How To Give Visitors a Sneak Peek at Your Newsletter
You want a community of engaged readers. Your subscribers want interesting content in a layout they like. You’re both looking for love at first click.
As in any relationship, the best way for you to both get what you want from your email marketing is to set clear expectations from the very beginning.
An example of your newsletter goes a long way toward setting correct expectations. But how can you share one before the signup?
It’s easy, actually. Just combine two of the tools in your AWeber account – the broadcast archive and the web form generator. This combo lets you offer a sneak peek of your campaign to make sure it’s a good fit for each new subscriber.
Here’s how:
Link to a Past Email Newsletter at Signup
The broadcast archive stores web versions of your past broadcast messages. The web form generator lets you create custom signup forms where people can subscribe to your emails.
To show your newsletter to potential subscribers before they sign up, you would simply need to display a link on your web form to the archived version of one of your newsletters, like this:
Choose a newsletter to be your example
Scroll through your past newsletters Broadcast page. Choose the one you think best represents your emails. Remember, you’re trying to give the most accurate depiction of what you’ll be sending your subscribers.
Grab the link for it
Open the message you’ve chosen in the message editor. Scroll down to the “Syndicate” section. You’ll need to syndicate the message if you haven’t done so yet – this publishes it to the web.
The part you will use is the “Direct Link”. You can copy this link whenever you are ready to put it into your web form.
Add the link to your web form
Open the web form you’d like to use (or create a new one) in the web form generator. Decide where you’d like to put the link to your newsletter example.
Then decide what words to use and click on the Text icon to add them to the form. Remember, it’s an invitation, so be welcoming, not pushy.
Type the text you want in the editing box. Highlight it, click the link icon and paste in that link from Step 2. When you’re satisfied, save the changes.
If the text doesn’t appear where you want it to on the form, simply click and drag the field to the proper place.
Start Using Your New Web Form
Congratulations! You’ve just upgraded from asking subscribers to take a shot in the dark to letting them make an informed decision.
You are one step closer to a community of interested readers who look forward to your messages.
Your Thoughts
Do you share an example of your newsletter or product before asking people to sign up for it? Does this seem to make a difference?
Can you think of any cases when you might not want to share an example first? How can you set clear expectations about your emails in these cases?
We always enjoy the ideas you share. Let us know what you think about setting expectations with a newsletter example below.
Email Spring Cleaning: 4 Easy Ways
Just a few months ago, New Year’s resolutions were the highlight of many email marketing conversations.
With the best intentions, businesses set out to grow their lists by the thousands and send more targeted, relevant messages. They made lists and reviewed last year’s figures, invigorated by the new year and certain that they could increase click through rates and ROI by leaps and bounds.
Perhaps you even set lofty goals for your own campaign, only to be sidetracked by more pressing issues. If you’ve temporarily put your resolutions on the back burner, refocus your efforts with these spring cleaning techniques.
div.forms-left { float: left; overflow: auto; margin-right: 20px; padding-bottom: 20px; }
div.forms-right { float: right; overflow: auto; padding-bottom: 20px; }
div.form-overhaul { width: 300px; height: 65px; overflow: auto; }
div.form-overhaul img { float: left; margin-right: 15px; }
div.form-overhaul p { padding: 20px 0 0; margin: 0 !important }
div.twoline p { padding: 12px 0 0 !important; }
div.overhaul-msg { float: left; width: 179px; padding-bottom: 15px; }
div.overhaul-msg p { margin-top: 5px !important; }
div.msg-middle { margin: 0 40px; }
p.blue-box { display: block; background: #e2effa; border: 1px solid #c0daf0; padding: 10px 15px; clear: both; }
p.idea { display: block; background: #ddeddc url(http://www.aweber.com/images/blog-list-bulb.png) no-repeat 5px center; border: 1px solid #b3c1b2; padding: 10px 10px 10px 40px; }
Dust Off Your Messages
You should treat old emails like attic treasures. Just like you stash your belongings away, only to rediscover them in a flurry of excitement later on, take a close look at your existing messages and examine the available reports for your account.
The Verified Subscribers report shows exactly how many people have confirmed their subscription in the past 30 days. If you aren’t satisfied with your current results, re-purpose your old confirmation email to make it sparkle.
The Follow Up Totals report displays the total number of clicks and opens for each message. If necessary, change up your content to make it more conversational and engaging and fine tune your follow up messages to reflect questions that you frequently receive from subscribers. Examine your subject lines and determine if they are compelling and consistent enough to click through.
Using templates? Make sure your messages look good in all email clients – test them.
Polish Your Web Forms
If you haven’t tried the new Web Form Generator yet, now is the time.
Make your forms shine without any HTML knowledge whatsoever. You can create visually appealing forms that give your website a more polished and professional look in only 5 minutes.
Because you don’t need to edit the HTML for your page each time you work on your form, you can make changes whenever you want without a hassle – you could even try seasonal templates if you’re feeling festive.
Campaign Overhaul: Renovating Emails and Forms
When you’re pouring over various reports and rewriting entire message sequences, how can you be sure that the changes you’re making are the best for your email marketing efforts? By split testing, of course.
Split testing lets you conduct a controlled experiment with your sign up forms and messages to help to see which factors make them perform better for your campaigns.
Web Forms
Split testing web forms lets you evaluate:
Which type of form works best for you (e.g.pop-over vs. inline)
How many fields you should use
Which field labels work best
Whether or not your headline copy is compelling enough
Email Messages
Split test your new messages against your old ones to learn…
Does sending in the morning work better than sending in the afternoon?
Does using a button instead of a text link get me more clicks?
Does subject line personalization get you more, or fewer, opens?
For accurate results, split test broadcasts can only be created for lists that have at least 100 active subscribers.
Revive Your List With Some Careful Pruning
Yard work goes hand in hand with spring cleaning, and it’s common landscaping knowledge that most plants benefit from regular maintenance. Take a cue from mother nature – with careful pruning, your list can flourish.
This is not to say that you should immediately unsubscribe anyone who hasn’t opened recent emails.
Consider the number of disengaged subscribers on your list. To start, search for subscribers that haven’t opened a message in 3-6 months. Are there a lot of them?
Resist the urge to channel your inner Edward Scissorhands; don’t delete them them – try to reengage them first!
Think about what you offer in your emails. If your product is seasonal, are those subscribers really inactive? Perhaps they are simply not opening your messages because they are familiar with your brand and assume that they will still receive emails when they are ready to purchase.
What are Your Housekeeping Plans?
Are you clearing out your unsubscribes anyway, despite our advice to think it over? Rewriting messages?
We’d love to hear what you’re doing next with your lists! Share your thoughts on the blog.