How to write a newsletter that people actually want to read
Make your content stand out.
If you are anything like me, chances are that you’ve subscribed to a gazillion newsletters knowingly or unknowingly (more latter than former).
Most of these newsletters are either ignored by you or even before they reach you, by your email filters. Some that catch your attention do so primarily because of their catchy headlines like the ones below.
It is extremely rare to find a newsletter that you’d want to read beyond a couple of paragraphs. Most of them either end up being a collection of links or a ton of self-promotional content without anything in it for the reader.
However, very recently, I stumbled upon a PDF that was forwarded to me on Whatsapp. After reading a couple of paragraphs, I realized that this was actually a newsletter.
Yes, you read it right. This newsletter went viral.
I am talking about Nutgraf - The weekly newsletter from The Ken.
Now, it definitely helps that The Ken is a news publication and by the virtue of that, has some brilliant writers working on its newsletter.
However, you don’t have to be a professional writer to create brilliant newsletters. You must get some basic principles right. If you analyze any brilliant newsletter, you will see that they share some common patterns.
They are focused on the readers and not on self
In this day and age, when your subscribers are bombarded with information with hardly any time to read, why should they spend even a second of their time on your newsletter which is disguised as a marketing brochure? Yet, that’s what most newsletters manage to dish out.
Spend some time understanding your subscribers and provide content that helps them solve their problems or helps them learn something new.
If you are a tax software, help your subscribers by simplifying the messy tax filing process. If you are a business expense claims app, make your subscribers' life easy by explaining how to file their claims on time.
When you explain these issues, subscribers won’t mind learning more about your product and how it helps them achieve their objectives. Focus on helping them and solving their problems.
They are human: Written by a human and addressed to a human
Ever received an email starting with Dear {First Name}?
With a plethora of email personalization tools out in the market, it is not uncommon to find emails that sound like they are created to be read by robots.
If you decide to invest your time and efforts in publishing newsletters, do it with intent and focus. Spend some time on writing or curating content that matters. Do your due diligence to avoid embarrassing errors like these and respect your readers’ time.
If it is an activity done to checkmark the line item suggested by your annoying marketing consultant, avoid it and save yours and your readers’ time.
They aren’t just a collection of links
These ones are the most annoying. Every once in a while I receive a newsletter with nothing but a collection of links.
Seriously? How different are you from the annoying Whatsapp forwarders?
There is no harm in sending relevant links but explain why should the reader click the link, where that link takes them, summarize the content of that page and most important why did you include that in your newsletter.
They understand that No means No
If someone clicks unsubscribe on your newsletter, don’t make them go through 5 more surveys. Unsubscribe should be an easy one-click option, not a passport application form.
By lengthening the process, you aren’t helping your cause. if anything, you are just annoying the reader further.
With a ton of interesting content all around us, it is difficult to find a foolproof formula for creating a successful newsletter. It probably is an iterative process. However, it is impossible to get there without being obsessively focused on the reader.
