them, you will know what they want and you will be able to help them better.

Your readers need help from you and you want to serve your readers. The best way to know how to serve them best is to talk to them. Find out their struggles and problems and help them solve it.

7. Show up regularly

This can’t be said enough and has been a mistake that I’ve made from different communities that I’ve built.

You have to show up regularly. You get to pick the time and the frequency but you have to be there when you have promised to show up.

You can’t ignore your community for weeks at a time. If they don’t hear from you regularly, they’re not going to open your emails regularly. They are not going to read you regularly.

Your readers will only be as consistent as you are. If you continue to put out your work and engage with them, you will find an enthusiastic and supportive audience.

If you ignore your readers and forget to email them, they might just hit that unsubscribe button.

Stand out and get read

Just because other creators create newsletters and call their readers, subscribers, doesn’t mean you have to.

Don’t be another unread newsletter in someone’s email.

I want to build a strong relationship with my readers so I can continue serving them. The way to do this is to have honest, authentic, friendly dialogue with them.

One tool is the weekly or biweekly updates that every content creator can use. Use personality, a conversational nature, and consistency to make yours stand out and get read.

Enjoyed this post? Join my tribe of writers here to go after your writing dreams.

Marketing
Entrepreneurship
Business
Content Marketing
Newsletter
Recommended from ReadMedium