The most important elements of a newsletter are:



- Relevant information

- Standardized format

- Pre-defined frequency

- Option to change preferences

- Company info or offers for subscribers

At the moment of subscription, make sure that the subscribers know what they will get and at what frequency. Encourage them to view some samples of your old newsletters. Let them choose the frequency and format of the newsletter.

Your newsletter must provide relevant information

Give the readers what they subscribed for. Be it latest industry information, current trends in your domain, news/alerts, product reviews or anything else. Your newsletter should provide fresh, quality info and not just yada yada. Your information should give a reason to the subscriber to wait for the next newsletter.

Maintain consistency -- don't be too creative with your newsletter

Usually marketers put a lot of efforts in making the first few newsletters, but later on they find it difficult to maintain the same momentum. Moreover different styles may confuse the reader. Make a standard format that represents your brand and present your information in the same manner in all the newsletters. The "from line" and the "subject line" should also have a standard format.

Prepare in advance and maintain the frequency

Be punctual in sending you letters. If it's the first of every month, then it should reach the recipient on that day and time. Just like newspapers - keep the basic newsletter ready and add only the latest news in the end.

Give the subscribers the power to select and change

Make it easy for your subscribers to change preferences such as - frequency, content, format, subject line, email address, etc. Apart from preferences, you must also honor unsubscribe requests. All opt-outs should be removed from your database promptly. You can do a small survey before people leave to find out the reasons.

Provide company info in a subtle way

Put information before anything else. Your subscribers know about your company and that's why they subscribed in the first place. It is important to have a brief about your company at the end, but don't overdo it. Nobody will read it anyways. Promote your products or services in terms of special offers only for newsletter subscribers. Make them feel special about being a member of your online community.