Designing a solid newsletter takes time and effort, and far too often webmasters will throw together a newsletter without taking their time to craft a newsletter that is not only going to provide value to the subscribers, but is going to be a read in which they look forward to. Keep in mind that these individuals have the option to unsubscribe from your newsletter at any point, which means that you have to constantly keep them interested in the information that you are providing. It is best if you take a slow but steady approach in order to build trust over time, are careful with the items that you are promoting through your newsletter, and also offer a healthy amount of free information in order to keep the subscribers.
Slow But Steady to Build Trust
The way to build trust over a period of time with your newsletter subscribers is to take a slow but steady approach. You do not want to be marketing products to them on your first e-mail, because they will likely see through this effort, and will be much more likely to unsubscribe from your newsletter right then. Make sure that the first few e-mails that you send any subscribers to your newsletter are full of information, and are not sent with an attempt to market any products to them. By providing them with solid information about your subject matter over a period of time, you establish yourself as an expert, and become someone that they are interested in hearing from on a regular basis. This allows you to build trust with your subscribers, which will eventually allow you to market products to them without having to fear mass on subscriptions.
Careful With What you Promote
Remember - your newsletter represents you as a company, as well as you as an individual. When you are promoting products that are not yours, make sure that you are not promoting products simply for the revenue. Promote products that you believe in, that truly provide value to your users. Before adding anything to your newsletter, you should ask yourself if it is going to increase the usefulness of your newsletter, and also provide information that your users would find useful. Promoting a shoddy product from a third-party website might make you a few dollars in the short term, but in the long-term is going to drive more people away from your newsletter, which limits your long-term potential. Be careful with what you promote, and that each product that you promote carefully.
Free Offerings Keep Subscribers
A great way to not only convince people to sign up for your newsletter, but to keep them from unsubscribing, is to offer free offerings to them. Offering something for free when they sign up can be a great way to break the ice, and convince them to sign up for your newsletter. This can be as simple as an informative e-book, or a list of useful information. You should strive to continue to provide excellent free offerings to your subscribers once they have already agreed to be on your list, in an effort to keep them on your list. Keep in mind, that when you have a newsletter, these individuals can be marketed to for the duration of your newsletter, which makes it hard to judge the long-term potential of each of your users.