Newsletter? Does anyone even read it? Of course they do! Newsletters are a great way to stay in touch with your audience and build a relationship with them. People like newsletters - provided they are well-written. In this article you'll learn 7 useful rules that will help you make your newsletter readable.

Newsletter - what is the problem?

Let’s start with what people dislike - it depends on the type of newsletter, and it depends on the type of newsletter. If your community subscribes to a mailing list for a dose of specialized knowledge, they won't be happy when your emails constantly convince them to buy an author's ebook, insert product photos or provide links to your store. However, in the case where someone signs up for a newsletter to receive information about promotions or a new product series - they don't want to receive spam that doesn't actually benefit them in any way.

In each case, what matters is the value you deliver to your audience, and that depends on the scope of your business, your target audience and their expectations.

Why write a newsletter?

Contrary to what some might think, newsletters have not gone away. Email is used daily by more than 4 billion users, according to the Statista and this number is constantly growing. This way of reaching the public offers many opportunities and has many advantages. Highlighted among them may be:

• Ability to maintain regular contact with the recipient and Building a relationship with him.
• Building brand awareness - both by shortening the distance between it and the viewer and by telling the story of the products or services.
• Creating personalized messages. Nothing satisfies a reader more than addressing an issue that affects them. It is also worth mentioning here that if you have access to the names of the owners of these emails in your email database - you can also use them.
• Excellent form of the education. Raise awareness both about your product, service, brand, or any other aspects you may touch on.
• Increase website traffic and sales - product (depending on the type of newsletter) can be a side or main element of the message.

How to write a newsletter well?

Now that you know why it's worth writing it, what benefits it can bring, and what should be avoided in this type of outreach channel - it's time to learn a bit about best practices when creating content.

1. Get to know your audience

Without identifying your target audience, it will be hard to set a specific goal and strategy. Before you start writing your newsletter, you need to carefully get to know your audience. Find out what they need, what they expect and what problems they have. This will allow you to tailor the content of your newsletter to their needs and increase its effectiveness.

2. Define the purpose and concept

This point is related to the previous one, because ideally you should use your knowledge of your audience to determine your goal and concept. Think about what you want the emails you send to result in - site purchases, building a community, getting new customers, or perhaps website transitions?

You will adjust your strategy based on your goal. 

Do you want to build relationships? Raise issues that are important to the reader. Show that you are aware of the most common problems or questions and that you are able to help
In their solution.

Do you want to increase sales? Send a catalog of your products, throw in a special offer for subscribers, such as a ready-made set of products that are better value for money.

Do you want to attract new customers? Offer a discount on your first purchases and prove with the quality of your products or services that you are worth staying for the long term.

A well-defined goal allows you to focus on key information, increases the effectiveness of your content, and allows you to better plan and measure the effectiveness of your marketing efforts.

Don't forget to address the reader directly - this always works much better than impersonal communication or targeting a wider audience. What's the point? Instead of using a message like "Eager persons are invited to ..." write "I invite you to ...".

3. Get the right tools

There are a whole bunch of tools on the market for sending marketing emails. Each of them offers different options and possibilities to customize the content or mailing. The choice should depend on your needs.

A simple and intuitive tool that allows you to send up to 1,000 subscribers for free is MailerLite. It also has excellent email deliverability, which is a strong advantage.

Other most popular tools include: MailChimp, GetResponse and FreshMail.

4. Find the creativity in you

Create clever and catchy titles. The headline is the first thing the recipient sees, so it must be appealing and encourage for further reading. Make sure it is short and concise, but piques interest.

Writing newsletters can be monotonous, but it's important to stay creative and original. The use of interesting graphics and infographics, interactive elements or even video can grab readers' attention. 

5. Beware of the curse of knowledge

This is especially important for educational newsletters. The curse of knowledge is the cognitive error of not realizing that something that is obvious to us is not necessarily so to others.

So use only plain language, try to translate all potentially incomprehensible expressions and have the patience to do so. In Poland there is a saying: „forgot the ox when it was a calf”, which works great here.

6. reward loyal customers

Everyone likes to feel special. Your recipients will certainly appreciate it if you make them feel just that way.

How can you award recipient?

• Discount code
• Special offer
• Priority purchase of the premiere product
• Materials unpublished elsewhere
• Additional files, such as ready-to-print templates, ebooks, author presets for photo editing, etc.

The newsletter is also a chance to bring back activity to customers who haven't made a purchase from your store in a while.

7. don't spam

Don't send emails if you don't have tangible value for the recipient. Deferring to a weekly email focused only on sales is a good way to go, But to get off the list of subscribers Your mailing. 

Respect the time of your recipient, who (we hope) left their email address in your form of their own free will, hoping for valuable content.

Newsletter sign-up form

It is best to place it in a prominent place. It should be legible and include in its content value proposition. 

The form for subscribing to a newsletter should consist of at least two fields: one for providing an email address and another for confirming the subscription (e.g., a "subscribe" or "subscribe" button).

In addition, it’s worthy to add fields for entering the first name - this will enable personalization of future messages, as well as fields with checkboxes, allowing you to mark your consent to the processing of personal data in accordance with RODO.

It’s important to make sure that the form is accessible from both a computer and mobile devices. Information about the privacy policy and the ability to unsubscribe should also be clearly stated.

2 free marketing newsletters worth signing up for according to Heroes

We know the most about marketing, so we surely can recommend those two valuable newsletters that definitely meet all of the tips we mentioned.

1. Jakub Biel and its creative newsletter about marketing - news, trends, creative ads and campaigns that have conquered the world.

2. Pawel Tkaczyk with its newsletter called "Mímisbrunnr," which offers plenty of advice, often with a dose of humor.

Summary

A newsletter is bad when it frustrates recipients, but when prepared and written properly it carries many benefits. 

How to write a newsletter well?

1. Know your audience, their needs and problems.

2. Determine the goal and strategy based on audience analysis.

3. Choose a tool that fits your needs.

4. be creative, create catchy headlines and content.

5. Void the curse of knowledge.

6. Reward those who have been with you the longest.

7. Don't inundate recipients with worthless emails.

Also, be sure to properly position the newsletter sign-up form and include all relevant information.