8 Tips To Write An Engaging Email Newsletter

Email newsletters are essential B2B marketing content for good reasons. Not only does email marketing bring an average ROI of 3,600%, but it's also the preferred channel of 77% of B2B buyers, with 40% of B2B marketers citing it as a critical tactic for success.

Email newsletters help you maintain a consistent presence and stay top of mind to retain and convert B2B audiences. They are effective in nurturing relationships, establishing authority, and driving engagement. You can also use email marketing to re-engage contacts or keep in touch with those not in an active buying cycle. 

However, writing newsletters that engage and convert isn't as simple as clicking the "send" button. How do you use email to nurture leads and guide prospects through the buyer's journey? Here are 7 tips for creating effective marketing content for email newsletters, plus one pro tip on incorporating email as part of an always-on campaign.

1. Craft a Winning Newsletter Strategy

A solid foundation starts with aligning your newsletter strategy with your business goals and the audience's needs and priorities.

First, define your objectives. Do you want to educate your audience and position your brand as a thought leader by sharing industry trends, insights, and best practices? Do you aim to nurture leads by delivering targeted content to guide prospects through the buyer's journey? Or do you want to highlight your product's features, benefits, or special offers to drive sales or signups?

Then, get to know your audience. Use analytics to create detailed customer personas and segment your list based on these profiles to tailor your messaging for a personalized experience.

2. Grow and Manage Your Email List

A high-quality email list is the foundation for effective email marketing. A strategy to attract, nurture, and retain subscribers is essential for maximizing ROI.

Entice visitors to sign up with lead magnets. These free, high-value resources may include e-books and whitepapers, templates and checklists, webinars and training sessions, or discounts and free trials. Align the content with your ideal customers' interests and needs to attract people most likely to buy your solution.

Optimize signup forms by keeping them simple, inviting, and visible on key pages (e.g., homepage, blog, etc.). They should have a compelling call to action (CTA) — avoid generic copy like "submit" and use action-oriented phrases like "download the guide now." Also, regularly clean your list by removing inactive or hard-bounced email addresses to maintain your sender reputation.

3. Create Value-Driven Content

Successful email newsletters start with a powerful hook — an engaging subject line and preview text. Leverage curiosity or urgency and experiment with different formats (e.g., questions, numbers, emojis) to entice recipients to open. 

Tailor your content based on recipients' interests, behaviors, and intent. Segment subscribers according to past behaviors (e.g., past purchases, downloads, etc.), demographics (e.g., job title, industry, or company size), or engagement level to deliver personalized content.

Additionally, share different content types to keep your newsletters fresh. These may include industry updates and tips, user-generated content, customer success stories, exclusive discounts, and new product sneak peeks.

4. Follow Design and Layout Best Practices 

Visually appealing and user-friendly newsletters help engage readers. Use a template to maintain a consistent brand experience, avoid visual clutter, prioritize readability, and optimize relevant, high-quality images to reduce load times without sacrificing quality.

A responsive design may increase unique mobile clicks by 15%. To optimize for the mobile experience, use a mobile-responsive template, larger fonts, and touch-friendly buttons. Preview your newsletter on multiple devices and email clients to ensure consistency.

Most B2B buyers get numerous emails daily, and driving engagement requires creativity. Leverage interactive elements to deliver a dynamic experience. These may include polls, quizzes, surveys, eye-catching animated GIFs, or bold, action-oriented CTA buttons.

5. Automate and Test Campaigns

Automation tools and A/B testing techniques help streamline email marketing efforts and continuously improve results.

Automate email sequences to send timely, relevant, personalized messages based on user behaviors and actions. Welcome emails, cart abandonment reminders, post-purchase follow-ups, re-engagement campaigns, and event or webinar reminders are ideal candidates for automation.

Also, use A/B testing to identify what resonates best with your audience. For example, you may test subject lines, content order, CTA placement and design, and personalization strategies. Then, analyze metrics to refine your marketing content and newsletter strategy.

6. Comply with Legal Requirements 

Ensuring compliance with email marketing laws (e.g., GDPR and CAN-SPAM Act) and maintaining ethical practices helps you build trust, safeguard your brand reputation, and avoid penalties.

Implement an opt-in consent mechanism (e.g., a checkbox or a double opt-in process) that allows users to provide explicit, informed consent before receiving your email newsletters. Also, provide easy unsubscribe options, such as a visible and functional "unsubscribe" link in every email. 

Prioritize data privacy by transparently handling and protecting subscriber data. Explain your data collection process and only ask for information necessary for segmentation or personalization. Protect subscriber data with data encryption, access controls, and regular audits.

7. Track and Analyze Email Marketing Metrics 

Effective email marketing doesn’t end with sending campaigns. You must continuously monitor and improve your strategy based on performance metrics and audience feedback. 

So, what can you learn from email metrics? Open rates reflect the effectiveness of your subject line and timing. Click-through rates (CTR) indicate how compelling and relevant your content and CTAs are. Meanwhile, conversion rates directly tie email newsletter performance to your marketing goal. 

Additionally, encourage recipients to provide feedback through surveys, polls, and direct replies. Adjust your content mix based on audience preferences and track how they improve your email marketing KPIs.

8. Integrate Email with an Always-On Campaign

 A robust nurture strategy must go beyond email to connect with the audience via multiple touch points for an always-on approach and a customer-centric experience. 

An intelligent, always-on campaign uses buyer intelligence and intent data to fuel an omni-channel approach, delivering the right message at the right time throughout the buyer's journey. When you create marketing content for your email newsletters, consider how you may distribute it through other channels like LinkedIn, display ads, content syndication, and BDR outreach.

Your email newsletter should also complement your content marketing strategy. For example, you may repurpose blog content into newsletter highlights or use emails to drive traffic to your website.

Iteration and Adaptation: The Key to Writing Effective Email Newsletters 

Email marketing is not a set-it-and-forget-it strategy. Collect data and leverage insights to deliver relevant information and guide targeted improvements. Moreover, produce creative and authentic content that resonates with readers to drive engagement.

While meeting campaign goals is essential, your email newsletters must focus on the long game — building trust and relationships to support prospects throughout the buyer's journey as part of an always-on approach. Watch this webinar replay to see how to create an always-on strategy to drive your pipeline.