6 Newsletter Content Tips to Skyrocket Engagement Rates

Just as giving someone a gold chain wrapped in a plastic bag shows a lack of thoughtfulness, sending newsletters with an unappealing design shows a lack of thoughtfulness, too. Of course, in both cases, you also need to focus on the quality. The quality of the gift and the newsletter content matters just as much as their appearance.

When you nail both your email design and content quality, you can increase not only the open rate but also overall engagement rates. 

This article will help you transform your email with six newsletter design tips and other email marketing best practices. Let’s talk about the basics first:

What Is a Newsletter?

A newsletter is a publication that’s regularly distributed, typically via email, for sharing updates, educational content, or other information of interest to a specific audience. 

Businesses often use it to maintain relationships with their target audience (subscribers) to earn their trust and, ultimately, sell. A staggering 95% of Gen Z, Gen X, and millennials subscribe to newsletters. The number is quite high for Baby Boomers as well, at 84%. No wonder over 80% of companies have said they use email newsletters as part of their marketing. 

6 Killer Newsletter Design Tips and Other Email Marketing Best Practices to Boost Engagement

Your newsletter design or content could be responsible for that low engagement in your email marketing campaigns. Here are six ways to fix it:

1. Create Clear and Compelling Subject Lines 

If you’ve ever anxiously opened a newsletter for fear of missing out (FOMO), then you’ve felt the impact of a compelling subject line. Your subject line should entice readers to open your newsletter.

Here are seven types of email newsletter subject lines you might want to consider: 

How to Survive “X”: Use this technique to address the pain your prospects are experiencing or may experience. 

Example:  How to survive the challenges of remote work

Variations: “How to deal with X” and “How to overcome X”.

A digital marketing expert, Neil Patel, used the “How to deal with X” subject line in his newsletter for Creators. 

The newsletter establishes relatability by tackling the reader’s pain points head-on and links immediately to a blog post on how these can be solved.

The biggest mistake, “X”: Use this technique to reveal potential pitfalls or mistakes. If readers commit the same mistake, they’ll be motivated to click. 

Example: “The biggest mistake investors make.”

Think Media, a video production and film company, makes its subject line more compelling with this technique.  

From the above example, the newsletter addresses potential YouTube mistakes their audience might make so they know what to expect when they click through. 

How I did [X]: Reveal something your email recipients admire about you and aim to achieve in the subject line. 

Example: How I mastered time management as a busy parent. 

Here’s how Social Trigger, a platform that encourages users to share content on social media, used the technique:

Discover the secret to [X]: This suggests that the content is exclusive, making it desirable for people seeking unique solutions to a problem. 

Example: The real secret to successful networking

Variation: “The real secret to X”

You can use this subject line to introduce your audience to a new data report or survey results, as HubSpot did below. 

Last day to [X]: Use this technique to create a sense of urgency among readers and drive immediate action.

Example: Last day to save 50% on all winter coats.

Variations include: “Last chance to do [X]” and “Final opportunity to do [X].” 

Instapage, a software development company, uses this technique to entice customers to take advantage of a last-time deal offer on their products. 

The fastest way to [X]: This technique leverages the human desire to achieve results faster. It lets you entice them with the promise of a faster solution from the subject line. 

Example: The fastest way to boost your credit score.

Neil Patel also uses this technique to capture attention in his newsletters, as seen below. 

Shortcut for [X]: These types of subject lines promise an easy solution. It’s most effective when you have an instant offer to share, such as an ebook or a free tool. 

Example: Shortcuts for reading and retention

Variation: “Easy fix to X”

Syed Balkhi of WpBeginner, a resource site for WordPress beginners, uses the tactic, and then links to a solution: 

Note that your email subject line, however, shouldn’t sound like an exaggeration. Otherwise, your email might land in subscribers’ spam folders.

For example, instead of claiming, “Here’s the fastest way to lose 20kg in one week,” consider saying, “Here’s a fast way to lose 5kg,”. 

The exclusion of the phrase “one week” in the second subject line makes all the difference. Even if what you’re promising is possible, aim to under-promise and over-deliver. 

2. Use Eye-Catching Visuals

Integrating visuals into your emails is one of the most important newsletter design tips you should pay attention to. 

Visuals convey emotions in ways words can’t, making your messaging memorable. Plus, visual branding elements reinforce brand identity. 

Some types of visuals to use in your email newsletters include: 

Images: You can use photos to complement your text or charts to illustrate data and stats. You can also hyperlink them as people like to click on high-quality images. 

In this newsletter example below, Porsche introduces a new car model with a photo of the car.

This image placement adds color to the newsletter, and gives a visual break to the eyes. 

Videos: Beyond visual appeal, videos offer conversion benefits, as 65% of users will likely buy after watching a video. 

Include videos in your newsletters to announce product updates or share a new tutorial.  

GIFs: They add motion to static images and offer a fun way to share multiple images in one space, keeping the email short and tidy. See the example below:

3. Make Newsletter Mobile-Friendly

More than 80% of emails are opened and read using mobile devices. This shows you’re missing out if you’re not optimizing your newsletter for mobile.

To optimize for mobile, use a responsive design that adapts to different screen sizes. Since mobile phone users tend to scan, use larger font sizes. Also, keep your copy concise. Your subject lines should only be between 25-30 characters so you can prevent them from being truncated.

Compress your image sizes so your newsletter loads faster. You can use tools such as TinyPNG and JPEG Optimizer for this.

As a final tip to ensure mobile-friendliness, use CTA buttons that can accommodate all thumb sizes like this newsletter example above. We’ll talk more about CTAs later.

4. Personalize Content 

Newsletters can help you build stronger relationships with your audience, but this won’t be the case if you’re among the 61% of companies that customers say treat them like numbers.

You want your newsletter to show empathy and shared value to build loyalty and a subscriber list that is less likely to unsubscribe. Personalization is the key to making this possible. It allows you to transition from broad to specific messaging, making the reader feel you crafted the content just for them. 

An easy way to personalize your newsletter is to address subscribers with their names in the salutation, email body, and subject line. But that’s not all.

Segment your list — this enables you to tailor your message to each audience category and boost high-quality engagement. 

You can segment according to subscribers’ age, for example, and other demographic data.

You can even segment according to subscribers’ interests and preferences. Victor Ijidola of Premium Content Shop does this. So, in his welcome email, he already asks subscribers what their pain points are so he knows the type of content they’ll prefer and be interested in:

Another way to segment your audience is to track user behavior and send specific emails depending on the action taken by the subscriber. If you use email marketing software, you can specify these email triggers–like the purchase of a product on your site or prolonged email inactivity—that would prompt the sending of specific email content.

To ensure your personalized content is effective, it needs to reach your specific subscribers as intended. That’s why maintaining a healthy email list is also crucial. Filter out addresses that never open your emails or bounce back, and verify email addresses before adding them to your list.

5. Include Good CTAs

We mentioned how you should have large CTA buttons to ensure they’re mobile-friendly. But that’s not the only thing you should focus on when it comes to your newsletter CTAs.

Your email CTAs should also be clear and concise. Use action verbs that specifically tell the subscriber what you want them to do after reading your newsletter. Words like “Register,” “Shop,” and “Read” (see below) are great as CTAs since they’re straightforward and can’t be subject to any other interpretation. You can also incorporate words such as “Now” to create a sense of urgency and prompt subscribers to act.

 Alternatively, leverage digital business cards as your call-to-action (CTA). Highly customizable, they allow you to include contact details and targeted links. For instance, by using “Shop Now” as your CTA on the digital card, you can direct users to your product landing page. Similarly, incorporate links to registration forms if you want users to “Register Now” for an event or webinar. 

Finally, ensure your CTA button stands out. You can do this by ensuring it has a color that contrasts with your email newsletter background, as in the example above.

6. A/B Test 

To ensure actual newsletter engagement, you need to know what types of emails are likely to work with your subscribers. That’s why one of the basic email marketing and newsletter design tips is A/B testing. 

A/B testing, or split testing, involves creating two versions of your email, sending them to just a portion of your audience, and then choosing the better version to send to all your subscribers. This “better version” will depend on your metrics for success. These could be, apart from engagement rates, open rates, clickthrough rates, or conversion rates.

When creating your two email versions, you can vary the font, content, CTA buttons, color scheme, and more. Just don’t change too many key elements at a time. 

Otherwise, it will be hard to determine which modified email element gave your success metrics a boost. In the example above, for instance, only the shape of the CTA button is being tested.

You can also test different types of offers to see which one results in more conversions. Let’s assume you’re marketing a SaaS product through email. You could experiment with two types of offers: a freemium plan and a time-limited free trial with all the features. Tracking conversions will help you tell which offer is more compelling to your audience.

The bottom line you should run regular A/B tests. This is the only way to optimize your newsletter engagement rates. 

In Closing

Remember that numerous other newsletters are competing for your audience’s attention. So, invest in your email newsletter, from the design to the content, for it to stand out.

Craft a click-worthy subject line without exaggerating. Use visual elements to enhance the appeal of your copy. Ensure mobile compatibility and personalize your content to boost engagement. Also, include clear and compelling CTAs and A/B test your email newsletter.

Follow these email marketing and newsletter design tips, and you’ll help boost engagement rates. Ultimately, you can help ensure the success of your email marketing campaigns. Good luck!