Newsletter Tactics 1-2-3 for Successful Farms
At Barn2Door, we’re fortunate to be in a position to work with 1000’s of Farms across the US to capture the data and best practices to help your Farm be more effective online. The most successful Farms are constantly engaging customers on every channel (website, social media, email, and in-person) to stay top of mind.
Your goal should always include improving your marketing activities to increase the quality and frequency of engagement with your customers - spurring loyalty to your Brand. Your Farm’s success rests on your ability to market to both existing customers (engaging with them regularly) and new customers (getting their attention and capturing new business).
At Barn2Door, we analyze the data and monitor new trends to identify what works best and where Farmers should focus their efforts. For many Farmers, Newsletters are key in building a thriving Farm business - seeing up to 80% of their orders come through weekly Newsletters. Additionally, we know that Farmers who send a monthly Newsletter enjoy more orders and sales than those who do not.
Watch: Why Farmers Need a Simple Email Marketing Strategy to Grow Your Business
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Newsletters are a polished version of your Brand and a great vehicle to keep customers updated and engaged with your Farm year-round. Newsletters are more formal than casual banter and engagement in social media. As such, Newsletters serve a different purpose - to communicate clearly and concisely what is most important for your Farm right now (or near term).
Here are the guiding principles when assembling your Farm newsletter:
Your Content Should be Concise.
Good newsletters include engaging content that is well organized, structured, and to the point (3-5 sentences on each topic). Content should be personal and relevant to your Farm.Increase Brand Loyalty.
Consistent, attractive imagery serves as the framework for your newsletter template and should align with your website, social media, and personal branding. Imagery interspersed with your content should spark an emotional attachment to your Farm Brand and story.Provide an obvious Call-To-Action (CTA).
Each Newsletter should include 1-3 CTAs that direct your customers to a certain action. Keep it simple and provide them as soon as you can, rather than clumping them all in one section. For example, CTAs can be Shop Now, Follow Us on Instagram/Facebook, Download the Recipe, etc.
Altogether, a good newsletter should be short and sweet, taking no more than 3-5 minutes to read in its entirety. Newsletters are a strong and reliable tool for Farms, but without structure or clear CTAs, you’ll lose readers, increase unsubscribes, and decrease store conversion (lose sales).
Anatomy.
The anatomy of successful Farm newsletters (from top-to-bottom):
Header (beautiful photo or image consistent with main website image & social header)
Shop Button (in plain sight when they open the email, aka “above the fold”)
Content block #1 with a Farm photo
CTA (Shop Now or Learn More)
Content block #2 with a Farm photo
CTA (Subscribe to our Newsletter or View Products)
Footer
Other Best Practice Tips.
Some additional suggestions to increase newsletter engagement:
Add hyperlinks to Farm product images (linked directly to the item in your Store)
Include a picture of your buyers at a Delivery/Pickup (with their permission)
Include a shoutout and hyperlink to a Partner drop site(s) (if you do local pickup)
Understanding the components of a good Newsletter is how the most successful Farms continue to stay top of mind, drive sales, and build a strong Brand. If you need help getting your Newsletter started, Barn2Door offers a Marketing Toolkit where you will receive two Newsletter templates to send to customers every month. Note: this Toolkit is only available to Barn2Door customers.
Barn2Door provides an all-in-one solution for Farmers to grow and manage their business. If you’re curious to learn why successful Farmers run on Barn2Door, watch this 5-minute video.