You've worked hard to find the balance between a good content-driven newsletter and a showcase for your products, events and/or services. (A great tip from BtoB's E-Mail Marketer Insight: email newsletters meant to sell should be 80% editorial and 20% marketing content.)

Now it's time to focus on your Calls To Action (CTA).

The CTA is the most important reason you are sending your newsletter, yet in newsletters I've analysed, I have found CTAs to be a single contact point, generally a lone email address on the 'contact us' page. No information to act on is listed anywhere near the item that needs to be actioned. This is your key opportunity to incite immediate and sometimes spontaneous interactivity with your readers!


Types of Calls To Action  

Don't be shy in giving your readers choices - they've given you permission to send the newsletter, so they have shown interest in what you have to offer. Don't confine people to replying by email; here are some ideas for calls to action.

• Fax Us - Invite readers to print off the page, fill out the information and fax it to you. 
• Phone Us - List a phone number; people may have one last question they want to ask before they make the purchase - so help them!
• Email Us - People print off an article and pass it on to others, often a decision maker. Rather than have an "email us" live link, show the specific address (e.g. thisaddress@ourplace.com), so it can be used by someone who may be reading a printed copy.
• Forward this to a Friend - Your reader may not find the article relevant... but may have a colleague who is very interested. Don't forget to have a Subscribe Box in your newsletter in case the friend wants to sign up.
• Fill out this Form Now - Once again encourage people to act now - make it easy. Offer incentive, such as a discount if the order comes from the newsletter.

• Use active language - instead of 'learn how' use 'learn now'.
• Test your CTA - Show your newsletter to someone who has not seen it, and ask them to find the action points on a page - which they should be able to locate within three seconds.
• Use the CTA on more than one area of the web page - for example, each time you list a product, service or event - if you have more than one on a newsletter page, put a call to action under each one.