Writing a Successful Newsletter

Newsletters are a great way to get new business and keep in touch with existing customers. But just what makes a newsletter campaign successful? We're talking about content here, not design (that's a whole different subject!) We list the top half-dozen points to consider.

We've already spent a bit of time talking about newsletters in our blog, but we thought it time to offer a guide to actually writing one. This guide deals with email newsletters only- we may cover printed ones in the future- let us know what you think. Oh, and don't forget to subscribe to our newsletter for special offers, blogs, portfolio updates and news.

1. Decide why someone would want to read your newsletter

AKA "What am I offering?" People are too busy to read the history of your business (even if they wanted to), so you need to offer them something. Typically it's a special offer, something for nothing, or insider info. Next, you need some interesting content. It could be a new product, news or a feature. Pick things that are going to be interesting to potential customers. Less than 10 articles should suffice.

2. Get people to subscribe

Why should someone take the time and trouble to give you their email address? Offer them something in return. It could be a free download, money off voucher or some other bonus. You can't just add an individual to your mailing list, but you can add a company or an individual from a company. Always give people the opportunity to leave whenever they want with a simple "unsubscribe" procedure. Business Link have an informative overview of the legalities- click here for more information.

3. Less is more

Your company may not have enough news and information to send out a newsletter too frequently, but even if you have, be cautious about how often you hit that "Send" button. If you send out a newsletter every day, the chances are that it won't get read.

4. The Sender and Subject lines

An obvious place to make your initial impression - on most email applications, the subject and the sender's name will be the first thing that your potential reader will notice. Someone is more likely to read an email if it's from a person, so use your name in the "from" field. You can still send it from a different address, but if your email address contains "do-not-reply", it may not get past the spam filter. The Subject field should entice the recipient to read the rest of the content, so list the content in order of their appeal. For example: Free Stuff, Special Offers, Gossip, News, Products. Remember, that only the first few words of your Subject line will be displayed.

5. Getting the order right

Remember how we listed everything in the Subject line in order of their appeal to the reader? Well, we're going to put the content in reverse order (ie Products, News, Gossip, Special Offers, Free Stuff). What's that all about, I hear you ask? Simple- we're going to make them look at EVERYTHING before they get to the best stuff.

6. Short and sweet

Keep the articles short. Summarise it in no more than 2 or 3 sentences. This way, the subsequent articles will be visible on screen (so if they're not interested in an article, one of the others will catch their eye). At the end of each article, put a link to the full article on your website, with an obvious "click here to read more" link. Once a reader is on your site, then your wonderful website can do the selling / advertising / promotion or whatever it is that your site is designed to do. Your newsletter has just done it's job!

If your site isn't very good at that stuff, give Pragmatic Design a call on Wolverhampton (01902) 58 10 12 or email us at info@pragmaticdesign.co.uk