.jpg)
In my previous article, I looked at the pros and cons of launching a client newsletter, and some of the legal considerations to be aware of. [CLICK HERE TO READ IT] This time we’ll think about what you should put in your newsletter and when you should send it.
What should I put in my newsletter?
Let’s start with the nitty gritty. If you have a newsletter,
what are you actually going to write about? How can you make it useful or
entertaining enough to make people click on open and read it? Here are my
ideas.
- Editorial or Introduction. This is your opportunity to build
trust and rapport with readers. It can be difficult to do this without some
level of self-disclosure, so be careful to get the right balance between warmth
and professionalism. Of course, how much of your personal life you share and
where you draw the boundaries is up to you. But you can share anecdotes or
insights related to your work as a hypnotherapist, any training you have been
doing recently and how that will help your clients, and talk about general
experiences rather than personal details.
- Coping strategies. Useful and practical tips to help with specific
difficulties faced by many of your clients. This could be a brief relaxation
exercise or a new breathing pattern.
- Habit and lifestyle tips can be useful to encourage habits
that will support the therapy you offer. Something like talking about the
benefits of a good night’s sleep, or regular exercise, and how this impacts
smokers, those who want to lose weight and those experiencing anxiety.
- Information. If you blog, include a link to your latest. If
you don’t, use links to other people’s articles. Google Alerts can be a
wonderful way of finding these easily and quickly! Collecting useful
information like this is called “curating” and there’s no copyright issue in
doing it. In fact, you are helping the original author by encouraging new
readers to go and look at their material.
- Q&A or “Agony Aunt” features can be good but have a plan
B in case no one sends you a question! Last time we discovered that only about
a third of subscribers open and read each newsletter, and fewer than that will
respond to such a request. Plan B could
be to use questions you are frequently asked in the therapy room or on Discovery
Calls.
- Book reviews. Mention books you have read that you think
clients might enjoy. Tell them what’s good, bad or indifferent in the book. You
could ask clients to recommend books, but as above, be prepared not to receive a deluge of suggestions.
- Client success stories and reviews. These are great for
providing social proof that what you do works. If you have people on your subscriber
list who are still undecided about booking with you, it might inspire them to do so.
However, you must also be careful of client confidentiality. Even if you anonymise
them, they may recognise themselves when they read your newsletter. So, ensure you have written permission to use their stories or words this way.
- Practice news. If you are running an event, or introducing a
new therapy into your practice, let your subscribers know. Perhaps offer a
small discount for subscribers and make sure you use a strong call to action to
encourage people to find out more or book a place.
- Community resources. Feature local support groups, or online
forums and social media groups where clients can reach out to others in similar
circumstances.
- Competitions. These encourage your readers to interact with
you and may increase your open rate – if the prize is something they want. You
could think about offering a free audio, or even a free relaxation session to
the winner.
- Freebies! If you offer free resources, it should help to increase
your signup and open rates. Be aware that the GDPR puts some limitations on
offering freebies (“lead magnets”) to encourage people to subscribe to your
newsletter as I discussed in my previous article.
Suitable freebies include ebooks or tip sheets on issues that you work with, a set of affirmations, or a short audio or video on a relevant topic. A resource like https://www.plr.me/ will help you with this. A free subscription gets you two download credits per month which you can exchange for basic handouts, lists, or pro formas. In my experience, these generally need a good edit to make them fit your style, but they still give you a good start.
There are a couple of other things you might want to
consider.
- Give your newsletter a name. This helps to make it part of
your branding and it’s easier for people to spot it in their inbox. It doesn’t
have to be exotic, your own or your practice name would do the trick. Or something
that reflects what you write about. If you have trouble with this one,
ConvertKit has some really good ideas and some real-life examples to kick-start your
creative mojo.
- Have a catchy subheading/subject line that tells people why
they should open this particular email. Ask a question, mention a freebie, or write
something that evokes curiosity about your content.
- Use a theme for each issue. A good way to choose a theme is
to look for an awareness event going on at the time it will be sent out, and
link to that. (Be careful not to imply you’re part of the official event,
though, or use their logos, as it could land you in trouble for copyright
infringement.)
Be imaginative and choose lesser-known or unusual events to grab people’s attention. I was once interviewed on the radio to celebrate Bubble Wrap Appreciation Day. We talked about why popping the stuff provided stress relief and I suggested some other stress-relieving tips as well. In a similar vein, International Pillow Fight Day (April) could inspire content around anger management and healthy ways to release frustration, or use International Cat Day (August) to talk about the use of hypnosis in treating allergies. - Make sure your newsletter is formatted to be easy to read on a phone. 81% of people check their emails that way. [1]
How often should I send my newsletter?
A tricky question to which the real answer is “It depends”. Not much help, I know, but I can suggest a few things to consider.
It’s important to send your newsletter out regularly, so
people know when to expect it. But what constitutes regular will depend on the
amount of material you think you can get together and the time you have available
to prepare your messages. If your business has lots of changes, events, or
offers to communicate, it might be better to send it out weekly or fortnightly.
Otherwise, once a month is fine, with an occasional “special edition” if
you have something important or urgent to communicate.
I send my newsletter out monthly, it’s a good balance
between my time and energy commitment and ensuring I have useful information in
each issue. It’s also not so far apart that people forget who I am! Inundating
people with repetitive messages is not a good plan and 69% of people have
reported unsubscribing from a mailing list because they got too many emails. [2]
If you’re not sure, a bit of A/B testing might be the way to go. [3]
When should I send my newsletter?
Of course, you can send your newsletter out at any time, and
it will wait safely in people’s inboxes until they check their email. However, to get
the most attention you don’t want to be in there with fifty other messages –
you might get missed.
The right time and day will vary depending on whether you
aim your newsletter primarily at other businesses or at individuals. Overall, midweek
emails tend to get a higher open rate because people check their emails more
often on workdays.[4] Monday to Friday, most emails are opened between 9 am and
5 pm, making the middle of the day or early afternoon a good time to send
things out.[5]
On the other hand, if your subscribers consider your emails
aimed at them personally rather than professionally, they could have more time
to read them at the weekend. In this case, around 10 am on a Saturday is a good
time[6], especially if your newsletter is quite long.
You can experiment and test different times and days over
time and find out what works best for you. But don’t get too bogged down in
statistics. Open rates and response rates are important, but having a newsletter
and subscribers is the first and most crucial step.
In conclusion, having a newsletter for your hypnotherapy practice involves a sometimes delicate balance of investing time, encouraging client engagement, and remaining aware of professional boundaries. But I hope I’ve shown over these two articles that it’s a tool that benefits both you and your clients. It can offer support to existing clients and extend a welcome to those who haven’t yet made the decision to book. It can promote your services and help increase your knowledge, as you research items to include. And while the thought of starting and maintaining a newsletter may seem daunting, I think that the rewards outweigh the challenges.
_____________________
Last but not least, if you'd like to receive my therapists' newsletter which goes out monthly and includes:
- client tips,
- business building tips,
- links to relevant research and interesting articles,
- details of hypnotherapy and CPD courses, along with subscriber discount codes.
PLEASE CLICK HERE TO SUBSCRIBE
References
[1] https://www.wyliecomm.com/2022/06/email-newsletter-length
[2] https://myemma.com/blog/top-5-myths-about-the-best-time-to-send-emails Accessed 22.2.24
[3] If you haven't come across this term before, it essentially means dividing your subscribers into two or more groups and sending the emails to each group at a different time or day. Over time, you can see which group performs the best, but you need quite a few subscribers to get any significant stats out of it. Concentrate on getting into a regular routine in sending out your messages, and growing your subscriber list first.
[4] https://beefree.io/blog/what-is-the-best-time-to-send-a-newsletter Accessed 22.2.24
[5] https://www.campaignmonitor.com/resources/knowledge-base/how-often-should-you-send-out-a-newsletter Accessed 22.2.24
[6] https://mailchimp.com/resources/best-time-send-email-saturday Accessed 22.2.24
----------------------------
Author: Debbie Waller is an experienced hypnotherapist and hypnotherapy trainer. She is the author of Anxiety to Calm: a Practical Guide to a Laid-Back Life, The Hypnotherapist's Companion, Their Worlds, Your Words, and The Metaphor Toolbox, all available from Amazon or direct from the author. Find out more about Debbie's services on
Yorkshire Hypnotherapy Training - multi-accredited hypnotherapy practitioner training, taster days and foundation levels.
CPD Expert - accredited CPD and other therapy training (online and workshops options), expert and qualified hypnotherapy supervision
Comments
Post a Comment