What is and how to make a newsletter – Blog del E-commerce

A newsletter it’s an email sent on a predetermined frequency to people who have signed up to receive it. We can translate the term newsletter as a “newsletter” and this type of communication, which includes offers or other types of content, is capable of creating a close relationship between brands and their audience.

Have you thought about creating a newsletter for your business? If you never considered this possibility, we invite you to give it a try, because the newsletter It will allow you to strengthen the bond with your audience and, consequently, make your brand the obvious choice for people when they decide to buy the type of product or service you offer.

This strategy can be decisive to captivate your audience. According to data from the American company , a visitor who arrives at a website through a newsletter spends 80% more time on that page than those who come from other channels.

Can you imagine how many these people browsing your online store can generate?

If you are excited to use this tool, then I will share tips, examples and tools to generate your company’s newsletter. Let’s go! 📧

What is a newsletter?

A newsletter is an email that is sent to people who have subscribed to receive that email. This term comes from English and we can translate it as “newsletter”.

This format is a fundamental piece of the companies, since it is responsible for maintaining contact with the target audience with varied messages that go beyond exclusively offering the sale of a product.

There are different types and formats of newsletters and each company chooses the one that best suits their needs. To find yours, I recommend that you subscribe to a few of them, including those of your competitors, to see how they do it.

As part of your research, you can subscribe to the Tiendanube newsletter through the form that you will find below. In addition to seeing what a newsletter looks like in practice, you will receive the most relevant information about ecommerce and digital marketing for your business.

Join the largest community of entrepreneurs! 🚀 We will keep you updated with the best content, tools and news from the entrepreneurial world.

6 advantages of doing a newsletter

In this section I will briefly share the main advantages of creating a newsletter to spread the news about your business and interact with your customers and potential customers:

Newsletters enable conversion and loyalty.
Being a channel that has the permission of users to receive your communications, you can build a closer and more organic link with your readers.
It is a resource that involves little investment and causes a great impact.
Newsletters are an excellent tool to generate your store.
It allows you to carefully segment the users who showed interest in your brand, with the aim of offering them exactly what they are looking for.
Being an alternative channel to the , in the event of a crash on these platforms, you will be able to maintain communication with users.

Why the newsletter can be useful for your brand

Do you still have doubts about the effectiveness of the newsletter? The following data will help you measure the power of this resource:

There are 4 billion users in the world who have email and use it on a daily basis!
Marketers who used targeted campaigns during 2021 saw their revenue increase by 760%.
74% of Baby Boomers (people born between 1949-1968) think that email is the most personalized channel to receive communications from brands.
The same is the opinion of 72% of Generation X (1969-1980), 64% of Millennials (1981-1993) and 60% of Generation Z (1994-2010).
Shoppers spend 138% more when they receive email offers, compared to those who don’t receive email promotions.
According to the , for every dollar invested in email marketing, the return was approximately $52.38 USD.

How to make a newsletter?

It is possible that, at this point, you think that it is time to go directly to the design and sending of your newsletter. However, there are some preliminary steps that I suggest you complete before doing so. Let us see in detail what are the 10 steps to make a newsletter:

1. Define your goals.
2. Establish the frequency of sending your newsletters.
3. Determine the type of newsletter.
4. Choose an email marketing tool
5. Design the newsletter.
6. Inform your audience that they can register for your newsletter.
7. Carry out shipping tests.
8. Offer good service to your subscribers.
9. Measure the results.
10. Do A/B tests.

1. Define your goals

Like any other digital marketing strategy, the first thing you have to do is . Do you want to attract more visitors to your website or increase your sales, etc.? After this, I recommend you define more specific objectives, regarding the open rate and click rate that you expect to have when you send your campaigns.

2. Set the frequency of sending your newsletters

At this point we regret to inform you that there is no magic formula that works for all segments and audiences. For this reason, you have to pay attention to two essential aspects about periodicity:

It shouldn’t be too constant to the point of overwhelming recipients, nor should it be so sparse that people forget about your brand.

Also, I suggest you perform as many tests as necessary. Here applies the technique of trial and error. Start by sending one newsletter per week, see the results, and then try to send it twice a week.

The two types of newsletters most used by companies are content and promotion. Let’s see each of them.

content newsletter

As its name suggests, this type of newsletter works closely with your business.

The idea of this type of newsletter is to send interesting information and materials to your audience, with two key objectives: for your brand to become a benchmark within your field and to bring visitors to your website.

Some examples of content that your newsletter can have are:

Articles from your blog, through a brief summary of the post and a link that directs your subscribers to read the full text on your site.
Answers to frequently asked questions (FAQ) related to the category to which your business belongs.
Case studies linked to your business.
News from other blogs or media outlets that you think may be of interest to your audience.

Promotion Newsletter

In this type of newsletter you will spread information about your products or . The idea is to keep your audience informed about the news of your brand. In this sense, the messages you can send are:

Launches of new collections or products.
Offers and benefits for a special date.
Tips on personalized gifts.

4. Choose an email marketing tool

so that your newsletters have a more professional image, we suggest using an email marketing tool.

Currently, there are multiple platforms that you can use without having technical knowledge. Also, these tools have custom fields (such as the recipient’s name at the beginning of the email) that help prevent your emails from being considered spam. Some very popular ones are or HubSpot.

Now everything is ready to move on to the design phase! To do this, I share some good practices:

Avoid making your email a big picture. When the text is in the image file, it makes it difficult for visually impaired people to access the message, who use software that can only read text, not images. Also, when the email is just an image, it is more likely to land in the “spam” tray.
Includes CTAs. CTAs or calls to action seek to direct the audience to a specific offer or content. In general, they are written with imperative verbs to indicate what the person must do. This resource helps encourage your audience to click on the links you’ve shared.
Don’t write long emails. Keep in mind that few people have the time to read a lengthy email, so it’s best to get straight to the point.
Includes a button to unsubscribe. This prevents those who do not want to receive your content from reporting your emails as spam.

It is a good practice to inform through your social networks that you have a newsletter. Likewise, we suggest you put banners on your website, informing how people can register. Do not forget to place the registration forms in visible places on your page, such as the header (the top part of your website) and the footer (the bottom part).

7. Do shipping tests

Before making each shipment, it is important to carry out the respective tests to:

Verify that there is no error that prevents the recipient from opening the email.
Identify that mail is being sent and received normally.
Check the design on different types of devices.

To do this, it is convenient to send the test email to different servers. For example, send the newsletter to your corporate email address and another to your personal email. Open the message on a computer and mobile to check that everything is working properly before sending it to your contact base.

8. Offer good service to your subscribers

To gain the trust of the people who make up your contact base, respond to their messages when they ask you a question after receiving your newsletter. On the other hand, if a subscriber requests that their email be removed from your contact list, honor their request. By complying with this request, you will not only prevent your brand from having a negative image, but you will also comply with the Personal Data Protection Law.

9. Measure results

Tracking the email marketing metrics of your newsletter will allow you to identify points for improvement and what is working perfectly.

Some of the main indicators are:

📧 Delivery Rate

It is the percentage of the emails sent that are actually being delivered to the recipients. If there is a significant difference between emails sent and delivered, it may be because your list contains a large number of invalid or unused emails. In this case, we suggest you perform a database cleanup.

Likewise, it is important to receive permission from users to be added to the contact list. This is achieved when people voluntarily subscribe.

If this does not happen, your newsletter may be classified as spam and may even end up on the famous blacklists (anti-spam databases that filter messages).

📧 Open rate

It is the percentage of emails opened by users among all those delivered. It is calculated from…