Email is one of the most profitable marketing channels. It gives a better return for each dollar spent compared to other channels. In fact, according to Litmus, for every dollar that marketers spend on email marketing, they get $36 in return on average. Email marketing is also expected to become more efficient because of an increasing number of email users. According to a Radicati Group Study, more than half of the world’s population uses email right now. The figure is expected to grow to 4.6 billion by the end of 2025.
Email marketing also helps greatly in the overall brand-building process. Many expert marketers and brand managers think of it as having a conversation with the customer. It helps the brand remind the customer of its existence and turn that initial interest into loyalty. In addition, email marketing also increases the likelihood of receiving feedback from customers and increases engagement which helps brand managers understand their brands better.
Email marketing is also a powerful tool for bloggers and publications who use newsletters to provide their readers with valuable information and drive the action that they need them to perform. However, not every newsletter generates the same result. An interactive newsletter increases the probability of click-throughs and generating desired action. This is why we have brought you a list of the 15 interactive newsletter ideas that will drive your click-through rates. Yet, before looking at the list, let’s take a deeper look at why you should use an interactive newsletter.
Interactive newsletters combine the power of email marketing campaigns and interactive content marketing to deliver impactful results. We have already seen how email marketing is an effective tool, but the merits of interactive content marketing are what make interactive newsletters a powerful marketing tool. Interactive content marketing has been a popular marketing tool for at least the last eight years.
A survey by the Content Marketing Institute in 2016 found that 75% of respondents that use interactive content say that they anticipate their company to increase the utilization of interactive content marketing. Content marketing, as a whole, is quite popular as, according to the Content Marketing Institute, average B2B organizations spend 28%, whereas B2C organizations spend 25% of their budget on content marketing. The reason why companies spend a substantial portion of their budget on interactive content marketing is because it is useful in converting visitors.
One of the challenges with interactive newsletters is that they might get a little complicated to execute, especially for solo blog owners. The good news is that there is already a plethora of tools that use artificial intelligence to make it easier to execute interactive email marketing campaigns. As we highlighted in our piece about the most influential newsletters in 2024, marketers have been significantly integrating artificial intelligence to improve their email marketing capabilities.
Many newsletter generators let marketers create a visually stunning and engaging newsletter through the use of prompts. One of the elements of an interactive newsletter is personalization. While it is easy to personalize email newsletters with recipients’ names, many AI tools go a step further and personalize emails according to how the reader has interacted with your emails and blog.
With that backdrop, let’s look at 15 interactive newsletter ideas that will drive your click-through rates.
Methodology
To curate our list of the 15 interactive newsletter ideas that will drive your click-through rates, we went through several articles by industry experts and online forums such as Reddit. However, there was not enough data to objectively rank each idea, so we did not rank our list for this article.
15 – Include How To Guides
How-to guides are an excellent way to increase click-through rates. They get people involved in the newsletter, which can easily lead to a conversion as readers who follow through a how-to guide are highly likely to click a desired link.
How-to guides can be implemented by almost anyone with an online newsletter. For example, a gardening blog can include a how-to guide about pruning, which will also highlight the importance of having good-quality pruning shears. Then somewhere at the end of the guide or while mentioning pruning shear, the newsletter can link to the blog’s article about how to choose a good quality pruning shear.
14 – Create Exclusive Events
Exclusive events are quite an interactive newsletter idea to drive click-through rates. These events can be anything from an online webinar to an exclusive blog page that is only available through a link in the newsletter.
The important point here is to maintain exclusivity while also delivering value to your reader. People love to feel exclusive. However, the newsletter should also promise something of value and deliver it. If the event fails to deliver something of value, the same readers who followed through the link initially will be highly unlikely to do so in the future.
There are several ways how this could be achieved. For example, a digital marketing blog can link to a secret article about a lesser-known SEO strategy to get legitimate backlinks easily.
13 – Embed Interactive Quiz
Interactive quizzes will entertain your readers while also increasing the likelihood that they click through the links. However, the quiz must be fun, otherwise, it might just look like another test that the readers may not be willing to take.
Quizzes that reveal a certain personality of the person are one of the surefire ways to get your readers interested. For example, a self-help blog can include a personality test and then link to their best-suited blog articles according to the revealed personality. E-commerce or affiliate blogs can incorporate product recommendation quizzes that will recommend products according to the needs of the reader. These quizzes also offer a way to deal with choice overload for the customer.
12 – Include a Calculator
Including a calculator is one of the best ways to make your newsletter interactive and drive clickthrough rates. However, while this tactic can be utilized by all newsletters, some are better suited than others. A weight loss blog, for example, can include a BMI calculator and then recommend articles related to the BMI index of the reader. A personal finance website, on the other hand, can include a mortgage calculator and then recommend an article that shares tips on how to reduce mortgage rates.
11 – Include a Scratchable Coupon Code
There is more than one way to make your newsletter readers feel exclusive, and including a scratchable coupon code is one of them. You can offer your subscribers a coupon code in a scratchable form. The coupon code can come with an animation that makes it feel like it is being scratched for real. It can contain a discount code for your products. If you are an affiliate blog, it can also be your affiliate discount code for products online. It is also a good way to offer a discount for a new service that you might be starting. The possibilities here are endless.
10 – Include Image Carousel
Image carousels, when done right, can spike your reader’s interest resulting in increased click-through rates. Image carousels may contain elements that compel the reader to follow through the images, which might lead to a specific link. You must ask your reader for an action right when their attention and curiosity are at the maximum.
9 – Use Accordions
An easy way to increase attention span and engagement in your newsletter is to include accordions. Sometimes, too much text can discourage your reader from even going through the newsletter, let alone clicking on the desired link. However, when sorted in an accordion form, the newsletter becomes more readable and it is easier to focus on the information. This also means that when using an accordion, you can include more text in your newsletter than you normally would.
8 – Include Interactive Infographics
Infographics offer an excellent way to convey data and information to the reader in an interesting way. However, these infographics become interesting when you make them interactive. Your infographics can contain data highlighted in one of your articles and then link to the article. Readers interested in infographics will be likely to follow through to your website.
7 – Include Video Content
Your newsletter does not have to be all words. You can include videos that are more likely to grab and maintain the attention of your readers. An interesting way is to incorporate explainer videos about a particular concept you are trying to explain. Then, you can link to an article that delves into the concept in much more detail.
If you have an e-commerce website, you can also include video testimonials of your customers in your email to increase the sales of that particular product.
6 – Add a Personal Touch
Adding a personal touch is one of the best ways to make your readers feel exclusive. A simple way to achieve this is by addressing them by their names. However, it is also quite easy to go a step further and make your readers feel like you care for them. For example, you can congratulate them on their birthdays.
If you combine personal touch with interactiveness, it will surely drive your click-through rates. For example, If you are an e-commerce website, you can include a gift in the form of a coupon for your readers on their birthdays. You can also offer these gifts on other occasions, such as Christmas or Thanksgiving.
5 – Include a GIF
GIFs can be entertaining and informative, depending on their use. It is not always feasible to include video content in your newsletter, which is where gifs can come in handy. You can also combine gifs with several ideas above. For example, you can include GIFs with a personal touch by including a ‘happy birthday’ GIF for your readers on their birthdays. You can also use GIFs as infographics to display useful information. GIFs can also be used to showcase your products. Many shoe brands, for example, use GIFs to display their shoes rotating. Finally, you can use GIFs for the simple purpose of invoking a laugh.
4 – Include an Interactive Game
When you can include a video GIF and scratchable coupon code, nothing is stopping you from including an interactive game. However, the game should have relevance to your website or the content of your newsletter. We talked about including personality test quizzes for self-help blogs. You can use interactive games in the same way. Many games, for example, are essentially personality tests. Some games can even measure the IQ level of the player. Self-help blogs can use both these types of games to suggest their articles. Other websites, such as a clothing e-commerce store, can include a makeover game including their products.
3 – Let Your Readers Have a Say
The easiest way to make your newsletter readers interact is to simply ask them. Include a feedback form in your newsletter or encourage them to reach out to you by email. If you want to take your newsletter readers to your website, you can create a feedback form there and include the link in your newsletter. The important thing here is to make it easier for your readers to give feedback. This would not only make your newsletter interactive but also help it get better over time.
2 – Make Your Readers Feel Heard
Don’t just stop at collecting feedback. Make your readers feel heard by addressing the most frequent concerns and implementing good feedback. When you implement the feedback, announce it in your newsletter to ensure that the readers are aware that their feedback and concerns are heard. When announcing the implementation, also include a link to the feedback form so other readers can raise their concerns or share feedback.
1 – Include Customer Reviews
Including customer reviews is a surefire way to drive click-through rates. As we discussed above, you can include reviews in the form of videos or simply text testimonials. Authentic customer reviews play a pivotal role in converting potential buyers into customers. Make sure that when you do mention the review, you also include a link to the product.
Suggested articles:
- 20 Most Influential Email Newsletters in 2024
- 25 Best Free Newsletters to Subscribe to in 2024
- Top 20 Social Media Sites to Consider for Brand Advertising in 2023
Disclosure: none. 15 Interactive Newsletter Ideas That Will Drive Your Click-through Rates is originally published on Insider Monkey.
