How can you improve your stakeholder newsletters?
It’s all about having great content, something to say, and of course, the perfect design.
With web design and email design being ever-changing disciplines, we thought we’d share some of the key concepts around improving your stakeholder newsletters to improve engagement.
How to improve stakeholder newsletters
Here are 10 steps you can follow to deliver better newsletters:
1. Plan it out
When it comes to stakeholder newsletter design, keep things clean and simple.
A sketch on paper helps you pick the key elements you need before you start creating your newsletter.
A single column of content is easier to scan and read and will scroll smoothly on mobile devices.
2. Consider your branding
Colours should be on-brand, but be mindful of how colours are linked to emotions.
Consider how your brand colours look when used for fonts, borders or other elements.
3. Welcome
Begin with a strong header.
Sitting at the very top, it should include your logo or company name, a newsletter title or image.
This will be the very first thing your audience will see when opening your email, so make sure it creates a good first impression.
4. Create a hierarchy
Create a sense of importance with colours, shapes and size of the text.
Like a newspaper, the heading should be large, with your articles broken up by subheadings.
The subheadings should be smaller than your header, but larger than the article text. This makes content easier to consume as people often skim through.
It’s okay if you only have one or two key messages for stakeholders to see. Less is more in design and if you have plenty of white space, your message will really jump out.
5. Consider a short attention span
People want to find information quickly and if they’re looking for stakeholder news, this means they want something specific from you.
Present your information clearly, saving less important information for lower down the email and try not to repeat a message over and over during the course of a series of emails.
Try and keep the message fresh, even if you are sending reminders and nudges.
6. Images
A newsletter full of text will be very boring to look at and will most likely end up in the trash. Try to choose images that engage your reader and complement your message.
Choose a landscape format, so as not to take up too much screen space. Also consider how your images will look when reduced in size, like on a mobile phone for example. The more detail in your image, the harder it will be to see what’s going on.
And try to keep your images to under 30% of the whole newsletter so it stays out of spam filters.
7. Fonts
When it comes to fonts, keep it simple. Not everyone has the same fonts installed on their computers.
That fancy new font your brand uses isn’t going to display for the vast majority of your audience and your newsletter won’t look the way you intended.
Stick to tried and tested fonts like Arial, Calibri, Times New Roman or Georgia, that are clean, uncluttered, and easy to read. Avoid novelty handwriting or cursive fonts that will make your newsletter appear unprofessional.
8. Keep it relevant, informative and valuable
Make sure your newsletter relates to the industry and focuses on issues that will be of interest.
Include content that is educational or informative and try to offer something useful.
9. Ask for what you need
A call to action is a critical part of your email newsletter and a button is a great way to get people to click through.
Whilst it’s quick and easy to link text, if it’s not clear and obvious enough, it can be a missed opportunity for a sale or a conversion.
10. Don’t forget to test!
Make sure you test your newsletter before you send it out to your hundreds or thousands of recipients.
Test how it looks in different mail clients like Outlook and Gmail. Test how it looks on different browsers like Internet Explorer and Chrome. See how it compares on different devices such as your desktop, tablet or mobile.
There may be things you don’t notice when you’re building your newsletter until you see it in your Inbox.
Streamline your stakeholder newsletter process
Tractivity has helped hundreds of stakeholder engagement and management professionals improve their newsletter communication. Our built-in email tool enables you to send branded and non-branded emails to all your stakeholder groups with ease.
Contact us to learn more about our email module and all the other communication tools we offer within a single system.
