This morning I went through all four of my email accounts (admit it — some of you have more!) and spent quite a bit of time deleting the conglomeration of junk. I won’t say how long it took me, but enough time for my husband to finish coating the cabinets. I had also decided to spray the shower with bleach, so in my office positioned in between fumes of chemicals that made my head spin, my moment of judgment might have been clouded when I decided to clean my email.

Still, it needed it. One account is strictly for newsletters I sign up for in a moment of weakness, until I realize I haven’t read one in a year. Many fill my inbox daily, which is why it doesn’t take long to have 1,000 unread emails taking up space.

I made it easy. There are some emails I mark with a star so I don’t delete them, but the rest have to go. I highlight all of them, remove the checkmarks from the starred emails, then hit delete. Still, other tabs, like the “promotions” tab, I hit “all” and off they go! It’s really refreshing. To make it even easier, I unsubscribed from most of them using the handy “manage subscriptions” tab in my Gmail.

I might quickly skim the page in my email account and review the sender and the subject line. If anything appeals to me, I’ll open it and read it. Otherwise, as most subject lines have more to do with the sender’s promotions, it’s easy for me to trash it without guilt.

And then I wondered: do people do that to mine? It’s possible. My subscribers are up and down, but still, my open rate is way above most.

It did get me thinking: how can I avoid getting dumped, and how can your newsletter avoid the same demise?

Here are 3 quick and easy ways to avoid the junk file.

 

Subject lines are everything in an email

What makes me open emails more than the sender’s name is the subject line, especially if it is a newsletter. If the subject line is general, bland, or focused on the sender and her products and services and screams “sales pitch,” then I’ll delete it. I have little time and way too many emails coming in.

If you want your message read, make the subject line relevant and compelling. (Which means you definitely have to forgo the: “April Newsletter” subject line)

Meh: “Why I drink coffee when I write”
Good: “How coffee helps us write better in the morning”
Better: “Is coffee your BFF? It might explain your incredible skills”

Meh: “My new book is out!!!!”
Good: “What I learned on my publishing journey”
Better: “Avoid these publishing mistakes to stand out”

In these totally random and made-up subject lines, you’ll notice a trend. Good could work and peak interest. Better is focused on the recipient and therefore, more compelling to open. Meh is laser focused on the sender.

Don’t be meh. Be better than good.

 

Content is still king in newsletters

In this age of cookie-cutter content, diving deep with your subjects, telling stories, and bringing inspiration or new ideas to your reader is likely to have more read time. You are building loyal followers and the way to do that is through your content.

Decide if your newsletter is for education, entertainment, retail (aka: sales), or informative. Stick with the theme that your readers will come to expect. Even if it is to educate or for retail sales, you can still be entertaining.

Content today is truly lacking in depth. Companies and individuals are focused on getting “stuff” out just to be seen, making the stories increasingly hollow, shallow. Make sure you bring something to your subscribers that they truly aren’t getting anywhere else.

And keep it brief. Frankly, no one has time to read a newsletter in the form of a novella anymore.

With my newsletter, the opening of this article is the newsletter content. If my readers want to read the rest of it, I include the link to bring them back to my website.

 

Be strategic with your newsletter

Being strategic with your newsletter means you give it thought. The stories are purposeful. The days and times you send it are purposeful.

Therefore, you might not send it every week. Maybe it’s biweekly, perhaps it’s monthly. Decide what will work for you, your schedule, and even what your readers might appreciate.

I’d advise against sending it daily. The more often you send your newsletter, the easier it will be for readers to unsubscribe out of overwhelm.

Aside from strengthening brand loyalty with your followers, your goal includes bringing them to your website. As I mentioned above, I include a link in my newsletter to get them back to my site. After they read the article, my hope is they will peruse other pages. And they do, if my page and visitor count are an indication of interest the day my newsletter is sent.

And there you have it. Three simple ways to keep your readers’ interest in your hard work, and keep your newsletter from getting trashed, ignored, or dumped.

Many today are overwhelmed with the number of emails that end up unread in their inbox. If your newsletter is designed to build loyalty and increase brand visibility, you need to stand out from the crowd. You can do this by (1) composing compelling subject lines, (2) focusing on quality content, and (3) being strategic and purposeful with your newsletter. If you create a newsletter your readers want to read, this will keep you keep your subscribers and keep you out of the junk pile.

Photo by MART PRODUCTION

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Desire focused, personal attention? Contact me for one-on-one coaching to improve your writing skills. To learn more, reach out to me at jmlacey.com.

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