6 steps to create effective newsletters

Caroline Andrea Furu • 26 Aug, 2022 • 5 Min. read

Newsletters may seem like an old-fashioned form of digital marketing, which is why many people underestimate how effective they can be.

Most of us check our inbox weekly or even daily.

According to statistics from Hubspot, there are 4 billion daily email users worldwide. If you create a catchy newsletter with useful content, you’ll have a good chance of achieving more conversions.

Why should your company invest in newsletters?

In recent years, more and more companies have started investing in marketing through social media such as Snapchat, Instagram, and TikTok.

What works best depends entirely on your business and what you want to achieve, but there are many reasons why you should also include newsletters in your marketing mix:

Cost-effective

Newsletters are one of the most cost-effective marketing tools. A survey conducted by Campaign Monitor found that newsletters generate an average ROI (return on investment) of $44 for every dollar spent on creating the newsletter.

Once you’ve created the account and imported all your contacts, sending out newsletters are a few steps away. 

Reach out to both new and existing customers

Many customers already subscribe to the newsletters of the brands they like. In addition to your loyal customers, there are many ways to get more potential customers to sign up for your newsletter. This can be done through a competition on social media, through registration on the website, or with a discount code.

Share news and great offers

Newsletters can be used to share news and offers in a way that isn’t intrusive to the recipient.

Traditional advertising can be perceived as bothersome, but newsletters done correctly can actually be useful to the recipient.

How to create effective newsletters

There are a number of factors that’s worth remembering when creating newsletters. Here’s our 6 steps to succeed:

1. Don’t publish too often

Unless you run Hennes & Mauritz or McDonald’s, you shouldn’t send out newsletters too often. Once a week is sufficient in most cases. Remember that you should have something to share when you send out newsletters, whether it’s news or a good offer.

2. Create a catchy title in the subject field

The title of the subject field is absolutely crucial for getting people to open your newsletter. Many are tempted to write a clickbait title that will get as many people as possible to open, but this isn’t a smart move. It will most likely cause you to lose subscribers in the long run.

Keep the title in the subject field short and catchy. A study conducted by Adobe showed that the optimal length of the title is 41 characters, or 7 words. Feel free to include some personality in your title, but avoid using all caps or excessive exclamation marks. 

If you want to use emojis in the subject field, one is often sufficient. Including the recipient’s name in the subject line can add a personal touch to your newsletter and make it feel more relevant to the reader. 

3. Choose a nice and simple design

After successfully capturing your reader’s attention, it’s important to keep them engaged and encourage them to explore your content further. To achieve this, it’s crucial to create an appealing design that aligns with your brand. 

In most cases, it’s a good idea to use the same colors and fonts in the newsletter that you use on your website. Mailchimp has its own function that makes it easy to find the color codes and fonts you use on your website and branding.

4. Test what works best for your subscribers

In most newsletter tools, you can A/B test everything from subject fields to what time you should send out the newsletter. It may be worth testing different subject fields, content, and time. Then you can see what works best and continue with it.

5. Find the best time to send the newsletter

According to research conducted by Hubspot, it’s best to send out newsletters between 09:00 am and 12:00 pm. Tuesday is one of the days that has proven to work best. However, this may vary from company to company. For example, if you run a small pizza restaurant, consider sending your newsletter closer to the weekend.

6. Analyze the results

One of the most interesting things about creating newsletters is seeing the results they generate. In Mailchimp, for example, you can see detailed reports on what most people have clicked on, which products have been most popular, and how much revenue the newsletter has generated. These insights can help you identify what works best and what doesn’t, allowing you to adjust your newsletters in the future.

Let us help you create newsletters that work

Journey Agency is a performance marketing agency that consists of 50 employees in Oslo and Stockholm. We are passionate about making small and large businesses visible online.

We help your company succeed online. If you would like help with newsletters or other marketing activities, contact us below.