Content Creator Newsletter: How to Write an Engaging Newsletter in 4 Steps
Source: Content Creator Newsletter: How to Write an Engaging Newsletter in 4 Steps
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<a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.activecampaign.com/blog/writing-a-newsletter">Content Creator Newsletter: How to Write an Engaging Newsletter in 4 Steps</a></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400">Everyone talks about how critically important<em> </em>it is to write a <a href="https://www.activecampaign.com/blog/newsletters" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">newsletter</a>. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400">People talk about how you need to “stay top of mind,” or throw out some statistic about the ROI of email marketing as part of your marketing strategy. And they might start talking about the pros and cons of different newsletter tools.</span> </p>
<p><strong>They’re not wrong. Newsletters really can do it all. You can use an email newsletter to share:</strong></p>
<blockquote class="wp-block-quote">
<p class="has-ac-blue-200-background-color has-background"><strong>•</strong> Company announcements
<strong>•</strong> Product launches
<strong>•</strong> Industry news
<strong>•</strong> Special offers
<strong>•</strong> Testimonials</p>
</blockquote>
<p><strong>And a good newsletter pays off when you</strong>:</p>
<blockquote class="wp-block-quote">
<p class="has-ac-blue-200-background-color has-background"><strong>•</strong> Increase sales
<strong>•</strong> Establish customer trust
<strong>•</strong> Build your brand
<strong>•</strong> Boost customer retention and loyalty
<strong>•</strong> Grow your site traffic
<strong>•</strong> Remind your customers that you exist</p>
</blockquote>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400">But the thing is, sending a newsletter can be a lot of work. </span><span style="font-weight: 400">Putting out a weekly newsletter or even a monthly newsletter is a commitment. It’s a commitment to sending emails consistently, no matter what else is going on in your business.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400">What if you, as a content creator, already have a newsletter? Well, those <a href="https://www.activecampaign.com/email-marketing" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">email marketing</a> statistics that talk about getting back $40 for every $1 you spend might seem a little outlandish. </span></p>
<p>The truth is that a newsletter is one of the simplest and most effective ways to stay in touch with your audience. Newsletter marketing is powerful and there are some businesses that only sell with newsletters. <span style="font-weight: 400">But there are also a lot of hurdles to leap along the path to creating a good weekly newsletter.</span> And especially as a content creator.</p>
<p><strong>A lot of questions. Like:</strong></p>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-weight: 400">What should you send in a newsletter? </span></li>
<li><span style="font-weight: 400">How often should you email your subscribers? </span></li>
<li><span style="font-weight: 400">What should your email newsletter design look like? </span></li>
<li><span style="font-weight: 400">What email newsletter tool should you use? </span></li>
</ul>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400">There are a lot of questions like these, and it’s hard to answer them all at once. But you can’t really choose a newsletter design without also deciding on your newsletter content. And you can’t send a newsletter at all unless you have the right email tool. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400">So you really do need to answer these questions before you can send a worthwhile newsletter. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400">In this article, we’ll cover the four steps you need to take to start sending great content creator newsletters and how to make them interesting enough that people can’t wait to read them.</span></p>
<aside class="shortcode-free-trial mb-16 pt-96 px-8 phone:px-16">
<p class="sbm-headline title mx-0 phone:mx-auto desktop:px-48">Pssst! Here's your newsletter tool.</p>
<p class="sbm-description body mx-0 phone:mx-auto">Get a free 14-day trial of ActiveCampaign (so you can send newsletters – and automate them).</p>
<form action="https://www.activecampaign.com/go/" method="post" class="trial-form pb-64 px-20 phone:px-0 desktop:mx-64">
<input type="email" name="om_e" placeholder="Enter your email" required="required" data-name="email"
class="input-reset block mt-0 mb-8 phone:mb-0 phone:mr-8 body-3 p-8">
<input name="salmon" type="hidden" value="" class="salmonform" data-cta-form-salmon>
<button type="submit" class="newsletter-cta-submit button-reset body-2 px-20 phone:py-8">Sign Up</button>
</form>
</aside>
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<h2 class="wp-block-heading has-type-2-font-size">1. Decide what your newsletter is used for</h2>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400">It’s one thing to think “I should really send a newsletter.” It’s another to actually send it. </span><span style="font-weight: 400"> You need to decide on</span>:</p>
<ul>
<li><b>Topic: </b>What you’ll write about</li>
<li><b>Content types: </b>What kind of content you’ll include in your newsletter. Blog posts, videos, ebooks? How does your email newsletter fit into your <a href="https://www.activecampaign.com/blog/content-marketing-ideas" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">content marketing</a> strategy?</li>
<li><b>Newsletter name: </b>What you’ll name your newsletter</li>
<li><strong>Design: </strong>What your newsletter will look like</li>
<li><strong>Timing: </strong>How often you’ll send out your newsletter. How will it fit in with your editorial calendar?</li>
<li><strong>Metrics: </strong>How you’ll measure your newsletter’s success</li>
<li><strong>And, last but not least, goals</strong>: What you want your newsletter to accomplish</li>
</ul>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400">If you know the goals of your newsletter, a lot of the other questions answer themselves. After all, if your goal is to send people to blog posts you’ve written, you need to have a newsletter template that encourages people to click. If your goal is to get people to buy products, you need to time your messages for the moments people are ready to buy. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400">As it turns out, there are a lot of different goals a newsletter can accomplish. Deciding on your goals is step one. </span></p>
<h3 class="wp-block-heading has-type-1-font-size"><strong>Why are newsletters important?</strong></h3>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400">One of the most important parts of marketing is staying connected to your audience. Especially as a content creator, newsletters are an important marketing tool because they help you maintain regular contact with your audience on a one-to-one basis. </span></p>
<div class="wp-block-buttons is-content-justification-center is-layout-flex wp-container-1 wp-block-buttons-is-layout-flex">
<div class="wp-block-button is-style-ac-blue-on-midday-200"><a class="wp-block-button__link has-text-align-left wp-element-button" href="https://www.activecampaign.com/blog/email-marketing-for-content-creators" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><strong>Email is a huge lever for any business. Click here to learn more about how content creators can use email marketing to boost engagement.</strong></a></div>
</div>
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<p><span style="font-weight: 400">Making sure your audience thinks about you every so often (so that you stay “top-of-mind”) is a broad benefit of newsletters. The general idea is that members of your audience don’t necessarily need what you offer right now — but if you can be in their heads when a need springs up, they’re more likely to choose you over your competitors.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400">One of the key benefits of writing a newsletter (compared to tweeting, writing Facebook Ads, or other social media marketing) is that you communicate directly with people in your <a href="https://www.activecampaign.com/glossary/audience" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">audience</a>.</span> <span style="font-weight: 400">You land in someone’s inbox. It’s the closest you can get to one-on-one communication while also reaching a lot of people at the same time.</span></p>
<p>Not only this bu<span style="font-weight: 400">t email is a completely self-owned platform. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400">Facebook is a huge referrer of traffic to your website. But as the social media giant changes the rules of the news feed, businesses have taken </span><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/facebook-publisher-referral-traffic-dropped-significantly-in-2017-2017-12" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow"><span style="font-weight: 400">huge hits in traffic</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400">. An email list is yours. Your newsletter subscribers won’t disappear overnight because some other company has chosen to change the way they display your content. You own your list, and you can take it with you wherever your marketing goes. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400">That’s why an email newsletter is such a great way to stay in front of your audience.</span></p>
<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" src="https://www.activecampaign.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/jiht3qoqs_customer-journey-path.png" alt="Customer journey path" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">People don’t always buy right away. A newsletter is a way to stay in front of them while they make the trip from A to B. </figcaption></figure>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400">That said, there are a few other newsletter goals that you might have. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400"><strong>Here are a few examples of newsletter goals:</strong></span></p>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-weight: 400">Get more site traffic and traffic to your blog posts</span></li>
<li>Increase your audience’s time-on-site</li>
<li>Grow engagement</li>
<li>Establish trust with your readers</li>
<li><span style="font-weight: 400">Get people to share your blog posts and link to them</span></li>
<li><span style="font-weight: 400">Keep existing customers happy to improve retention (and get referrals)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-weight: 400">Make announcements about changes to your business</span></li>
<li><span style="font-weight: 400">Showcase your products and get more sales</span></li>
<li><span style="font-weight: 400">Promote events and other activities</span></li>
</ul>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400">Can you see how you might want to send different types of newsletters (and track different metrics) for each of those goals?</span> <span style="font-weight: 400">E-commerce companies are often announcing sales or new products in their newsletters.</span> <span style="font-weight: 400">Tech companies announce new features or try to retain their customers better.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400">Author Ryan Holiday doesn’t sell with his newsletter—but he does call it his </span><a href="https://ryanholiday.net/most-important-career-asset/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow"><span style="font-weight: 400">most valuable career asset</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400">. By building an audience of people interested in his work, he has a platform to promote his new work—which helps him reach greater and greater heights.</span></p>
<p class="has-text-align-left">If you already have an audience, it’s easier to promote anything you create.</p>
<p class="has-text-align-left"><span style="font-weight: 400">Robert Rose, co-founder of The Content Marketing Institute, argues that this is exactly why content marketing is so important. Creating a newsletter gives you access to a “subscribed audience.”</span> That’s a group of people who<span style="font-weight: 400"> have signed up because they’re interested in what you have to say. It’s a group of people that has the potential to be </span><a href="https://www.activecampaign.com/blog/your-best-customers/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><span style="font-weight: 400">your best customers</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400">. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400">As Rose argues, this is the </span><a href="https://contentmarketinginstitute.com/2018/08/stop-measuring-content/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow"><span style="font-weight: 400">best way to look at the ROI of creating content</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400">. </span></p>
<blockquote class="wp-block-quote">
<p class="has-ac-blue-200-background-color has-background"><span style="font-weight: 400"><strong>“Look at how subscribed audiences behave differently than others you might be marketing to through other means.”</strong></span></p>
</blockquote>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400">A lot of the time in business, it feels like your work goes unnoticed. </span>The worst feeling in the <span style="font-weight: 400">world is to dedicate hours and hours of your life to something and get silence when you finally put it out there for people to see. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400">Building a subscribed audience prevents that. Writing a newsletter prevents that.</span> <span style="font-weight: 400">That’s why writing a newsletter is important. And it’s why deciding on your newsletter goals is step one. </span></p>
<h2 class="wp-block-heading has-type-2-font-size">2: Create a consistent newsletter format to follow</h2>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400">How long should your newsletter be? Should you go short, or long? Should you have a call to action? What should that call to action be?</span> <span style="font-weight: 400">If you’re sharing content, should you share one piece of content or several? Should you have a lot of copy, or as little copy as possible? </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400">When it comes to email <a href="https://www.activecampaign.com/blog/newsletter-design" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">newsletter design</a>, you can choose basically anything you want. There are as many types of newsletters as there are businesses.</span> <span style="font-weight: 400">Of course, that kind of choice can be paralyzing. Even if you choose to use a pre-made newsletter template, there are thousands of options out there. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400">If you have no idea what to do for your email newsletter design, take a look back at your goals. What exactly is it you’re trying to accomplish?</span> <span style="font-weight: 400">Hold those goals in your head as you continue. Let’s take a look at some of the biggest newsletter questions.</span></p>
<h2 class="wp-block-heading has-type-2-font-size"><strong>Short newsletter or long newsletter?</strong></h2>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400">Should you write a short or a long newsletter?</span> Here’s the thing: <span style="font-weight: 400">Newsletter length doesn’t matter. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400">If you look around, you’ll often see people say that your newsletter needs to be short. It has to be, because people don’t read, and they especially don’t read emails. But, is that right?</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400">If you look around a bit harder, you’ll find that there are actually plenty of people who do have success with long newsletters. Despite all the talk of people having “the attention span of a goldfish.”</span></p>
<figure class="wp-block-image aligncenter"><img decoding="async" src="https://www.activecampaign.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/t4h7n6e28_ramit-sethi-sales-email-example.png" alt="Ramit Sethi newsletter example" /></figure>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400">A great example is <a href="https://www.iwillteachyoutoberich.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Ramit Sethi</a>. Here’s the beginning of one of his emails.</span> <span style="font-weight: 400">You can </span><a href="http://grow.iwillteachyoutoberich.com/index.php/email/emailWebview?mkt_tok=eyJpIjoiWkRkaVltUmlPVFUxWTJOayIsInQiOiJ2MW0rUVhJTUdDK1dOQnlnRWRaSk44WnpWUEJwTVNHVGZVcVI5XC9BOTlqWGxQODVDWE02c1wvWW9zNndYT3hMODJXNVRMYjlaNXNYd2JObDNIeGhSVm10ZjcwN0tGVlR1Mnd5dys4STZZbmF4am5TN2kwMnRxelZUWjJKbFBWYmNzIn0%3D" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow"><span style="font-weight: 400">read the full email here</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400">. It’s 1854 words long, and incredibly engaging. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400">Ramit Sethi doesn’t always send multi-thousand word emails—but he does sometimes. And people read them, because the content is extraordinarily well-written and has real insight. That’s not the only way to have a successful newsletter either. </span></p>
<figure class="wp-block-image aligncenter"><img decoding="async" src="https://www.activecampaign.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/b94spfni2_invision-newsletter-example.png" alt="InVision newsletter example" /></figure>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400">Take a look at this newsletter from InVision.</span> <span style="font-weight: 400">Once again, you can </span><a href="http://get.invisionapp.com/my-art-will-go-on" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow"><span style="font-weight: 400">read the full email here</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400">. This email is much, much shorter. There’s hardly any copy, and it’s mostly a roundup of recent things that InVision have published. People love it. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400">What’s the lesson here? Should you go short or long? </span>Well, i<span style="font-weight: 400">t depends. But on what?</span></p>
<ul>
<li><b>Business model. <span style="font-weight: 400">Ramit Sethi sells courses directly to his email list. The goal of most emails isn’t to “drive traffic.” It’s to get people closer to buying a course — which takes a good amount of engaging copy. </span></b></li>
<li><strong>Audience.</strong> <span style="font-weight: 400">InVision is targeting people who are relatively light on time. Their audience doesn’t have hours to read an email (they get a lot of emails). So they go short. (They also have a SaaS product, so they don’t need to sell through email directly). </span></li>
</ul>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400">Are you using your email to sell products, or stay in touch? Are you reaching people who are willing to read a lot to solve deep problems—or people who only read stuff that catches their interest? </span>Point blank, it’s harder to do a long newsletter well. Ramit Sethi’s copywriting team is one of the best in the world. However, there are plenty of smaller businesses that have had success with both types of newsletters<span style="font-weight: 400">. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400">Ultimately, look at your goals. Measure your results. Don’t overthink it. Choose one, test it for a bit, and see what you learn.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400">What about other business types? What if you sell products that don’t lend themselves well to either of the examples we’ve shown?</span></p>
<h3 class="wp-block-heading has-type-1-font-size"><span style="font-weight: 400"><strong>Gallery newsletter? Or one call to action?</strong> </span></h3>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400">If you know exactly what your audience wants, or are driving them to a really specific course of action, the typical advice is to include only one call to action in your emails. </span>This is good advice, sometimes.</p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400">Some businesses with a lot of products or opportunities lend themselves better to showing a lot of different options. </span>For example: <span style="font-weight: 400">If you ran a job board newsletter, would your readers want to get a single job posting every week?</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400">Of course not. They’d want options. Jobs are complicated, and you’re never going to know your readers well enough to show them the one job that they are absolutely perfect for and also have a 100% chance of getting. That job doesn’t exist. </span></p>
<figure class="wp-block-image aligncenter"><img decoding="async" src="https://www.activecampaign.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/pkdbglpli_fond-newsletter-example.png" alt="Fond newsletter example" /></figure>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400">Here’s the top of an email from </span><a href="http://fond.co" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow"><span style="font-weight: 400">Fond</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400">, a service that provides discounts on other popular services</span>. <span style="font-weight: 400">Fond doesn’t necessarily know which discounts will be available in advance. And there are a wide range of possibilities. Could they segment a bit more, to customers things they’re interested in? Probably. But it’s always going to make more sense for them to show a gallery of options. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400"><strong>When does it make sense to use a gallery?</strong></span></p>
<ul>
<li><b>When you don’t know what will be available. <span style="font-weight: 400">If your supply isn’t under your control (e.g. limited-time discounts, special offers, job postings), you may need to announce a large number of products at the same time.</span></b></li>
<li><strong>When there’s no accounting for taste.</strong><span style="font-weight: 400"> What if you sell art? Or jewelry? It’s hard to tell what exact piece of jewelry people want—what they really want (most of the time) is a gallery of options.</span></li>
</ul>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400">Especially for <a href="https://www.activecampaign.com/blog/what-is-ecommerce" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">e-commerce</a> businesses, a gallery-style newsletter can make a lot of sense.</span></p>
<h3 class="wp-block-heading has-type-1-font-size"><strong>What email newsletter design should you use?</strong></h3>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400">If you look for newsletter advice, you’re going to see a lot of absolutely beautiful emails. Some are practically works of art. A service like </span><a href="https://reallygoodemails.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow"><span style="font-weight: 400">Really Good Emails</span></a> <span style="font-weight: 400">makes it easy to get email envy. </span></p>
<figure class="wp-block-image aligncenter"><img decoding="async" src="https://www.activecampaign.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/w38dqzkir_headspace-welcome-email.png" alt="Headspace welcome email" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption"><strong>Source:</strong> <a title="Headspace" href="https://www.headspace.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Headspace</a> via <a title="Headspace Really Good emails" href="https://reallygoodemails.com/wp-content/uploads/ready-to-meditate.png" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Really Good Emails</a></figcaption></figure>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400">Look at this email from Headspace.</span> <span style="font-weight: 400">Clean. Beautiful. Gorgeous. </span>N<span style="font-weight: 400">ecessary?</span> <span style="font-weight: 400">Not always. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400">If you have the resources and skills to create a beautiful newsletter design and use HTML/CSS to code it up, that’s awesome. <a href="https://venngage.com/templates/newsletters" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Venngage</a> has templates that you can borrow and use for your newsletters, that’s also great.</span> <span style="font-weight: 400">But don’t let chasing beauty hold you back from sending your newsletter. Those things aren’t necessary for a small business newsletter.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400">Plenty of great newsletters aren’t beautiful. Your newsletter doesn’t need to look stunning to be valuable. In fact, the more newsletters you sign up for, the more you may value the ones that are mostly text. Too many beautiful newsletters start to blend together. In other words, don’t overthink it!</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400">You can Google “where to find newsletter templates” all you like. You can look up guidelines for newsletter design. You can ask how to structure a newsletter. </span> <span style="font-weight: 400">At the end of the day, there are dozens of examples of mostly text (even plain text!) newsletters that do fine—across a range of industries. </span></p>
<p><strong>Here are some examples of mostly text newsletters that perform well:</strong></p>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://growthlab.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><span style="font-weight: 400">Ramit Sethi’s</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400"> newsletter</span></li>
<li><span style="font-weight: 400">Darya Rose of </span><a href="http://www.summertomato.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><span style="font-weight: 400">Summer Tomato</span></a></li>
<li><span style="font-weight: 400">Peter Nguyen, </span><a href="http://theessentialman.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><span style="font-weight: 400">men’s fashion coach</span></a></li>
<li><a href="https://moz.com/blog" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><span style="font-weight: 400">Moz</span></a></li>
<li><span style="font-weight: 400">Ben Thompson of </span><a href="https://stratechery.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><span style="font-weight: 400">Stratechery</span></a></li>
<li><span style="font-weight: 400">James Clear, </span><a href="https://jamesclear.com/newsletter" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><span style="font-weight: 400">on habits</span></a></li>
<li><span style="font-weight: 400">Joanna Wiebe of </span><a href="https://copyhackers.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><span style="font-weight: 400">Copy Hackers</span></a><i></i></li>
</ul>
<p><strong><span style="font-weight: 400">(It’s worth noting—these people aren’t known for sending short newsletters. Not every email is long, but these people aren’t afraid to send long emails if the topic deserves it). </span></strong></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400">You can always update your design later. A simple newsletter is a great place to start.</span> <span style="font-weight: 400">All of those are effective email newsletters. All of them are also simple newsletters.</span> <span style="font-weight: 400">Don’t let searching for the perfect <a href="https://www.activecampaign.com/email-templates/newsletter" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">email template</a> hold you back from actually sending your newsletter. What matters most is what you say. </span></p>
<h2 class="wp-block-heading has-type-2-font-size">3: Know what to put in your newsletter</h2>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400">Here we are at the heart of the problem. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400">You can build an email list, or maybe use an email list that comes from your current list of customers and contacts. You can slap together a quick newsletter template and put it on a schedule. But what do you actually put in your newsletter? </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400">As always, there’s no cut-and-paste answer. Every business is unique, and every audience is also unique.</span> <span style="font-weight: 400">But there are some specific, tested, proven ways that you can find the newsletter ideas that make the most sense for you. </span></p>
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<div class="wp-block-button is-style-ac-blue-on-midday-200"><a class="wp-block-button__link wp-element-button" href="https://www.activecampaign.com/blog/newsletter-ideas" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><strong>Click here for 60 newsletter ideas for events, social media, blogging, and more.</strong></a></div>
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<h3 class="wp-block-heading has-type-1-font-size">What should you put in a newsletter?</h3>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400">Your newsletter should be a mix of your unique differentiators, the key needs of your specific audience, and calls to action that drive people to take the next step in the customer journey. </span></p>
<p><strong>Let’s dig into those things, starting with your unique differentiator:</strong></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400">What do you believe that’s different from what everyone else believes? </span>
<span style="font-weight: 400">What makes your product or service different from everyone else’s?</span>
What’s your story?</p>
<p class="has-text-align-left">Everything you write is part of your story. It should reflect what you believe in (i.e. your positioning). <span style="font-weight: 400">To be clear — your newsletter is not about you. Your newsletter is about your audience’s needs and pain points. </span> <span style="font-weight: 400">But the way you talk about those needs and pain points should always be informed by your unique perspective. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400"><strong>A few examples, from the newsletters we’ve already mentioned:</strong></span></p>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-weight: 400">Darya Rose of </span><a href="http://www.summertomato.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><span style="font-weight: 400">Summer Tomato</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400"> helps people lose weight without dieting. Her newsletter content is focused on that mission.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-weight: 400">James Clear helps people </span><a href="https://jamesclear.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><span style="font-weight: 400">build habits based on science</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400">. That’s the angle of his content and newsletter. </span></li>
<li><span style="font-weight: 400">In my spare time, I help people </span><a href="http://routineexcellence.com/how-to-set-good-fitness-goals/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><span style="font-weight: 400">go to the gym using psychology</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400">. That’s my differentiator. </span></li>
<li><span style="font-weight: 400">Ramit Sethi gives </span><a href="https://growthlab.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><span style="font-weight: 400">advice on growing a business</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400">—all of which he’s tested personally. That’s what makes his content different. </span></li>
</ul>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400">All of these examples are focused on a pain point. It’s the way they overcome the pain point that’s unique. You would do well to highlight that uniqueness in your own newsletter. But how can you find the pain points? Research</span>.</p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400">We’ve </span><a href="https://www.activecampaign.com/blog/market-research-for-marketing-copy/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><span style="font-weight: 400">written before</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400"> about how the most compelling marketing messages come from deeply understanding your audience. When you know the exact words your audience uses to describe their problems, all you need to do is solve their problems—while using those exact words. Instantly, you have a message that resonates. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400">We’ve also written about the </span><a href="https://www.activecampaign.com/blog/how-to-do-market-research-for-small-business/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><span style="font-weight: 400">8 best ways to do market research for small business</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400">. If you need to do research without spending money on research, we highly recommend you check out that article. But we’ll sum it up at a glance.</span></p>
<p><strong>Here are eight free market research methods you can use to understand your audience’s pain points:<span style="font-weight: 400"> </span></strong></p>
<ul>
<li><b>Quora.</b><span style="font-weight: 400"> See what questions people are asking, and which responses they like the most.</span></li>
<li><b>Reddit</b><span style="font-weight: 400">. See how people talk about their problems when they’re anonymous.</span></li>
<li><b>Online reviews.<span style="font-weight: 400"> Read reviews for similar products/services. What problems come up?</span></b></li>
<li><b>Surveys.</b><span style="font-weight: 400"> Ask your audience to answer questions directly.</span></li>
<li><b>Facebook Groups. </b><span style="font-weight: 400">See how people talk to each other about their problems.</span></li>
<li><b>Competitors.</b><span style="font-weight: 400"> Study your competitors to see what works for them.</span></li>
<li><b>Behavior and analytics.</b><span style="font-weight: 400"> Take note of what people do on your website (and elsewhere).</span></li>
<li><b>Customer interviews.<span style="font-weight: 400"> Talk to your audience one-on-one (the best method)</span></b></li>
</ul>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400">You don’t need to pay for focus groups or massive surveys to get useful audience insights. Online reviews are free. Talking to your customers is free. The insights you get have immeasurable value. How can you use them?</span></p>
<h3 class="wp-block-heading has-type-1-font-size"><strong>How to write a newsletter</strong></h3>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400">How can you write a newsletter if you’re not much of a writer?</span> <span style="font-weight: 400">Of course it depends on which style of newsletter you chose. A gallery newsletter with lots of calls to action is different from a long text newsletter with one CTA.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400"><strong>Either way, here are three newsletter writing tips to get some actual words into your newsletter.</strong></span></p>
<ul>
<li><b>Swipe audience language.<span style="font-weight: 400"> Remember that research we were talking about in the last section? The best marketing writing comes from that research — take the actual words your audience uses to describe their problems.</span></b></li>
<li><strong>Tell a personal story.</strong> <span style="font-weight: 400">Even people who don’t think of themselves as writers can do this. Your personal experience is yours, which makes it inherently unique. </span></li>
<li><strong>Send readers somewhere else</strong><span style="font-weight: 400"><strong>.</strong> If newsletter writing isn’t your forte, slap a call to action in there and send your readers to someplace more relevant</span></li>
</ul>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400">Before we move on to some other details…“swipe audience language” is kind of vague, right? What does that actually mean?</span> <span style="font-weight: 400">We used one of the eight market research tactics to come up with an example. Imagining a fitness business, we went to Amazon and looked up some of the reviews of popular fitness books. </span></p>
<figure class="wp-block-image aligncenter"><img decoding="async" src="https://www.activecampaign.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/q65nivlka_bodyforlifeamazonreview.png" alt="Body for Life Amazon Review" /></figure>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400"><strong>The very first book, </strong></span><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Body-Life-Mental-Physical-Strength/dp/0060931574/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1520609400&sr=8-2&keywords=body+for+life#customerReviews" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><strong><span style="font-weight: 400">Body for Life</span></strong></a><span style="font-weight: 400"><strong> by Bill Phillips, had a great example. Read through that. What do you notice? Immediately, a series of phrases jump off the screen.</strong></span></p>
<blockquote class="wp-block-quote">
<p class="has-ac-blue-200-background-color has-background"><span style="font-weight: 400">“This routine is all about working smarter, not harder or more often.”</span>
<span style="font-weight: 400">“You’ll get the kind of figure that most people find sexy”</span>
<span style="font-weight: 400">“If you’re looking to get in shape without needing to spending long hours in the gym”</span>
<span style="font-weight: 400">“Perfect for the busy person who can’t spend an hour and a half doing weights or cardio in the gym”</span>
<span style="font-weight: 400">“It’s must easier to find a partner who can commit and stay committed! Your partner only need meet up for under 3 hours a week”</span>
<span style="font-weight: 400">“I also like the suggested eating regime, 3 meals a day and 3 (meal-replacement) shakes a day. Who wants to eat 4 to 6 meals of food a day? Not me, that’s why I like this system so much.”</span></p>
</blockquote>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400"><strong>If you ran a fitness business and wanted to send a newsletter about a new workout, you could swipe this language to describe it. Two phrases in particular stand out. </strong></span></p>
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<p class="has-ac-blue-200-background-color has-background"><span style="font-weight: 400">“This routine is all about working smarter, not harder or more often.”</span>
<span style="font-weight: 400">“Perfect for the busy person who can’t spend an hour and a half doing weights or cardio in the gym”</span></p>
</blockquote>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400">If you wrote a newsletter introducing the workout, that’s basically all you would need to say</span>. </p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400">Your audience is best at describing their problems. (Not necessarily at describing what they need to solve those problems…but that’s the subject of another article). Use their words in your newsletters. You’ll find the newsletters almost write themselves.</span></p>
<h3 class="wp-block-heading has-type-1-font-size">Email subject lines, preheader text, and other stuff to know</h3>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400">The details matter. A great email subject line is important to getting emails opened and clicked. We’ve written before about what makes an email subject line effective—and what you can test to make your emails even more effective!</span></p>
<p><strong>But to recap that advice, here are a few subject line fundamentals that increase email open rates:</strong></p>
<ul>
<li><b>Don’t summarize.<span style="font-weight: 400"> If your subject line summarizes your email, why would anyone open your email?</span></b></li>
<li><strong>Invoke curiosity.</strong><span style="font-weight: 400"> Ask questions, say something unexpected, or promise valuable info to make people wonder.</span></li>
<li><strong>Get emotional.</strong><span style="font-weight: 400"> Strong emotions (especially positive emotions and anger) make people more likely to open emails.</span></li>
<li><strong>Numbers are intriguing.</strong><span style="font-weight: 400"> Headlines and subject lines with numbers often outperform those without.</span></li>
</ul>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400">As with everything, test. </span><a href="https://www.activecampaign.com/blog/ab-testing-email-subject-lines/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><span style="font-weight: 400">A/B testing email subject lines</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400"> is a fast way to get more opens—and learn how to write better subject lines overall. </span></p>
<p><strong>What else increases open rates? Here are two other quick factors:</strong></p>
<ul>
<li><b>Preheader text and headline: <span style="font-weight: 400">That’s the preview of the email that appears in an inbox. This can be similar (or the same as) your email headline, but shouldn’t be the same as your subject line.</span></b></li>
<li><strong>From name: </strong><span style="font-weight: 400">Emails from people (rather than companies) get opened more. </span></li>
</ul>
<figure class="wp-block-image aligncenter"><img decoding="async" src="https://www.activecampaign.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/xdr4mp8nk_orbit-media-email-open-rate.png" alt="increase email open rates factors" /></figure>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400">Here’s a preheader text example from Andy Crestodina of <a href="https://www.orbitmedia.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Orbit Media</a>. The headline is intriguing (Which blog post is it? Everyone must love it.) The preheader text builds on that suspense, and makes me feel like I’m getting something (“here’s something you might like”).</span> <span style="font-weight: 400">Also, the email comes from a person with a name. </span></p>
<figure class="wp-block-image aligncenter"><img decoding="async" src="https://www.activecampaign.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/n5tc7xnlq_preheader-text-that-is-bad.png" alt="bad preheader text" /></figure>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400">For comparison, here’s an email that forgot about preheader text.</span> <span style="font-weight: 400">Great preheader text builds on the curiosity of the subject line. It helps persuade more people to click on your newsletter. </span> <span style="font-weight: 400">And when you’re writing a newsletter, that’s exactly what you want.</span></p>
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<div class="wp-block-button is-style-ac-blue-on-midday-200"><a class="wp-block-button__link has-text-align-left wp-element-button" href="https://www.activecampaign.com/blog/email-subject-lines-improve-clicks" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><strong>Click here to learn how to learn everything you need to know about writing email subject lines that improve clicks. </strong></a></div>
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<h3 class="wp-block-heading has-type-1-font-size">Do you need to name your newsletter?</h3>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400">You don’t need to give your newsletter a name. Marketers who come from the world of branding sometimes want to give company newsletters a trendy-sounding name like “The Beat” or “The Pulse.”</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400">The truth is, your readers probably don’t care. And, most of the time, they’ll refer to your marketing newsletter by your company name anyway. </span> <span style="font-weight: 400">After all, what makes a great company newsletter? Great content.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400">Giving your newsletter a name probably doesn’t make a difference to anyone. Can you think of a newsletter example that’s better off for having a name? Can you think of any newsletters with names at all</span>? <span style="font-weight: 400">It’s more important to have great newsletter content, an email list to send to, and a newsletter delivered at a consistent time. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400">What email tool should you use to do all of this?</span></p>
<h2 class="wp-block-heading has-type-2-font-size"><strong>4: Use the right email newsletter tool</strong></h2>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400">Let</span>‘s<span style="font-weight: 400"> get this out into the open—we’re about to pitch you ActiveCampaign. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400">Part of the reason we’re doing that is <span style="font-weight: 400">because we think ActiveCampaign can truly help you uplevel your newsletter game. </span>If you’re asking “how do I send a newsletter” the answer is “with ActiveCampaign.”</span></p>
<h3 class="wp-block-heading has-type-1-font-size"><strong>Why is ActiveCampaign the best newsletter tool? </strong></h3>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400"><strong>When it comes right down to it, what do you actually need to get out of an email newsletter tool?</strong></span></p>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-weight: 400">The ability to store email addresses (so you have people to send emails to)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-weight: 400">The ability to design and write emails (without needing to know a ton of code)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-weight: 400">The ability to send emails (that don’t go to spam folders)</span></li>
</ul>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400">These are the basics. They’re table stakes. ActiveCampaign does a whole lot more than this (more on that in a second), but this is all you really need to get started.</span> <span style="font-weight: 400">So why use ActiveCampaign to send newsletters?</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400">First, ActiveCampaign keeps all your contact information organized. Some tools will charge you extra for having the same person on multiple different email lists. Doesn’t exactly seem fair.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400">ActiveCampaign lets you organize your email lists however you want. You can create email lists for different newsletters, or different audiences, and it doesn’t matter if the same email address shows up multiple times.</span> <span style="font-weight: 400">You can also add more people to your email list with our customizable sign-up forms. ActiveCampaign makes segmentation and email campaigns easy.</span></p>
<p><strong>You can also track different email newsletter metrics:</strong></p>
<ul>
<li>Opens</li>
<li>Bounces</li>
<li>Unsubscribes</li>
<li>Click-through rates</li>
<li>Engagement</li>
</ul>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400">What about creating emails without code?</span> <span style="font-weight: 400">ActiveCampaign’s got you covered there too. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400">Our email campaign designer is drag and drop. That means you just click and drag to create beautiful emails. You don’t need to be a tech wizard, and you don’t need to know HTML, CSS, or any other kind of code. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400">What about making sure emails don’t wind up in spam folders? Can ActiveCampaign do that?</span> <span style="font-weight: 400">Not only can ActiveCampaign do that—it does it the best. And you don’t have to take my word for it. </span></p>
<figure class="wp-block-image aligncenter size-large"><img decoding="async" fetchpriority="high" width="845" height="1024" src="https://www.activecampaign.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/activecampaign-deliverability-rate-845x1024.png" alt="activecampaign deliverability rate" class="wp-image-218718" srcset="https://www.activecampaign.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/activecampaign-deliverability-rate-845x1024.png 845w, https://www.activecampaign.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/activecampaign-deliverability-rate-247x300.png 247w, https://www.activecampaign.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/activecampaign-deliverability-rate-768x931.png 768w, https://www.activecampaign.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/activecampaign-deliverability-rate-1267x1536.png 1267w, https://www.activecampaign.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/activecampaign-deliverability-rate-1690x2048.png 1690w, https://www.activecampaign.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/activecampaign-deliverability-rate-891x1080.png 891w" sizes="(max-width: 845px) 100vw, 845px" /></figure>
<p>In <a href="https://www.emailtooltester.com/en/blog/email-deliverability-test-jan-2024/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">Emailtooltester’s 2024 deliverability test</a>, ActiveCampaign came first among competitors with an average <a href="https://www.activecampaign.com/glossary/email-deliverability">delivera</a><a href="https://www.activecampaign.com/glossary/email-deliverability" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">b</a><a href="https://www.activecampaign.com/glossary/email-deliverability">ility</a> rate of 89.6%.If your emails aren’t landing in recipients’ inboxes, your marketing efforts are going to waste. Choose a platform that ensures your emails successfully land in recipients’ inboxes.</p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400">On top of these features, ActiveCampaign has a slew of advanced features that can help you send better newsletters—and even automate entire sections of your business.</span> <span style="font-weight: 400">Features like:</span></p>
<ul>
<li><b>Tagging<span style="font-weight: 400">, so you can tell exactly what each individual person is interested in</span></b></li>
<li><strong>Site tracking</strong>,<span style="font-weight: 400"> so you can see what people do on your website and automatically send email follow-ups</span></li>
<li><strong>Dynamic content</strong>,<span style="font-weight: 400"> so you can send the same email to different people, and have them see different things based on their interests</span></li>
<li><strong>Automation</strong>, <span style="font-weight: 400">so you can create welcome sequences and email funnels to promote your business</span></li>
</ul>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400">You get the idea. There are literally dozens of other features we could add to the list, so we’ll move on now. But keep these things in mind as you search for the newsletter tool for your business. </span></p>
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<div class="wp-block-button is-style-ac-blue-on-midday-200"><a class="wp-block-button__link has-text-align-left wp-element-button" href="https://www.activecampaign.com/blog/best-newsletter-software" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><strong>Click here for a detailed dive into the features and functionality of the best newsletter software.</strong></a></div>
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<h4 class="wp-block-heading has-type-0-font-size"><strong>How to improve your newsletter over time</strong></h4>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400">You’ve sent your first newsletter. Congratulations! The first step to an effective newsletter is having any kind of newsletter. Getting your marketing out there is a huge step in the right direction. In the longer term, how can you make sure your newsletter gets results for your business?</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400"><strong>Firstly, avoid these newsletter mistakes</strong></span>:</p>
<ul>
<li><b>Being too promotional<span style="font-weight: 400">. This is especially common in e-commerce. Your focus needs to be on your customer needs—not just on promoting yourself. A newsletter that’s just announcements or coupons gets ignored after a while.</span></b></li>
<li><strong>Sending too frequently or never.</strong><span style="font-weight: 400"> How often should you send a newsletter? It’s up to you. People worry too much about over sending—don’t send an email every day, but it’s more important to make sure you are sending enough for people to notice. </span></li>
<li><strong>Sending calls to action instead of value.</strong><span style="font-weight: 400"> You want people to do things. That’s the point of marketing. But you can’t just send emails asking them to do those things—you need to deliver value with your newsletter if people are going to open in the long term.</span></li>
</ul>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400">With those underway, study great newsletters (like Ramit Sethi or *ahem* ActiveCampaign). Study your audience to get a better understanding of pain points. Do </span><a href="https://www.activecampaign.com/blog/ab-testing-guide" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><span style="font-weight: 400">A/B testing</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400"> to improve open rates. Map out your </span><a href="https://www.activecampaign.com/blog/email-funnels/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><span style="font-weight: 400">email funnels</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400">. Look at email metrics, like open rate, clickthrough rate, bounce rate, and unsubscribes. Build your email lists. Use </span><a href="https://www.activecampaign.com/blog/audience-segmentation/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><span style="font-weight: 400">audience segmentation</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400"> to get better results. </span></p>
<p><strong>If you send people back to your website, use a tool like Google Analytics to track what people do there. Things like:</strong></p>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-weight: 400">How much traffic does a newsletter send to your website?</span></li>
<li><span style="font-weight: 400">What’s the number of new and returning visitors?</span></li>
<li><span style="font-weight: 400">What’s the average time on site from your email newsletter?</span></li>
<li><span style="font-weight: 400">How many engaged contacts do you have?</span></li>
<li><span style="font-weight: 400">What’s the conversion rate of your newsletter? Do visitors buy things? </span></li>
</ul>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400">If all of this digital marketing stuff seems intimidating now, that’s ok. You don’t need to do all of this right away. The first step is writing a newsletter. Then sending it. Once you’re consistently putting your work into the world, you can dig deeper into specific metrics and optimizations. Until then, focus on building meaningful connections with your readers. </span></p>
<p><strong>And, if you’d like to give ActiveCampaign a test run, <a href="http://activecampaign.com/free">click here for a free trial</a>.</strong></p>
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<p>This post <a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.activecampaign.com/blog/writing-a-newsletter">Content Creator Newsletter: How to Write an Engaging Newsletter in 4 Steps</a> first appeared on <a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.activecampaign.com">ActiveCampaign</a> and is written by <a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.activecampaign.com/author/belias">belias</a></p>Source: Content Creator Newsletter: How to Write an Engaging Newsletter in 4 Steps