Newsletters that Get Read
A 90-minute recorded workshop to write newsletters people actually read, so you can cultivate highly engaged audiences
(of any size)
Rumor has it that Gmail is about to add a subscription management feature to identify companies sending too many emails, and part of how they determine that subjective amount is reader engagement.
Are people opening the email?
Are they reading them, forwarding them, or replying to them?
Are readers clicking links in your newsletter?
Already, I’ve seen more newsletters I’ve subscribed to landing in my Spam folder instead of my inbox — the newsletters I tend to not open as often.
The inbox is a hostile environment for marketing communications. As it should be. We all want to guard our time, and nobody has time to read another crummy newsletter.
So why am I teaching you how to write a newsletter?
Because the newsletters that survive and thrive in our inboxes are powerful tools for relationship building and connection. Especially for small businesses with small lists. This is not a numbers game, not for us. This is more like a party game where we want to make sure everyone is having a great time.
What We Want: Readers who click your links, reply to your emails as if they’re chatting with a friend, and engage with you on a human-to-human level.
Why We Want It
1.
Newsletters with higher engagement will survive whatever Google throws at them.
It’s a lot easier to sell a new service or course when you’ve got your ‘list’ already listening.
2.
Newsletters build relationships the slow, sustainable way, leading to more right-fit clients and referrals.
3.
You can ASK THEM THINGS! Your list = Your People. When you need client language or feedback or want to build a course *with* your ideal clients, this is where that happens.
4.
So, how do we write a newsletter our subscribers want to read?
First, we’re going to toss out everything we think we know about newsletters and come back to basics: What do our people actually WANT? What can we offer them that makes their inbox feel fun, joyful, inspiring, and like less of a burden? How can we reinvent this business chore into something even WE (as business owners) enjoy?
That’s what we’ll be exploring in this recorded workshop.
“Lauren Van Mullem is usually who I think about first when my clients need a copywriter. Every time I've hosted her to do a presentation for my members, there have been rave reviews whether it was her How to Write a Solid Headline, Free Write Your Home Page, How to Use Your Home Page Copy to Filter for Perfect-Fit Clients or, my favourite, How to Talk About Your Clients' Struggles In Your Web Copy Without 'Punching The Bruise'. Lauren shares your ethics, understands niche and, most critically for a copywriter (and missed by most), knows how important articulating your point of view is for establishing credibility in your work. Lauren is in demand and not easy to book time with and so thank goodness she offers up these workshops from time to time. And on this topic of newsletters! There's nothing in marketing that matters more than staying in touch with your existing clients and, in this globalized marketplace, there is no marketing tool more powerful for doing this than your email list. I vouch for Lauren deeply and entirely. You're in good hands.”
- Tad Hargrave,
Founder, Marketing for Hippies
You will learn:
How to train your readers to open every newsletter you send (it’s called positive reinforcement training and it works on your dog too!)
Why you don’t necessarily need a freebie to build your list (but I’ll also give you guidelines on how to create a really good actually-free freebie)
What gets opened, and what gets trashed — and why. We analyze the survivors of my annual Inbox Purge.
The ‘formula’ for newsletters that get high open rates and cultivate highly engaged audiences that want to buy from you (no matter the size of your ‘list’). Spoiler: The top newsletter copywriter in the Northern hemisphere also uses this formula.
How to diagram a newsletter you love so you can use the structure (not the content, we’re not copying anybody)
Common objections. Hit me! I’ve heard them all. From “I don’t want to talk about myself!” to “I hate writing. Is there any other way to do this?”
If we haven’t met yet, hi, I’m Lauren.
I’m an ethical copywriter for coaches — and I resisted writing a newsletter for YEARS. “I write all day, every day, and you want me to write ONE MORE DAMN THING?!” — literally what I told my business coach when she suggested I write a newsletter.
But then I started paying attention to the newsletters I read every week, or every month. The ones I kept opening again and again. And I started to analyze why. What did these newsletters have that the ones I trashed didn’t?
From there I created my own formula. And tested it. And it worked.
Depending on the time of year, and what I’m offering in the newsletter, my open rates hover between 60-90%.
If you Google “what is a good email open rate” you’ll see between 17% and 28%, varying by industry.
I’ll be honest. My list, by most standards, is TINY. You want the number? I’ll give you the number! 530. That’s five hundred and thirty highly engaged readers who hit ‘reply’ when I send out an email. Who click links. Who, sometimes, when it’s the right fit, buy.
When you have high engagement, you don’t need a big list. You need an engaged list. You need a list who’s invested in their relationship with you. This is the workshop that will teach you how to build *that* list.
The Details
What you get:
90-minute recording of the workshop (60-minutes teaching, 30-minutes Q&A)
Workshop Slides, including a simple structure for writing your own newsletters
Resources doc with recommended newsletters to follow for style and welcome sequence inspo, plus the full text of my own Newsletter List welcome letter.
Money - $60
This workshop is recorded, but if you want to hear when the next LIVE workshop, join my newsletter!
I send it out like… 1x month. Or when I feel like it. Or when I’ve got something really cool I don’t want you to miss. Did I mention “Write your newsletter consistently every damn week!” is NOT one of my recommendations?