From good to great … 4 ways to take your employee newsletter to the next level

The employee newsletter seems like an obvious way to connect all employees with the company news and keep them up-to-date, no matter where they are.

But when the average employee receives approximately 130 emails per day how can your newsletter stand out from the noise in their inbox?

Here are four key ways to take your employee newsletter to the next level and drive higher engagement.

MAKE THE BAIT JUICY

The very first thing a reader will see when an email lands in their inbox is who the message is coming from, what the subject line is and then a teaser of the content.  So are you making the most of these three critical elements within your newsletter?

43% of readers say they open an email based on who it comes from and 33% say they base it on subject line … so that’s a lot of influence you have at your fingertips.

• Consider having your newsletter sent from a trusted and respected individual rather than a generic inbox as it can increase open rates by as much as 35%.
• Keep the subject line concise, catchy, or intriguing and make sure it aligns with the content beyond it - you’d hate to disappoint or mislead your readers.
• Make sure you write the preview text, appearing right after the subject line, to give an enticing view of what’s to come, make it persuasive, and motivate the reader to open up the email fully.

KEEP READERS FEEDING

Once you’ve enticed your readers to open up your email newsletter, it is said you have 11 seconds to capture their attention.  The visual appeal of your newsletter through its layout and design will determine whether any of your content gets read, so consider:

• Including imagery to make your email stand out from all the other email content employees are likely to receive.  A picture tells a thousand words, so visuals are a powerful way of conveying key messages that words alone cannot. Incorporate photos, videos, or infographics to encourage them to explore and engage with more of the content.
• Making it scannable and easy to digest.   Split the layout up into sections with distinct, relevant headers.  Put the most important and relevant piece of content for your readers at the top.  Use short paragraphs and avoid large blocks of text. And highlight obvious calls to action or links to more information so employees know what to do and where to go for more information.
• Having a takeaway section bulleting and summarizing the most important points made throughout the newsletter.  It’s a clever way to communicate with time-poor or impatient readers.

OPTIMIZE FOR MOBILE

With 40% of emails now being opened on mobile phones your newsletter format also has to be fit for mobile viewing.

70% of readers delete emails immediately if images don’t render on a mobile device, so ensure you combat this by reducing the size of your images, using short blocks of text rather than large ones, and always adding alt-text to your email images.

Then test the user experience (for both desktop and phone) to ensure its design is responsive, easy to read, navigate and view.

UNDERSTAND AND ADAPT TO YOUR READERS

A good newsletter can only ever get better if you know what your readers are doing, consuming or taking action on.  Monitor performance and trace email analytics to learn how your audience responds to your content and refine and improve your newsletter content or design with confidence.

Use A/B split testing (comparing performance of two variations) to understand what works best for your audience.  Play around with subject lines, layout, or call-to-action buttons to see what drives higher engagement, open and click-through rates.

Measuring and monitoring the performance of your e-newsletter not only allows you to better understand your employee’s preferences to serve up the content they most want and need, but it improves their whole user experience and levels of engagement.

All these elements ensure your newsletter becomes and remains a value-added and trusted channel.