#I mean stop tagging a dozen of people in general when you write a tweet

[ramblings-of-a-fangirl-blog]

How to untag persons and avoid spamming actors with 100+ tweets unrelated to them or their characters in less than 24h.

It’s no rocket science.

[fandomele]

I don't wanna start anything but I've seen the lack of love for POC ships happen in dozens of fandoms now and I just gotta say you can't fault people for not liking what you like bro. You could make a show full of diverse representation but no one's truly gonna care unless the characters are actually interesting. I'm black but I'm not gonna enjoy a show JUST b/c there's a black person in it. If I don't like them I don't like them and them or me being black has nothing to do with it

okay so racism tw , supergirl, anti supercorp fandom, anti supergirl fandom. long post for ts

no, it’s okay, you are free to express your opinion, just like I’m free to get annoyed at the tag being filled with Lena and Lena and Lena I haven’t watched a show that has an ace character in it, Sex Education, because it’s not my kind of show and it bores me (though I do reblog gifsets of the Ace Scene and I am so happy about it. Because I do care about ace representation, I try to promote these things and also to share so that it might reach people who are interested in shows like that and will get a kick out of it. But I’m not saying everyone has to), and I’m not saying you must like everything, but at the same time a fandom like ours simply ignoring the plot of entire episodes because… what, they only find one character interesting and they couldn’t find ANY other worth mentioning, is something I personally found ridiculous. 

And that’s kind of the thing, isn’t it? You raised a great point. If this was a part of the fandom that from the beginning had simply said ‘I like this because of my tastes, and everyone has different ones’ I wouldn’t be exasperated, but given how it actually went, nope, THEY said it wasn’t just about people’s tastes, it’s about having representation and supporting fellow lgbtqia+ fans. So good part of my frustration depends on this specific fandom and how it behaved in the past. 

For more context, it bothers me that the loudest (even if small) group of fans left watching supergirl on tumblr are the ones yelling about how Kara and Lena not being together is homophobia, and how they are being queerbaited and how the show (and non supercorp fans) is against gay people, while the tag itself is full of posts either complaining about the lack of Lena, and writing posts about Lena, and completely ignoring the amazing wlw couple there and the trans character there, and in fact those episodes with little Lena but focused on those characters get downvoted/boycotted/ignored by the fandom, and while they hate on all actors and writers if they so much as point out it’s not canon or that they are being bullies, and attack minorities, people of colors, transgender people, people with mental illnesses all day long to defend their ‘rights’. Not to mention that it’s the same group that back in the day accused people of shipping Kara and Mon El, also canon, together because they were against James, who is black, and so it was because ‘racism,’ and then turned around and hated James as soon as he was canonly together with Lena. And there is proof of them being racist as well like when they photoshopped James’s actor as an ape* next to Lena’s actress, and how Raul who played Lena’s ex also commented on that behavior. They use social issues to attack everyone and then show they don’t really care about supporting a show that actually has the representation THEY say they are not getting. 

I was bored by James and Kara. Nothing to do with him being black. I found him cute with Lena at first but then it became a bad relationship for him to keep. But if you (always a general you, not YOU-YOU anon) accuse me of shipping Kara with someone else (Mon El) only because I’m racist and don’t want her with James, that’s the only reason, and then you start insulting James like hell for being with Lena, you basically said it yourself that it’s racism, and on top of it you used his being black and the ‘you are racist’ card as props to attack people, and then disregarded him and the actor as soon as you didn’t need it anymore, and that sounds also racist to me. As well as how pretending to care about trans issues only to ignore the trans character after you stop needing it is using that character/actress and it’s transphobic, if you ask me. 

I’m not saying it’s everyone, I’m not saying it’s all those shippers, I’m not saying personal taste doesn’t count, but come on. Just admit you only care about your ship and it’s not about ‘moral’ reasons, that’s fine, but make it a social issue, and then turn around and ignore episodes about canon representation and downvote them and ask people to boycott episodes. How can you also not find ANYTHING but Lena interesting in a show that isn’t about Lena? So many choices, and yet.

 At least this is my opinion, and seems to be the opinion of all the people who liked posts and reblogged. Again, there is a lot of stuff to talk about so  the answer is chaotic, but to sum it up:

1) if you build a whole case around the fact that your fanon ship (Kara and Lena) is about representation too, about gay rights, and how much you care about it, and have spent years telling everyone else that they are racist and homophobic because they ship other things, and then you don’t even make a peep about the representation you are getting and just complain about your fanon ship, which by the way up until now involves a white, straight, woman, you are using social issues to prop a ship you like and you don’t really care that much about them outside of it. Admit from the beginning it’s about your tastes and that you just like those two women together, it’s not about a show giving you representation, and it’s fine, but you can’t have both. You can’t tell people that your fanon ship is all about representation AND if they don’t like it it’s because of homophobia, and if they like another it’s because of racism, AND simultaneously ignore everything you get that isn’t about said fanon ship.

2) the cast was attacked in the past with racist and transphobic tweets so some people, not everyone, are also motivated by them. Also really, you are telling me that all these people who like Lena but do care about social issues just happen not to like Nia, a trans woman, and not like her ship with Brainy, a man of color, and not like Alex and Kelly, and not like about the whole plot about the guy going after Nia because transphobic, there is just NOTHING interesting to talk about? Either they are using social issues to their advantage which is kinda homophobic and racist and transphobic in itself, or this is a giant coincidence, because there isn’t one of these plots that is worth a post or that won’t make them not complain about the lack of Lena in a show that has all these characters together.

3) for me it’s frustrating to get all this good stuff and then find nothing but comments about Lena in the MAIN tag, where one usually goes after an episode to talk about the episode itself. That’s how tags work in all fandoms except this one. 

4) I’m white, that means that I can’t declare that tumblr deciding not to ship biracial couples in nearly every show where there is one is a matter of tastes or is a matter of racism, it’s not for me to decide, and my personal opinion is that it depends on the person but there is such a racist culture in some places that it can’t not have a role in it. And I’ve seen people of color bring up that yes, it’s about tastes too, but since I’ve also seen many others instead bring up the issue that it’s just happening too much to be a coincidence, that every single time people say a ship is platonic if one of them isn’t white, I feel like it would be racist of me to dismiss those concerns. Because it is a trend and because the racist insults thrown at actors more than once do say that while for some people it is a matter of tastes, for others it’s definitely not just that. Just going to leave this as a little example that represents that hundreds we saw in years:

 *

edit: and

[vfdarkness]

Episode 6: Broken Mirror

INTRO

Dark ambient drone.

RYDER

You’re alone in a laundromat. A loud pounding comes from inside a washing machine. The washer’s door explodes open and dark water pours onto the floor. A hand rises from the water and beckons you.

A beat.

RYDER

You need my help.

DARK AMBIENT DRONE CHANGES TO:

INTRO MUSIC

RYDER

This is A Voice From Darkness.

Intro music continues, but gradually fades out.

ACT I

RYDER

Hello, this is Dr. Malcolm Ryder, parapsychologist - back from a bit of a break. I had to look into a few matters in person - sometimes the problems you call in with require more than on-air help. Later in the show we'll have Mike from Kansas call-in. Mike and I've been playing phone-tag for months now regarding strange leeches he encountered in his area. More on that later. But first, I'd like to introduce two new segments to our show. First off - National Alerts - where I'll let you know of ongoing supernatural issues occurring across the country - possibly in your area.

National Alerts music plays, fades out.

RYDER

If you're in Milwaukee, Wisconsin be on the lookout for an elderly man with white hair in a tattered reddish-brown trench coat. He shivers and holds himself as he walks. Stay a safe distance away if you spot him - as he reaches out to anyone who gets near. He’s grabbed hands and arms - any exposed skin. Afterwards, victims of his touch have reported a loss of warmth. More than that, the part of the body he touches experiences rapid frostbite. Several victims have been hospitalized. Four have frozen to death, despite being kept in warm rooms. Again, I repeat, if you are in Milwaukee, be on the lookout for a warmthless elderly man.

A beat.

RYDER

Our next alert is for Oregon - it's advised you avoid hiking near the Three Sisters. All trailheads are currently closed. Hikers over the past few days have reported time lapses, missing memories when they've returned from their hikes - in some cases spanning days. In all cases, the last memory they have is seeing a bighorn ram with grey twisted horns. Until more can be determined, and the ram possibly stopped, avoid the Three Sisters in Oregon.

A beat.

RYDER

And that is all this week for national alerts. Let's go to our next segment - Quick Questions. Every week I receive voicemails. Emails. Tweets - asking for advice on various paranormal matters. Most shows, I'm only able to get to one or two callers. For this next segment, I'll answer questions you send in.

If you have a question, feel free to write to avoicefromdarkness@gmail.com or tweet your questions to @vfdarkness.

A beat.

RYDER

Our first question comes to us via email from Sam in South Dakota. "Dr. Ryder," they write. "I live out in the middle of nowhere. There are three windows facing west in my dining room. At twilight there’s a man who stands at the edge of my property. He wears a black duster, wide-brimmed hat. I suppose he’s like something out of an old western film. If that wasn't weird enough, I can only see him in one of the windows. The other two - he’s not present. Every night, starting at twilight… he's there. He gets a little closer each night. What do I do?

Ryder thinks.

RYDER

Sam, you've no doubt heard me speak of the Unwelcome Riders on this show before - creatures that appear across our country on various roadways and abduct travelers - taking them to unknown realms. A lesser-known cousin to those awful beings are the Unbidden Homesteaders. The creature, if not stopped, will claim your home, your land, and you. There are thousands - tens of thousands - of small spots across this country where homes used to be. Families used to live - where there's only emptiness now. When you step foot on these spots of land, you feel something off.  An absence. In these places, an Unbidden Homesteader has taken whatever was once there. To prevent this happening to yourself, and your home, you need to salt the earth.

Leave a trail of salt, from the window you see the Unbidden Homesteader to the edge of your property. The creature will not walk on salted earth nor will he want to claim the land as his own.

A beat.

All right, next question comes from Chelsea in Rhode Island. "Dr. Ryder, over the past few days I've lost 30 pounds, my skin has cleared, and my eyes have this brightness to them that they didn't before. Men pay attention to me in a way that I haven't experienced. But... I can't digest solid food anymore. And I'm craving blood. Am I turning into a vampire?"

A beat.

RYDER

Short answer - Yes. Long answer - there's over a dozen different causes of what we commonly call vampirism - from genetic diseases, to parasites, to the more overtly supernatural. Without knowing more, it's hard to say what specifically you're experiencing. What you can do - take two large spoonfuls of minced garlic, mix into a glass of distilled water, and drink. If this makes you violently ill, the cause of your vampirism is natural, and curable. If you have no reaction, then the cause is supernatural. If that's the case, there is no cure. You're no longer human. I'm sorry.

A beat.

RYDER

All right, time for Today In Odd America, and then we'll hear from Mike from Kansas.

TODAY IN ODD AMERICA

TIOA music fades in.

RYDER

Today in Odd America we find ourselves in small Arizona town of Pulta. The year - 1985. One morning, before dawn, a truck driver making a delivery from Phoenix stopped at a gas station just outside of town. The station was empty. Lights were on, the doors opened for him, and there was a car off to the side, but no one present. He called the police - thinking a robbery might have occurred. The police did not answer.

RYDER

He put a message out on his CB. He received no reply.

RYDER

The truck driver, a man by the name of Earl Wick, thought maybe he should leave the town - call authorities elsewhere. But instead he continued his drive to the Pulta’s grocery store to deliver several pallets.

RYDER

Normally a grocer would meet him at the loading bay. But no one was there.

RYDER

As Earl wondered what he should do, the sun rose. The grocery store stood atop a small hill that looked across the desert. In the distance, miles outside of town, there was a pyramid.

RYDER

Something was strange about its texture - its silhouette - but Earl couldn’t tell what from a distance.

He had no memory of such a structure existing before.

So he drove to it - to see if that’s where all the missing people of Pulta went.

.

RYDER

He stopped his truck hundreds of feet from the pyramid at first -terrified to go further - as the pyramid was not made of stone... but flesh.

Thousands of naked bodies stood atop each other forming the pyramid. Bodies melded together - as if they were one singular entity. Arms and legs fused into torsos. The heads of some disappeared into the bodies of others. Many of the heads faced outward - gazing across the desert.

RYDER

Earl recognized some of the faces - the grocer who normally worked the night shift and helped him unload the pallets, the gas station clerk. All stared out dumbly into the desert, muttering, chattering nonsense. Earl vomited in the cab of his truck. He screamed into his CB until he got a reply.

RYDER

Military barriers were placed around Pulta. Nine days later they were removed. The pyramid gone.

RYDER

The military offered no explanation of what they’d done to handle the situation - did they destroy the pyramid? And thereby murder thousands of Americans? Did they move it to an undisclosed base? Are the people of the pyramid kept alive to this day somehow?

RYDER

The origin of the Pulta Pyramid and an explanation of what happened to it remain a mystery to the general public.

And now back to our main show.

TIOA music fades out.

ACT II

RYDER

And we're back. As I said before, while the show was on hiatus, I traveled across the country helping many of you in person with your paranormal problems. On the line now is Mike from Kansas. Mike first left a voicemail months ago. On a rainy night this past autumn he ran across a young girl in the middle of the road. When he approached her, she reached out a hand to him. Only when he offered his own hand in return he realized it wasn't a girl at all, but thousands of small leeches. They'd woven themselves together to have the appearance of a helpless child. Is that correct, Mike?

MIKE

Yeah, that's all how it started. Several of the leeches latched onto me, drank my blood. I thought I burned them all off with a lighter I keep in my truck. But I think at least one of them got away - because not long after - the little girl came to my house. And she brought others - other broods of leeches that looked like people - a fat man and an elderly woman.

RYDER

Yes, the Speculum Sanguisugae - more commonly: mirror leeches - have certain abilities - they'll work collectively to mimic the appearance of the last creature they've devoured. Once one of the leeches in the brood has tasted your blood, they'll have some of your memories. They use those to hunt you, devour you, and then take on your appearance to lure their next prey. I'm sorry I didn't stay in Kansas for long - I had a few other trips to make, people to help. Did what I give you solve your leech problem?

A beat.

MIKE

You mean the spiders? I really wish you'd told me more before you left. Clued me in on what the spiders were going to do exactly.

RYDER

If I'd done that, I doubt you would have gone through what you needed to do to get rid of the mirror leeches.

MIKE

No. No, I probably wouldn't have. Because it almost killed me. You almost killed me.

RYDER

Mike, the leeches were hunting you. Eventually they'd find you, devour you, and move on to kill someone else - using your face. If I hadn't-

(interrupts self)

RYDER

Why don't you state what happened. And after, I'll explain why it was necessary. For context, I dropped off a large terrarium containing hundreds of spiders. A certain species that have evolved to feed on the mirror leeches.

MIKE

But that's not all they do.

RYDER

No, it's not.

MIKE

After you left... I opened the terrarium. You said to do it in a dark place, like a closet or basement. You also told me to drink a glass of water beforehand... I thought that was weird. But I trusted you. Those were the only instructions you gave. You said the spiders would handle the rest - that they'd hunt the leeches.

RYDER

I didn't say the word "hunt". That would imply that they'd leave your home - search out the leeches.

MIKE

No, you're right. You probably said something else - like they'd kill them or something. I don't remember your exact words. I opened the terrarium in my bedroom. It's pretty dark in there. Soon as it opened...

A beat.

MIKE

Soon as it opened, the spiders jumped on me. Crawled over my body. Bit me. Before I could react, I was paralyzed.

RYDER

I'm sorry, Mike, but that's what was supposed to happen. NEEDED to happen.

MIKE

Well I didn't know that at the time. I thought for sure something had gone wrong. That you were wrong, gave me the wrong terrarium or something. Miscalculated. The spiders - they wove web all over my bedroom. They put me at the center - facing the door. Their web was sharp - like wire - they laid me into it. Strands cut into my skin. My blood dripped out, spilled over the web. Blood Droplets hanging on web all over my room. Drops of my own blood. Occasionally, a few of the spiders would move from whatever corner of the room they were in - stop weaving - and bite me again. Paralyzing me further.

RYDER

They needed you for their trap.

MIKE

I was like that for that night. The next day. I thought for sure I was going to die.

All because I went for a night drive. Because I got into a fight with my girlfriend. Because I called you.

A beat.

MIKE

Then... sometime after midnight the next night my front door opened. You said to leave it unlocked. Make it easy for the leeches to enter. Moonlight came in from the window and hit parts of the web. The spiders all hid in shadows. Down the hall, the leech-people shambled through my house. They knocked over furniture, opened every door searching for me. When they came to my bedroom door - they knew I was there. They opened the door. The little girl, fat man, and elderly woman were framed by my doorway like a disgusting family portrait. The little girl came forward first. The light from the hallway backlit her as she tripped into the web. She fell apart into thousands of leeches - like glass shattering. Her "face" looked at me as it broke apart.  I know she wasn't a real girl - an actual person - but it was devastating to watch.

A beat.

MIKE

The web must have had some chemical in it or something that made it so the leech-broods couldn't stay together in their fake human form.

RYDER

The shatter speculum arachnides -  glass shatter spiders - have evolved to almost exclusively hunt and kill mirror leeches. There's no chemical poison you can spray or trap you can put out. The mirror leeches are hunters and require a predatory to take them out.

MIKE

Every leech caught in the web, caused my whole room to vibrate like a bad carnival ride. Hundreds of the spiders jumped forward. They wasted no time- they devoured the leeches, wrapped others in webbing. The elderly woman stepped forward to see what happened to the girl. She too tripped into the blood-drenched web. Soon as she touched it, all the leeches she was made of fell apart. The fat man stepped back. Moved away from the door, and shambled back down the hall. I didn't see what happened, but hundreds of spiders chased after him. I passed out sometime after that. The spider venom, dehydration... some combination. My last thoughts were - the leeches were gone, but I was dead anyway.

A beat.

RYDER

Mike, I'm sorry you had to go through all that - truly I am. But it was necessary. The spiders are most effective when they have a creature in their trap - a creature the leeches are hunting.

MIKE

(offended)

A creature? I'm not even a person to you. Just something to put in a trap so one monster can kill another monster.

RYDER

I don't blame you for thinking that way, Mike. And maybe you won't appreciate this now, but think objectively: a terrifying hunter has come into your community. Become part of your environment. That hunter was after you in particular. One option would have been to let it simply kill you and then move onto another and kill them.

The other option was to "use" you so to speak to lure the hunter in, and neutralize it. We were successful. And you survived.

MIKE

No thanks to you.

RYDER

All thanks to me. Four days afterwards you woke up in a hospital - did you not? After being put into a medically-induced coma until the spider venom was neutralized. I'd instructed Cryptozoologist Dr. Sonja Patel to go to your home 48 hours after I left you. She had an anti-venom for the spiders. At your age, weight, and overall health, we calculated there was less than a 7% chance you'd die from this encounter - all while saving your community from a predatory species that might destroy it. You called me looking for my help and I gave it to. You're welcome.

A beat.

MIKE

While I was in the hospital - recovering - I had a lot of time to kill. I'd heard of your show before calling in. But I didn't know much about you. Not really. There's a lot of conspiracy theories about you.

RYDER

(impatient)

Mike, I'm not going to waste air time discussing inter-[cut off]

MIKE

(interrupts)

What happened to Julian and Miranda Holloway? What did you do to them?

Ryder hangs up on Mike.

A beat.

RYDER

Mike is no longer on the line. I'm happy he's alive, that he and his community are free of a terrible creature that was doing them harm. But I won't allow this show to devolve into strange conspiracies about myself and people I might have associated with in the past.

A beat.

RYDER

That's all for tonight. Thank you and if you're having problems that are supernatural, paranormal, otherworldly in anyway - please feel free to call-in next time on A Voice From Darkness.

Outro Music.

[lucyariablog]

How to Write Email Newsletters People Want to Open and Act On

Though a person receives an average of 88 emails a day, email is still widely regarded as one of the most effective marketing tools at our disposal.

The average open rate for marketing email across all industries is around 24% and the average click-through rate is around 4% (or 11% of opened emails).

Using those statistics, you can expect to drive approximately four visits to your site for every 100 emails sent.

Compare that to average click-through rates of 1.91% on Google’s search network and 0.35% on its display network, and an average CTR of 0.9% for a Facebook ad. Then factor the cost of sending email (generally, not very much), and you can see why 82% of marketers are investing heavily in email.

Of course, seeing a decent ROI on an email newsletter or campaign assumes the content is something its recipients actually want to read.

That isn’t always the case.

Bad email newsletters are a dime a dozen. Whether it’s the design, copy, or the marketing message itself, if your recipients aren’t reading and being swayed to act, you’re not going to see much, if any, return on investment.

With that in mind, let’s look at how to create email newsletters your customers actually want to read.

HANDPICKED RELATED CONTENT: Email Drip Campaigns: How to Make Them Smart and Blunder-Free

1. Only send when you have something to say

Many companies seem to believe that a newsletter is something they should create and distribute routinely regardless of what they have (or don’t have) to say.

Local news media share a similar struggle, only they have to produce content every day regardless of whether any events from the last 24 hours are genuinely newsworthy.

Case in point:

Image source

But businesses are not news media that must produce content to fill scheduled air time, newspapers, etc., because advertisers expect audiences to be informed on events in their local areas irrespective of the depth or quality of each day’s reporting.

Any company that follows a similar model with their emails risks losing subscribers.

Don’t want that to be your case?

Make sure you’re sending emails only when you have something worth saying.

Make sure you’re sending #emails only when you have something worth saying, says @SujanPatel. Click To Tweet

HANDPICKED RELATED CONTENT: How to Create a Brilliant Newsletter People Want to Read

2. Keep emails simple and focused

Do you want to tell your subscribers a piece of company news? Share some new content? Or tempt them with an offer? Choose one topic and stick to it.

Don’t pack your emails with so much content that subscribers have to work to establish whether they contain anything relevant to their needs or interests.

If you must include additional topics, mention them briefly after the main body of the email.

For example, here’s an email I sent recently:

I sent this to promote a video, and as you can see, that’s what I talk about for the majority of the email.

I do, however, tag on a quick P.S. to promote a podcast, and I make the most of the signature to link to my upcoming webinars and speaking engagements.

This approach allows me to diversify the content of my emails while maintaining their focus.

HANDPICKED RELATED CONTENT: 8 Things Any Good Marketer Should Know About Email

3. Write great copy

I receive poorly written email newsletters so frequently that I think the topic merits a mention.

Bad copy, whether in an email or any other marketing materials, turns customers off. At best, it looks unprofessional and says you don’t care. At worst, it damages your credibility and trust with your subscribers.

If you’re not a great copywriter, take a course to improve or hire someone else to do it. Not sure if you’re a great writer? The Hemingway App can help you gauge your skills and highlight ways to improve them.

HANDPICKED RELATED CONTENT: 54 Content Writing Examples, Tools, Tips, and Resources

4. Write concise copy

It’s not just the quality of your copy that’s important; the length matters too.

It’s not just the quality of your copy that’s important; the length matters too, says @SujanPatel. Click To Tweet

Few people want to read 500-word emails regardless of the writing quality. That means you must hone your ability to summarize information and write persuasive calls to action that entice readers to click and find out more.

Here’s an example of an email I recently received from Neil Patel.

It’s short and to the point, and gives a solid rationale as to why I should click to learn more.

5. Go easy on sales content

The majority of emails from brands I receive push offers down my throat. If it’s a legitimately great offer for something I’m interested in, then awesome. Unfortunately, that’s rarely the case.

While there’s a time and a place for pushing offers in emails, do it too often and your audience is going to suffer from “offer fatigue.” Not only will they start to ignore your emails (and potentially unsubscribe), but the offers will begin to lose their value. After all, if you’re always running a “special offer,” how special is it?

Instead, balance sales-focused emails with educational content. Use the majority of your newsletters to promote content that will help your subscribers, and reserve sales emails for genuinely great offers that you’re proud to promote.

6. Allow subscribers to choose type and frequency of content

Personalizing your subscribers’ choices will decrease the frequency of emails irrelevant to their interests and, in turn, increase the number of emails they receive that they actually want to read.

Here’s an example from lastminute.com:

In the subscriber confirmation email, the new subscriber can pick the type of content they want to receive. They can also add in additional information like their location and age range. This information all can be leveraged to increase the relevancy of the content that lands in their inbox.

Here’s another example from Tut+:

This form allows subscribers to specify the topics they’re interested in hearing about, but it also allows them to adjust the frequency and type of emails they want to receive.

7. Invest in design

The quality of your copy is irrelevant (or as good as irrelevant) if the design doesn’t match up.

The average user spends three to five seconds sizing up a website before deciding whether to stick around. Let’s assume users spend a similar amount of time figuring out whether the contents of an email interest them (once they’ve opened it, of course).

Your email must grip your subscribers right away. If it’s too text heavy or the design looks cheap, you’re going to struggle to get results.

If #email text is too heavy or the design looks cheap, you’re going to struggle getting results. @SujanPatel Click To Tweet

Here’s an example of a newsletter that’s too text heavy from U.K. electrical retailer Currys:

Image Credit

And here’s one from Macy’s. This one succeeds in committing two cardinal sins:

Image Credit

The design feels like an ad on the back of a free newspaper (surely Macy’s can afford better designers than this) and it manages to cram in not one, not two, but three offers.

Unfortunately, designing an email that reads well and looks good is easier said than done.

Involve your designers in your newsletter. If you don’t have a designer – or the resources to hire one – use tools like Canva to create graphics for your emails.

Of course, you don’t necessarily need to “design” an email at all. The examples from me and Neil Patel are text only. Adopt a similar approach in your newsletters and you won’t need to worry about design either.

HANDPICKED RELATED CONTENT: 37+ Tips and Tools for Picture-Perfect Visual Content

8. Measure click-through rates

Pay close attention to which emails are being opened (and which aren’t), but more importantly, what those recipients do next.

How many click links in your emails? CTR rates reveal how people are responding to the content of the email. If few subscribers are taking an action, you have to ask why:

Is it badly designed?

Is the copy poorly written?

Does it take too long to get to the point?

Does it try to cover too many topics?

Are the calls to action unclear or just uninteresting?

Is the subject matter boring?

Don’t just ask yourself these questions; ask colleagues, friends, or even family what they think to help shed light on what you’re getting right and where you’re going wrong.

Survey your subscribers – ask them what they want to see (and don’t want to see) in your newsletters. Implement unsubscribe-reason surveys too to ask subscribers to share their reason for removing themselves from your email list.

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9. Get more insight with split tests

Any halfway decent email marketing platform builds in the ability to perform split tests. If you’re not leveraging these features, you should be. They will help you refine your email writing skills until you’re creating something your customers can’t wait to read.

If you’re not performing split tests to help you refine your #email writing skills, you should be. @SujanPatel Click To Tweet

Elements to test include:

Subject lines – These are the first step to enticing your subscribers to read more.

Design – What you think looks good might not match up to what your subscribers want to see.

Copy – Tone, structure, and short form vs. long form all have an impact. (Short form is generally the winner, but every audience is different so it’s still worth testing.)

Sender name – Test your brand name against the name of an individual from your brand.

You might also want to test things like:

Image-led vs. text-only emails

Number of subjects covered in a single email

Look, position, and number of CTAs

Timing of distribution

Whatever you test, the most important thing is that you never stop doing it.

You can always improve emails in ways that ensure that more of your subscribers are reading them, and acting on them as a result. The best way to ensure that your changes are actually improvements is to test them.

Do you have other tips for creating email newsletters customers want to read? Or do you have any examples of really great (or really bad) emails to share? Comments are below – it’d be great to get your thoughts.

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Cover image by Joseph Kalinowski/Content Marketing Institute

The post How to Write Email Newsletters People Want to Open and Act On appeared first on Content Marketing Institute.

from http://contentmarketinginstitute.com/2017/06/how-write-email-newsletters/