Email Newsletters: What They Are and How to Create One

An email newsletter is a regular email sent to people who have asked to hear from you. Unlike a one-off promotion, its job is to keep your business in mind between purchases with something worth reading: news, advice, behind-the-scenes stories and the occasional offer.

Done well, a newsletter becomes the reason people come back. Done badly, it becomes the email people delete unread. The difference is usually not design but whether each issue gives the reader something useful.

What to put in a newsletter

A good small business newsletter mixes a little of each:

• Something useful: a tip, a how-to or an answer to a common question. A florist might explain how to make cut tulips last longer.
• Something new: a product, service, menu change or team member.
• Something human: a short story from the business, a customer's project or a local event you joined.
• One clear action: book, reply, visit or buy.

A useful rule of thumb is that most of each issue should be worth reading even for someone who is not buying this month.

How to create an email newsletter, step by step

1. Decide who it is for and what it promises

Write one sentence: "A monthly email for home bakers with one recipe, one technique and what is new in the shop." This promise goes on your sign-up form and keeps every issue on track.

2. Choose an email marketing platform

Send newsletters through a platform built for it, not your normal inbox. Platforms manage sign-ups and unsubscribes, provide templates and show results. Many have free or low-cost plans for small lists. Our guide to email marketing platforms explains how to choose.

3. Build your list with permission

Add a sign-up form to your website, a box at checkout and a sign-up sheet or QR code in your shop. Under UK rules, you need people's consent to send marketing emails to individuals, unless the soft opt-in applies to your existing customers. Do not add contacts from your phone or business cards without asking.

4. Set up a simple template

Keep the layout plain and readable on a phone:

1. Your logo or name at the top
2. A short opening line from a real person
3. The main story or tip with one image
4. Two or three short items
5. One button for the main action
6. Footer: business name and address, how they signed up and an unsubscribe link

5. Write a subject line that says what is inside

"April: three plants that love shade, plus our Easter opening hours" tells the reader why to open. Vague subjects such as "News from us" are easy to ignore.

6. Test, send and learn

Send a test to yourself, check it on a phone, then send. After a few days, look at which links were clicked. Over several issues, these clicks tell you what your readers value.

How often to send

Choose a rhythm you can keep. For most small businesses a monthly newsletter is sustainable, with occasional extra emails for launches or events. Sending weekly only works if you have enough genuinely useful material; a thin weekly email trains people to ignore you.

Newsletter mistakes to avoid

• Writing about yourself in every paragraph instead of the reader's interests.
• Sending one large image with all the text inside it; it may not display, and it cannot be read by screen readers.
• Hiding the unsubscribe link, which drives people to mark you as spam.
• Stopping for months, then sending to a list that has forgotten you.

For ideas on layout and tone, see our collection of email newsletter examples.