How to Create an Email Newsletter Your Subscribers Will Love in 2024
Email newsletters are one of the most powerful tools to grow a loyal audience and drive more traffic, engagement and sales for your business or brand. With over 4.3 billion email users worldwide expected by the end of 2023, email provides an incredible opportunity to reach and connect with your target audience.
But in order for your email newsletter to be effective, it needs to provide real value and keep your subscribers looking forward to receiving it in their inbox. In this comprehensive guide, we‘ll walk you through everything you need to know to create an email newsletter that your subscribers will love in 2024 and beyond.
Step 1: Choose the Right Email Marketing Service
The first step in starting an email newsletter is choosing an email marketing service to manage your subscriber list and send out your emails. There are many great options available, including:
- Constant Contact
- Mailchimp
- ConvertKit
- AWeber
- GetResponse
When evaluating potential email marketing services, consider factors like pricing, ease of use, quality of templates, automation capabilities, list segmentation features, analytics and reporting, and integrations with your other tools and platforms.
For most businesses and content creators, we recommend Constant Contact as the best all-around email marketing service. They offer an intuitive drag-and-drop email builder, a large selection of customizable templates, powerful automation and segmentation tools, and built-in ecommerce and social media integrations. Plus, their pricing is very competitive with plans starting at $20/month.
Step 2: Build Your Email List from the Ground Up
Now that you have an email marketing service to work with, it‘s time to start building your email list. But before you start collecting email addresses, it‘s important to be intentional about how you want to grow your list.
Buying or renting email lists may seem like a quick way to get subscribers, but it will only hurt you in the long run. Not only do you risk damaging your sender reputation and landing in the spam folder, but these people haven‘t given you explicit permission to email them. That means your engagement rates will be extremely low and your unsubscribe and complaint rates will be sky high.
Instead, focus on attracting subscribers organically through your website, landing pages, social media, and other channels. Here are some proven tactics to build a high-quality email list from scratch:
Create a compelling lead magnet: Offer a free downloadable resource (like an ebook, whitepaper, checklist, video, etc.) that solves a specific problem or offers unique value for your target audience. Gate this resource behind an email signup form.
Use exit-intent popups: Add an exit-intent popup to your website that appears when a visitor is about to leave the page. This is a great way to capture abandoning visitors and convert them into subscribers.
Add signup forms in multiple places: Don‘t just rely on a single signup form in your website footer. Add email signup forms in prominent locations like your site header, sidebar, after blog posts, and on key landing pages.
Leverage social media: Promote your lead magnet and email newsletter on your social media channels. You can even run social media ads to a dedicated landing page to collect email signups.
Run a contest or giveaway: Hosting a contest or giveaway can quickly grow your email list by incentivizing people to signup. Just be sure to offer a prize that is highly relevant to your target audience.
The key is to make your signup forms and opt-in incentives as targeted and compelling as possible. You want to attract subscribers who are highly interested in hearing from you and are likely to engage with your emails long-term.
Step 3: Welcome New Subscribers with Open Arms
Getting a new subscriber is exciting, but your work doesn‘t end there. It‘s crucial that you welcome new subscribers to your email list in a timely and friendly manner.
Your welcome email is the first message that new subscribers receive from you, and it sets the tone for the rest of your email communications. It‘s a key opportunity to introduce yourself, set expectations, and start building a relationship with your new subscribers.
Here are some tips for crafting an effective welcome email:
Send it immediately: Your welcome email should be triggered to send automatically as soon as someone joins your list. You want to strike while the iron is hot and your brand is top of mind.
Deliver on your promise: If you incentivized people to subscribe with a lead magnet or offer, make sure to deliver on that promise in your welcome email. Include a direct link to download the resource.
Set expectations: Let subscribers know what kind of content they can expect from your email newsletter and how often they‘ll hear from you.
Show your personality: Use your welcome email to showcase your unique brand voice and personality. Write in a conversational tone like you‘re talking to a friend.
Encourage a next step: Include a clear call-to-action in your welcome email to encourage subscribers to take another step, like read your latest blog post, follow you on social media, or browse your product catalog.
Your welcome email will likely get higher engagement rates than any other email you send, so make it count! Think of it as the start of a long and fruitful relationship with your new subscriber.
Step 4: Send Valuable Content Consistently
Now it‘s time to start planning out and creating the actual content for your email newsletters. The key to a successful newsletter is providing consistent value to your subscribers.
Your email content should educate, entertain, inspire or help your subscribers in some way. Consider sending a mix of content, including:
- Your latest blog posts or videos
- Curated roundups of helpful resources
- Quick tips or advice
- Exclusive behind-the-scenes content
- Subscriber-only discounts or offers
- Polls, surveys or discussion questions
- Upcoming events or webinars
The exact type of content you send will depend on your unique audience and goals, but focus on providing information that your subscribers will find genuinely useful and interesting.
It‘s also important to stick to a consistent sending schedule, whether that‘s weekly, bi-weekly or monthly. Let your subscribers know when they can expect to hear from you, and do your best to show up in their inbox when you say you will. This helps build trust and keeps your open rates high.
Step 5: Craft Compelling Subject Lines
Even the most amazing email newsletter content won‘t matter if no one opens it. That‘s why your email subject lines are so important.
Your subject line is the first thing that people see in their inbox and it plays a huge role in whether they decide to open your email or not. In fact, 47% of email recipients decide whether or not to open an email based on the subject line alone.
Here are some tips for writing email subject lines that get opened:
- Keep it short and sweet: Aim for 50 characters or less so that your full subject line displays on mobile devices.
- Place the most important words at the beginning: Put your most compelling copy or offer right up front where it‘s most likely to be seen.
- Use action-oriented verbs: Subject lines that start with action verbs tend to perform better, like "Join us for…", "Get your…", "Discover…", etc.
- Personalize when possible: Using a subscriber‘s name or other personal details in the subject line can boost open rates. But use personalization sparingly so it doesn‘t get stale.
- Avoid spam trigger words: Steer clear of words like "free", "guarantee", "act now" and other terms commonly used by spammers.
- Test, test, test: The only way to know what subject lines work best for your specific audience is to experiment and test different variations. Most email marketing services have A/B testing features built right in.
Don‘t be afraid to get creative and have some fun with your subject lines! Just make sure they accurately represent what‘s inside the email and aren‘t misleading.
Step 6: Design for Readability and Action
When it comes to email newsletter design, keep it simple and make it easy for people to read and engage with your content. Here are some email design best practices to follow:
- Put your most important content at the top: Most people scan emails quickly, so put your main message or offer right at the top where it‘s sure to be seen.
- Use a single-column layout: Multiple columns can be tricky to read, especially on mobile devices. Stick with a single column for maximum readability.
- Include plenty of white space: Don‘t be afraid of white space in your emails. It helps break up your content and makes it easier to digest.
- Limit your color palette: Use just 1-2 accent colors in addition to black and white. Too many competing colors will distract from your message.
- Optimize for mobile: Over half of all emails are opened on mobile devices, so make sure your newsletters are mobile-friendly. Use a responsive email template that adapts to any screen size.
- Make your call-to-action (CTA) stand out: Your CTA should be prominently placed and easy to spot at a glance. Use a contrasting color and keep the surrounding area clear of clutter.
In addition to nailing the email design basics, your newsletters should match your overall brand look and feel. Use the same colors, fonts and imagery that you use on your website and other marketing channels for a cohesive brand experience.
Step 7: Clean Your List Regularly
Even with a stellar email newsletter, it‘s inevitable that some subscribers will lose interest and stop engaging with your emails over time. It‘s important to clean your email list regularly to remove inactive subscribers and maintain good deliverability rates.
If you continue to send to subscribers who never open your emails, your overall engagement rates will suffer and more of your emails will start landing in the spam folder instead of the inbox.
Most email marketing services have built-in tools to help you identify and remove inactive subscribers. Look for subscribers who haven‘t opened or clicked any of your emails in the past 6 months or more. You can try a last-ditch re-engagement campaign to win them back, but if they still don‘t respond, it‘s time to say goodbye.
Cleaning your list may decrease your total subscriber count, but it will improve your open and click-through rates, increase your deliverability, and ultimately lead to more conversions and revenue. Quality is more important than quantity when it comes to your email list.
Bonus: Monetize Your Email Newsletter
As your email list grows, you may want to consider monetizing your newsletter to generate additional revenue. There are a few different ways to make money from your email list:
- Promote your own products or services: If you have a product or service to sell, your email list is the perfect place to promote it. You can include promotional content in your regular newsletters or send dedicated sales emails.
- Include affiliate links: If you recommend products or services that you don‘t own, you can include affiliate links in your newsletters. You‘ll earn a commission on any sales made through your unique links.
- Sell sponsorships or ads: Once you reach a certain email list size, you can sell newsletter sponsorships or ad placements to relevant brands. Just be sure to clearly label any sponsored content and only work with brands that align with your values and audience.
- Offer a paid newsletter: If you provide highly valuable, exclusive content, you can consider offering a paid newsletter subscription. This works well for niche topics or in-depth expertise that people are willing to pay for.
Just remember, your email content should provide value first and foremost. Don‘t bombard your list with constant promotions or you‘ll quickly turn people off. Aim for a healthy balance of valuable content and occasional, relevant offers.
Wrapping Up
Building a successful email newsletter takes time and effort to get right, but it‘s well worth it for the long-term benefits to your business or brand. Focus on attracting quality subscribers, sending them valuable content consistently, and always striving to improve your emails based on your engagement metrics.
With the right approach, your email newsletter can become one of your most effective marketing channels and provide a direct line of communication with your audience for years to come. Follow the steps in this guide and you‘ll be well on your way to creating an email newsletter your subscribers will love in 2024 and beyond!
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