How to Cook Up a Newsletter Worth Savouring

Transform your newsletter from a tasty snack to the hearty meal subscribers wait for all week long.

Mar 04, 2024

I’m subscribed to a ton of newsletters. A ton.

I can’t help it. I might be addicted.

(Literally signed up to another one just now).

Every week, a flood of value-packed emails from my favourite online creators ping their way straight to my inbox. I look forward to them more than the actual post in our letterbox.

And I read every single one.

However, there are only a few that I read slowly. The rest are skim-reads.

So what makes me want to savour those special “delicacy” newsletters? What makes them that bit more nutritious than the others?

Here’s what I believe makes a newsletter level up from being just another tasty snack to the hearty meal you wait for all week long.

Clear focus

Let’s start with the F word: focus.

The best newsletters have a clear, distinct focus. You know what to expect from each edition when you click the open button, at least in terms of its theme if not its exact content.

Eve Arnold’s newsletter helps you become a part-time creator while sticking with your 9–5 job.

Justin Welsh champions solopreneurship (like me) and offers advice on how to get started.

Jay Clouse guides you along the path to becoming a professional online creator.

I know what to expect when these guys email me each week.

Once newsletters begin straying too far from their central theme, recipients get confused and start gravitating towards the unsubscribe link. You don’t want that.

Keep your newsletter focused on a key theme to meet your audience’s expectations.

Clean layout

There’s nothing worse than a cluttered, hard-to-read email.

Some of the newsletters I receive have fantastic content but are poorly constructed, and I usually end up skimming them.

Don’t confuse your subscribers with varying subheader sizes, jarring font formats and out-of-place embeds.

Your newsletter should flow smoothly from start to finish guiding your readers towards your CTA (assuming it’s at the bottom).

Not too long

I’m coming around more and more to short-form newsletters.

I send out two newsletter editions per week. One’s “atomic” (ie. very short and sweet) and the other’s closer to the length of a Medium article.

I’m testing these formats right now to see which my audience prefers (more on that in future), but personally, I’m enjoying the shorter newsletters I receive each week from other creators.

Try to avoid overstuffing your newsletter. Readers only have so long to ingest your content and you don’t want them clicking away before they get to your point.

Conversational tone

This is a big one for me.

I love a newsletter written in a casual tone of voice. It leaves me feeling like I’ve just had coffee with the creator instead of simply having read an email.

“Write like you talk” is common advice, and I think it’s good advice.

If your newsletter sounds like you’ve typed it up on an impulse (“I had this great idea and had to share it with you!”) and fired it off to someone you’re close to, that’s how your readers will take it. That’s how you develop the writer-reader connection.

Use a conversational tone to build rapport and trust.

Seamless call to action

Finally, if your email ends with a call-to-action, introduce it as seamlessly as possible.

JK Molina’s a pro at this. His emails (it’s hard to call them newsletters because they’re so short and conversational) move fluidly from one CTA to another, so much so that you barely notice them. But the seeds get planted anyway.

If you can introduce your CTA without it disrupting the flow of your email, your subscribers will be more inclined to click on it. I know I am.

Whip up a meal worth savouring

Treat your newsletters with the care and attention you’d invest in a special, once-a-week meal and your audience will start savouring them instead of skimming to the end.

To sum up, here’s my preferred newsletter recipe: