Pointers for Writing Better Internal Email Newsletters

1. Ensure that the information presented is complete. Readers should not feel like they were only being teased. Internal newsletters are not school learning material either: try to be complete. The level of needed information however might be smaller than you might expect. Of course linking to – for instance – the intranet for further info is great. Or a reference “ask X at department Y for more information” can be a good way to encourage interdepartmental contact and dialog.
2. Keep internal newsletters simple.There is no contest for brevity here so don’t interpret conciseness as the compulsion to have short sentences or paragraphs. Newsletters should demonstrate a sense of fluidity so reading them appears natural. The point in making things concise and simple is avoiding. People skip the info altogether. Especially think about re-writing that CEO text (they do love their intro’s!) a few times to make it better.  Bear in mind that everyone in the company (should be?) busy and will not always have the luxury of time to read wordy and long-winded newsletters.
3. Make newsletters engaging and empowering. Readers should be reading internal newsletters because they find them interesting or engaging, not because the boss demands them to do so. Top-down demanding is just not the best way to do it and certainly not the most effective. It doesn’t feel right. There is nothing wrong in making the emails engaging enough to create a habit of reading them.

To make newsletters engaging, it is advisable to use a conversational or casual tone. Unless it’s a company policy, it’s not required to be formal in writing. They are often not  as official company or organization correspondence so you have some leeway for making them interesting and engaging.

Moreover, to make newsletters engaging, consider using creativity or humor in the presentation. When reporting about a recently held company event, for example, instead of delivering the details in straight news form, try adding in some humor-laced comments along with candid photos.

If a specific department or project team achieves a commendable feat, the newsletters can be used to acknowledge them to let other employees know of what they have accomplished and to make them serve as an inspiration.

There are some more recommended newsletter topics that are likely to engage readers at the end of this article.

• Try to make use of visuals whenever applicable. Imagine reading something that looks like lengthy blocks of black text on white background. It will unlikely encourage you to continue reading. Compare that to reading something with photos or even stock illustrations inserted. Reading experience with imagery is 100% better. Visuals are particularly recommended when writing about boring facts and corporate updates. Depending on your tone-of-voice, your own pictures (non-stock) featuring the in-house employees always do better.

• Observe propriety. Creativity and some humor make newsletters better but it’s important to always bear propriety in mind. Being appropriate is expected in all types of organization communication. When reporting about layoffs or poor company performance, for example, humor is certainly out of the question. It might go without saying, but it’s not right to make fun of unfortunate events and to make fun of a specific employee or department for the sake of making the newsletter engaging.

• Keep improving. - A/B testing is a form of experiment to determine tweaks that can enhance the results of a project or campaign. There are a number of other email newsletter tests you can consider. In doing internal email newsletters, think mostly about the subject lines and the type of topics. Of course the changes or tweaks that received the most favorable KPI’s / statistics will likely be used for succeeding newsletters. But next to the numbers, quality feedback is also important, you can just walk up to your colleagues and ask or do it in form of an employee questionnaire.