The problem with email newsletters in 2022 (and a few stand-out ones to take notes from)

9 out of 10 marketers use email marketing to distribute content, but experts estimate that most of us are exposed to over 10,000 brand messages each day. Standing out from the competition and building a value-led community has never been tougher.

The problem with most newsletters is that they're boring. Made by people who don't know how to write or are just trying to collate something which will push a product or another piece of corporate material. But who would want regular communications from a brand constantly talking about itself and providing nothing new of value?

Readers are smarter than you think

Emails might include promotions or sales nudges, but a newsletter should be an opportunity for you to show off the expertise behind your brand and build a reputation or connection for the future. It's no surprise that quick and easy email newsletters are a super common marketing tool, but there's a line between marketing and sales for a reason. Marketing materials should nurture and support someone, offering assistance and learnings without them needing to be a consumer or client (yet).

A great way to do this is by offering a mix of content that helps your audience solve problems, encourages them to take action, and shows them how you can help once they are ready. The best email newsletters with a marketing purpose usually offer a glimpse of what the company does and why they do it by including interesting context around its product or service, rather than just straight-up selling it.

Newsletters need to be the right balance of value-led marketing content and unique corporate personality

Figuring out your corporate personality can be tricky, but the power of simple, recognisable brand is immeasurable. Ask yourself; What makes your business stand out from the competition aside from the differences in product? Is it the way your content looks? How your copy reads? The angle you take to solving a problem? It should be all of the above!

The above determines your corporate content personality while also influencing how you incorporate marketing messages seamlessly into a newsletter for your unique audience. If you have no corporate personality present or offer marketing content without value, you risk seeing less clicks on your email, low open rates, short read times, and eventually, a diminishing subscriber list. No one wants churn (when subscribers start unsubscribing) but it comes about for a variety of reasons, such as:

• The person gave details for something and suddenly is subscribed to something they aren't at all interested in.
• The language, format, or style is too formal, stuffy, or boring.
• There are too many emails with too little differentiation (aka email blast marketing)
• The precious subject line just isn't grabbing their attention
• It's filled with ads, promotions, and calls-to-action like "buy now!" or "give us more of your details!"

Five stand-out email newsletters that don't play by normal marketing rules

⓵ HabitWeekly

As the name suggests, this weekly email is packed with resources, research, and bite-sized news for "behavioral enthusiasts" hoping to get into the good habit of reading something informative each week. And to finish it off, there's a new surprise box to click open each time! Who doesn't love a surprise? Over the weekend HabitWeekly released its 200th edition since starting in October 2018. To celebrate, they shared their impressive newsletter stats including reaching an average open rate of 47% and total spend on growth is $0. Yep, $0 because all subscribers joined via word of mouth. Look over their back-to-school newsletter here.

⓶ NoGood News

Looking for something quirky yet informative? This email newsletter goes out twice a month to explore brands’ hidden potential to fuel their growth which anyone can learn from. It starts with a TL;DR for those of us who are time-poor and feels like minimal self-promotion. Issue 25 contained gems like 'AI as a design tool for humans', 'Simplifying your content narrative with memes' and 'Header tags + SEO; name a more iconic duo' - all of which you can find on their blog while you wait for the next issue to arrive.

⓷ Chartr

More regular than most email newsletters, this one is especially great for visual learners and fans of graphed mathematics. Every Wednesday and Friday they send out a few chart-focused short articles with a round-up of important statistics that came to light throughout the week. Just last week they included a chart to prove Pumpkin Spice Latte Season is officially here - right below trends shown by the US S&P 500 Index so there's something for every kind of chart-reader.

⓸ Quartz

It was hard to choose exactly which Quartz email newsletter to shout about. But that's why we have included them - their offering is like a restaurant menu where you receive what you are interested in and opt out of what isn't relevant to you. Anyone can see the full selection on their designated webpage. Our favourites include The Memo From Quartz every Wednesday morning with practical work advice for professionals, Quartz Weekly Obsession which explores forgotten histories or surprising facts in an interactive way, and Space Business which is exactly what the name suggests on Thursdays. Don't even get us started on the free email courses or exclusive subscription emails!

⓹ Noggin Notes

Sometimes you need to keep things simple, and that's where Turtl's Noggin Notes comes in. We may be a little biased, but nothing beats getting a curated collection of the five latest news, trends and research for cognitive marketers and curious minds once a month. Last month's newsletter explored topics like how emotions affect B2B decision-making and if (or when) apologizing in the workplace is really necessary. We've had a sneak peek at October's nuggets of wisdom which will include how putting pricing upfront psychologically affects buyers' decisions and what marketers can learn from Gen Z's smartphone addiction. Consider subscribing so you don't miss out ...

The Turtl Takeaway: Make what you (and your audience) would actually like.

According to MailChimp, the average open rate for an email newsletter was 20%, meaning 80% of subscribers aren't even opening their digital newsletter. Furthermore, over half of all email subscribers unsubscribe from newsletters because they are not relevant to them.

Avoid churn by knowing your audience and knowing yourself. Then, your email newsletter can guarantee from day one your company will deliver the information subscribers want, in a format that's easy to access and read, without distracting readers with sales pitches or pop-ups.

Remember, here's what people actually want to read in their newsletters:

• Insight into what's going on in the world around them
• Trends relevant to their industry or area of interest
• Information that can used day-to-day
• Insights worth sharing at the watercooler (or over Slack)
• A bit of flair in the design and copy, and maybe even some humor