The email newsletter is a powerful marketing and communication tool that has various useful functions. It reminds your users about you; it informs users about your products; it tells them what you have been up to; and it helps you build a unique relationship with them. Users like email newsletters if the newsletters bring them value.

The fundamental rule for creating an email newsletter is to give it interesting, relevant and up-to-date information that is enjoyable to read. Users sign up for newsletters hoping be informed about things that they would not otherwise be able to find out about. In this article, we’ll discuss some guidelines for designing and distributing email newsletters. Each point will be accompanied by both good and bad examples.

Signing Up For A Newsletter

This is an important step in convincing users that your newsletters are interesting and that they would benefit from signing up.

Tell Users What They Will Get

Before asking users for their details, tell them what they will receive, and identify the benefits of signing up. If you mention that the newsletters will include exclusive offers and deals, make sure to keep the promise. In addition, let users know how often they will receive the newsletter: weekly or monthly.

Reward Users for Signing Up

You may want to consider giving some reward to users for signing up; for example, a free gift, voucher or discount. For example, to encourage users to sign up for his newsletter, Jamie Oliver offers a free £25 wine voucher that can be claimed after subscribing (on the condition that users spend £64.99 or more on the wine).

If you will give rewards, let users know as soon as possible in the process. James Perse gives users who subscribe to its newsletter a £15 online gift card. However, the reward is not mentioned on the subscription page, and the promotion code is sent via a confirmation email only after the subscription has been received. You would not have known that until you subscribed. The company is clearly missing a great opportunity to get people to sign up for its newsletters.

Keep Questions Short and Simple

Users avoid filling out forms and submitting their details if possible. For a newsletter sign-ups, all you need is their email address.

Content Of Newsletter

Based on our user testing, we found that people look at three things when they receive a newsletter:

• The sender, to see if it is from someone they know.
• The subject line, to see if it is of interest to them.
• The date, to see if the communication is up to date.

Write an Attractive Subject Line

One way to encourage users to open your newsletter is to write a subject line that grabs their attention.

If you are offering some sort of deal in your newsletter, try to avoid generic appeals in your subject line (for instance, Game July newsletter subject line: “Sizzling Summer Deals"). Instead, mention specific offers, such as Dorothy Perkins November Issue: “25% Off Just for You". Also, be realistic about your offers, and avoid making them sound too good to be true. Users are skeptical about subject lines like “Get 1000 Extra Points" because they know they will often have to spend a lot to get those points.

Provide Useful and Well-Written Content

A newsletter should contain information that users would not normally research on their own. Users take seconds to scan for topics of interest to them before deciding whether to spend more time reading the newsletter. If your newsletter shows only one or two topics, users would less likely to find something of interest to them. Furthermore, including links to your website in the newsletter is crucial.

Make Content Relevant to Your Readers

Make your newsletter’s content as relevant to your readers as possible, whether through offers, products or images. Superfluous content will add no value and simply be ignored. You could also provide customized content. Personalization can be done in one of two ways:

• Asking users for more (optional) information when they sign up.
• Implicitly recording what they buy and view on your website.

For example, Amazon sends newsletter with recommendations based on what its users have purchased. Recommendation-based newsletters can be highly useful, provided that your analytics are accurate.

Offer Exclusive Deals

You could always offer subscribers special deals or freebies. There are a few ways to go about this. Some ask users to present their newsletters at the point of purchase in stores to receive discounts. Others include a promotion code in their newsletters that users can redeem when checking out online. Avoid putting these benefits so deep in the newsletter that users miss them. In addition, make sure the rewards are relevant to your product and target audience.

Newsletter Design

Design your newsletter to suit its chief purpose. If the main objective is to announce a new product or promote a particular service, you may want to focus the newsletter entirely on this product or service.

Keep it Simple and Straightforward

As reported by the Nielsen Norman Group, the average reader skims a newsletter for 51 seconds. People never read: they scan for content that is of interest to them. So, don’t overwhelm them by squeezing too much information on the page. Make sure your content gets straight to the point, and write short paragraphs and bullet points.

Make Good Use of Images, Numbers and Colours

Users are drawn first to elements that are visually simulating, such as graphics. Use images to guide users to the most important content and messages.

Numbers also grab attention. Users tend to associate them with prices and savings. Use percentages and dollar values to show concrete offers.

Colour adds interest, too. But be careful, because inappropriate use makes for a messy, confusing newsletter.

Tailor the Layout to the Content

A newsletter can be designed in a one-column or multi-column layout or a mixture of both. A one-column grid is easier to skim but might take up more space and increase the length of the newsletter. While people do skim email newsletters, that’s no reason to make them overly lengthy. A two-column layout is common for newsletters. Narrower columns are usually used for the table of contents and upcoming events, while the main content is given a wider column.

Be Creative

Creativity in a newsletter is always welcome. Giving each edition of your newsletter a different layout or design is okay as long users can easily recognize your brand.

Be Wary of Table of Contents

Some newsletters include a table of contents at the top of the page, which can help users quickly scan for items of interest. A table of contents can be especially helpful in lengthy newsletters that have a lot of content.

Previous experience tells us, though, that some users do not understand that the links in the table of contents navigate within the newsletter. Assuming that the links take them to a website, they avoid clicking them altogether. One solution is to avoid placing the links in the left or right columns, which is where external links and ads are often found.

Be Wary of Ads

If you have to include ads in your newsletter, make sure they blend in with the content.

Tools And Features

Make it easy for users to unsubscribe, but don’t remind them how to all the time. Also, tell users how they can change their email address, view the newsletter in a Web browser and quickly share the newsletter with their friends. Other useful features include: "Follow us on Twitter," "Be Our Fan on Facebook" and "Watch Us on YouTube."

After Sending Out The Newsletter

After sending out your newsletter, use an email marketing tool such as ours (contact us if you would like further information on our email management solution) and list manager to track, monitor and measure the performance of your campaigns.

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Thank you to the guys at Smashing Magazine for providing this information