3 email marketing tips to convert contacts into leads

My email newsletter has become my number-one driving force for new business. 80% of new Rocket SaaS clients we took on in the past 12 months were subscribers and would often mention it on sales calls.

In this blog, I’m excited to share with you my top newsletter 3 tips. These are not just any tips, but powerful strategies that can transform your newsletter and help you turn contacts into customers.

1. Having your own brand newsletter

You’ll notice that this newsletter is not branded “The Rocket SaaS newsletter”. No. It’s SaaS Marketing Weekly.

Why is this important?

Most B2B SaaS businesses struggle to get newsletter sign-ups. This is mainly because people have the attitude of “If I sign up for their newsletter, they’re going to send me company updates that I don’t care about and try to sell to me”.

However, if you create a separate brand for your newsletter, it can appear educational, entertaining, and fun, making it much more enticing to sign up.

Use an individual, not the company

People are naturally defensive to companies marketing to them as it feels salesy. Rebrand your newsletter to be sent from an individual, usually the founder, and watch your conversion rocket.

What you’ll need

You’ll need to give it a brand name, logo and domain name, along with a landing page to acquire sign-ups and an email platform to send your newsletter.

2. Marketing is like dating. If you constantly talk about yourself, it’s going to go badly

Most company newsletters are all “we, we, we”.

“We won X award”
“We hired a new employee”
“We had a staff party”

What do your contacts think?… WE DON’T CARE.

Focus on writing educational, valuable content for your contacts. What is the main problem that you solve for your clients? For me, it’s growing a SaaS business through effective marketing. Aim to create a series of email newsletters that teach your contacts how to overcome this problem on their own (not constantly pitching your services).

I find starting with tips works really well. Start by writing 50 short tips on how your contacts can solve the big problem. Now, expand on each of these tips to create newsletter content.

3. Follow the 80/20 rule

Let’s not forget that we’re trying to generate new business from our newsletter. So don’t forget to promote yourself. If you have a separate brand newsletter that constantly pumps out free advice, your contacts may not realise that you offer a service they can buy!

At the end of your newsletter, include a footer where you offer a call to action. A natural call to action is “I hope you like the advice in this newsletter. If you don’t have the time/resources to implement this yourself, we can do it for you…”.

I also recommend the 80/20 rule, which states that 80% of your content should be free and educational, and 20% should promote your services. For every five newsletters you send, four emails should be educational and one promotional.