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The email newsletter is a powerful marketing and communication tool that has various useful functions. It reminds your users about you; it informs users about your products; it tells them what you have been up to; and it helps you build a unique relationship with them. Users like email newsletters if the newsletters bring them value.The fundamental rule for creating an email newsletter is to give it interesting, relevant and up-to-date information that is enjoyable to read. Users sign up for newsletters hoping be informed about things that they would not otherwise be able to find out about. In this article, we’ll discuss some guidelines for designing and distributing email newsletters. Each point will be accompanied by both good and bad examples.Please notice: in this post we features both good and bad examples of newsletter design, so you can get a better understanding of the problems to avoid and good design decisions to make.You may be interested in the following related posts:Design and Build Email Newsletters Without Losing Your Mind (and Soul)[Offtopic: by the way, have you already visited Smashing Magazine's Facebook fan page? Join the community for a stream of useful resources, updates and giveaways!]Signing Up For A NewsletterThis is an important step in convincing users that your newsletters are interesting and that they would benefit from signing up.Tell Users What They Will GetBefore asking users for their details, tell them what they will receive, and identify the benefits of signing up. If you mention that the newsletters will include exclusive offers and deals, make sure to keep the promise. In addition, let users know how often they will receive the newsletter: weekly or monthly.On the Mulberry sign-up page, the company promises to send users exclusive updates and offers. The Marie Claire UK subscription page clearly states that its newsletters include news, beauty buys, competitions and offers.Marie Claire UK subscription pageReward Users for Signing UpYou may want to consider giving some reward to users for signing up; for example, a free gift, voucher or discount. To encourage users to sign up for his newsletter, Jamie Oliver offers a free £25 wine voucher that can be claimed after subscribing (on the condition that users spend £64.99 or more on the wine). Jamie Oliver sign-up page Jamie Oliver reward pageIf you will give rewards, let users know as soon as possible in the process. James Perse gives users who subscribe to its newsletter a $15 online gift card. However, the reward is not mentioned on the subscription page, and the promotion code is sent via a confirmation email only after the subscription has been received. You would not have known that until you subscribed. The company is clearly missing a great opportunity to get people to sign up for its newsletters. James Perse subscription confirmation emailPreview Your NewsletterOne way to let users know what they will get is to give them a preview of your newsletter. Hershey’s Kitchens has two different newsletters, and it offers examples of both types. The company even gives each newsletter a name and clearly indicates how often it will be sent out.Hershey’s Kitchen sign-up pageKeep Questions Short and SimpleUsers avoid filling out forms and submitting their details if possible. For a newsletter sign-ups, all you need is their email address.Hersey’s Kitchens has 10 mandatory fields. MarieClaire.com has 8 fields, but only the email field is required. We have found from our studies, though, that people often miss the asterisk or do not know what it means. Users who are reluctant to fill in many details may well refuse to sign up in this case. Hershey’s Kitchen sign-up pageContent Of NewsletterBased on our user testing, we found that people look at three things when they receive a newsletter:The sender, to see if it is from someone they know.The subject line, to see if it is of interest to them.The date, to see if the communication is up to date.Write an Attractive Subject LineOne way to encourage users to open your newsletter is to write a subject line that grabs their attention.If you are offering some sort of deal in your newsletter, try to avoid generic appeals in your subject line (for instance, Game July newsletter subject line: “Sizzling Summer Deals”). Instead, mention specific offers, such as Dorothy Perkins November Issue: “25% Off Just for You”. Also, be realistic about your offers, and avoid making them sound too good to be true. Users are skeptical about subject lines like “Get 1000 Extra Points” because they know they will often have to spend a lot to get those points.Provide Useful and Well-Written ContentA newsletter should contain information that users would not normally research on their own. Users take seconds to scan for topics of interest to them before deciding whether to spend more time reading the newsletter. If your newsletter, like Forrester’s, shows only one or two topics, users would less likely to find something of interest to them. Forrester newsletterFurthermore, including links to your website in the newsletter is crucial.Make Content Relevant to Your ReadersMake your newsletter’s content as relevant to your readers as possible, whether through offers, products or images. Superfluous content will add no value and simply be ignored. You could also provide customized content. Personalization can be done in one of two ways:Asking users for more (optional) information when they sign up.Implicitly recording what they buy and view on your website.For example, Amazon sends newsletter with recommendations based on what its users have purchased. Recommendation-based newsletters can be highly useful, provided that your analytics are accurate. Amazon’s customized newsletterOffer Exclusive DealsYou could always offer subscribers special deals or freebies. There are a few ways to go about this. H&M and Photobox ask users to present their newsletters at the point of purchase in stores to receive discounts. Clinique and Airparks include a promotion code in their newsletters that users can redeem when checking out online. H&M newsletter

Design Treats

Email Newsletter Design: Guidelines And Examples

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