Ask The Expert
How do I send an email newsletter?
An e-newsletter can help you build long-term relationships with existing clients and keep your leads
warm. Here are some tips and best practices for sending out a must-read newsletter of your own.
- Set your goal. An e-newsletter is a time investment (how much depends on how involved
your newsletter is). To make sure it’s worth it, determine what you want it to do for your
agency. Are you just looking to be a familiar face for prospects and clients, or do you want to become
the "go-to" insurance expert? How will accomplishing these goals help your agency?
And what kind of return on investment will justify the time and money spent creating the newsletter?
- Personality. People like to read emails from real people, not some anonymous agency.
Choose someone to be the “face” of the newsletter. All your content should have a consistent
tone. You know your audience best, so try to speak in their language — it’s what they’ll
respond to best. If you’re sending to consumers, keep it casual and fun. Remember that they
won't know some terms you use everyday — so be careful to avoid jargon. If your newsletter
targets business owners, a slightly more serious tone may work better for them.
- Start with the subject line. If your subject line is a dud (think, “XYZ
Agency News: Vol 2) no one will ever open it to see the great content you have inside. Pick the most
compelling tidbit and sum it up in a few eye-catching words: “Affordable Coverage? Believe
It.” Keep your subject lines under 50 characters (spaces included) to get more people to click
and open your email.
- Address your reader. If you’ve got first names to go along with email addresses,
use them to greet your readers. A simple “Hello, Sam!” will go a long way in making your
newsletter feel more personal and engaging.
- Make it valuable. Even if you get a lot of readers initially, they’ll stop
opening your email if they don’t find the content they want. If you don’t know what type
of information your customers value, you need to ask them. To keep people reading month after month,
you need to consistently deliver useful information. At the same time, don’t
make a lot of promises you can’t keep when people are subscribing. If you can’t deliver “10
Affordable Insurance Tips A Month!” than why pretend? You’ll only disappoint readers… and
encourage them to hit that pesky “unsubscribe” button.
- Put your most important info first. Don’t save your best article for the
bottom of your newsletter — many readers won’t make it that far. If you’ve got
something really important to say, give it the prime spot right at the top.
- Don’t overload your newsletter. Most people worry they won’t have
enough to fill a newsletter every month. But cramming in too much is even worse. If you send more
info than your readers have time to digest in one sitting, you risk overwhelming them, FAST. Keep
your newsletters simple by focusing on a few key “tips” that will be easy for your readers
to remember (and remember you) later. Newsletters come in all shapes and sizes; some have as few
as one or two articles or tips a month.
- Keep it educational. Don’t confuse your newsletter with just another email
ad. People subscribe to newsletters because they want to stay informed… not because
they want to be sold something. Newsletters can be effective at strengthening relationships, and
position you as a valuable insurance expert. You can use a newsletter to generate leads
or inform customers of new products and updates. Just don’t overpower the educational info
with self-serving content
- No time to write? A lot of agents don’t have the time to crank out even
one article a month. While your own content is better because it’s more personal and can specifically
target the needs of your audience, you can find free syndicated articles online. There are a lot
of companies who collect articles and make them available for free. In exchange for submitting articles,
the writers get their names widely published. Not all free articles are top quality, so you’ll
need to do a little browsing to find ones that fit your newsletter. You can find article syndication
companies by typing keywords like, “free articles” into search engines like Google and
Yahoo!. If you're going to use free articles, make sure you read (and follow!) the articles' terms
of use.
Now, how to send your newsletter?
There are a host of companies that will help you send out a good-looking e-newsletter for a reasonable
price. One company you can look into is Constant
Contact. They even have a free trial so can try out the software before you commit.
More e-newsletter resources:
Constant Contact: http://www.constantcontact.com/email-marketing-resources/hints-tips/newsletters.jsp
Email Labs:
http://www.emaillabs.com/email_marketing_articles/articles_13quicktips.html
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Jeremiah Desmarais and his award winning team have won 3 awards in 2006 for their marketing initiatives that touch Norvax' client base and carrier relationships on a daily basis. He is author of several white papers including the applauded ‘Selling Insurance Online:
Identifying 9 Top Trends for 2006’, and has been a contributor to the Agent’s
Sales Journal, Health Insurance Underwriter as well as a guest speaker at various carrier events
and workshops. He is a member of the Society of Industry Leaders. He welcomes feedback at jdesmarais@norvax.com |
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