1. Choose an Appealing Color Scheme
The aim here isn’t to dazzle with a prism of color, but to establish brand recognition at the same time as presenting aesthetically pleasing content. The best way to do this is by matching your color scheme to your company logo. The logo will be one of the first things people see, as it’s going to be part of your header. Try matching your borders, fonts, headers and subheaders to the colors in your company logo. If your logo isn’t particularly colorful, choose something compatible and use it consistently. People will associate these colors with your brand and come to recognise your emails before they even open them.2. Give it a Compelling Header
This is your hook, so you need to get it right. People want to know who is talking to them and what it is they’re expected to read. You wouldn’t read a magazine that didn’t have a name, or an article that didn’t have a title, would you? A newsletter is no different. Your header should consist of your company logo and name, and the newsletter title. The title should be clear and simple, preferably with an element of intrigue. It should focus on your industry rather than your business name, which nobody really cares about. For example, there is a distinct difference between “Wealthy Entrepreneur Today” and “Triple Your Profits Report”. Don’t actually call it a newsletter—it sounds a little dull... consider words like ‘news’, ‘guide’, ‘review’, or ‘insider’ instead. To create decent headers, you can use online DIY tools like Stencil or Pixlr, which are easy enough for anyone to use. Once you have your header, you can keep on using it – just make sure you change your newsletter titles each time.3. Go For Crisp, Clean Typeface(s) and a Simple Layout
As holding a person’s attention is largely about ease, it’s important not to challenge their eyes with overly fancy typefaces, or even multiple typefaces. Basic faces such as Times New Roman, Calibri or Helvetica are clean and familiar–you can’t go wrong with those. One simple typeface throughout gives a neat look that won’t take the attention away from your content. Secondly, your newsletter must be legible. Nobody wants to see reams of text unfolding on their screen; that’s a sure fire way to get deleted rapidly. Likewise, to avoid skim reading, you’ll need to use punchy subheadings that tell the reader what the next section is about. You’ll want to break the text up into several blocks, each with its own subheading. Make sure the subheadings are smaller than the main heading, and bigger than the article text. Lastly, stack your content so that each piece of information appears in an organized fashion, ideally inside its own block or with divider lines. Side by side is also fine (dependent on the volume of text) but most newsletters are stacked block on top of block.4. Use Plenty of Attractive Images
You need to strike a balance between chunks of text and relevant images. The images need to convey the point of the text somehow, so be careful not to share incongruent images just because they look good. The visual element of any communication is always the most powerful aspect. It keeps the overall look interesting, and creates space between the blocks of text. For example, placing one image on the right side of the text in one block and on the left side in the next can look good. Taking your own photos is a good idea, provided you have a worthy camera and some editing ability. If not, opt for quality stock photos; you can get these from free sites if you don’t want to fork out.5. Make Sure Your Content is Relevant and Interesting
You should spend time analysing your database. Creating segments and email lists based on specific interests is a great idea; your click-through rate will be a lot higher this way. There are online platforms available that allow you to do all of this, and some give you statistics so you can see who is opening what, when, and how often (there’s more on this below). This way, you can target your audiences more effectively over the long term. Put yourself in your readers’ shoes. Most of us want to be entertained in some way, and we want to read about things aligned with our interests. It’s helpful to send out content that contains clear benefits, such as free information (think ebooks and articles), info-bites, events, industry news and offers. Be sure to encourage feedback with one-click surveys, and incentivize with prizes and discounts. Oh, and don’t forget to include an unsubscribe option; you can’t please everyone, however hard you try.6. Use an Email Marketing Platform
If you want to take the hard work out of it, there are various platforms that help you to create engaging, visually attractive newsletters. Mailchimp is a particularly good one, but you have many to choose from. Some people prefer to use Photoshop and hand code, but this requires a little more knowledge. Platforms like Mailchimp will cover all of the above design aspects for you. They will help you to create campaigns in a strategic manner, step by step. You’ll be able to choose from various templates that help you lay things out in an appropriate style; you’ll have drag and drop options to place your dividers, content blocks and images, and you can even add buttons that encourage people to click through to web pages. You’ll also have reasonable scope for reformatting, you can keep all your email lists in one place, and you can duplicate campaigns and change the details each time for swift send outs in a consistent format. Lastly, you can add a footer and put your social media links in the form of icons, making it easy for people to follow you with a couple of clicks. You’re almost ready to go… Finally, don’t forget to test your mails via your own email address before you send them out. Be consistent with your frequency; daily mails could be annoying, but once per week should be fine, depending on what you’re sending. Follow these simple guidelines and it won’t be long before you’ve created top quality communications that are bound to raise your profile and boost your brand awareness. Good luck!John Munday
John Munday is the head of marketing at GravIT - an IT Company based in Geelong, Australia. They specialise in IT solutions for small to medium sized business. In his spare time, he enjoys giving back to the community by sharing his knowledge on marketing.
Read Next
LimeWire Developer APIs Herald a New Era of AI Integration
Generative AI is a fascinating technology. Far from the design killer some people feared, it is an empowering and…
By WDD Staff
20 Best New Websites, March 2024
Welcome to our pick of sites for March. This month’s collection tends towards the simple and clean, which goes to show…
Exciting New Tools for Designers, March 2024
The fast-paced world of design never stops turning, and staying ahead of the curve is essential for creatives. As…
Web Tech Trends to Watch in 2024 and Beyond
It hardly seems possible given the radical transformations we’ve seen over the last few decades, but the web design…
By Louise North
6 Best AI Productivity Apps in 2024
There’s no escaping it: if you want to be successful, you need to be productive. The more you work, the more you…
By Simon Sterne
3 Essential Design Trends, February 2024
From atypical typefaces to neutral colors to unusual user patterns, there are plenty of new website design trends to…
Surviving the Leap from College to Real-World Design
So, you’ve finished college and are ready to showcase your design skills to the world. This is a pivotal moment that…
By Simon Sterne
20 Mind-Bending Illusions That Will Make You Question Reality
Mind-bending videos. Divisive Images. Eye-straining visuals. This list of optical illusions has it all. Join us as we…
By Max Walton
15 Best New Fonts, February 2024
Welcome to February’s roundup of the best new fonts for designers. This month’s compilation includes some innovative…
By Ben Moss
The 10 Best WordPress Quiz Plugins in 2024
Whether it’s boosting your organic search visibility or collecting data for targeted email marketing campaigns, a great…
By Robert Reeve
20 Best New Websites, February 2024
It’s almost Valentine’s Day, so this latest collection is a billet-doux celebrating the best of the web this month.
Everything You Need to Know About Image Formats In 2024
Always trying to walk the tightrope between image quality and file size? Looking to branch out from JPGs and PNGs this…
By Robert Reeve