15 Reasons You Should Be Sending a Newsletter to Your Clients

Writing an email newsletter for small businesses might not be on your to-do list. But, it definitely should be.

Here, we’re sharing how sending emails can improve your small business and 15 reasons you should be sending a newsletter to your clients. Let’s get into it.

How can sending emails improve my small business?

Sending emails improves your small business by increasing sales and improving your client relationships.

One study found that emails had 4x the ROI of other forms of marketing including social media, direct mail, and paid search.

As for relationship-building, by sending a newsletter, you’ll be talking directly to your clients. They’ll feel that connection more through an email versus a social media post, for example.

We’ll go into more detail below all the reasons why you should be sending an email newsletter. But, in short, sending emails improves your business both from a bottom-line perspective and a relationship-building perspective.

How can email marketing add value to customers?

Email marketing can add huge value to your customers. Email marketing is an effective tool to transfer information from your business to your customers. From business information such as opening hours, to exclusive deals and discounts � it’s a great way to keep your customers informed. What’s more � email marketing can improve brand loyalty. By sharing good content, your customers will want to engage with your business more often.

It’s up to you how you decide to add value through your email newsletters. You might offer suggestions and recommendations, you might share your own personal experiences, or you might give your email list exclusive deals and discounts.

This is an example of a “5-Bullet Friday” email from entrepreneur Tim Ferriss which offers a tone of value to clients through a newsletter.

Source: The Blog of Tim Ferriss

However, you decide to add value through your email marketing, just know that there are so many ways to be creative while still benefiting your small business.

How often should you send an email newsletter?

You should send an email newsletter regularly and consistently. But consistency should take precedence over regularity.

Start off slow and see what you can manage. Then, you can slowly increase how often you’re sending a small business marketing newsletter.

Perhaps you start by sending a quarterly update. Then, you might go for a monthly or weekly email. Regularity does keep your brand and business top of mind, so you should try to send emails as often as you can. But don’t sacrifice quality for quantity.

The good news is, once you begin sending emails consistently and using an email marketing program, you can create templates that make the process of sending regular emails a lot easier.

What should be included in an email newsletter?

What you include in your newsletter is completely up to you. Get creative and feel free to mix and match ideas.

Apart from the legal requirements that should be included, a few small business newsletter ideas include:

• A conversational letter
• Recommendations
• Discounts/Special Offers
• Product Updates
• New Product Features
• Exciting News
• Blog Style

As for what you’re legally required to include, your email marketing software should be able to help you. But, in general, you’re required to include a contact address and an option for clients to unsubscribe.

Why should you send an email newsletter?

So, if you’re not already convinced that sending emails is good for business, here are 15 undeniable reasons you should be sending a newsletter to your clients.

• Your clients are busy.
• People check their email a lot.
• You own your email list.
• Newsletters drive sales.
• Learn about your clients and get feedback.
• More opportunities to share and add value
• Build better client relationships.
• It’s an affordable marketing tool.
• Keeps things personal.
• Amazing for targeting.
• Promote to those who want to hear from you.
• Keeps you top of mind.
• Encourages more returning clients.
• Feels exclusive.
• Build credibility and authority.

Let’s break them down below

1. Your clients are busy.

We’re all busy and everything is vying for our attention these days. Make sure you’re staying top of mind with your clients by sending out an email newsletter to compete with their busy days.

2. People check their email a lot.

Another reason to start sending an email newsletter for your small business is that people check their emails a lot. One study found that 13% of online consumers check their email every hour while 66% check their inbox multiple times per day.

Yes, these days many of us are also constantly checking social media and searching on Google. But, we tend to be a more captive audience for our email inbox.

3. You own your email list.

Another benefit of growing your email list to send client newsletters is the fact that you own your email list.

When it comes to social media followers, for example, you don’t own any of those eyeballs. At any moment, the algorithm could change or a new policy could be enacted or Instagram could be taken over by a newcomer (ahem� TikTok).

When you build an email list, you own that audience and can stay connected to them even if your favourite social media platform goes away or if an algorithm changes.

4. Newsletters drive sales.

As briefly mentioned above, newsletters can improve your bottom line. You can use it to promote products and services--an obvious way to boost sales. But, the relationship-building aspect should not be overlooked.

When people recognise your brand, connect with you on a human level, and know that you’re interested in similar things, you earn trust. And trust quickly turns into sales.

Especially for physiotherapists and clinic owners, people want to know that the healthcare providers they choose are people they trust and believe in.

So, while yes, you can (and should) include promotions and special offers in your email newsletter, it’s so important to focus on connecting with your clients for more sales.

5. Learn about your clients and get feedback.

Let’s face it. Surveys don’t always give us the results we really need. Clients resist filling them out and even when they do, there’s a chance that biases are coming through.

But with email newsletters, you can learn about your client’s likes, dislikes, interests, and more based on their actual behaviour.

Email marketing programs allow you to see which emails get opened and which links within those emails are clicked.

You’ll also see the bounce rate which can tell you what clients really want to see from your business and what they’re less interested in.

6. More opportunities to share and add value.

It’s unlikely that you’ll have enough time during your client appointments to share as much as you’d like. Plus, it feels amazing to truly add value to your clients’ lives, right? With an email newsletter, you can both share and add value.

So, for a physiotherapy clinic, for example, you can share articles about the inner workings of shin splints or more on how nutrition can benefit a physio session.

Plus, there’s something special that happens when you’re truly making a difference in people’s lives and adding value beyond what you can do in person.

7. Build better client relationships.

As your email list grows and you continue to send consistent email newsletters, you’ll begin to build better client relationships and see their loyalty flourish.

Especially if your small business is part of a highly saturated industry, your clients have so many other options. By building those relationships, you’re ensuring that your clients are there for you and what you uniquely have to offer.

8. It’s an affordable marketing tool.

It’s no secret that marketing can be expensive. And as a small business owner, you probably don’t have the biggest budget. With email marketing being so affordable, especially for such a high ROI, it’s a budget-friendly marketing strategy.

9. Keeps things personal.

Especially if you choose to send letter-style emails to your clients to share news and updates about your business, newsletters are a wonderful way to humanise your brand. After all, you’re speaking directly to them. It’s as raw as digital marketing gets.

People want to get to know the people behind the brands they love and email newsletters are a great way to approach humanising your business.

10. Amazing for targeting.

Email newsletters are incredible from a technical perspective as well. With segmenting and tagging, you can create targeted funnels to make sure you’re reaching specific clients even within your audience.

For example, you can create email flows that send targeted messages based on previous behaviour.

So, if someone hasn’t opened a newsletter in a while, you can send them a nudge. Or, if a client consistently opens your emails, you can send them a gift perhaps.

While these types of funnels and flows can get super complicated super quickly, email marketing programs make the process as seamless as possible. Segmenting your audience is a truly amazing way to see results for your small business.

11. Promote to those who want to hear from you.

Since your email list subscribers have to opt-in to receive your newsletter (preferably twice!), it means you’re sending messages to clients who actually want to hear from you. Email newsletters give you a captive audience which is quite unlike other types of marketing.

Sure, clients might follow you on Facebook or see your ads, but when they repeatedly say yes to hearing what you have to say via email, you can be sure that the clients on your list are listening.

Just be sure to clean out your email list now and then of those who are consistently inactive to make sure your audience is as invested as possible for the best outcomes.

12. Keeps you top of mind.

When clients see your name pop up in their inbox (even if they don’t always open them), you’re keeping your business at the top of their minds.

This subtle nudge can help with brand awareness and brand loyalty. Your business will be there, in the back of their mind, ready for whenever your client wants to book another appointment or buy another product.

13. Encourages more returning clients.

Along those same lines, email newsletters can encourage more return clients. Emails are a simple way to send follow-ups, reminders, and updates on top of the subconscious nudges they’ll get when you simply show up in their inboxes.

14. Feels exclusive.

It’s rather nice when a business owner or entrepreneur that you respect pops into your inbox. Even if you know they’re sending out the message to everyone on their list, it still feels exclusive and personal, making us more likely to interact with their brand.

15. Build credibility and authority.

Building credibility and authority are sometimes overlooked. But, especially as a small business, these status symbols are important to your success.

Again, clients need to know you can be trusted and by connecting with your audience consistently, you have the opportunity to share more of what you know, clarify your brand voice, and position yourself as an expert in your industry.

So, there you go� we hope that’s enough reason to convince you to start an email newsletter ASAP. Your small business will thank you and your clients are patiently waiting. Go for it!

Want to read more about how to boost your business through marketing strategies that work?

Check out our other blogs below:

• Reactivating Existing Customers
• How to Recruit Staff for Your Healthcare Business
• How Health Businesses Can Take Advantage of Business Partnerships