A newsletter is an e-mail sent to the subscribers of a company that communicates to disseminate content. Before suggesting the content that will generate revenue, let's identify the indicators of a newsletter and the parameters to consider before sending it.

First of all, how do you calculate the success of this communication channel?

There are key success indicators or KPIs (Key Performance Indicators):

• the bounce rate: this ratio indicates the proportion of emails not delivered to their recipient in relation to the total number of emails sent.
• the open rate: this is generally around 18%, and is the first rate observed. If your newsletter isn't opened, you'll have trouble getting your message across.
• Click-through rate: Very important, this shows the number of people who have definitely read your content and are interested. It averages 4.3%.
• Reactivity rate: Ratio between subscribers who click on the newsletter and those who simply open it.
• Unsubscription rate: First indicator that increases when the target group loses interest.
• Spam reporting rate and deliverability rate: have recipients agreed to receive your newsletter?
• and the conversion rate: this is the profitability of your newsletter, whether it generates sales or leads.

Okay, once we've said that, how do we do it?

To get good scores on these indicators, you need to start by communicating to the right target audience, i.e. a file of e-mail addresses of people interested in what your brand has to say. To ensure that your e-mail is consulted, you need to choose a catchy title that relates to its content. E-mail content will be consulted if it's relevant. To be read, the newsletter must be short, punchy, attractive, interesting, with beautiful visuals. Put yourself in the shoes of the person opening the email. Finally, choosing the right frequency and time to send, to achieve maximum opening potential, depends on your target and when they open their emails. It's often said that Tuesdays and Thursdays are the days with the best results. Who is your newsletter aimed at? Business subjects are more likely to be opened during office hours. Consumer topics are consulted during the daily commute. The choice is yours.

People who subscribe to your brand's newsletter expect to receive information of interest to them. To engage the reader, you need to offer them the possibility of clicking on a link called Clic To Action: to buy, vote, access your promos etc...

Here are some theme ideas:

• The first is to thank new registrants 😁 ;
• Content about the brand: its history, its employees, a portrait of the founder(s), innovations, prizes and awards, brand news;
• Highlighting products and services: new products, special offers and promotions, consumer reviews;
• Share highlights: brand events, sales, calendar news such as Valentine's Day, Mother's Day, Christmas, etc. ... ;
• Practical: product tips and tricks, advice, webinars ;
• Encourage interaction: contests, sponsorships, elections/votes/surveys for the development most eagerly awaited by users, for example;
• The suspense newsletter to tease out what's about to be announced.

The best practices are obvious to anyone who has ever sent out a newsletter. Let's list them together:

Choose a mailing tool: if you send from your individual mailbox, it should quickly get blacklisted, which would be a shame! There are a multitude of tools available, so type "emailling tool" into your usual search engine.

Remember to :

• Add the possibility of unsubscribing from the Newsletter
• Keep your mailing list up to date
• Avoid "spam" words

Even if anti-spam filters consider the context and sender before moving emails directly into spam, here are the mistakes to avoid: links to dubious websites; messages in capital letters; particular fonts; excessive repetition of a word; broken HTML code. Here are references to expressions considered "spam":

• Exaggerated promises, e.g.: 100% free, discount, special promotion
• Urgency, pressure, e.g.: Urgent, Only for 24h
• The lure of winning, e.g. You've won, 100% guaranteed
• The scam, e.g.: Gains, profit, cash,
• Too much marketing, e.g.: Sales, sale, order, buy

There are ways to test your newsletters before sending them out.

But how do we do it all!

In short, you need an objective, for the right target, at the right time, with the right content, attractively presented, which passes the anti-spam test, and finally, you need to track and compare indicators.

You can do it yourself, or call on an agency for advice or to manage with you the content, layout and sending of your newsletters. Generally speaking, they offer fixed rates depending on the frequency of sending and the advertiser's level of involvement.