That's How You Know

How do you know what aspects of your email newsletter are the most popular? If you’re only looking at your open rate or your click-through rate, then you’re only getting half the story.

A great newsletter is interactive, and has plenty for the reader to do — whether that’s in the form of calls-to-action or links to click on. And the more you give people to click on, the more you’ll learn about what catches readers’ attention.

For example, if you run a catering business and in your newsletter you include a link to a dessert recipe and a link to an hors d'oeuvre recipe, you can see which of those two food types people click on more. If you’re a spa and you include in your newsletter information about various services you offer, you can see which ones most interest readers by which are being clicked on the most. And so on.

What you do with this information is key, though. You want to give people the information they want, and the numbers of people who click on your links will tell you that.

If you’re a photographer and readers seem to click on the photo examples that include children more than the ones that include animals, then in the future you should share more photos of children. If you’re a nonprofit organization and people click on the links to read your organization’s success stories more than they’re clicking on anything else, then maybe you should include more of them in future issues.

Of course, don’t use one issue to make these decisions. After all, it could be an anomaly that’s inconsistent with others. Depending on your frequency, three issues should be enough to determine trends.

The best, most successful email newsletters are the ones that contain content readers want to read or be engaged with. Using your reporting data to guide you in content development will ensure that you’re giving your readers just that.