AI Video Tool Free AI Video Generator

5 Best Practices for Drafting Perfect Newsletter Design

Written on Thu, Aug 5, 2021

Design graphics & animations for your email marketing campaigns or newsletters with PixTeller online image maker tool & free animated GIF maker.

Today, the number one question hounding email marketers is how to draft newsletters that prospects will read. Even if you concoct witty content, sometimes the design is not up to the mark and vice versa. The amalgamation of text, type, layout, color, and imagery must come together in the right intensity to help you create an eye-grabbing newsletter.

After all, well-designed newsletters with something valuable to say return a relatively higher open rate than those sent just to stay in the lead's purview. The point we are trying to make here is simple, do not underestimate the power of formulating beautiful newsletters.

The Purpose of an Email Newsletter

Before learning how to create engaging newsletters, it's critical to understand why we are making them! Newsletters have multiple uses. Your brand might draft one:

• To launch a product
• Report on new features
• Drive up sales by deploying time-limited offers
• Educate prospects on a particular feature of a product or service
• Boost traffic to your website or social media pages.

Brands that indulge ineffective email marketing personalize newsletters to the needs of their prospects and themselves.

Creating Great Newsletters: Best Practices

Know that more than 70% of companies leverage email newsletters as often as they like to communicate with both prospects and customers.

But are they all experiencing the same level of success that you can, with the help of these 5 best practices to design one? Perhaps not!

Always Begin Your Newsletter with Appropriate Branding

Your viewer must immediately figure out where the newsletter has come from. This helps them understand what to follow and what to expect from your future newsletters.

Instead of having them fish out the sender's name, provide your company's logo in the header with the right color and font. Doing this also improves a reader's brand recall value.

Make Sure Your Newsletter is Mobile-responsive

It's no secret that prospects today prefer checking emails on smartphones as opposed to laptops. So much so that several brands follow a mobile-first approach when it comes to designing newsletter templates. And you should too! Optimizing them for smartphones requires creating them in a way that they fit on a single small screen. A viewer shouldn't have to zoom in or out too much, as that causes distraction.

Also, the CTA buttons need to be the right size – not too big, not too small, and the text and imagery should not get cut off the screen. If you want your prospects to interact with your newsletter by filling out a form or making a purchase, they need an interface that allows them to do so with utmost ease.

Something only possible if you've designed your newsletter, especially for smartphones and other handheld devices.

Embed Videos if You Can

Studies reveal that integrating video in your email newsletters improves click-through rates by a whopping 65% and open rates by 19%. You can achieve this feat by incorporating short video clips of your product or service.

Crisply formulated marketing videos make for engaging viewing. You can also personalize them a great deal for different prospect segments within your email list. You can have video testimonials of previous clients talking up your brand. There's very little you can't do when there's a video embedded in your newsletter.

Carefully Consider the Overall Layout

Starting your newsletter with a block of text is a strict no-no. Give the viewer one or two images placed on top and bottom or side by side, and serrate content around it. Remember the adage; a picture is worth a thousand words. So, choose them carefully to design a noiseless and minimalist layout.

Don't pick images just because they look gorgeous. Choose the ones that help readers understand the purpose of your newsletter quickly.

Introduce a banner right at the beginning and ensure your CTA buttons are hard to miss. As mentioned above, they must compel the reader to take the action they want - be it buying a product or subscribing to your blog.

You can use stunningly crafted newsletter templates if you don't have enough time to design your templates from scratch. They are free and cater to every format across diverse digital platforms.

Bonus Tip: Write Compelling Subject Lines

Your email's subject line is indirectly related to your newsletter. How? If you don't write it well, the readers won't get to the newsletter. Countless readers decide whether they want to open your email or not based on how effective and personalized your subject line is.

Furthermore, if your newsletter doesn't correspond well with your subject line, you can bid that lead goodbye, perhaps forever. Writing a compelling subject line is often not the same as writing a great one to make your email work better.

An effective line provides insight into what's to come instead of what feels good to read. Therefore, your newsletter is not a stand-alone feature. This is why draft the newsletter and your email subject line in one cycle rather than separately.

Final Thoughts

Before we sign off, here is a quick recap of the best practices for crafting stunning newsletters:

[1] Always begin your newsletter with appropriate branding;
[2] Make sure your newsletter is mobile-responsive;
[3] Embed videos if you can;
[4] Carefully consider the overall layout;
[5] Bonus tip: Write compelling subject lines.

With these golden tips, you can truly leverage the power of email marketing. So, what are you waiting for? It's time to chop-chop!

Until next time, Be creative! - Pix'sTory made by Rochelle Williams

Rochelle Williams is a Senior Marketing Manager at Span Global Services. She comes with a strong marketing and advertising industry exposure of over 8+ years and has a deep understanding of SEO, SEM, SMO, branding, and allied marketing strategies.

Sharing post