Producing a newsletter consistently (remember, monthly > quarterly) takes time, money and commitment, so you want as many people as possible to open it.

This week, we’re going to tell you how we helped one planning firm significantly increase its average open rate (the proportion of people who open the newsletter). Their newsletters were previously run by a non-specialist marketing agency that sent them every three months.

We took it over in the middle of 2022 and immediately changed five things, pushing the average open rate from 46.28% to 74.87%.

Here’s what we changed.

1. Included a wider variety of content

Before working with us, their newsletters only included articles about money, investments, and personal finance. That meant their newsletter was one-dimensional and wasn’t engaging people who weren’t interested in money. Remember, just because you have a financial adviser/planner, doesn’t mean you’re automatically interested in money. Often the opposite is true.

So, we switched it up by adding lifestyle content and articles about what was going on in their business. We didn’t turn the newsletter into GQ, Tatler or Horse & Hound but this type of content provides variety for the reader, gives them another reason to regularly open the newsletter and is proven to increase engagement.

2. Changed to sending monthly

As we said, the previous agency sent newsletters every three months. We’ve never heard a convincing argument for doing this. In fact, we feel so strongly about the subject that we wrote the definitive guide to why newsletters should be sent monthly a couple of weeks ago.

Naturally, we immediately switched it up and now send newsletters every month.

3. Worked hard on the subject line

If the subject line doesn’t give people a reason to open the newsletter, they won’t.

Worse, they might simply delete the email.

Many years before email newsletters were thought of David Ogilvy said: “On average, five times as many people read the headline as read the body copy. When you have written your headline, you have spent eighty cents out of your dollar.”

Change “headline” for “subject line” and you can see why it’s important to get it right.

We worked hard to improve the newsletter subject line and the headlines of individual articles by using our skills as experienced writers and then harnessing the power of AI to add a final polish.

4. Started resending the newsletter to non-openers

The previous agency only sent the newsletter once, which is a mistake most marketers, advisers and planners make.

We know that resending it to people who didn’t open it upon first receiving it increases the overall open rate. We also know (despite what you might be worried about) that doing this does not increase the rate at which people unsubscribe.

So, we made that change. As soon as we took the newsletter over, we started resending it to non-openers four days after the original send.

5. Added more people to the database

We worked with the firm to increase the number of people receiving their newsletter:

• We asked them to check that all their clients were on their newsletter database. They weren’t. So, they added the missing clients
• The firm wasn’t adding new enquiries to the newsletter database. We asked them to change that and now all new enquiries receive the newsletter
• Their professional connections weren’t receiving the newsletter. We changed that too.

The result of these three changes?

• Their database grew significantly
• All clients now get the newsletter every month
• Prospects get a vital monthly touchpoint with the planner’s brand, value is added, and experience is demonstrated. This positions the planner as the go-back-to expert when the time is right for the prospect to engage
• Their professional connections also get an important monthly touchpoint with the planner.

Do all five to increase your open rate

Combined, these changes helped to increase the open rate of this firm’s newsletter by over 60%, significantly increasing their return on investment.

If you send your own newsletters, these ideas are yours to implement. Go for it!

If you use an agency to send your newsletters, and they’ve not recommended these five things to you, perhaps it’s time to consider an alternative.

We have a range of newsletter packages so click here to request our pricing. Alternatively, email hi@theyardstickagency.co.uk or call 0115 8965 300 to arrange an initial discussion about how we can help you.