What makes a newsletter good? 10 Best Practices in Design and Content You Should Read

Newsletters are a great way to connect consumers and brands.

According to a survey of advertisers who spend $10k+ per year on advertising, 86% believed newsletters created a vital link between their brand and the audience . 88% also believed newsletters would be a valuable tool to reach targeted audiences without the need for third-party data.

High-converting newsletters are an important part of any marketing strategy.

We can help you, whether you have already seen the benefits of newsletters or are just starting one.

Today’s article will explain what a newsletter is and how to create one. It also outlines ten best practices in newsletter design and content.

Let’s take another look.

What is a newsletter?

A newsletter is an email sent by brands to inform their audience about company news, updates or tips.

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There are many types of newsletters, each with its own purpose. Newsletter marketing is most commonly used by brands to encourage conversion.

How to Write a Newsletter

It is easy to create a newsletter. Consider your goals first, and then create the newsletter step-by-step.

Here is a brief overview of how to create a newsletter.

1. Clearly define your goals — What are you trying to achieve?
2. Your target audience should have a reason to sign up. For example, lead magnets.
3. Create a strong subject line.
4. Hook readers with the opening line.
5. Telling a story can help you build connection and relateability.
6. Establish a strong and relevant connection between the subject line of your article and your body.

We’ll be sharing ten best practices for newsletter design and content in the next section.

10 Best Practices in Newsletter Design and Content

These are our top ten design and content tips to help you create engaging newsletters.

1. Use a Compelling Email Subject Line

It is important to write compelling email subject lines to entice prospects to sign up for your newsletter.

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Your email subject lines are more than just the starting point for your newsletter. They also make the first impression on your reader. So make them count.

Consider your audience when writing a compelling subject line for an email. What value do they want to take away from your email? Why is it important that they read your email?

Do not use spammy words such as “buy”, “near me” or overpromising words such as “guarantee” and “fantastic deal” in your content.

These words could be flagged by email providers and sent to spam. This is true for all special characters and writing in all capitals.

Instead, you should focus on communicating authenticity and value.

Follow the “hook + Value” template to encourage your readers to open your email.

These are just a few examples of hook + values subject lines:

• Jane saw results within 30 days. Want to see Jane’s story?
• In just two weeks, I lost ten pounds. Here are the lessons I learned
• This is the moment you have been waiting for. All items up to March 20% off
• 11 ways to increase your savings in 2022

2. Vary Educational vs. Promotional Content

You must give your subscribers a reason to sign up for your newsletters. It is important to make your newsletter worthwhile.

What’s the point? What content can they extract value from?

Do you, for example, share practical advice and takeaways that can be used to help others? Are you able to share thought leadership or motivational content? Do you offer training and guides?

It may prove difficult to convert if you only focus on sharing promotional content.

The 80/20 rule states that 20% of content should be useful and 20% should be promotional. This helps to strike the right balance.

Let’s take, for example, that you manage an event management business and send out a weekly newsletter. Three of your newsletters must convey value, and one should be promotional. This is the 80/20 rule.

Here’s an example:

• Week 1: Share your tips and tricks for saving money on wedding planning.
• Week 2: Show your audience step-by-step how to hire event vendors.
• Week 3: Show your receivers how to handle regrets and RSVPs online
• Week 4: Share a strong testimonial from a customer. Next, invite your readers to sign up for one or more of your event packages. To make it more appealing, offer a discount.

Backlinks can be built to your domain by using informational content.

3. Personalize your emails

In the US, personalization has been proven to be a crucial marketing strategy.

In fact, between 78 and 96% of professionals in the industry incorporate personalization into their marketing strategies.

We can see why.

63% of professionals who have incorporated personalization in their marketing strategies claim that they’ve experienced an increase in conversation rates.

Personalization is a great way to make your audience feel valued and heard, rather than being just another number on your mailing list. Personalization can be as simple as calling the reader by their name. It will make them feel that they are hearing from a friend.

These are just a few of the many ways that you can personalize your newsletters.

• Before recommending products, check the purchase history of the recipient
• Readers have a common problem.
• Segment your list by audience and funnel stage
• You can tailor content to suit the stage of your prospects’ funnel.
• Do not use bot writers to write your copy.
• All copy should be kept current and updated.

4. Make a clear call to action

While not all newsletters will be promotional, every newsletter should contain a call-to-action (CTA).

Why?

Readers should continue to engage with your brand beyond reading emails. Prospects will have more chances to connect with you if they have more contact points with your company. This will allow you to nurture them into conversion.

Keep your CTA relevant when deciding on a CTA. Consider inviting your subscribers to visit your website and check out other apple-themed desserts. Ask them to get your free guide for making cobblers, crumbles and pies.

These are other CTA best practices you should keep in mind.

• Your CTA should be visible above the fold.
• Your CTA should be concise and direct. For example, “download our free guide”
• Your CTA button text should be easy to read and easy to find. Be noticeable but not too obvious.
• To test CTAs in the first person, see if they get more clicks. Test CTAs such as “access my free training right now” and “claim your freebie.”
• Make sure your CTA is clean and has plenty of white space.
• You should create a sense of urgency. Try CTAs such as “shop now” and “get 10% discount, today only.”

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5. Direct readers to your website

You have plenty of content that you can reuse to get readers to visit your site and to get to know you better.

Just finished uploading your latest blog post? Send a short excerpt to your readers and ask them to continue reading on your blog.

Have you just launched any new free courses? Let readers take a quick tour of the site, and then send them a link encouraging them to sign up.

This method can be used by any business, regardless of industry, to drive more customers to its website.

This blog post listing the top banks for college students could easily be reworked to create a newsletter that drives visitors back to a website.

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A brand could use bulleted lists to say in the newsletter, “Here are the best colleges banks for students” You can view the entire list by clicking here

You can give readers a glimpse of the information and encourage them to follow your site to continue learning.

6. Design for readability and accessibility

When designing your newsletter, always consider your branding. Your marketing strategies should be consistent and easily recognizable. It may prove difficult to create a strong brand image if they don’t.

A great design will also improve readability, making your newsletter more accessible and intuitive. You’ve probably seen a newsletter that has cluttered elements, small text and a lot of information.

A newsletter can be inspired by something as simple as the shapes in your logo.

Three instantly recognisable brand logos are displayed in the above image. The unique and creative shapes help to instantly create an image in your mind. It would be confusing or off-putting if one of these companies sent you their newsletter with a completely different logo or branding. It is important to keep your branding consistent across all channels, from your newsletter to your website.

These tips will help you design for accessibility and readability.

• Use clean typography
• Use left-aligned text
• To draw attention to key headings, use color
• After a period, only one space should be left
• Use only clear images that add value to your newsletter
• Make sure to leave plenty of white space
• Make sure that the design is intuitive and intuitive.

7. Optimize for Mobile

Before you push live, make sure that your emails are mobile-optimized. This is easy and quick: send an email to yourself and then open it on your smartphone.

Check the pages for any images or text that are missing. Your reader shouldn’t have to scroll left or right in order to see the content. Everything should be vertically aligned, with clear photos and legible fonts. It is also crucial to ensure that all elements load quickly.

This can be done quickly by investing in mobile-friendly layouts or design elements.

8. GIFs, Images and Memes

Use memes, GIFs and images to show off your brand’s personality.

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Consider the content when deciding what to embed in your newsletters. What visuals could enhance your content?

To make your audience laugh, embed funny GIFs in your story.

Share a tutorial with screenshots and explanatory images.

Use memes to tell stories that touch on cultural or current topics.

Consider the value that readers will get from any visual before you include it. You can choose another visual aid if it doesn’t help you get your point across, enrich your story, communicate an important emotion or teach your audience something.

9. Alt-Text is a good option

Alt-text is an acronym for “alternative texts” and it’s displayed alongside an image. It can be thought of as backup text that describes the visuals in your newsletter, in case they don’t load correctly.

Alt-text can also be used to assist the visually impaired. A screen reader can be used by individuals with visual impairments to hear a description of your images.

10. You can A/B test your emails

To determine which option gets the most engagement, you can run A/B testing before you push your email campaigns live.

You will use A/B testing to take a sample newsletter, copy it and then modify one element on the copied version. You’ll then test each version to determine which one is more successful.

You can, for example, change the layout or use a different main image or video. Next, test the control option as well as the varied element by running two ads or focus groups.

Conclusion

Newsletters are a crucial link between brands and their audiences. It’s not surprising why.

Email is the best way to reach your ideal client. Newsletter marketing can help you increase conversion rates and reach your goals by providing unrivalled value and building authentic relationships.

Are you ready to bring your audience closer with newsletter marketing

Here are ten of our top newsletter design and content tips that we shared today.

• 1. Use a Compelling Email Subject Line
• 2. Vary Educational vs. Promotional Content
• 3. Personalize your emails
• 4. Make a clear call to action
• 5. Direct readers to your website
• 6. Design for readability and accessibility
• 7. Optimize for Mobile
• 8. GIFs, Images and Memes
• 9. Use alt text
• 10. You can A/B test your emails

Now, it’s your turn.

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