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“So what are the next steps?” That’s a common phrase (or so it should be) at the end of many business meetings. Translation: tell me what I need to do and what you need to do to keep this project moving forward.

Surprisingly, many organizations forget to inform potential or current customers about ‘What happens next’ during a sales cycle, service call, or even a purchase. Consider students requesting more information about a college they may wish to attend through the institution’s website. After completing a lengthy form with personal information on it, one would hope the response regarding next steps would be a little more than a simple ‘Thank you’. Most prospective students might like to see an email with some information immediately sent to them, or at least some mention of materials  being mailed to them and when they can expect them.

After you purchase something online usually there is a confirmation provided, including a receipt, and even emails confirming the sale and delivery information. Having the next steps is reassuring, it provides a point for finishing a project and/or the satisfaction of moving one step closer to a goal.

So ask yourself, have I provided next steps to my pipeline clients and in my marketing communications? Hopefully the answer is yes!

The short answer is yes, they do–if the newsletter content is of interest to them. The point of a newsletter (and any other form of communication you use to contact people who may be willing to make a purchase from you or support your cause) is to provide relevant information and inspire action. Even traditional advertising should do this.

 Marketing Sherpa recently published an email marketing case from Drs Foster and Smith which tested the impact of mixing educational content with product promotions, whereas in the past their emails were either informative or sales-oriented.

The results of mixing content were 7% boost in click through rate, 6% lift in conversion and 15% increase in sales (meaning average order size was higher).

The campaign involved segmenting the “dog owner” customer, and performing an A/B test using email creative that offered products and discounts comparable in value proposition. As you can see, both emails below include an offer for a free pack of BioSpot and an article about protecting your home and pet from fleas. The difference is which call to action appears first (and more than double the size) in the content area.

The email sent in Week 1 is shown in the left image and the email sent in Week 2 is pictured in the right image.

The winning design in both tests was information more prominent, offer less prominent. Remember, the informational call to action translated to a 15% increase in sales over the promotional offer.

The all-important landing page used shorter copy with a top image hot-linked to a product page where readers could purchase products relevant to the information. In a sense, readers were being pre-sold on an item with expert advice which further motivated the purchase.

Marketing Sherpa summed up the key takeaway as “Their audience responds better to relevant content than to a heavy-duty sales pitch.”

Offering educational content within emails is a great way to generate interest — it’s non-committal and it builds trust and long-term loyalty. Even if the customer doesn’t buy from you today, he or she is more likely to open your email expecting to receive valuable knowledge in exchange for their time.

Two additional takeaways noted by Marketing Sherpa:

• Wisely placed educational articles may heat up sales in a blue economy. With consumers tightening purse strings, Web shoppers are not likely to be in as much of a hurry as they used to be. Therefore, holding people’s hands with educational content can be worthwhile for your brand.

• Educational content can create a comfort level for Internet shoppers who don’t have the luxury of physically assessing products the way brick-and-mortar shoppers do. Hence, relevant content can help bridge that gap between the product and the shopper.

Of course, these findings have yet to be extrapolated to  traditional print-based newsletters and retail shopping experiences, but we’d bet that providing value-added content in any promotional medium is going to net better results than relying on a one-dimension sales message.