Last Update: Tuesday, January 18, 2005.
In this article I show you my top 13 tips on how
to create professional looking newsletters.
1. Design Scannable Newsletters
According to recent study by usability expert, Jakob Nielsen, about 50 percent of readers skimmed or
partly read the newsletters. Only 23 percent of readers read the newsletters
all the way through. The remaining 27 percent were never opened.
So make the text easy to scan by:
· using short paragraphs
· using bullet points
· including plenty of white spacing
between topics
· highlighting topics with uppercase
or bold text in HTML newsletters
2. Insert Line Breaks
Improve the readability of your newsletter by
formatting it with hard line breaks at 60/65/70 characters per line. You can
use a text editor, such as TextPad,
and set it to insert hard carriage returns at the end of each 65-character
line.
3. Include Newsletter
Title In The Subject Field
Include your newsletter title at the beginning of
the subject field. This will help the reader differentiate your newsletter from
junk emails. It will also allow them to filter your newsletter into a separate
folder with the use of filters.
4. Make Your Subject
Field Sell!
Advertise the most enticing story of each issue in
the subject field. You literally have seconds to grab the readers
attention, so make it count.
5. Include A Table Of Content
Include a table of contents at the top of the
newsletter. This will allow readers to scan the topics to see if anything in
the newsletter catches their interest.
6. Fix Long Links
Long hyperlinks may be broken when you format
emails using hard line breaks at 60/65/70 characters per line.
To fix this problem, deselect word wrap after you
have inserted the carriage returns. Then manually edit the links to ensure they
are on one line. When the email is sent, a link may still wrap onto two lines.
But now it will be clickable.
7. Avoid Spam Filters
That Flag The "Unsubscribe" Word
Do not use the word "unsubscribe" in
your removal notice. A number of spam filters flag
emails containing that particular word as possible spam. The reason is many
spammers now offer "unsubscribe" functions that don't actually do
anything.
8. Avoid Spam Filters
That Flag Chain Letters
Some spam filters are flagging emails that asks
readers to forward the newsletter on as chain letters.
Avoid using the word "forward" and any
of the following words in the same sentence, "all, anyone, every, friends,
many, others, people." Instead of "forward," try using
"pass," "share," or "send."
9. Reduce Remove Request
Emails
There are two methods to reducing the number of
remove email requests from your subscribers:
10. Design User-Friendly
HTML Newsletters
Most people use an 800x600 screen resolution, but
the email preview pane is usually much smaller than the full screen. So format
your HTML table widths at 500-600 pixels at the most. Better still, use a
relative (percentage) width table, which will allow your newsletter to be
resized when viewed in different sized windows.
11. Create AOL Friendly
HTML Newsletters
AOL try to protect their
users by eliminating potential security hazards. As such, AOL email clients do
not support the following HTML objects:
In addition, the following HTML tags are the only
ones supported by AOL email clients:
12. Include AOL
Clickable Links
AOL users can't click standard hyperlinks or email
links. For links to work in AOL email clients, you must format them using HTML.
This is why you sometimes see both standard and HTML formatted links.
For example:
http://www.Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com
<a href="http://www.Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com">AOL
Link</a>
<a href="http://www.Mikes-Marketing-Tools.com">AOL
Users Click Here</a>
joe@anysite.com
<a href="mailto:joe@anysite.com">joe@anysite.com</a>
13. Spell Check Your
Writing
Last but not least, always spell check your
newsletter. Text editors, such as TextPad, include a spell check function.
If yours doesn't, then copy and paste the text
into Microsoft Word (assuming you have it). Make sure you have the "Check
spelling as you type" option switched on.
To set this, select "Options" under the
"Tools" in the top menu bar. Then select the "Spelling &
Grammar" tab. Under "Spelling" check the "Check spelling as
you type" check box and click "OK." Word will underline all of the
words that contain spelling errors.
Alternatively, check your spelling using SpellCheck.net, a free online spell
checker.
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About The Author: Michael Wong is a respected