Best Practice Advice
How to construct your newsletter with top best practice guidelines
When was the last time you looked at the design of your newsletter? Perhaps it’s now time for you to bring your newsletter up to date, both visually and content wise whilst adhering to the latest best practice examples. We have compiled a list for you highlighting the most effective tactics to help you optimise your newsletter with regards to its content. Tips about newsletter design can be found here.
Company name as addressee for more attention: Rely on your good name and use your brand as the addressee. That way you are legally on the safe side and of course you catch the recipient’s eye with your email.
Subject line as teaser: Use concise subject lines, emphasising the recipient’s benefit and prompt him/her to take action. Further information on subject lines can be found here.
Editorial for your readers: Write an interesting and relevant editorial and capture your readers’ attention immediately after they have opened the email. According to a recent survey, subscribers are engaged more by newsletters with an editorial, than a newsletter without a proper introduction. Another positive effect of the editorial is that you can highlight particular elements of your newsletter to your audience.
Directory for a better orientation: If your newsletter consists of several articles, then a link directory is essential. This way your recipients can reach the article they are most interested in reading with one simple click. But make sure you don’t over burden them with too many articles.
Relevant images for a higher performance: Pictures can enhance the performance of your newsletters – but only if they are relevant to the newsletter content. Therefore choose the pictures carefully and make sure that the newsletter content will also make sense without images so you don’t need to worry about automatic image suppression.
Add to address book: Benefit from the positive effects an attractive image can bring you by ensuring that all images and illustrations are directly shown to your subscribers by simply asking your readers to add your email address to their address books.
Plenty of ways to get in touch: You should give readers the chance to get in touch with you via the channel of their choice, so always refer to your postal address, email address and telephone number in an obvious place in your newsletter.
Link to the web version: Integrate a link to the web version in as prominent a place as possible. Some recipients prefer to view the newsletter in a browser rather than in the preview window.
Forwarding feature: A recommendation from your readers is what every marketer wants. That is why you should provide your recipients with the possibility to forward the newsletter directly from the newsletter template, allowing you to track the number of forwards.
Opportunity to subscribe: If a person receives a forwarded newsletter he/she should immediately have the opportunity to subscribe, so make sure you offer the possibility to subscribe after the obligatory unsubscribe link.
Show the recipient’s email address: State the recipient’s email address to raise the credibility of your email and facilitate readers who receive your newsletter several times to subscribe with the right email address.
Link to profile data: Your recipients should have the chance to update their profile. That way you are you able avoid unnecessary unsubscriptions
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