Newsletters are a powerful tool for any e-commerce business. The messages sent through this channel can circulate important information, establish your brand's reputation, strengthen your relationship with customers, and help move recipients through your sales funnel. With newsletters, you can: 

• Create completely customizable emails using the drag-and-drop email designer. 
• Send one-time emails to all of your contacts or a specific pre-defined segment of contacts. 
• Select the specific date and time that the email will send. 

Example use-cases

Newsletters are a simple and convenient way to build relationships and provide value to your customers. Check out some situations where newsletters shine below.

Promote new products and services - New products and services are commonplace for a business that is adapting to the needs of its marketplace. Newsletters are ideally suited for keeping your customers informed about those new offerings.

Offer promotions - Newsletters are an outstanding opportunity to offer deals and discounts. A special offer promoted via a newsletter is often just enough extra encouragement to convince a customer to make a purchase.

To understand how effective your newsletter promotion is at creating new sales, consider creating a unique coupon that is exclusive to a specific newsletter send or mailing list. This approach lets you track the usage of this discount code and see how many of your recipients actually converted.

Build relationships and credibility - Newsletters are a fantastic opportunity to share your knowledge and insight with your customers. This information goes a long way in establishing your credibility and fostering long-term relationships.

Qualify your leads - When someone subscribes to your newsletter, they've expressed an interest in your business and become a lead. Over time, the subscriber's engagements with your messages can be a powerful indication of their intentions. Their interest may increase or remain high, as indicated by consistent email opens and clicks. On the other hand, their interest may wane as indicated by less interaction or an unsubscribe. Ultimately, being mindful of your customer behavior allows you to focus on those who are still interested in your offerings.

Create and send your emails

To create and send a newsletter:

• Navigate to Email + Text > Newsletters.
• Click the New newsletter button. 
• Select the template you would like to use as a starting point and click the Choose selected button to have it applied to the email. This action opens Privy's 3-Step email editor. 

1) Design the email

• Once the template is applied, edit the content using the drag and drop email editor. 
• Make sure to select the Save button at the top-right after making your changes. 

Consider offering an incentive

Newsletters are a fantastic place to offer a coupon because the visitor has already expressed interest in your products or services by signing up for your mailing list. Incentives are particularly impactful when paired with a new product announcement or sale. 

Note: Unique coupon codes are not supported for BigCommerce users in newsletters. To include a master coupon, create the coupon code in your BigCommerce account and then incorporate the code directly into the content of your Privy newsletter (e.g., body content, image, etc.). 

• To add a discount to your abandoned cart email, either:
  • Click into a content block that contains text and input or insert the Coupon Code merge tag, which appears like this: {{ coupon_code }}. This tag will populate with the coupon code when the email is sent to customers. Make sure to include appropriate positioning text near the code so that it is easy for the recipient to understand what they are receiving. 

• • Drag-and-drop the Coupon element from the sidebar into your email and select the desired coupon from the prompt. Also, make sure to include appropriate positioning text near the code so that it is easy for the recipient to understand what they are receiving. 

• Make sure to select the Save button at the top-right after making any changes. 

Learn more about personalizing your messaging with merge tags in this guide and about inserting coupons into your content in this guide. 

Configure the email sender info

Next, click into the sender info section at the top of the email editor and configure the options. 

1. Confirm or select a reply-to address. Any replies to the email will go to this address.
2. Edit the subject line. Keep it interesting, on-brand, and concise. A subject line no longer than 7 words or around 40 characters is recommended. 
3. Provide preview text. The text appears after your subject line when viewing the email in the inbox and allows the addition of compelling copy that helps boost open rates and engagement. The text should be 35 to 55 characters and does support Merge Tags.

Please make sure to select the Save button at the top-right after making your changes. 

Note: To update the default From Name and Address used for your emails, navigate to the Sender Options section of your account settings. Additionally, consider updating your sending domain so you can use custom addresses associated with your domain and improve your deliverability. 

2) Preview and test the email

With an email customized, return to the top of the email editor and click the Next button to preview the email in desktop and mobile views. If you are unable to click the button, make sure you've saved your most recent changes. To preview the email in your actual inbox, select the Send Test Email button. The test is sent to the email address associated with your Privy login credentials. 

3) Configure the email settings

With your design previewed and tested, return to the top of the email editor and click the Next button to configure the email's recipients and coupon settings. Click the Edit button next to the settings you'd like to change. The following settings are available: 

• Send Newsletter to. This option allows you to send your email to all mailable contacts or contacts that match certain filters. Regardless of your selection, please Save after any changes. 

After editing the recipients, please select the section’s Save button. An estimated number of recipients will appear on the card. If the selected segment is over 10,000 contacts, a 10,000+ value will appear. 

Confirm the coupon settings

Next, if you included a coupon code in your email, make sure you've selected a code from the dropdown in the Coupon section of your email settings. If you'd like to include a coupon, but none are available in the dropdown, learn how to create coupon codes in this guide. 

Name the email

• Name the email by clicking the Edit Title() icon, providing a non-default name, and clicking the Update button. This name change will make it easier to locate the email for additional edits or a performance review post-send. 

Schedule or send the email

To activate a newsletter once its design, content, and settings are customer-ready, click the Schedule it or the Send button on the Settings step and confirm your decision in the subsequent prompt. 

Review performance

Now that you are using newsletters to communicate with customers: 

• Learn how to evaluate their success via reporting in this guide. 
• Discover which customers will ultimately receive your emails and why in this guide.