5 Reasons to Rethink Your DMO’s Email Newsletter (and 3 Great Examples)
Does your newsletter need a rework? We have five questions destination marketers should be asking about their emails — and three examples of A+ newsletters for inspiration.
By Colleen Ringer
It’s obvious to say the average inbox is humming with incoming shopping deals, paperless bills, and personal connections. Your DMO’s carefully crafted newsletter on the highlights and current happenings of your beloved city or region is then tossed atop the pile.
Your DMO information has gotten this far, but readers and prospective travelers may be taking one of two undesired actions: moving your newsletter straight to the trash before opening it or cracking your thoughtfully sent highlights and then unsubscribing.
Maybe your newsletter isn’t as cleverly crafted or well designed as you thought. Ask yourself these five questions to determine if a newsletter reorg may be in your near future — followed by three great examples.
1. Too text heavy?
It may not be a wise choice to promote a treasured destination with a wall of text. Of course, content may be the driving force behind your website, but the emailed newsletter representing your DMO should act as a vessel to that content. Entice with engaging imagery, headlines and calls-to-action. However, it’s always good to make it short and simple.
2. Too image heavy?
Conversely, an artwork-heavy email can leave readers confused. Where is the information? Am I supposed to click something? If it’s too busy, it’s probably going to be deleted. Large photos may not load, the email service may not download images by default, something went wrong on your end — the possibilities go on. In other words, subscribers get a blank email. Horrifying.
3. Is it responsive?
This is another way of asking if your email newsletter is mobile equipped. Most people read emails on their phones, and your email should be responsive to meet those demands.
4. Is your content actually useful?
Your first chance to hook an overwhelmed subscriber is in the subject line, and here are six quick tips to help you along. The key is creating actionable content — meaning readers are guided to purchase tickets, review a new travel itinerary, or reading a regional article. Then it comes down to basic original content with an SEO spin.
5. Do you know what to shoot for?
If you’re not sure what some email marketing benchmarks might look like, check out the Average Email Campaign Stats of MailChimp Customers by Industry. Hint: Travel and Transportation has an open rate of 33.25 percent.
Ready to get started on a fresh approach and need some inspiration? These three great examples of destination marketing email newsletters check all the right the boxes.
The use of subtle animation in the hero quickly captures readers’ attention, while the seasonal theme ties the various content together.
If there’s a major event happening soon in Charlotte, these people will let you know. The email displays a well-designed event announcement, an easy-to-find promo code and a button for purchasing tickets.
The Visit Arizona newsletter presents a seasonal array of events and festivals, plus regional, food and drink, and outdoors news — and it’s all designed to appeal to a variety of traveler types.
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Colleen has worked with clients large and small for more than a decade as a writer, editor and content strategist. She has managed content marketing programs for national and global brands, including hospital systems, universities and nonprofits. Before entering the world of content marketing, Colleen lived in the land of magazine publishing and wrote about architecture, design and travel.
As a mother of a video game-obsessed son, Colleen spends part of her free time learning about Fortnite and the other part trying to recruit her son to root for the Arizona Cardinals. She loves a good book, a strong iced tea and when her Fantasy Football team is winning.