Think about the last newsletter you received in your inbox. Did you read it? Why or why not?
Now think about your organization’s newsletter. Is there any overlap between that and the newsletter you received – you know, the one you may or may not have read?
When it comes to email newsletters, everyone has a different set of preferences and priorities. That being said, there are a few best practices that can actually increase the likelihood of yours getting read. Take a look!
Focus on the subject line
A good subject line is CRUCIAL to your e-newsletter’s success. When crafting a subject line for your organization’s newsletter, be sure to keep it short. People generally scan subject lines to determine if they’ll open an email or not, so veer on the side of short and simple. 50 characters or less is best.
Provide valuable content
This is perhaps the single most important aspect of your organization’s newsletter. If the content is valuable, people will undoubtedly come back for more.
So what qualifies as “valuable content?” Well, news and updates for sure. But in addition to that, anything informational in nature. This includes blog posts, webinars, industry best practices, etc. It’s these types of things that make your newsletter – and organization – valuable.
Keep the design simple
You may have some of the best copy in the world, but if it all seems cluttered, no one’s going to read it. To prevent that from happening, focus on putting together a clean, simple design. Make your newsletter easily scannable by incorporating bullet points, bold headlines, numbered lists, pictures or images, and most importantly, a lot of white space. White space helps alleviate the cluttered feel of newsletters and makes reading the text on a mobile device 100x easier.
Which brings us to our next point…
Make it mobile
According to the latest U.S. Consumer Device Preference Report from MovableInk, 67 percent of all email in the U.S. is now opened and read on a smartphone or tablet. That means if your organization’s newsletter isn’t mobile-friendly, it’s likely to wind up in the trash.
To make your email mobile-friendly, try using a mobile-optimized template. And remember, always send yourself a test first!
Want more tips for making sure your newsletters and other emails get opened? Check out our free email marketing guide below!
