By regularly sending out an email newsletter, you can alert visitors to new site content and encourage them to return more often. Newsletters can also make life easier for users, who don’t have to constantly check your site to see if there’s something new of interest.

To be successful, you must:

• Send the newsletter only to people who have explicitly chosen to receive it. This means a user must check a box (or “opt in”) to sign up; don’t have a subscription box checked by default and expect people to uncheck if they don’t want the newsletter (called “opting out”).
• Provide useful information. Don’t treat the newsletter as an advertisement—instead, consider it another piece of editorial content.

Writing the newsletter

• Make the text very concise and scannable. Headlines and descriptions should describe the highlighted content succinctly and clearly. Avoid puns or mysterious teasers
• Include both time-sensitive information — to encourage people to visit the site immediately — and reference information, which they’ll want to print out and refer to later.
• Take extra care with the Subject: line, and make it eye-catching and informative. For example, "Unbeatable opportunity" may pique your attention but it doesn't provide much specific information. In contrast, "What it takes to be an online content pro" is clear and compelling.
• If the mail is longer than two screens and contains more than 4-5 headlines, include a list of the headlines at the very top of the mail.
• It’s safest to use plain text. Use dashes to underline headings and asterisks to create bullet lists or rules.
• Spell out URLs for subscribers who like to print out the newsletter.
• Include easy-to-follow, easy-to find instructions on how to subscribe and unsubscribe. Consider using separate email addresses for subscribing and unsubscribing.
• If you include advertisements for other products or sites, separate them from editorial content using rules or other visual clues and clearly label them as such.
• The name on the From: line should represent a real individual, not a generic alias (like “listservadmin”).
• If the addressee on the To: line is a generic alias (like “newslettersubscribers”), include the recipient’s actual email address in the body of the newsletter. That way, if the recipient has several email addresses, she’ll know which one she used for the newsletter.

Guidelines for the sign-up page

• Describe what kind of information the newsletter will contain, including special offers.
• Specify how often subscribers will receive the newsletter.
• Link to a sample newsletter, so people can see what they’d be getting before they sign up.
• For an example, see the sign-up page for the Alertbox newsletter.

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Newsletter layout

Click the image below to see how the information in a typical newsletter is laid out.

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Newsletter samples

These effective newsletters follow many of the above guidelines.

• Altertbox
• Contentious
• MSNBC

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More information

• Email Newsletters Pick Up Where Websites Leave Off -- Why users have more of an emotional attachment to newsletters than to websites
• Mailing List Usability-- Guidelines for managing mailing lists and writing effective email content.
• Newsletter and Discussion List Tips-- Links to more than 100 articles, plus summaries.
• Testing Your Copy for Best Results-- How several editorial variables (including tone and headline style) in marketing email affect how often recipients clicked through to the website.
• Writing an effective Subject line
• You Had Me at Hello-- Guidelines for writing effective Welcome email.

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