Put Your Newsletter On Steroids!

Every week I get an amazing amount of company newsletters in my inbox. Some of them get read, and some do not. While working with Fracht USA (a client of mine), I had the opportunity to sit back and examine the components that caused me to open one newsletter over another.

Here is what we found:

1.Design your newsletter in a Landscape layout –

In this particular case, the newsletter we designed was a pdf, but even HTML emails need to take in to account that the majority of viewers will be looking at the piece on a wide screen. By providing a landscape image, it allows viewers to see more of the message at one time and reduces unnecessary scrolling.

2.Include a Table of Contents –

If you plan to discuss more than one topic, provide a table of contents on the first page. This allows your reader a quick overview of your subjects so that they can easily identify sections of interest. With more complex newsletters, a “teaser” sentence or two can be provided with a link to the full article (hosted on your site). This will allow you to track what topics are receiving the most interest so you can adjust future articles to include more of this type of content.

3.Don’t make it all about you –

Yes, people are reading your newsletter to find out more about your company, but what they are really interested in is how your company affects them. Fracht USA did an excellent job with this by providing relevant industry news, and a whole section titledFracht Gets Involved that showcased some of Fracht’s recent community initiatives. It’s ok to tell them about your new widget, just make sure that is not all you tell them.

4.Use short manageable bodies of text –

People in today’s market are busy. They don’t have time for long drawn out explanations. Avoid large bodies of text like the plague. Be sure you carefully review your text. Take out any unnecessary words, or sentences. Make every word work to support your point.

5.Use images creatively –

Use images to support and validate your wording. If used correctly images can assist in limiting bodies of text. They can also help separate ideas, and draw attention to specific points or topics. Keep in mind that while carefully selected images can make a newsletter, carelessly selected images can break one. Please do not use dated clip art (or any clip art if you can avoid it), or any images that do not have significant relevance to the article at hand.

6.Engage the reader –

This is by far the most important. Be sure to include a component that engages the reader, starts a conversation, or initiates feedback. We used a trivia quiz on Fracht’s newsletter. The question required the reader to visit Fracht’s main website to obtain the answer. By emailing the correct answer, the reader was entered into a drawing for an ipod nano. 10% of the readers responded with answers. Do 10% of your newsletter readers act on your call to action? Engage them correctly and they will.

Properly using these elements will have you on your way to a more successful reader relationship. I am sure you have your own suggestions. Be sure to comment & add what has worked well for you.