Enhancing Subscriber Engagement Through Email Newsletters

As email newsletters and digital devices become our one-stop sources for news, entertainment, shopping, and communication with the brands we love, the amount of content available to the average reader is pretty much limitless in today’s ecommerce world.

Those possibilities, however, can also be overwhelming — which is why most audiences prefer a personalized, aggregated experience tailored specifically to their interests. 

And for any subscribers who signed up for email newsletters in record numbers during the pandemic, the inbox has become the new homepage for keeping up with stories from trusted news outlets like The Associated Press, The New York Times, The San Francisco Chronicle, and countless others. 

But enhancing subscriber engagement through email newsletters is easier said than done. Because your newsworthy messages should go beyond simply rounding up your top content and sending it out in email form.

Email newsletters are an excellent way to build loyalty, boost clicks and conversions, and ultimately grow your revenue streams and paid subscription paths by creating personalized experiences for anyone looking to stay informed without sacrificing a ton of time and energy. 

But don’t take our word for it. Here are a few lessons we’ve learned along the way from top publishers on creating email newsletter content that not only drives audience engagement and subscription growth, but also builds loyalty by creating communities through personalized interactions. 

Hot off the press: personalization

One of the main reasons readers love email newsletters is for the daily, curated experience waiting in their inbox. Creating a bespoke experience using the first-party data your subscriber list already provides is an excellent way to ensure your newsletter is providing content that drives clicks.

When Insider wanted to personalize its email newsletter, the publisher tapped into its unique combination of customer-collected first-party data, website behavior analytics, and reader interest insights in order to tailor content to subscribers’ unique preferences. The move was a boon for audience engagement, ultimately driving more traffic to the Insider website and adding more subscription products to its revenue mix. 

Format can be your secret formula for successful email newsletters

While email newsletters have traditionally posted longform content in the body, shifting format to offer tantalizing snippets of intriguing content is one of the most important ways to use daily check-ins to foster audience engagement and increase click-through rate (CTR).

The Associated Press wanted to encourage even greater engagement with its wildly popular Morning Wire email newsletter. To achieve growth and more meaningful subscriber relationships, the publisher partnered with Marigold Engage by Sailthru to redesign its newsletter, taking its format from full-story features to article teases.

The result? Website traffic generated by these newsletters went from 15,000 to 165,000 per day and email engagement rates exploded by 400% as a result of these changes. And CTR nearly quadrupled up to an average of nine percent or more across these sends, inspiring one of the brand’s most successful quarters ever following its relaunch!

Don’t forget about CTA design 

While killer content and tantalizing headlines are absolutely crucial for creating engaging email newsletter content, publishers can’t skimp on design. After all, creating CTAs that are eye-catching and self-explanatory is also a huge advantage when it comes to driving clicks, conversions, and even new revenue streams.

The best CTAs are those that are completely intuitive, leaving no doubt in subscribers’ minds where they’re supposed to look for more information. They’re also well-placed, stand out from the rest of the text, and don’t fade into the background.

Creating email newsletters doesn’t have to be time-consuming

They say that good things come to those who wait, but creating a personalized, compelling daily email newsletter doesn’t have to take all day. For editorial teams trying to beat competitors to subscribers’ inboxes, every second counts. And by automating parts of the newsletter process, publishers can both serve the excellent content audiences expect while saving precious time doing the work of writing, formatting, and optimizing. 

In the past, curating The AP’s Morning Wire email newsletter took editorial teams three hours or more per send. So, when the publisher wanted to boost audience engagement and subscriber rates while simultaneously cutting down production times, it adopted Sailthru’s robust email and personalization suite to automate these once time-consuming messages to a process that only takes minutes to curate personalized content.

While these tried-and-tested email newsletter tactics are paying off big-time for media brands all over the world, there’s no reason you can’t take advantage of these opportunities too. If you’d like to learn more about how Sailthru’s powerful personalization suite can grow your audience engagement and elevate your email newsletter experience, click here to schedule your custom demo today!