You know this, but I’m gonna say it again: Email is one of the most powerful tools to help you get more sales and grow your business. But, it’s important to remember to give more than you take with email. No one wants to buy from someone who only sends sales emails.
Not-so-spoiler alert: People buy from people they like. Building trust and establishing yourself as an expert in your field can help you build up more of that know-like-trust-factor.
One way to give more than you take with email is to regularly provide value through education, inspiration, or entertainment. A regular newsletter is a great way to share that content, so I want to share the steps it takes to set up a weekly newsletter that converts with Flodesk, my favorite easy-to-send-beautiful-emails platform!
What to say in a weekly newsletter
First things first, before you get started designing your newsletter in an email tool like Flodesk, you gotta know what you’re going to say in your newsletter.
Not every newsletter needs to be mind-blowing, but it should have a purpose. Remember, your newsletter can be anything that helps educate, entertain or inspire your readers. You want to help them get to know you, your brand, and your products better … without directly selling to them. (Yet.) Need some ideas on what to share with your peeps?
Here are some of my favorites newsletter topics:
- Success stories—share a before and after of how your product or service changed someone’s life or business.
- Seasonal content—think of how to use your product in a seasonal way. For instance, if you’re a food blogger, seasonal recipes are a great thing to share. Or if you’re an eCommerce shop, you can curate gift guides for every holiday.
- Top 3 mistakes clients make—make this specific to your particular clients. What are three no-nos you often see them make that you can help educate them on—and position yourself as a thought leader?
- Checklists—think of a useful checklist that can help your clients, whether it’s either directly or indirectly related to your product. For instance, if you sell face masks, you could create a checklist directly about face masks called: Top 10 Toxic Ingredients to Avoid in Face Masks. Or if you want to create an indirect checklist, it could be: The Top 10 Things Everyone Needs in Their Self-care Toolkit, where you list your face mask as one of the items.
- Quizzes—this is a fun way to drive greater engagement with your email subscribers. People love personality quizzes or “which XYZ are you?” type quizzes.
- Updates, anecdotes, or inspiring stories—share any new happenings in your business that you think people would like to know about. Events, upcoming sales, new products, big takeaways, personal updates. People love behind-the-scenes content.
- Blog posts—don’t forget to share about recent blog posts you’ve written in your newsletter. Or if you have great newsletter content, you can always repurpose it into a blog post to help you reach a wider audience of people who might not be on your list yet.
- Instagram posts—have a juicy Instagram post with a captivating caption? Repurpose into an email! Remember, only a small percentage of your IG followers see your content on the platform, so it’s not only okay to repurpose it for your email subscribers, it’s smart!
The important thing is to mix it up and to track which types of content your audience likes best. Double down on the type of newsletter content you share that gets higher click-through rates.
And, don’t feel the need to stuff a newsletter full of different pieces of content. It’s okay to have a single piece of content in your newsletter—in fact, sometimes shorter is better!
How to set up a weekly newsletter in Flodesk
Now that you know what to send in a newsletter, let’s talk about the design and how to actually send it.
With the right tools in place, it’s easy to set up a weekly newsletter template you can re-use over and over again to speed up your email-sending process. Flodesk (my low-key email crush … shhh, don’t tell them) makes it easy with stunning templates designed to make your brand stand out.
Beyond the template, the email builder walks you through each step of sending out your newsletter, so whether this is your first or fiftieth newsletter, it’s always a piece of flourless chocolate cake.
15 steps to set up a weekly newsletter in Flodesk:
1. Log into your Flodesk account or start a free trial by heading here if you don’t have one!
2. Click on + New Email in the top right.
3. Explore templates until you find one that’s perfect for you. Pro tip: Typically, the best-performing newsletters include quick summaries of the content that’s being shared with a link to read more on a blog or another landing page.
4. When you find one, click into it, then click Customize.
5. Click on empty images on the left-hand side to upload your desired images on the right-hand side settings panel. You can upload your own images or add a high-quality stock photo from Unsplash.
6. Double click any of the text areas to update it to your own copy. You can customize the font, size, and color in the settings panel to match your brand.
7. Make sure to link any buttons to the correct URLs they should point to (this is usually a blog post, a product listing, or a landing page).
Note: In Flodesk, Layout blocks (the collage-type block seen below with a mix of text, images, and buttons) render as images when the email is sent. You can link the entire block to the URL it should go to. A reader can click anywhere on the Layout, and your email will look beautiful on any device.
8. You can also add new blocks or Layouts by hovering in the area you want to add it, then click the plus sign.
9. Simply click on a block to add it into your email.
10. If you’re adding a new Layout block, browse Layout templates in the settings panel, then click to select the one you want.
Keep editing and adding until your email is complete. With Flodesk’s auto-save functionality, you never have to worry about saving your work. It’s all backed up for you! Yesss.
11. When you’re ready to send your email, hit Next in the top right corner.
12. Customize who the email is coming from with your name and email address. Hit Continue.
13. Write your subject line and preview text. Preview text is the snippet of copy that appears next to your subject line when people get your emails in their inbox. (You can add emojis here, too! Just remember to not use too many.) Hit continue.
14. Next you’ll choose who to send your newsletter to. You can add a segment (like if you have a “Newsletter” segment), individual email addresses, or upload a csv. It’s very important to only email people who have given you express consent to send them email marketing, so make sure everyone on your list has opted in.
15. On the last screen, you can send yourself a test email in the top right corner just to make sure everything looks great and all your links work. Then either send your email now or schedule a time in the future to send it.
My best newsletter subject line tips
To get the best bang for your buck newsletter, make sure you have an awesome subject line. It is quite literally the thing that determines whether or not your newsletter will get read by more people!
- Don’t make your subject line too long—keep it about 41-50 characters
- Always make sure to include preview text that elaborates on your subject line or teases what the newsletter content is about
- Experiment with direct subject lines that hint at what’s inside (like “The top 3 mistakes you can’t afford to make”) without giving away the whole kit and kaboodle vs. more informal subject lines that sound a bit like a text from a friend (like “I never would have guessed this”)
- Pay attention to what your audience likes (aka, opens) most! And do more of that.
Step up your weekly newsletter game
Newsletters are an essential part of your email marketing strategy because they help you provide value and stay top of mind with your audience … leading to more sales later.
Find a template you love in Flodesk, then simply update the content and send it out each week for the easiest newsletter plan EVER.
There’s so much you can share to engage and love on your list, and when in a pinch, you can always repurpose longer IG posts or older blog posts that are still relevant! Newsletters are where it’s at, and they just got WAY easier to send.
Get in on Flodesk’s beta pricing while you still can!
