Hi everyone! Welcome back for another edition of Letterly. 

Since my Medium article about building landing pages got Boosted, readers have been messaging me telling me they’re interested in learning more about how to start, launch, and grow an email newsletter. 

So, it gave me an idea! 

I thought, why not start an email series where I share and guide you on how to do just that!? 

Plus, I can share what I’m learning from the newsletter courses I’m taking and get to know the concepts better myself. 

I have a ton of cool ideas for it which I’ll keep you updated on! 

We’ll cover the goal of your newsletter, understanding your audience, how to write an email, the tools & technologies, and much more! 

By the end of the email series, you’ll have your newsletter up and running! 

Now, let’s dive into Email 01 in the series! We’re going to talk about the 5 reasons to start, launch, and grow an email newsletter with an example for each. 

P.S. I recommend Pam Neely’s course, Copywriting Essentials for Email Newsletters! I learned these 5 reasons from her. ;) 

Deep Dive

Drive sales directly

Stephanie Harrison is the founder of The New Happy. 

On Monday, January 29, 2024, she announced that her first book, New Happy: Getting Happiness Right in a World That’s Got It Wrong, was now available for preorder. 

As a result of sending a promotional email about her new book to her 900,000+ subscribers, it became a #1 new release. It was in the top 500 books on all of Amazon for 2 days straight.

You see, that’s the power of having an email newsletter.

You can directly sell products or services to your engaged email list.

Build an audience for business

Kate Eskuri is a registered nurse with a doctorate in integrative Health. 

Her Substack newsletter, The Reset, covers all things self-care, nutrition, holistic health, and intentional living. And it serves as the cornerstone of her small business for two reasons. 

One, Kate uses The Reset to build and nurture her audience. Her subscribers get to hear from her in a concentrated, more direct, more purposeful, and more intimate way, and away from the white noise of social media. They also get authentic wellness information from Kate because she doesn’t have to chase sponsorships or make content for the ever-changing algorithm. 

Two, Kate uses her Substack newsletter to generate revenue. For example, she has a paid subscription model. Subscribers can choose to pay $5 per month or opt for a yearly subscription at $4 per month, giving them access to premium content. 

Pretty soon, Kate will also be launching 1-on-1 health coaching. Given her existing community of loyal, engaged, and committed subscribers who know, like, and trust her, there's a high chance of a few of her subscribers being converted into clients for health coaching.

So, reason #2 is that with an email newsletter, you can leverage a dedicated audience for new business ventures.

Announce and engage

Dan Harris is the podcast host of Ten Percent Happier. 

In his weekly newsletter, Ten Percent Weekly, he has a podcast TL;DR section where he distills the key takeaways from his episodes. He also includes information about his upcoming events and the Ten Percent Happier app. 

In recent editions of Ten Percent Weekly, he’s been selling tickets to upcoming live Meditation Party retreats. He’s also been promoting a free, 14-day Imperfect Meditation Challenge over on his Ten Percent Happier app. To get started, all you have to do is download the app. 

This leads us to reason #3: With an email newsletter, you can inform subscribers about upcoming events, products, or services.

Enhance your community

Ella Henry started an Instagram account called Glow with Ella. 

Then, she created a Substack newsletter called Gut Feelings to continue building, growing, and enhancing the community that she gained on Instagram. 

In her newsletter, she shares exclusive access to special seasonal recipes, weekly wisdom, blogs, weekly favourites and updates, health and wellness spotlights, special events, grocery lists, in-depth guides and more! 

So reason #4: You can use an email newsletter to enhance other audience-building efforts. 

Educate and connect

Joy McCarthy is the founder of Joyous Health. 

Her blog is a resource you can count on for recipes, expert advice on your ultimate well-being, natural beauty products, DIYs, and so much more. 

In her email newsletter, she shares everything she wants a new subscriber (aka potential customers!!!) to know about her brand. Like her latest blog posts. Her reels and TikToks. Products she sells. Customer testimonials. And recipes. 

Educating her subscribers on her brand contributes to customer engagement, trust-building, and potential sales!!! 

So, reason #5 to start, launch, and grow an email newsletter is that you can share blog posts, products, testimonials, and more with subscribers to educate them about your brand.

A Writing Tip

7 Tips to Improve Readability:

1. Add visual elements like photos.

2. Use bulleted or numbered lists.

3. Use straightforward words.

4. Stick to short paragraphs.

5. Stick to short sentences.

6. Use lots of white space.

7. Use subheadings.

What I'm Learning

• Show Your Work by Austin Kleon—It’s a short, easy-to-digest book about the 10 ways to share your creativity and get discovered. Ali Abdaal said this book completely changed the way he thought about sharing stuff online and encouraged him to start his blog in January 2016.

• Why You Should Reply to (Almost) Every Message You Get by Jason Feifer—This newsletter changed my thinking about responding to messages. In the past, I used to take a while to get back to messages (unless they were extremely urgent). Now, I aim to respond ASAP.

• 2024 State of Email Newsletters by beehiiv—100% worth reading! You learn about the best times to send newsletters, how often you should send them, and so, so much more!

Before You Go

I hope you enjoyed reading today’s newsletter.

If you have a minute, I’d love for you to respond to this email to let me know:

• Your biggest takeaway

• Your biggest challenge

• Your biggest struggle right now

It helps me understand what you’re interested in learning more about so I can write content that’s helpful and relevant for you!

Thank you so much for that!

Next Sunday, we’re going to talk about the different types of email messages & email newsletters! So, stay tuned for next week. 😊

I’ll see you next Sunday,

Irene