How to start an email newsletter

1. Pick a purpose and a rhythm

Before you write anything, finish this sentence: "Every month, people on this list get..." If you can fill in the blank, you have a newsletter. A few that work:

• A shop: what's new, what's on sale, one tip about using what you sell.
• A church: this month's events, a note from the pastor, volunteer needs, prayer requests.
• An HOA: board decisions, upcoming work on the property, dues reminders, meeting dates.
• A club or PTA: the calendar, who to contact, photos from the last event.
• A nonprofit: one story about someone you helped, what's coming up, one clear way to help.

Then pick a rhythm you can keep. For most small groups, once a month is right. Weekly only makes sense if you really have weekly news. Our guide on how often to send a newsletter goes into this, but the short version is that sending on a steady schedule matters more than sending a lot.

2. Gather your list, with permission

You almost certainly have a list already. It's just scattered. Look in:

• Your customer records, invoices or point of sale system (only people who agreed to hear from you).
• Your membership roster, directory or sign-in sheets.
• A spreadsheet someone keeps, or the contacts in the email account you've been BCCing from.
• An old Mailchimp or Constant Contact account you stopped using.

The rule is simple: email people who know you and expect to hear from you. Members, customers and people who signed up at an event all count. Never buy a list or scrape addresses from the web. Strangers mark you as spam, and once enough people do that, inboxes start hiding your mail from everyone, including the people who wanted it.

Put everything in one spreadsheet with at least an email column and, if you have them, first and last name. Don't worry about duplicates or typos yet; a good newsletter tool will catch those when you import.

If you're emailing people in Canada, the EU or the UK, the consent rules are stricter. Our page on email newsletter rules covers the basics.

3. Pick a tool (and stop using BCC)

Lots of small groups start by pasting addresses into the BCC line of a personal Gmail or Outlook account. It works for 20 people. Past that, it causes problems: messages land in spam, there's no unsubscribe link, one wrong click exposes everyone's address, and you have no idea if anyone read it.

A newsletter tool fixes all of that. When you compare them, look for:

• Price at your list size, now and in a year. Check whether unsubscribed people still count toward your bill.
• An editor you can use without training. Your newsletter should look right on phones without extra work.
• Sending from your own domain, with an unsubscribe link and your mailing address added for you.
• Easy import from a spreadsheet or from the tool you're leaving.

MailWild is one option built for exactly this kind of sender. You import your spreadsheet (it matches columns, removes duplicates and sets aside bad addresses), write in a simple block editor or let the AI draft the newsletter from your notes and photos, and send. It costs at least 25% less than Mailchimp Essentials and Constant Contact Lite at the list sizes we sell. It has signup forms for your website, but no landing pages, A/B testing or free plan, so if you need those, a bigger tool fits better. See pricing for your list size.

4. Write the first issue

The biggest worry is having nothing to say. You have more than you think. A structure that works for almost anyone:

1. A short hello (2 to 3 sentences). Who this is from and why they're getting it. For a first issue: "We're starting a monthly email so you don't miss what's happening."
2. The main item. The one thing you most want people to know or do. Give it a photo and a button if there's an action, like "RSVP" or "Shop the new arrivals".
3. Two or three short items. Dates, reminders, a quick win. One paragraph each.
4. Something human. A photo from last month, a thank you to a volunteer, a staff pick, a member spotlight.
5. How to reach you. A reply-to address that a person reads, and your phone or website.

Keep it short. Most good small-org newsletters can be read in two minutes. Write a subject line that says what's inside ("October at Grace Church: fall festival, new small groups") rather than something clever.

Stuck for topics? Start with the ideas list for your group: church, HOA, PTA, nonprofit or small business.

5. Send from your own domain, then test

If you have a website like yourchurch.org or yourshop.com, send from an address at that domain, such as news@yourshop.com. Two reasons:

• It gets delivered. Gmail, Yahoo and Outlook check that mail really comes from the domain it claims. A newsletter tool signs your mail so they can verify it, which only works with a domain you own. Sending bulk mail that claims to be from a gmail.com address is a common way to end up in spam.
• It looks like you. People trust news@riversidehoa.org more than a board member's personal address, and it doesn't change when the board changes.

Connecting a domain usually means adding a few records at the company where you bought it. Your tool will tell you exactly which ones.

Then test. Send the newsletter to yourself and one other person, and check it on a phone and a computer:

• Do the links and buttons go to the right pages?
• Are dates, times and names right?
• Does the subject line make sense in an inbox next to everything else?
• Is there an unsubscribe link and your mailing address at the bottom?

Fix anything, send one more test if you changed a lot, and then send it to your list. If your readers are mostly people at work, a weekday morning is a sensible first choice; for families and members, an evening or weekend morning can work too. Pick a time and stick with it for a few issues before you judge it.

6. Look at results, then do it again

A few days after you send, look at four numbers for that newsletter: how many were delivered, opened, clicked, and how many people unsubscribed.

• Opens are a rough guide only. Some email apps load images automatically or block tracking, so treat them as a trend from one issue to the next, not an exact count.
• Clicks tell you what people actually cared about. Put more of that near the top next time.
• Unsubscribes are normal, especially on a first send to an old list. A handful is fine. A lot usually means people didn't expect to hear from you.
• Bounces are addresses that no longer work. Your tool should remove them so they don't hurt future sends.

Then put the next send date on the calendar. The newsletters that work aren't the fanciest ones. They're the ones that show up every month with useful news.

If you want more help for your kind of group, see our pages for churches, HOAs, clubs, nonprofits and small businesses.

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