The currency of the digital age is attention. People are swamped with digital noise and busy with their personal lives. You need to break through with such a banger email that will stop them from doing anything else and draw them to spend the next five minutes with you. If that’s not happening for you yet, here are 17 reasons why your audience doesn’t read your newsletters and how to fix it.

Your newsletter isn’t personal enough

Every mail software has the generic [Name] code you can sprinkle in a few times and use from a template. Throw the templates in the trash and spend some time thinking. You don’t want to send a boring email. You want the reader to know that you put some thought into making the newsletter engaging. Personalize the mail with their name, city, or birthday to increase opening and click-through rates and conversions. 

You don’t use enough images

Be honest, if you receive a company or a brand email without an image and just plain text, will you read it? No, you probably won’t. You will likely think it’s some sort of scam. People love looking at pretty pictures and videos. Our eyes naturally flock to see the image before we focus on the text. It’s how the human brain works. Sprinkle some images or videos inside to see how your engagement and opening rates increase. 

You’re making them too looooong

Every paragraph needs to stick to one idea, and it has to be short and sweet. Think of it from a reader’s perspective. They’re reading an email, not a book. So, turn it into an email! The best examples in the newsletter business are packed with information, but they walk the knife’s edge between substance and brevity. They leave you wanting a bit more and set the tone for next week. Follow this rule to be more effective in remaining in your target audience’s heads. 

You don’t use enough emotion

Don’t be afraid to use emotions in your writing. People don’t want to read corporate business talk (they really don’t, and those who say they do are lying). You want to make your readers feel good when they’re reading, and it will help them retain the information. Intertwine a real story that happened. Focus on some positive benefits. Imagine a positive future with them. That will make them resonate way more than slapping a bunch of logical benefits they’ll get from your product or service. Be human! 

You’re sending the newsletter at the wrong time

Let’s say you’re sending a time-sensitive email to someone. You’re offering them a discount to get your product for 50% off, so it’s an incredibly good deal for them, and they have 6 hours to act on it. But you send them the email right when they go to bed. How will they feel when they wake up in the morning and see the email? You need to take into consideration the best time to send a newsletter – which is always the time when your readers are most likely to open it. 

You’re not spreading the word

If you only tell your audience about your newsletter once – when they sign up on your landing page, and you never remind them that it exists again, who’s at fault? Before pointing fingers, you need to ask yourself whether you posted about it on your social media accounts. Are you announcing what you will share in the newsletter on your YouTube channel? Do you add а newsletter CTA at the end of every article? If not, start doing it. And while you’re at it, create some sign-up incentives like a free guide, ebook, or checklist for solving a specific problem. 

You’re not sticking to expectations

On average, people receive 126 emails every day. Their inbox is buzzing. Like everyone else, you can get lost in the mix, especially if you coincide with another email. If you tell them you’ll do a weekly email on Wednesdays, stick to it. If you send it once a month, it will lose value, and if someone wants to go back and read a previous issue – they’ll see that you’re not consistent. You want your audience to build a strong connection with your brand. Let them know when and how often you’ll send a newsletter and what it will be about.

You’re getting in the spam folder

Imagine putting five hours of work into crafting the perfect newsletter, and then it goes to the spam folder. It’s a wasted effort, and you can only get filled with rage if it happens constantly. You need to have good email deliverability. The number one factor to increase it is to have an audience that engages with your emails. Factor number two is your IP address. It needs to be whitelisted. So, if you’re bouncing between sending multiple different newsletters from the same IP, you have to learn how to change IP address. Factor three is a double opt-in. That way, users can confirm they want to be on your list right on a sign-up page. 

You’re not spending time on the subject line and preview

If you’re watching a short-form video, if it doesn’t catch your attention in the first three seconds, you swipe, and it gets lost forever. The same situation happens when readers peek at your subject line. They move on to the next email if it doesn’t compel them to click. Your subject line needs less than 50 characters, pique their curiosity, and have essential info at the beginning, so phones don’t cut it off. 

You’re not matching the design with the brand

If your brand colors are purple and neon pink, and you send a green newsletter, it would just confuse everybody. Make it harmonious with how you present yourself on your website, socials, and YouTube, and make it easy for your audience to recognize it’s you from the get-go. 

You’re not making it easy to read

A good email mixes up paragraphs, bullet points, numbered lists, images, bold and italic text, and has a contrasted call to action. Now, take a look at what happens when you put it into practice. 

Here’s how to make your email easy to read: 

-      Use bullet points.

-      Make your paragraphs short.

-      Use bold or italics.

-      Use headers.

See, it’s the same content, but you perceive it differently. Moreover, it’s easier to read. You should also cooperate with online translators to localize your emails and make them readable for a global audience.

You’re not optimizing for mobile 

Almost half of the world’s population, and that means your audience, as well, read emails on their mobile devices. You need to ensure your newsletter looks amazing on every single device. First, make sure you’re not using massive text blocks, and try to use more white space. Second, make your images responsive and check if they look good on large and small screens. If the picture seems funky, change it or remove it. 

You’re not sending valuable or exclusive content

You read that right. You need to start making exclusive content if you want to make your audience read your newsletters more. Think special offers, behind-the-scenes or exclusive looks into your business, loyalty emails, or blog post recaps. For your readers, it will feel like hitting a jackpot with how much value they’re getting, and you’ll keep them engaged. 

You’re not testing before sending

If you never test, you’ll never know what content gets delivered to your audience. Always perform a quick test to make sure you know how the email looks on different devices, to check if the design translates well, and to ensure the email is readable. You can use Chrome Dev Tools or simply resize your browser window to see what the newsletter will look like. 

You’re not paying attention to the metrics

What gets measured can be improved. We get it. Numbers are boring, and writing and crafting the email is fun. But you have to check the analytics and know how to use them properly. If you do, it will enhance your entire marketing strategy. Some of the most important things you need to pay attention to are: 

-      Unsubscribe rate.

-      Conversion rate.

-      Deliverability rate.

-      Click-through rate.

-      Open rate.

You want high click-through rates because that means your audience is loving your content. But if you have a high unsubscribe rate, you’re not delivering what you’re promoting. The numbers reveal the truth. 

You’re not using email segmentation

The more segmented your list becomes, the more personalization you can use. Let’s look at a simple example. You’re Nike and have millions of people on your newsletter list. Some want sneakers, others want shirts, and a third group likes leggings. You can’t send the same email to all of them. You need to break down the list into multiple categories and even subcategories. So, the shoes category might have people interested in trail running, marathons, or casual jogging. That way, your entire audience will get exactly what they need from your newsletter. 

You’re not learning from your competitors

You have to subscribe to other newsletters, especially the ones in your niche. If their stuff is working and yours isn’t, you’ll quickly find the problem instead of busting your head on why it doesn’t work. Plus, you’ll have insider knowledge on what kind of promotions your competitors are running or what problems they aren’t solving and create content around that.