Make no mistake. When it comes to email marketing, a lot of marketers simply phone it in. I know that’s kind of a bold statement, but it’s the absolute truth.
If you don’t believe me, sign up for these newsletters and pay close attention to the email newsletter content that you receive. It’s a shame. In fact, it’s a disgrace.
It’s obvious that in certain niches, people are just copying and pasting each other’s work. It’s as if there’s a mass plagiarism festival going on. A lot of people are just desperately copying each other’s content. Now, this is called “email swipe content.”
In the industry, email swipes are supposed to be original pieces of content that you produce for your email newsletter. They serve an important purpose. They are supposed to address the needs of people who have signed up for your newsletter. They’re a thing. They have a purpose. They’re intentional. And unfortunately, there are so many email marketers or people who call themselves email marketers who are just in it for the money.
Now, don’t get me wrong. You should publish email newsletter content to make money. But you have to do it right. How do you do it right? You have to have a good email newsletter design, and deliver value and unfortunately, if you’re just copying and pasting everybody’s work or it’s obvious that you just phoned it in and you’re not really intent on delivering value, why should your newsletter members stick around?
It’s no surprise that newsletters tend to die very quickly. You know exactly what I’m talking about. People sign up for your mailing list, but they proceed to do nothing. That’s right. You go through all sorts of hassle putting up your list, drawing traffic to your list, converting that traffic into newsletter members and then guess what happens next? That’s right. A whole lot of nothing.
Who’s to blame? I’m sorry to say and I wish I didn’t have to say it. But the person to blame is you. No joke. You only need to look at your email newsletter content to see this in stark contrast. It’s you.
Why does most email newsletter content suck?
Let’s get to the heart of the problem. Why do people send out content that just doesn’t get any engagement? It’s as if email newsletter members don’t open these emails.
When they see the headline, they ignore it. They do it instinctively. They don’t even think about it. It’s just an automatic behaviour to them. They see the headline, they ignore, they move on to the next one, and the next one.
Here’s the problem: Email newsletter content has many different parts. You can’t just assume that since you think that a topic is exciting that people would be as excited as you.
Also, you can’t assume that just because you write a certain way, people would be able to fill in the blanks and understand what exactly you’re talking about and click at the link and see your email content. It doesn’t work that way.
You have to step them through the process. You have to do this step by step by step. You can’t assume anything. You can’t think that they are super geniuses and they know exactly how to fill in the blanks. Because, really, they don’t have the time or the motivation to do so. No, you can’t be lazy.
Step people through the email reading process
When you read an email, what’s the first thing that you do?
Well, you read the headline no doubt, right? So you read the headline and you better be excited. It has to speak to your emotions. It has to speak clearly to your needs. Otherwise, you’re not going to click the headline and see the body of the email. It’s as simple as that.
Well, apply this thinking to your own newsletter content. Are the headlines that you’re using attention-grabbing? Do they promise some sort of story? Do they touch on certain emotional chords? If not, why not?
Now that you understand why you’re not doing those things, reverse that and do those things. Always put yourself in the position of the people you want to read your emails. Think about the following questions.
What kind of titles would they be excited by?
What kind of emotional state would they likely be in?
What kind of experience would they like to have when they receive your emails?
What do they need to read or experience for them to feel that their email ‘relationship’ with your brand is worth keeping?
Keep the questions above in mind when crafting your emails. It might seem like a chore and it might seem like a hassle but the more attention to detail you put into the email content creation process, the higher the chance you’ll exceed your email marketing ROI expectations.
Call people to action
When you look at the typical newsletter content that you see in your inbox, a lot of the times, they assume that you already know what and they leave it at that. Talk about a wasted opportunity.
Don’t make this mistake. Step people through the process and once you get them to read your material, call them to action. There’s a reason why you sent that email. The reason isn’t all that mysterious. You’re trying to make money.
So, make it clear that they’re going to benefit because the solution to their problem is only a click away. Get them to click. Call them to action. Appeal to their emotions.
Summary
You’re not going to make any money with email marketing unless you nail down the right email newsletter content. Believe it or not, success is not measured by the amount of traffic you get to your email newsletter sign up page. Success can’t be measured in terms of how many subscribers you have.
Success can only be measured by how much actual dollars you have in your bank account, thanks to your email newsletter content. Keep it at that level. Focus on that level and you will make money hand over fist.
