When you're just starting out with online marketing, the idea of putting together an email newsletter seems entirely daunting.
Questions like "Where do I begin?" and "What exactly do I need to include in an email newsletter?" pop up, and you need to do some research in order to find the answers.
To make your life easier, and show you how to make newsletter email, we've put together the must-haves of how to make a newsletter email when you're building it from scratch (and, it isn't a bad template to work from down the road either).
Elements to Focus On for Success
Whitelist
It is a good idea to ask to be "added" to your customer's address books so that your email doesn't end up in some wayward junk mail account, never to be seen again.
All you need is a little statement at the very top of each email that simply says, "Please add this email address to your address book."
Catchy Subject Line
This is one of the most important – if not the most important – component of any email newsletter. A catchy subject line is what draws your customers to open and read your email. It's one thing to get into their inbox, and quite another for your email to be opened.
There's no point to any email newsletter if no one reads it.
To write a catchy subject line, consider what the main point of your email is. Take that main point and punch up the wording.
Logo
Branding 101: never forget to add your logo. Even if you're not directly selling your company in your email newsletter, everything that you do in the name of your company is considered branding.
Adding a logo to your email reinforces your brand and reminds your customer who you are.
Main Content
Though it may be hard, try to direct the focus of your email newsletter to one or two things (three, at most). Otherwise, your entire message gets lost in the shuffle. And, you don't want to confuse your customers either.
Main content can be anything from products, sales, exclusive promotions, coupons, promotional codes, surveys, articles, ebook downloads or whitepaper sign-ups. If you still have too many great things going on at once that you must share, then consider using bullets with quick descriptions of each.
Social Media Links
Include links to your Twitter feed, Facebook page, Google+, Pinterest, and Shazam. That's a no-brainer, nowadays.
But, what you really have to consider is where within your email newsletter you're going to place your social media icons. Someplace small icons at the bottom of each email, next to the link for unsubscribe link, privacy statement and account settings. Others place social media icons in a more prominent place within the email.
About this Newsletter
Some email newsletters have a sentence summary at the bottom of each email explaining what the point is of the email. Typically, this is used to distinguish one type of email from another.
For example, if you have two email newsletters going out at once – one for marketing tips and the other about marketing news – then the summation sentence separates the points of each email. Now you know how to make a newsletter!
