How to Write an Effective Email Newsletter (Instructions and Examples)
By Anna Meyer
You probably already know that email marketing isn’t going anywhere.[1] You’re looking for ways to grow your email list and keep your subscribers interested in what you do. Which is why you’re itching to know how to write a newsletter.
But you’re stuck. “Aren’t newsletters the same thing as emails?” you may be asking. “Where do I even start with writing one? And how do I make it a good one without wasting my time?”
This blog post will give you crystal-clear instructions on how to write a newsletter from start to finish, along with some solid examples from different industries to get your creative juices flowing. By the end of this post, you should be able to sit down and create an amazing newsletter for your email list.
But first, let’s understand what a newsletter even is and go from there.
What Is a Newsletter?
Knowing how to write a newsletter starts with understanding what it is. A newsletter is a report or document that provides relevant and worthwhile information to a particular audience of clients or potential clients.
The word “newsletter” implies that it has journalistic elements because it contains the word “news”. Like newspapers and magazines, newsletters are typically sent periodically—once a month, once a week, or even once a day.
Newsletters often contain “news” from the business or individual, such as new job openings or company milestones. And three, like newspapers and magazines, newsletters often have valuable content, like podcast episodes, stories, how-to articles, and even discounts.
People tend to confuse newsletters with other types of emails. Newsletters are usually sent as one single email. Meaning they’re not typically part of a sales sequence, nurture sequence, or marketing campaign.
The main goal of a newsletter is to build and nurture a relationship with your subscribers and keep them in the loop on things related to your business.
Common examples are:
- Upcoming sales
- Product launches
- The latest content on your blog or podcast
- Making a purchase (careful with this one!)
People who subscribe to your newsletter want to stay up-to-date on your business and get free value on a regular basis. Keep this in mind as you start brainstorming.
Now that we know what a newsletter is, let’s start writing it.
How to Write a Newsletter
Quick note: we’re going to focus only on the process of writing and constructing a newsletter, not the graphic design elements or the marketing side of things, like segmenting or A/B testing.
Search for Newsletters in Your Industry
Here’s your permission slip to get a little snoopy.
Take a look at what others are doing by observing trends and best practices in your industry. Do a Google search for “best newsletters in [your industry]” and see if you can find out why they’re the best.
For example, say you’re a food and recipe blogger. After researching other food and recipe bloggers, you’ll notice many of them create weekly or monthly “roundup” newsletters that include links to the top-performing recipes on their blogs.
This doesn’t mean you have to use the same strategy if you’re a food and recipe blogger yourself, but finding out what’s out there can give you lots of ideas.
Subscribe to newsletters in your field or take a look at what’s already sitting in your inbox to get your creative juices flowing. What newsletters do you enjoy receiving on a regular basis? What’s included in each newsletter?
Get Clear on Your Newsletter Strategy
Now that you know common practices within your industry, it’s time to focus on your business.
One common mistake people make when starting a newsletter for their business is throwing together random pieces of content and sharing them with no goal in mind. Don’t do this! All you’re doing is confusing your readers. You may even frustrate them enough to unsubscribe from your list.
Now it’s time to decide why your newsletter exists and why you want people to sign up.
Start asking questions about your subscribers. Who is your audience? What are their interests? What problems do they need help solving? How can you meet their needs with your newsletter?
Next, start asking questions about your business. What is your goal with sending a newsletter? Driving sales? Growing traffic to your blog, podcast, or YouTube channel? Starting conversations with your subscribers?
A combination of goals is perfectly fine. In fact, it’s very common for newsletters to do more than one thing. The key to achieving all your goals with a newsletter is to stay focused on your readers’ pain points and their needs.
Let’s examine the most common types of newsletters to help you brainstorm a strategy that works for you.
(A) Curated Newsletters
Curated newsletters have a journalistic feel to them, and the send frequency is pretty high—a few per week or even a few per day is common.
As the name suggests, curated newsletters are filled with relevant, industry-specific content often created by a third party.
The main goal of curated newsletters is to create and share content that your subscribers can’t find anywhere else.
For example, The Hustle, an email newsletter from the CRM platform HubSpot, has a team of writers and researchers who collect the latest trending news in business, tech, and digital marketing. They send a newsletter to their subscribers every weekday. Yep, five times a week.
In each newsletter, they start with “The Big Idea,” where they expand on a trending news story within roughly 200-300 words.
Then they add in smaller “bite-sized” news updates, data reports, funny memes and tweets, the latest blog post and podcast episode, and resources their subscribers will likely find useful. And they do it all with a witty charm in their writing.
It takes a lot of work to find, organize, and share this much information in a newsletter five times a week. But The Hustle is a top-tier example of curated newsletters.
Their goal with each newsletter is to help young business pros stay up-to-date on the latest news in business and tech. And with 2 million+ subscribers, I’d say they’re meeting that goal and then some.
(B) Promotional Newsletters
Again, the name suggests a lot. Promotional newsletters typically include promotions about your business, like sales, events, limited-time offers, and product launches.
E-commerce stores benefit immensely from promotional newsletters.
It’s easy to think promotional newsletters only work with sales or discounts, but you can do way more than that. You can promote your business, yourself, or an event.
But wait, I don’t want to bug my subscribers with tons of promotions. Won’t that be a turn-off?
It will if promotional newsletters are the only thing you’re sending to your subscribers. Promotional newsletters are typically sent before a sale or event takes place, so be sure you’re sending valuable newsletters outside your promotional ones. Types like…
(C) Blog-Style Newsletters
Yes, you can write a mini blog post or article inside a newsletter and make that your newsletter.
One newsletter that uses this approach (and nails it) is The Freelancer’s Year by freelance writer and content creator Lindy Alexander.
Lindy knows her target audience (newbie freelance writers) and she tells stories about her experience as a social worker and freelance writer based on her audience’s needs. People subscribe to her newsletter with a specific goal in mind: to improve as a writer. And Lindy’s newsletters focus on that goal every time.
Blog-style newsletters are powerful. But they’re newsletters, not your diary. Make whatever you have to say relevant and useful to your audience.
(D) Roundup Newsletters
If you’re creating a high volume of content on a regular basis and want to get the latest (or top-performing) content out to your audience without overwhelming them with emails, roundup newsletters are perfect for you.
Whether you’re a content creator for blog posts, podcast episodes, YouTube videos, or even e-commerce products, organization is key to creating a clean and aesthetically pleasing roundup newsletter.
You don’t have to “round up” online content. Book giant Goodreads sends monthly newsletters that link all the new book releases for that month. By sending the latest book releases straight to your inbox, you can easily browse their website for reviews, interviews, and more.
Roundup newsletters are the heart of sending newsletters: they keep your audience in the loop by “rounding up” all the resources they need in one place.
(E) Hybrid Newsletters
What if you want to share more than one thing? What if you want to share a roundup of your latest content and promote an upcoming event your readers may want to sign up for? Introducing hybrid newsletters.
Hybrids are probably the most popular type of newsletter because the design is super flexible and can be used across nearly every industry. You can add as much or as little content as you want. Remember, you don’t want to confuse or overwhelm your readers, so like roundup newsletters, organization is key.
For a large digital marketing company like Wix, hybrid newsletters are a great way to keep subscribers in the loop on multiple parts of the company. In each monthly newsletter, Wix subscribers can browse the latest features on the platform, sign up for an upcoming event or webinar, or read a case study all in only a few clicks.
From curating to promotion, hybrids do it all while keeping the information organized and easy to skim.
Hopefully by now, you have a few ideas in mind for your newsletter strategy. Maybe you want to share your latest podcast episodes on a regular basis. Or you have an event coming up and you want to share your expertise related to that event so you can promote the event later on.
Building your strategy will take some work. You can add as much or as little to your newsletter as you’d like. Just make it relevant and helpful to your audience.
Now that you have an idea of what’s out there and what you want your newsletter strategy to be, it’s time to start organizing.
Start Outlining
Newsletters typically have a subject line, an email header, body text, at least one CTA, and a footer.
No matter how large or small your newsletter is, you want to create a flow that makes sense to your readers.
Pro tip: To appeal to your readers, format each newsletter so it has the same look every time you send it. This will not only save you time but will also keep your newsletter from getting progressively cluttered over time.
People like consistency and predictability, so you want each newsletter to deliver the same value, in the same way, every time.
Templates are an excellent option if you’re struggling to organize your newsletter. Email marketing platforms like ConvertKit or Mailchimp have templates available. You can also find templates in the backend of your website, or design tools like Canva.
Start Writing
Whew! If you’ve gotten this far with creating your newsletter, you should be proud!
Online writing requires a lot of research and prep work. But the more you do upfront, the easier the writing process will be because you’re not chasing trends or relying on templates. You’re focused on your subscribers and how you can help them.
Here are some tips on writing each important element of your newsletter.
- A strong subject line & preheader copy
Your subscribers are likely getting dozens of emails each day. This means they don’t have time to slowly digest each one. So what do they do? According to FinancesOnline, 64% of email recipients make a decision to open an email based on the subject line alone.[2]
You want to aim for a subject line that’s short yet enticing enough to capture your readers’ attention amidst all the inbox noise.
Once you’ve captured their attention with the subject line, use the preheader copy to entice your readers enough to click your email.
- Relevant content
If you plan on creating a blog-style newsletter, make sure each topic and story is interesting and relevant to your readers.
If you want to add promotions, don’t be afraid to crank up the urgency by informing your readers how long the promotion is, what’s included, and when it expires.
If you’re creating a roundup post, be short and sweet with each piece of content. Too much text and unnecessary information will make each piece of content look cluttered or overwhelming. Avoid beating around the bush. Explain what it is and why it’s worth you readers’ time.
- Conversational writing
I could write a whole blog post on how to write in a conversational tone.
But for the sake of time, here’s one of the best tips out there.
Write like you’re talking to someone else. Or more specifically, someone who knows little to nothing about your industry or what you do. This will force you to simplify your phrasing and summarize complicated backstories and context.
Simplifying and summarizing are key to strong newsletters. Email subscribers generally can’t afford to spend 20 minutes reading an email, so you cannot afford to sound stuffy.
You could have the most helpful content in the world for your subscribers. But if you’re delivering it through rambly, boring, academic-style writing, your subscribers will click to the next email before taking the time to invest in it.
Conversational writing allows you to deliver value in a direct and easy-to-digest manner.
- A strong CTA
Never leave your readers hanging! CTAs in your newsletters help guide your readers along to continue interacting with you rather than moving on to the next email in their inboxes.
The correct amount of CTAs depends on your marketing goals and your newsletter strategy. But a good goal to aim for is not including too many CTAs, or your readers will get confused—or they’ll lose interest and leave.
And yes, if they’re overwhelmed, they won’t click anything at all, which will hurt your conversion rates.
Add Finishing Touches
Once you have everything in place and each section written out, it’s time to fine-tune your newsletter.
- Clean formatting and design
You want to incorporate enough white space to make the newsletter readable and easy to skim. Templates can help with this.
The vast majority of your subscribers will be skimmers, so make sure your text, graphics, buttons, links, and formatting are pleasing to the eye and clutter-free.
- Contact information
This is common practice so your subscribers can reach out to you if they have any questions or concerns about your newsletter or business. Your business’s contact information (or at the very least, social media links) is typically included in the footer of your newsletter.
- An unsubscribe button
It may sound counterintuitive to give your subscribers a chance to opt out of your newsletter, but it’s the ethical thing to do. Plus, it protects your business legally. And it keeps your newsletter out of your subscribers’ spam folders.
Once you have everything in place, it’s time to look at the more technical elements of your newsletter. This includes things like adding an unsubscribe button, optimizing your newsletter for mobile-friendly viewing, adding the sender name for personalization, making sure links work and open in a new window, and adding alt text to images.
Test It Out
After sending a few newsletters, it’s time to access how they’re performing.
You should be able to find your email metrics in the backend of your email marketing platform or your website platform.
The range for each metric will vary depending on your industry. But here are a few general benchmarks to aim for.[3]
- Open rate (17-28% is ideal)
- Click rate (2-5% is ideal)
- Unsubscribe rate (the smaller the better)
- Conversion rate (2-5% is a good range)
- Bounce rate (2% is good, the smaller the better)
- Forwards (the more the better)
- New signups (the more the better)
If your numbers are low starting out, that’s okay! That means it’s time to…
Keep Improving
A lot of small details go into creating a newsletter that converts. But the good news is that sometimes all it takes to boost your metrics are a few small changes.
Let’s say you discover the open rates are low. This probably means a few things.
- Your subject line isn’t up to par.
Maybe the copy isn’t interesting or attention-grabbing. Maybe it’s too long and you need to shorten it (25-30 characters is ideal).
- Your newsletter is being flagged as spam.
Words that sound too good to be true or over-sensationalized often get flagged by email providers. Other malpractices include extreme punctuation (!!!!!!!!) or even using all caps too much.
There could be many other reasons your open rates are low. Your job is to channel your inner Nancy Drew and figure out what could be causing it, make small changes, one at a time, and see what happens.
Remember: The goal of a newsletter is to build and nurture a relationship with your subscribers and keep them in the loop on things related to your business. If your metrics are low in the beginning, that doesn’t mean you’ve failed. All you need to succeed with newsletters are your subscribers’ needs and desires, and an analytics tool to help you measure your progress.
FAQs
Now let’s address some commonly asked questions regarding newsletters.
How Long Does a Newsletter Need to Be?
Whatever length is necessary to deliver the value your readers need. I know this sounds like a lazy answer, but the ideal length for your newsletter will depend on your industry, your audience, and what your marketing strategy looks like.
But if you still need a number, here’s one for the sake of getting started.
According to Constant Contact, the best length for an email newsletter is approximately 20 lines of text,[4] or about 200 words.
Here’s a good way to tell if you need to make your newsletter longer: the bigger your CTA or offer, the more information you’re going to need to include.
This rule applies whether you’re asking your subscribers to read a blog post or purchase a $3,000 course. The bigger the commitment, the more space you’ll need to address objections and explain why it’s worth the investment.
How Should I Organize My Newsletter?
The general skeleton of a newsletter is the header, the body text, and the footer. Introduce yourself with the header (a logo or your newsletter’s name is commonly placed in the header), organize your content and CTAs in the body, and include your contact information and unsubscribe button in the footer.
Again, templates are the perfect place to start if you’re unsure how to organize the contents of your newsletter. Marketing and design platforms like ConvertKit or Canva offer free templates with easy-to-use formatting.
What Can I Include in My Newsletter?
Common examples you’ve seen so far are blog posts, discount codes, and even a story or blog-type entry that shares your expertise.
But you can add anything that your readers find interesting or valuable.
Yarnspirations (a company that manufactures yarn brands like Patons, Bernat, and Caron) includes knit patterns in their newsletters. That’s it.
Knit patterns may not seem like a big deal, but subscribers can easily click a knit pattern in the newsletter and explore more patterns on Yarnspirations’ website—and hopefully make a purchase.
You can include a huge assortment of content in your newsletters if you want, but you don’t have to. And just because your newsletter is focused on one thing (such as knit patterns) doesn’t mean it isn’t valuable to your readers.
There You Have It!
Writing a newsletter takes a lot of thought and work. But as long as you’re focusing on your subscribers’ needs, you’re well on your way to building relationships with them and boosting sales for your business.
Need help adding a newsletter into an email strategy that works for you? Fill out a form to book a call so we can chat about reaching your goals with email marketing.
References:
- How Many Emails Are Sent Per Day? (2022-2026). Oberlo, https://www.oberlo.com/statistics/how-many-emails-are-sent-per-day. Accessed 28 February 2023.
- Chang, Jenny. 52 Email Subject Line Statistics: 2023 Trends & Effective Ideas. FinancesOnline, https://financesonline.com/email-subject-line-statistics/. Accessed 28 February 2023.
- What are good open rates, CTRs, & CTORs for email campaigns? Campaign Monitor, https://www.campaignmonitor.com/resources/knowledge-base/what-are-good-email-metrics/#:~:text=What%20is%20a%20good%20open,those%20in%20your%20specific%20industry. Accessed 28 February 2023.
- Charest, Dave. What’s the Best Length for My Email Newsletter? Constant Contact, https://www.constantcontact.com/blog/best-length-email-newsletter/#:~:text=I%20know%20you%20want%20a,through%20rate%20for%20most%20industries. Accessed 28 February 2023.
