How salesy should your newsletter be?

If you’ve got a regular email marketing newsletter you deliver to your customers, chances are you might be trying to sell something — and that’s ok. But a strictly salesy newsletter doesn’t make for the most riveting read, and it could drive customers to unsubscribe. Keep them engaged and buying with content that supports your sales messages. Let’s look at three newsletters that strike the right balance between sales copy — and news customers can use.

Flower Duet

SALES – Los Angeles-based Flower Duet highlights its Irish Spring flower arranging class just in time for St. Patrick’s Day. While the copy clearly promotes the class, it’s fun, festive and friendly. And there’s nothing like the Bells of Ireland to get people ready to celebrate.

CONTENT – The newsletter contains articles with step-by-step instructions and photos to help them design a daffodil pavé. From storing daffodils to arranging them without floral foam, customers can access a wealth of tips to use and share with friends and future subscribers.

Flower Duet also used their newsletter to cultivate customer confidence by sharing this exciting news:

Do your subscribers know what they’re signing up for? Be clear up front about what they’ll be receiving from you, so they can look forward to it. Here’s an example of how Flower Duet set expectations right from the start:

View the entire newsletter here.

Power Writing by Daphne Gray-Grant

CONTENT WITHIN CONTENT – Written by communications pro Daphne Gray-Grant, Power Writing points customers to resources they need to write faster, better. And just like a Matryoshka Doll, it delivers content after content after content. In the below paragraph, customers can link to Daphne’s email and submit a question. They can also link to her YouTube channel to hear her answer that question and other questions about writing. If they’re more comfortable reading a transcript than watching a video, subscribers can link to that too. The newsletter is packed with links to her blog, helpful articles and tips that can be implemented right away.

SALES – Daphne uses her newsletter to promote her online courses, one-on-one coaching sessions and the like. But she makes her sales copy more palatable by focusing on what’s in it for subscribers. Read the newsletter excerpt below:

Kitchen Window

CONTENT and SALES – Kitchen Window, in Minneapolis, does a great job of blending sales copy with the gourmet content foodies crave. The newsletter’s fun theme — Take a Culinary Trip to Greece — lends itself to plenty of creative content, including several view and print recipes, fun facts about the country and mouthwatering, professional photography. In keeping with the theme, the newsletter highlights the kitchen products needed to make the delectable featured recipes.

In addition to selling high-end kitchen products, Kitchen Window offers monthly cooking classes. The newsletter promotes these classes and an upcoming grill expo where customers can enjoy free seminars, clinics and tastings while they shop. View the entire newsletter here.

Remember, subscribers are interested in what you have to say. That’s why they signed up for your email newsletter in the first place. So aim to produce a balanced newsletter that is 90 percent educational and 10 percent promotional. Link your readers to ebooks, white papers, case studies, videos and more, and watch your sales soar.

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Editor’s note: This post was originally published in June 2010. It has been rewritten for accuracy and relevance.

© 2018, Bella Girardi. All rights reserved.