Bored Of Email Marketing? Get 8 Ways to Spice It Up

After a while, sending an email newsletter, week after week, month after month, year after year, gets boring — really boring.

Some business owners give up because they haven’t been testing their email newsletters or tracking their email marketing results — As a result, they have no idea if it is working or not, and they just stop. Other business owners keep at it, doing the same old thing, sending the same old newsletter, over and over because they were told they should by someone they follow, hired, or believe is successful — because even if the results are tiny, it is still producing results.

There is a fundamental problem with this email marketing approach. If you are bored of email marketing and of sending your email newsletter, imagine how your subscribers must feel?!

Yikes! If that made you cringe, it may be time to shake things up a bit and add some spice, some taste, and some interest to your email marketing.

Here are 8 ways to put some spring back in your newsletter’s step:

1. Connect with video

Shoot a quick video for your audience — a personal message from you to them, and include it in your email newsletter. If you can’t put video right into your template, use a screenshot of the video and link to the video online.

2. Redesign your email newsletter template

You may be bored because your design is old. Or maybe your business has evolved over time and your email newsletter template design doesn’t reflect your current brand as well as it could — maybe it represented where you have been and not where you are going.

Breathe new life into your email marketing by working with a professional graphic designer and investing in a fresh, updated design that you are excited to use and excited for people to see. Then use your redesign as an opportunity to speak with your subscribers about the growth of your business.

3. Use more and better photos

People are visual. They like pictures. It’s why Instagram, Pinterest, and heck, even Facebook have grown so fast. So use that! Use more images in your email newsletters and make your newsletter feel like it will be more fun to browse through, instead of work to read.

Also, invest in high quality images. Stop using crap from Google Images. Stop using cheap 1980’s looking clipart. Stop using blurry or fuzzy images. This is your business we’re talking about — don’t cheapen it. Do your homework and find a great stock imagery site with a subscription that works for your budget so you can use high quality images that represent your level of professionalism accurately.

4. Get personal

Add an introduction section to your email newsletter — a section to kick off the content with a personal message. Share something about what you’ve been up or what’s new, share something exciting, and help people connect deeper with you. If possible include a photo of you with it!

Also, if you have the first names of your email subscribers, use the email personalization merge fields available through your email marketing provider to target your content right to the reader.

5. Read copywriting books and blogs

I read a lot and I find an amazing amount of inspiration in books and blogs. While I love the personal nature of blogs, and murder mysteries and trashy romance novels, there is nothing quite like digging into a great business book and learning something new or seeing a way you can make a shift to improve things.

As a business owner, YOU will be your best copywriter because YOU know your business, your brand, your market, and your industry the best. So you need to invest time into being a better copywriter overall — and an easy way to do that is to read copywriting books. You’ll learn to write better, you’ll get new ideas, and you’ll be inspired. Plus, your email marketing copywriting will improve and so will your email subject lines!

6. Stop sending your email newsletter every week

If you don’t have something important and awesome to say, don’t send a newsletter. Don’t fill up your subscribers’ inboxes just because you’re supposed to send your newsletter. Maybe a set email publishing schedule isn’t right for you or your business — maybe sending only when you have something of value to deliver will be a positive shift for you.

7. Mix it up with plain text

Not every email needs to be a beautifully designed, colorful HTML email newsletter. Sometimes a more effective approach is to just send a plain text message — one that doesn’t look like “marketing”, but instead looks like a personal message someone might send from their own private email.

8. Subscribe to a lot of email newsletters

In an email marketing rut? Tired of the same old email newsletter format you’ve been using for way too long? No problem! Subscribe to A LOT of email newsletters in all different types of industries &38212; not just yours — and see what other people are doing. Look at how they present their information, at their format, and at their offers and calls to action — and see how they set up their Thank You pages and follow up sequences.

Stay on their list at least a month to see how often they send, what other forms of email marketing they use, etc. Then evaluate your favorites, look at what elements you could model and incorporate into your email marketing strategy to switch it up a bit. Just remember to unsubscribe to all email lists that you aren’t interested in reading when you’re done.

If you keep doing the same thing, you’ll keep getting the same results.

I’m sure you’ve heard that growing a successful business is a marathon not a sprint, and that marketing isn’t a one time event, but an ongoing process — and both pieces of advice are true.

Success comes from consistent and constant action over time, and sometimes, when you’re doing the same thing repeatedly over time you can get bored. If you are at that point right now, if you are bored with your email newsletter or email marketing in general, CHANGE SOMETHING.

If you want to get excited about email marketing again, and you want different results, you have to change your mindset and do something different.

Now What About You?

Have you ever been bored with your own marketing and needed to change it up? If so, what were your results like? Did any of my tips inspire you to take action and improve your email newsletter? Do you have any pieces of advice or tips to share about shaking it up a bit?

We’d love to hear from you in the comments below!