A sponsored email is an email that contains advertiser content alongside original publisher content, which is sent to a publisher’s existing email list. A sponsored email differs from a dedicated email in that the advertiser only creates content for a section of the email newsletter, instead of the entire email.
Here is one example of a sponsored email ad (note: this is a snapshot of one section in a whole newsletter):
Best Practices for Sponsored Emails
Sponsored email ads — also called native email ads — are ad units placed within the regular content of a newsletter. They blend with the curated content and convey the confidence of the newsletter writer/author.
Sponsored email ads are useful to directly sell a product, and encourage a sign-up to receive a free trial or lead magnet. If brand awareness or web traffic is your goal, then newsworthy articles or how-to content could garner a higher number of clicks.
Write naturally in a conversational tone.
Good ad copy helps your ad blend in with the newsletter content. For example, instead of a headline like “Download a Free Trial to Software X”, write “Finally, this is how you can get past Cloudflare…” or “Sick of your data queries getting squashed by Cloudflare?.”
Keep the newsletter's demographic in mind.
Selling weight loss technology to yoga enthusiasts requires a totally different language than selling it to Gen X businessmen. A one-size-fits-all approach won’t get you the results you want. It pays to know your target audience.
Send readers to a landing page that matches the ad content.
Promising something and not delivering it is the fastest way to lose a reader’s trust. More than 50% of your clicks should convert or sign up for your product. If they do not, you know there is a problem with your landing page.
Track conversions or goals.
As you saw above, users could be clicking but not signing up. By comparing the CPC to the number of conversions you can calculate the cost per acquisition (CPA) and judge if a campaign is worth continuing or not.
For more tips on running your first email advertisement, visit our blog: How to Run Newsletter Sponsorships
