Three Mailchimp newsletter growth hacks
Email is one of the most effective marketing channels and Mailchimp has long been a favourite amongst marketers and growth hackers. Learn how to up your Mailchimp newsletter game with our growth hacks.
With 11 million users blasting email campaigns to an unbelievable 4 billion people across the globe, Mailchimp has undoubtedly changed the newsletter game. For good.
But, with so much competition — Statista predicts that the number of emails sent every day will grow from 269 billion in 2017 to 360 billion by 2021 — serious attention must be paid to making your newsletter, Mailchimp or otherwise, stand out.
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Four reasons why email has become such an effective channel for your marketing:
- It’s cost effective. Platform and resources cost aside, you can email as much and as often as you wish for free.
- Ownership. Email is part of your owned channels, which means you have complete control over the channel and your subscriber base (while adhering to GDPR).
- Trust. If you’re adhering to GDPR regulations then everyone on your subscriber list has expressed interest in some form or another in what you’re doing. It’s down to YOU to improve this relationship with your subscriber or lose their trust which results in unsubscribes. A staggering 91% of users check their email daily — that includes your subscribers.
- Higher conversions. High trust and cost effectiveness paired with full ownership over this channel can result in higher conversations compared to other channels. Email may not sound as cool as social media, but a staggering 68% of Millennials have had their purchasing decisions influenced by promotional emails .
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With this in mind, we’ve outlined three of our top newsletter growth hacks you can apply on Mailchimp today.
Make your Mailchimp newsletter content scannable
Our world is suffering from a chronic lack of attention, with the average person’s concentration span now below eight seconds . This, compounded with the fact that 61% of emails are opened on mobile phones, means most of your newsletter readers are scan-reading. You need to write content with this reality in mind.
It’s never been more important to get to the point. One way to do this is by ensuring you get to the most compelling aspect in the very first sentence. If your newsletter happens to be about the best statement sockwear on the market this Autumn, tell your audience that straight away.
A good example of this straight-to-the-point approach to newsletter copy is Cook Smarts’ newsletter:
Even the quickest glance at this newsletter lets you know exactly what it’s about — and makes you eager to eat butternut squash, unsurprisingly.
Keeping the overall copy limited is another way to keep it scannable. Constant Contact has found that newsletters with 20 lines — that’s around 200 words — boast the highest CTR . Now length obviously depends on your particular brand, but always consider whether the reader can absorb the content in a minute or two. The links you include provide the details, your newsletter only needs to offer soundbites.
Use bullet points if necessary. Since 35% of newsletter readers only scan for the salient points, according to ActiveTrail, the newsletter’s key points bullet-pointed will catch their eye. Not to mention, they’re a striking format for any relevant data.
Brand your Mailchimp newsletter
Newsletters are all about raising awareness of your brand and driving that all-important ROI. Therefore it’s important that the content of your newsletter matches the tone and message your brand is trying to convey.
Strong — and consistent — branding in your Mailchimp newsletter is effective in many ways: it increases credibility, it helps your newsletter stand out and it builds your reputation.
On the copy side, strong branding means using consistent language and copy across your newsletter and other marketing channels. But we’re visual creatures, so what tends to be more impactful is aligning your newsletter with your brand’s visuals.
Including your company’s logo is a no-brainer. Going deeper and matching the colour palette of your brand and using the same font as your other assets will also go a long way in branding your newsletter so it increases awareness, to name just a few techniques.
A company that brands its newsletter’s exceptionally is Instagram planning tool, .
Planoly’s newsletter sticks to its branded palette of soft, pastel colours and employs the same font as its website. The company also uses simple imagery throughout that aligns with its brand and message too. As a result, their newsletter always stands out when it lands in my inbox.
Speaking of imagery, have you thought about the importance of the pictures used in your newsletter?
Use great images in your Mailchimp newsletter that speak to your brand’s message
The use of images in newsletters is somewhat contested, with some brands favouring straight text and some making imagery the focal point of their content. While different customers like different things — 65% of people prefer images in their newsletters and 35% prefer plain text — content with visuals is 94% more likely to be viewed , so we’re firmly on the side of including images.
But, don’t just include any image, use images that resonate with your brand’s messaging and the overall theme of the newsletter. Knowing your target audience and what they want from content will help you enormously here. This is also where your keen eye for good marketing content and the features that make it engaging will come in handy, in addition to your understanding of the psychology behind pictures .
For example, has an amazing array of visuals at its hands which it uses effectively in their newsletters:
In this example, Airbnb’s newsletter promotes Spain as a travel destination, while the appealing images feature two of the brand’s key messages: chasing ‘adventure’ and finding your ‘home-away-from-home’.
Datasine’s AI platform, Connect (formerly Pomegranate), is an ingenious new growth tool which analyses and ranks which images resonate the most with your audience.
The Free version allows you to identify which images have the strongest appeal and would be the highest-converting using data from the general population. It’s become the secret Swiss army knife in the tool sets with many innovative Growth Hackers, Growth Marketers and really anyone using photography as part of their comms.
Connect Pro (to be launched autumn 2019) takes the approach to the next level. Instead of relying on data of the general population, Connect Pro users can plug in their own customer base and leverage their historic engagement and behavioural data for pin-pointing what content appeals to your specific audience. Launching very soon, Datasine Connect Pro offers early-access and a 14-day free trial for Day One Member’s.
And while you’re at it, why not sign up for our own newsletter for regular marketing insights and to be kept up-to-date with Datasine news?
Originally published at https://datasine.com on August 23, 2019.
