What makes great B2B newsletter content?

Companies often say to me “but our products and services aren’t very interesting – how do we create an email newsletter that will be compelling and get read?”

I believe every business can create fantastic email newsletters. Without meaning to state the obvious: If you are communicating with an audience that wants to hear about your products and services they will find the newsletter interesting.

Aside from bringing your passion, enthusiasm and knowledge about your products and services to the content you produce, the most important rule is that it must be useful, valuable or exclusive.

Here are some content ideas to get you started.

Letter from the editor

If you want to build customer loyalty and/or brand your business, a letter from the editor, or contact person such as an account manager, can give your readers a good feeling about the company and its products and services. Keep the intro short – around 50-65 words, linking keywords to articles. Adding a photo and contact points gives the letter a personal feel.

Spotlight features

Depending on your products and services, a spotlight article can feature customers, resellers or employees. If you highlight employees, include contacts in these profiles – something like, “If you have a service department query, please give James a call and he’ll help you,” and include a direct phone number.

About Us

Remember that readers have different needs and interests. People in your subscriber database will be at various points in the decision-making/buying process. Therefore, you should never assume that every recipient or reader of your newsletter is clear about what products and services your company offers. Implement a standard ‘About Us’ article that appears in every edition of your newsletter.

News Round-ups

If you are establishing yourself as an industry leader, consider offering a ‘Round-up of Industry News’ feature, which includes snippets of news, trends and statistics specific to your sector. This adds value for business readers because it saves them the time and effort of finding quality industry news themselves.

Useful Links

Include a recurring ‘Useful Links’ section in the side column of your newsletter. Consider embedding direct links that your readers would regularly need, such as the client Log-in section, the helpful resource section of your website, or to past issues of your newsletter.

Breaking news

A huge benefit email has over print is that you can add content right up to the send time. This can give your newsletter a very timely feel to it so take advantage of this. 

Ask the Expert

Pose and answer typical problems that your customers and/or subscribers would run into regarding your products and services. Better still, if readers submit their own questions, chances are you’ll have ready-made content that is definitely of interest and relevant to other readers.

Ask for Feedback

Keep your readers engaged by giving them the option of asking them what they’d prefer to see in the newsletter. Ask for direct feedback, or run a survey asking specific questions about anything from content, to length and frequency of the newsletter.

Events

Highlight your upcoming events, including how to register for them, or alert readers to important industry-wide seminars and conferences your company endorses or recommends. You could also add another dimension by including post-event write-ups as well as photos from events.

Downloads

Give your newsletter depth by directing readers to ‘further reading’ such as white papers, podcasts and research documents. 

Case studies

Showing is so much more fun than telling. You can’t go wrong with case studies, which are always very popular with business readers.  

Fun things

Don’t be afraid to sprinkle some light-hearted elements. They can give your newsletter a human touch – and make it sticky. Ideas include, inspirational or motivational quotes and industry-specific humour (think office favourite Dilbert). Quizzes, competitions – with a prize incentive – are always popular. 

Top 10

I include this one because without a doubt it is one of the top performers for clicks. This is an excellent opportunity for you to take an existing article and make it interesting and easy to absorb by giving it a ‘top five’ or ‘top 10’ angle.

Re-use content

How much content should I have in my newsletter? 

It's a question I'm always asked by clients and at presentations. As I was preparing this article I came across this quote by Peter Krass of Petros Consulting. "The right number of articles for a newsletter is however many it takes to do the job. And the job is reaching your target audience, getting your message across, and persuading your readers to take whatever action it is that you want them to take. That might mean just one article. Or it might mean 30. Unfortunately, there is no secret formula for determining the right number of articles." I agree with Peter, except for the lack of a 'secret formula'. I believe the secret to your success is figuring out the formula that works for YOUR mailings.

In helping you decide what's the right content balance for your mailings, here are some facts about today's email reading habits, plus some content formulas that have worked for me. Add in the "test, test, test" factor, and you should be able to find the 'secret formula' for your own successful mailings.

• People 'scan' email -  No need to tell you that people get a lot of email these days. Once an email is opened, it has approximately eight seconds to engage. Scanning is how we now decide to read, click or delete. In Jakob Nielsen's 2004 Email Newsletter Usability study he found only 11% of the participants read a newsletter completely and 10% put it aside to 'read later' - all other participants scanned. 
  
  
• Present content in a scannable format - Nielsen's survey also found the actual amount of content presented is a matter of perception. Users in the survey commented that one newsletter had "too much content", when actually it only contained 350 words. The text was presented in one large block - which made it appear longer and harder to read. The key is to break up text in your articles. This can be accomplished with space breaks, bullet points and bolded headers, all of which help the eye scan and absorb.
  
  In my ten+ years of experience in email marketing I have found the most successful newsletters have articles that are between 300 - 800 words long, 1,000 words maximum. Executive briefs or synopses leading to articles should stay within the 100 word range. A general consensus among marketers regarding a content mix that gives a feeling of value to the reader: 20% marketing material and 80% information.
  
  
• Too many choices dilutes your chance of a click - A recent EMEA DoubleClick trend report says the average current click through rates are now between 4 - 10% (based on emails delivered). This figure shows what a challenge it is to get subscribers - once they've opened - to then click. Too many articles can make the reader feel overwhelmed and say 'later', or miss the relevant article amongst the content 'noise'. For most newsletters I'd recommend 5-7 items and/or articles.
  
  
• Each item or article should have a Call to Action - Each content item should appear in the newsletter for a specific reason. Is it to highlight a product/service? Is it to upsell? Is it to get attendees to an event? Raise awareness of your service? Brand your company or showcase your expertise? If you are looking for a specific result, tell the reader what to do, e.g. 'call now', 'email now', 'book now'. (I've written about Calls to Action previously.)
  
  
• Don't use up all your content and ideas in the first few mailings - There is a natural tendency when first starting out in email publishing to put everything into the first few issues. There's a perception that more gives better value to the reader. Aside from the points already made as to why this isn't a good idea, a big one is you'll soon run out of content and ideas. To avoid this, set a publishing schedule for your company, plan ahead, plot out the articles and what issue they'll appear in.