Since last week we were talking about fonts and how to make our text legible… we cannot abandon them. And as now we know how it has to be our text on the web, why not to talk about how it has to be in our newsletter? As you can see they have many things in common, but … let’s step by step!
Normally, when we have a blog, even if we do not usually put it from the beginning, we include a newsletter subscription to ease the reading for those who are regulars to the blog.
We subscribe because we want to be the first to receive news and information and thus, it is simpler to see the new posts published without having to go to the website or blog and update ;). Many blog publish specific days but others randomly, so this way you just have to open your email (which is more usual.) When you start to navigate … you cannot stop and usually if you follow such a number of blog and you do not subscribe, you would not have time to see them all and check daily if you want their content or not.
If you do not have a newsletter subscription, I recommend it! It is a very effective way to attract readers and get their loyalty.
Of course, you have to give something in return. We cannot do a newsletter subscription and send a newsletter without any appeal. If our newsletter is not working, we get the reverse of what we wanted: our supporters will decrease. But do not worry; today we will give some tips to make your newsletter attractive to your followers.
Are you not subscribed to Silo Creativo? Do not worry, you can do it here! We assure you that you will like the information we send!
Shall we start?
My responsive newsletter … YES
Something that we have to keep in mind when we are designing our newsletter is that like websites should be responsive with all mobile devices, our newsletter should be too.
That is, at least we should design a computer and mobile versions. Clearly the structure will be the same, but we must take into account the sizes and distributions, just like when we talked about webs. The vast majority of the newsletters are open through mobile devices, so that their design must be very careful with the visibility and readability. It has to be responsive to all! 🙂
What parts should contain my newsletter?
Do you remember at school when you were talking about the parts of a letter? This is exactly the same, as we are sending a letter by email. 🙂
1. Header
Usually we have in the header the company logo or personal brand. We are sending an email and we want our brand to be fully recognizable, so we are interested that the first thing the user sees is our logo, the most representative of our brand.
It is important to remember that the size of the logo on mobile devices should not be too large, as it would occupy the entire screen and we would have to scroll to start reading the email, which is the most important thing.
If we make a too big or flashy header, we can draw too much attention causing damage to the text. Obviously, if we are launching a campaign and use a banner for it, it is fine, but in our daily or weekly newsletter, the most important thing is the article!
2. Body
2.1. It’s time to our article!
The next thing that should appear is the text. Although usually we send a newsletter by a special milestone, it is normal that we send a newsletter every time we publish a new article.
We can show the full article or its reduced version in an extract mode. Thus, the article would consist of the title, an (optional) image and the text either in an extract or the whole article.
Features text to be legible
- What font should I use?
It is recommended that you use the same font you are using on your website, both titles and subtitles. Think that the newsletter has to look similar to your website design, and should include the same aesthetic characteristics that make it recognizable. We are not used to use a different font and colour because our audience might get lost without knowing if it was really you who sent the email.
- • What font size?
Like when we talked about web size, the size we have to keep in our email should range 16 pixels (depending on the font.) We know that fashionable fonts are below this size, but remember that readability is the most important.
We can also keep this size for mobile devices. Think that although the screen is smaller, the text must be read with the same clarity. If it seems too large, we can lower it a bit, but just that, a little.
For the text of the title we can talk about 30 pixels, although it is important to go in line with the difference in size between title-paragraph that we have on the web.
- Characters per line
It is quite normal that in a newsletter we do not use the entire wide screen that it offers; i.e., we often work with 600px wide and not with 1200 or 1400 px as we do on the web. If the content of the newsletter occupies the entire width of the email, it will be very uncomfortable to read; the lines will be too long and we would have to make a move neck.
If we work with about 600 px wide with a single column, we will find lines with about 60-70 characters and therefore it will be easy to read. A good option is to focus the content within the email space, as even if there is space around, your eye will focus on the text.
With mobile devices clearly we must reduce the length of the line, as we would be removing readability with a smaller text size. We can have 30 characters; i.e., we can reduce roughly by half the line remaining the same size text.
- Combination of text and background colour
Like when we talked on the web, what works best is black text on white background (it is also the most widely used combination.) Maybe in our website we have some background or pattern, but we must ask whether it is really necessary or in our newsletter it could be more a point of distraction than help.
Using the outstanding image
If our article has a featured picture, why not show it in the newsletter? Visual always attracts more and therefore if we have an attractive image we get more readers.
It is recommended that this appears after the title, then it must be the latter that the user sees after our logo.
2.2. Buttons
You can choose to display the entire article, but personally we like an excerpt to appear because it is easier for the reader to read the article on the web, plus you are getting a visitor to it. If you read the article from your email, you do it from something external and you do not control 100%: an image that is not shown, a text out of position … We believe it is more comfortable to read the full article on the web, since that it is the format in which we have published.
We will also say that the visitor must click to be able to read the entire article and this may be uncomfortable, but we think it is a small price to pay. We know that all those that click and read will be interested in the topic, and thus you are winning a visitor to your website.
Thus, if you opt for the version with extract, a button “read more” must be created. We recommend having similar aesthetic features to your website. As we are saying, the newsletter is nothing but an extension of it, so they have to have great similarities.
2.3. Social buttons
Sharing is one of the most rewarding things we can do in our daily lives, so let’s do it! Put the buttons of social networks and enable your readers to share your articles.
3. Footer
The footer is the place in which we include our corporate information: our address, email, telephones … Those data that are relevant for us if the user wants to contact us.
We can also include our social networks, so they can follow us through them and a link to our website.
However, the most important thing is that we must introduce the option to unsubscribe for those who want no more to be subscribed. One thing is to want to have more followers and subscribers and another thing is to spam. We do not want a lot of followers, we want the best ones!
In summary…
Remember that the newsletter is a reflection of you and your web, so stylistically it should be very similar to this and include the details that make it yours and different from the others. You have to keep your subscribers and create a new and informative content!
Do not forget that readability in the text is the most important thing and that it can be good to include an image.
We hope to be getting it with ours! 😉
