10 Simple Steps for a Successful Newsletter

“I have to laugh when I receive newsletters from major personalities and when you hit reply, you get a ‘do-not-reply’ address. It’s ridiculous! Don’t you want your customers to reply to you?”

– Brendon Burchard

Newsletters are an excellent way of reaching out to people who are already familiar with your services. They provide you with a way to create a connection with customers, keeping them up to date with a company’s offers, while also giving a little bit more of a “human face”.

Newsletters have been used for a surprisingly long time. One of the first ever newsletters appeared in England in 1631, and it featured the happenings of locals overseas, and research shows that the first ever newsletter was distributed in 1538, predating even newspapers.

During the 1700’s they began falling out of favor, newspapers being the preferred medium of sharing information, but they saw a comeback during the early 20^th century.

Responsible for this comeback were businesses and industries, which needed a way to distribute specialized information to both potential and loyal customers. One of the most well-known investment advisory newsletters is the Kipplinger Letter, which still continues to be one of the most widely-read business periodicals in the world.

Beginning in the 30’s, newsletters became more and more widespread, and more targeted, covering specific topics, like telecommunications, farming, and farming.

Newsletters have truly flourished since the advent of personal computers, as the new technology made them easier to create and distribute, and this brings us to today’s topic.

Quantity, of course, does not imply quality. And there are few things that can hurt a brand’s identity as much as a badly constructed newsletter. That’s why we did a bit of research, and gathered some awesome tips from a few professionals.

We have selected the ones we think are the most pertinent, but do feel free to click on the links if want to read everything the author’s have to say on the subject.

Joey Kissimmee for LearnAbout

1. Schedule

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“You’ll want to schedule a specific day your newsletter will go out on. For example. You can set it to go out every Monday. This will create a sense of expectancy. Something to look forward to every Monday.”

2. Series

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“Create a series of a certain topic. Sometimes a subject you’re talking about will take more than just one email. So you spread them out into 2 or 3 emails. This will keep them coming back and opening your emails.”

Paul Jarvis for DesignTaxi

3. Give Value and Have a Purpose

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“If all you’re doing is sending your latest blog post to your subscribers inbox, use an email-to-RSS feed instead (Feedburner works). Brand it if you want (Mailchimp offers this as a service). If you want more subscribers though, offer something unique and useful in your mail-outs, something they can’t get on your website — like original newsletter-only content, secret downloads or special offers/discounts. I send recipes to my mailing list often, and these recipes don’t appear on my site or anywhere else. So you need to be on the list to get them.”

4. Front and Center Sign-up

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“Finally, to ensure the most subscribers, make sure your newsletter sign-up form is somewhere prominent on your site. This doesn’t have to be a popup window over your content when your site loads, but should be something people will see at a cursory glance. There are also ways to put your sign-up box into Facebook (Mailchimp has an app for that).”

Louis Montemayor for StudyBreaks

5. Titles Are Your Hook!

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“It’s human nature to gravitate towards what we like. That said, if something is remotely irrelevant or boring, let’s be real–we’re going to skip over it. So be creative with your titles! Don’t tell your reader everything, but don’t be too broad or uninteresting. Be slightly mysterious with a splash of cleverness/wit/humor. You want to take full advantage of the 3 seconds that your readers’ brain uses to make a decision, so try to think a little outside the box. Whether you made your reader chuckle for a second or even initiated a harmless argumentative response, if you’ve got their attention, you’ve done something right.”

6. Have Fun!

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“Yes, that’s right… FUN. Now I’m not saying you should sit in a colored ball pit while you write content for your newsletter, but you definitely DO want to enjoy what you’re working on. Besides, if setting up your newsletter makes you miserable, it probably shines through to your audience. So, try not to worry so much about how people will dissect every little thing you write.

If you’re having fun, they’re having fun. Period. Now, in no way does this mean to be inappropriate or go beyond the boundaries of what is socially acceptable (although that can be tempting at times), but think outside the box and let loose with it.(Once again…not too loose, of course).”

Pete Sheinbaum for Gigaom

7. Leverage Non-Email Channels for Delivery

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“Email is not the only channel to consumers — and it shouldn’t be the only way for your content to reach them, either. Facebook accepts full posts (although paid promotion may be necessary) and Twitter can link back to your site’s archives. When measuring your reach, these channels need to measured and added to your total list sizes (though some brands will limit advertising on them). Mobile should be a priority too.”

8. Entertain and Inform

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“This strategy builds and supports the voice of the publication, and that builds and sustains the brand. At DailyCandy, even if our users didn’t shop at or eat at the places we wrote about, they always ended each read with a smile — that kept them opening our emails.”

Liz Parker for CX

9. Focus on Function, But Make It Look Good

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“Despite the fact that the common cliché says “Don’t judge a book by its cover”, you’ll find it’s human nature and that people constantly do. The same goes for a newsletter: Appearance matters. The first thing that readers are going to notice and judge is the visual layout of the newsletter. If it’s unappealing—text heavy or full of low-quality photos—readers are likely to ignore it. The bottom line is that you shouldn’t cut corners. If you’re taking the time to create a newsletter, take the time to use high-quality images, logos, etc.

Clean, eye-pleasing imagery can make a huge difference on how your newsletter is interpreted and whether or not readers, well, actually read it. On the other hand, don’t go all out on imagery and skimp on making it easy to interact with. Make sure the newsletter is easily navigated and user-friendly with simple and easy-to-detect links.”

10. Get Personal

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“Though the main goal of the newsletter is to communicate and promote your business to a mass audience, you definitely do not want to make that blatantly obvious. Though you’re trying to appeal to a large group of readers, it is important to remember that the large group consists of many individuals. That said, you want it to feel personal, and you want each reader to feel like you’re connecting with him or her directly, as a unique person.

This in particular makes it important to take an entertaining approach to your newsletter and make it worth their while. By reading the newsletter, they’re donating their time. Be respectful and show appreciation through your presentation, making it something they’ll actually enjoy.”

That concludes our article on 10 simple steps to creating a successful newsletter. We hope you’ll find these steps useful, and that you’ll begin making newsletter that people really enjoy reading.

Once again, remember to check out the full articles that we quoted, by clicking the links provided. Also, don’t forget to leave us your thoughts in the comment section below.