I’ve been doing a test over the last few months with my email newsletter. This is a very simple, very basic tactic: announce the newsletter to folks when it ships.
It’s simple. It’s barebones. Does it make a difference? I took a look at my basic analytics and found that on the weeks when I don’t announce, the average open rate of my email is about 10%, give or take, on a list of 10,000 active subscribers. On the weeks that I do announce? It’s about 13% on average.
If your audience is socially connected, something as simple (and as cost-free) as announcing on your social channels that you’ve sent your newsletter can drive up your open rates by 30%. That’s not small change, because the more people who open, the more people who can click, and the more people who can do business with you. Don’t take my word for it – test it out for yourself! Benchmark your existing open rates over the last 10 newsletters and then make a point of announcing via social media that you’ve sent your newsletter for the next 10. Compare and see for yourself whether it works for you or not.
The usual warning about data applies here: this is my audience only. Your results will vary, and what works for me may not work for you. Test!
You might also enjoy:
- Best Practices for Public Speaking Pages
- B2B Email Marketers: Stop Blocking Personal Emails
- Understand the Meaning of Metrics
- It's Okay to Not Be Okay Right Now
- How To Set Your Consulting Billing Rates and Fees
Want to read more like this from Christopher Penn? Get updates here:
 Get your copy of AI For Marketers |
Talk about an easy button. Thanks for sharing. Question: how many times did you make the announcement? Multiple times during the day?
Once per newsletter, about 10 minutes after I shipped it.
One of the many reasons I love infusionsoft is that it automatically tweets and Facebooks when my newsletter goes out. I think mailchimp does the same thing.
Is adding info about the newsletter worth a test? For example, “This week’s newsletter has shipped Check your email (& span folder) to learn useful things like how to increase your open rate by 30% & more” Or maybe lead with the headline. “Learn useful things like how to increase your open rate by 30% & more in this week’s newsletter. Check your email (& spam folder)” Test worthy methinks. You?
Good tip. I’m looking for tips on how to drive more newsletter engagement so this will hopefully help.