RSS

Foster and build relationships with an e-newsletter!

Electronic newsletters, or e-newsletters, are periodicals published online and distributed through e-mail to a list of subscribers.

Compared to traditional print newsletters, e-newsletters are a more cost-effective way to engage supporters and keep them updated with your organization’s news, events, campaigns, and giving opportunities. With just one click, readers can visit your website to learn more, make a donation, or forward the information to others. Try doing that with your traditional print newsletter!

 

In this Article:

 
What do I need?

Depending on the size of your emailing list, it might be unwise to send an e-newsletter from your desktop’s email program (like Outlook). This is because it will take a long time to send, and might be rejected as spam by your recipients. If you still have a small list of recipients and want to send emails through your regular email program, always remember to include recipients in the BCC field.

 
Once your subscriber list starts growing, it will become increasingly difficult for you and your team to maintain. To minimize complications and keep your newsletter professional, subscribe to an email marketing service. For as little as ten dollars a month, you can efficiently design, distribute, and track your e-newsletter.
 
 

Where do I start?

  1. Research “email marketing services” online, and sign up for the one that best suits your organization’s needs. Focus on functionality. What you’re looking for is ease of use and speed. The delivery service you choose should have a user-friendly interface that makes setting up and automating tasks straightforward. Support is also very important, so take into account how they serve customers, whether they offer telephone assistance or just email. Remember: always ask for non-profit pricing or discounts on the service!

  2. Brainstorm interesting topics that will grab and hold your readers’ attention. Write compelling stories about your volunteers, the people affected by your organization’s work, and new initiatives you are working on. Remember to write clearly, and for the internet. Keep sentences and paragraphs short.

  3. Lay out your newsletter. Most email marketing services have templates that make it easy for you to design and customize your newsletter with your logo and colour scheme. If you aren’t versed in graphic design, make sure you choose a service that includes design options.

  4. Build your subscriber list. Prominently place the subscriber box on your website. Market your newsletter every chance you get!

  5. Send out your e-newsletter! Ask for feedback and continue to improve your e-communications!

 

E-newsletter Top Ten Tips

  1. Send your e-newsletter regularly, but only if you have solid content. You want readers to look forward to receiving your newsletter. The last thing you want to do is bombard them with too many updates. Aim for valuable and timely information and keep to a regular schedule.

  2. Writing for the web is different than writing for print. Crisp, clear writing in short sentences and paragraphs is most effective.

  3. Avoid sending e-newsletters as attachments. Firewalls and Internet service providers can block the electronic newsletters, reducing the amount of people reading your news.

  4. People often scan and skim email before thoroughly reading it. This is why you and your team must be creative and come up with catchy headlines and compelling stories to attract reader attention.

  5. Provide your readers with every opportunity to donate or take action. Include links in your articles to keep readers engaged, and to increase the chances of them visiting (and spending time) on your website. Make your Donate Now! button a constant part of the e-newsletter layout.

  6. Avoid text-heavy newsletters. White space is valuable and can give your newsletter a clean and orderly appearance. Pictures, graphs and other visual elements are also important.

  7. Your newsletter should not have the full text of each article (unless it's very short). Write a headline and lead-in paragraph, and then link to your website for the full text. The idea is to grab people's attention quickly with easily digestible bits of information.

  8. Use a table of contents. Put the titles of each article toward the top of your newsletter and use anchors to link to the text of each one. This allows people to quickly scan through articles.

  9. Proofread, proofread, proofread. Don't risk distributing an e-newsletter with any typos, misspellings or grammatical mistakes.

  10. Subscribe to other non-profit e-newsletters. Keep updated on what types of articles they are writing, and do it better.

 

Upgrading your E-newsletter Webinar Recording

 

Learn More