Your First MailChimp Email Newsletter
Are you about to send your first MailChimp newsletter and not too sure where to start?
Many small business owners over-estimate the nuisance factor of emails and under-estimate their potential to grow business. But good email marketing will have your customers falling in love with your business.
So how do you start?
Business owners can procrastinate, especially at the time of sending the very first email. You may feel a bit strange about sending an email to people who aren’t expecting it and haven’t received one from you before.
However, including these three items in the very first newsletter will simplify the process of getting started.
- Welcome
- Explain how they came to be on your list and what to expect
- Have the unsubscribe function front and centre
Australian Privacy Principles
Firstly, ensure the list you are sending to complies with the Australian Privacy Principles. This is much easier than what many small business owners think. Knowing and adhering to the four key guidelines outlined in this article will have you covered. If in doubt, feel free to contact us at DIY Digital – we can get you started.
1. Welcome
Sounds strange to say it – but say hello! The first thing your first newsletter should include is a hello from you. This can be as simple as:
Welcome to our first <name of business> newsletter.
Including a photo of yourself or your staff team also works well here.
2. Explain how they came to be on the list and what they can expect
Below are three examples of different groups of people on the list and how you might explain to them how they came to be on your newsletter list.
Family and Friends
Email subject line:
<You Name> new venture
Email message:
Welcome to my first <name of business> newsletter.
<business name> is my new business which specialises in <product/service>. How exciting is that! I’ve had a great time so far and hope you’ll want to keep up-to-date with my new venture.
By putting your name in the subject line your friend or family member knows from the start they are receiving this newsletter because they are known to you and you are letting them know about your new venture or new business.
See an example of the full newsletter here.
Expo or Conference attendees
Email subject line:
Hello from <name of conference or expo or trade show>
Email message:
I really enjoyed being an exhibitor at the <name of conference or expo or trade show> last week. I hope you enjoyed the networking as much as I did.
See an example of the full newsletter here.
This was a sent to people who had attended the same expo as the exhibitor. It’s clear to the recipient they are receiving this email because they also attended this expo. It’s important an email like this is sent within a week of the expo or conference finishing.
Current and past customers or clients
Email subject line:
Hello from <name of business>
Email message:
Thanks for being a supporter of <business name>. We’ve appreciated your patronage and look forward to an exciting year ahead as we build our team of expert <professionals>. We’ll be sharing our new exciting offers with you, our product launches and or course showcasing our latest projects.
Your current and previous customers are likely to want to know what you are doing – keep them involved. They may make a purchase from you again or they may recommend you to someone. They’re much more likely to do this if they know what’s happening with your business.
3. Have the unsubscribe function front and centre
As a business owner you want to build and grow your email list as much as you can. But having people who have no, or little interest in your product or service is not useful to you.
It’s good practice to include a very clear and prominent opt out on the very first email being sent to someone.
example 1
We’d love to keep you up to date with our activities. We send a newsletter once a month. However if you don’t want to receive a newsletter from us, please unsubscribe here.
Or, if we’ve got the wrong email address for you please update your details here.
example 2
New things are happening all the time at <business name> and we’d love to keep you up-to-date with the excitement. However if you’d rather not receive newsletters like this in the future, please unsubscribe here.
The unsubscribe function will be in every email thereafter, usually in the footer. But for the very first email we recommend putting it front and centre to allow the person to gracefully exit from your email list.
The Benefits
Email marketing is a very cost effective online marketing channel to convert leads to customers, re-establish patronage from previous customers and get new customers through referrals. It’s great for bricks and mortar shops, professionals (eg. accountants, physiotherapists, hairdressers) and consultants. Many small business owners shy away from promotion and marketing as they find it difficult to sell themselves – but if you don’t show off your products and services to your customers who will?
MailChimp Newsletter Course
Learn how to upload your list and create your e-newsletter in MailChimp. Especially suitable for business-to-business and not-for-profits.
Step-by-step videos with screenshots, examples, explanations and demonstrations.