Good Newsletters: How Successful Email Marketing Works
Feb 11, 2025 – Tobias Steinemann
Newsletters are an important marketing tool for companies. Hardly any other channel is as suitable for building a loyal community. But what characterises a really good newsletter and how do you get there?
Newsletter? Really??
They flood our mailboxes, are often deleted immediately and are usually even ignored straight away. Gmail and other email providers also allow users to filter out newsletters in their inbox.
Against this background, how can we believe that email marketing is still an effective tactic?
The impression is misleading. Of course we don't read all mailings. There is also a lot of (advertising) rubbish. Fortunately, that's not all. News briefings, supplier information, sneaker deals, music updates and so on:
We all have our newsletters, which we study at least occasionally and are thus accessible to brands.
What makes a good newsletter? How do you build a community? You can find these and other tips in this article.
The Advantages of Newsletters
👉 Direct access: You land directly in the mailbox of your target group.
👉 High delivery rate: There is no algorithm that decides whether your content is displayed to the recipient.
👉 Independence: With access via the email address, you are also independent of the existence and success of individual social media platforms.
👉 Personalisation: The better you know your subscribers, the more personalised you can make your content.
👉 High ROI: Newsletters are inexpensive and effective. They offer a higher return on investment than other marketing measures.
👉 Measurable results: You can analyse and optimise the success of your email campaigns.
Content: Find a Niche for Your Newsletter
Your targets need to understand why it is worthwhile for them personally to subscribe to your newsletter. General newsletters from companies without clear relevance have a difficult time.
Law firms, for example, often offer a general company newsletter. Very different clients (companies, private individuals, start-ups, etc.) should then register for this - even if an inheritance law problem is of course diametrically different from start-up financing.
How do I build a community for my newsletter?
Every new newsletter starts with no or very few subscribers. Here are a few tips that are important when building a newsletter community.
1. Seamless Embedding in Your Website
You should draw the attention of users who land on your website to your newsletter. After all, these are people who are interested in your content. Effective ‘call to actions’ in the right places can encourage them to subscribe to your newsletter.
2. Good Newsletter Landing Page
A simple ‘Subscribe here’ call to action is usually not enough. On a separate landing page, you can explain why it is worth subscribing to your newsletter. Address the problems of the target groups and show them which of their problems your newsletter solves.
It is also helpful for interested users if they know what they are getting into. Let them know how much time they need to invest to read your briefings and how often you plan to send out newsletters.
3. Social Media as an Accelerator
LinkedIn can help to make your newsletter better known. Again, it's not enough to simply post: ‘Here's my newsletter, subscribe me!’.
What works better is to publish the entire issue on LinkedIn. This allows users to see the content without committing themselves and then decide whether they would like to receive the briefing as a newsletter in future.
👉 However, you shouldn't forget the call to subscribe!
4. Partner Marketing: Team up with others
Partner marketing is a powerful way to increase your own reach within your target group and is also suitable for publicising newsletters.
Identify other media that appeal to a similar target group. For example, you can write guest posts on other platforms or in other newsletters to draw attention to yourself (your newsletter).
Further tips for starting or optimising
👉 Good Subject Line
Your subject line should stand out in the flood of incoming emails. Choose an appealing formulation so that your users immediately recognise what the current issue is about.
👉 Nobody Wants ‘Me Me Me’ and Adverts
If you only use the newsletter to send out adverts or brag about your company and its successes, you're in the wrong place. Sure: your products and services should sell better through these mailings. In order for subscribers to listen, you must first provide them with valuable information. Relationships start with storytelling.
👉 Benefit From Existing Content
Do you have a blog, podcast or regularly give talks? Use this content to reproduce it in abridged form in your newsletter. It is important that your subscribers receive added value in the mailing itself. So don't just copy and paste the title of a blog post and link to the website. Content should also be included in your newsletter.
👉 ‘Client-Centric’: Put yourself in the shoes of your target groups
In marketing, the perspective of the target groups is always crucial. Try to adopt this perspective and base all decisions on it. What should you write? How should the subject line be worded? How often does a mailing justify itself? etc.
‘Offer what you can sell, don't sell what you can offer!’
👉 Organisation and Structure of a Newsletter
It is worth finding a structure for the newsletter that you follow every time you send it out. This allows you to create a useful template and simplifies the entire process. The content is then filled into this structure.
This structure also makes the newsletter more accessible and reliable for readers.
👉 Analyse and Optimise Newsletter
The performance of newsletters can be measured and optimised with modern software. Use the available metrics to find the best time to send the newsletter, for example. It is also worth experimenting with different content to see how subscribers react to it.