If you’re an email marketer, you probably fall into one of three categories: you regularly publish a newsletter, you’re always meaning to get around to starting a newsletter, or you’ve woken up screaming from a nightmare in which a giant newsletter is chasing you down the street, consuming all of your free time and resources.
Whichever category you belong to, you’ll probably be relieved to know—there’s a better way. Although newsletters are a great way to reach your audience and build the trust needed to create loyal customers, historically, the good ones have taken a lot of preparation. You spend time writing and editing new content, developing new creative and running it all through the approval process, and by the time you hit send, your content is out-of-date.
All that work, and you still risk the chance that the static newsletter you’ve sent out to your entire list is mostly irrelevant and fails to be truly valuable to anyone.
Because today’s consumer expects fresh, personalized messaging from marketers, you need to take a contextual approach. Sending automated, up-to-the-minute information, and content that’s targeted to the individual reader—based on factors like location, interests, and device—will increase relevancy while making your life easier.
In the newsletter below (click the image to enlarge), an apparel retailer offers local style events based on each recipients location when they open the email using geo-targeting. And if the recipient reopens the email in another location, it offers updated local events.
In this newsletter, a publisher uses web cropping to automatically pull in the most recently published articles from its website, ensuring content is always up-to-date with each open, without the need to create additional content.
Want to see more examples? We’ve just published the second installment of our “A Guide to Building a Better Email” series. This edition is dedicated to helping marketers publish a beautiful contextual newsletter that will create loyal readers, drive ROI, and cut down production time.
From how to get started and best practices, to inspirational examples—you’ll find it all here. Get your free copy now.
Then, check out “A Guide to Building a Better Email: The Welcome Series.”