5 Steps to Set Up a Professional Newsletter System

Want to create a professional newsletter system that keeps your audience engaged and drives results? Here’s how you can set up an effective system in just five steps:

1. Plan Your Goals and Audience: Define your objectives (e.g., growing subscribers, tracking engagement) and segment your audience for tailored content.
2. Connect Email Services: Use tools like Mailgun for reliable delivery and Zapier for automation.
3. Build Templates: Design newsletters that reflect your brand, with custom layouts and visuals.
4. Organise Newsletter Types: Create categories like updates, announcements, and exclusive content for better targeting.
5. Monitor and Improve: Track metrics (e.g., open rates, clicks) and optimise based on performance data.

Quick Overview:

Pro Tip: Tuesdays often see the highest click-through rates, and 25% of emails are opened within the first hour of sending. Start optimising your strategy today!

How To Start A Newsletter From Scratch That Builds Community

Step 1: Plan Your Newsletter Goals and Audience

Before diving into the technical setup, take time to define your goals and understand your audience. This sets the foundation for a newsletter that keeps readers engaged.

Define Your Newsletter Goals

Make sure your newsletter aligns with your broader content strategy. Focus on these areas:

• Growing Your Audience: Set achievable subscriber targets.
• Tracking Engagement: Decide on benchmarks for open rates and click-through rates.
• Adding Value: Plan how to provide readers with useful and engaging content.
• Earning Revenue: Develop monetisation plans, if relevant.

Segment Your Audience

Ghost offers tools to help you customise content for different groups. You can segment your audience based on:

• Subscription type (e.g., free or paid).
• Access levels.
• Specific interests using custom labels.

This level of detail ensures your content reaches the right people at the right time.

Plan Your Content Schedule

A well-organised schedule keeps your newsletter consistent. Decide whether you’ll publish daily, weekly, or monthly, and map out the details in advance. Your content calendar should include:

With your goals, audience, and schedule in place, you're ready to move on to the next step: integrating the necessary email services in Step 2.

Step 2: Connect Email Services

Start setting up your email delivery system to ensure smooth communication with your audience.

Set Up Mailgun

Mailgun helps ensure your newsletters reach subscribers reliably. Follow these steps to configure it:

1. Create a Mailgun account and add your domain.
2. Go to Sending > Domain settings > Sending API keys in your Mailgun dashboard.
3. Copy your Sending API key.
4. In Ghost, navigate to Settings > Labs > Members > Email newsletter settings.
5. Enter your Mailgun domain and API key.
6. Choose the correct Mailgun region.

"The onboarding experience is essential for building an engaged audience and sending a welcome email is a great way to initiate it." - Ghost.org

Add Zapier Connections

Use Zapier to automate essential tasks. Here are some key integrations:

Check Email Settings

Fine-tune your email settings for better performance and reliability:

1. Basic Settings

Set up your sender details in the General email newsletter settings:

• Use a sender name that’s easy to recognise (defaults to your site title).
• Add a verified reply-to email address.
• If you're on the Creator plan or higher, customise your sending domain.

2. Spam Prevention

Take steps to avoid spam issues:

• Set up domain filters to block unwanted sign-ups.
• Verify all email addresses used for sending.
• Test email delivery with various email clients.

3. Verification Steps

Always send a test email after making changes. This ensures:

• Emails are formatted correctly across devices.
• Images display as expected.
• Links work properly.
• Spam filters don’t block your messages.

Once your email services are set up, you’re ready to start designing your newsletter templates in Step 3.

Step 3: Build Newsletter Templates

Design newsletter templates that align with your brand and effectively connect with your audience.

Adjust Email Design Settings

Go to Settings → Email Newsletter → Newsletter and click Edit to personalise your template. Focus on these design elements:

• Header Image: Upload a 1,200 x 600-pixel image in .JPEG, .PNG, .GIF, or .WEBP format.
• Publication Title: Choose whether to display your publication title and adjust the newsletter name placement.
• Header Font: Pick between "Clean, sans-serif" or "Elegant, serif" styles.
• Title Alignment: Align your post title to the left or centre.

These settings should reflect your brand's established identity.

Content Layout

Ensure consistency by configuring these elements:

Once the layout is set, enhance the design with visual elements.

Add Visual Elements

Make your template visually appealing while maintaining a professional tone.

Header Design

• Use high-quality images that load quickly.
• Keep branding consistent across all newsletters.
• Ensure text on images is easy to read.

Footer Customisation
Create a footer that adds value and functionality by including:

• Options for collecting feedback
• Links to recent posts
• Subscription management tools
• Legal disclaimers and information
• Personalised subscription details

Email Sender Configuration
In the General email newsletter settings:

• Use a sender name your audience will recognise.
• Set a clear reply-to email address.
• If you're on the Creator plan, configure a custom sending domain.

Finally, test your template across multiple email clients to ensure it displays correctly everywhere.

Step 4: Set Up Newsletter Types

Organise your newsletters into different categories to better connect with your audience.

Create Newsletter Categories

Set up specific categories to provide tailored content to your subscribers.

When designing these newsletters, consider using the email-only option for promotional content or roundups that don’t need to be published on your website. This approach helps you manage separate strategies for your web and email content.

Publishing Options

Decide how each newsletter will be delivered:

• Email and publish: Share content via email and on your website.
• Email only: Ideal for subscriber-exclusive updates.
• Publish only: For website content that doesn’t require email distribution.

Once these options are set, focus on defining your subscriber groups.

Choose Subscriber Groups

To make your newsletter categories effective, segment your audience carefully.

Subscription Tiers

Divide your subscribers into clear groups:

Delivery Settings

For each newsletter type, configure:

• Subscriber access levels (free, paid, or specific tiers)
• Custom labels for precise targeting
• Email subject lines that encourage higher open rates

Ensure your branding is consistent across all newsletters while adjusting the tone and style to suit each category. Use your pre-designed email templates to maintain a cohesive look throughout your communications.

Access Control

Let subscribers manage their preferences by offering multiple subscription options.

Step 5: Monitor and Improve Results

Once your newsletter system is running, tracking its performance is crucial for keeping your audience engaged. Analysing results regularly helps you make data-driven changes that improve your newsletter's impact.

Fine-Tune Send Times

When you send your emails can make a big difference. For example, Tuesdays tend to have the highest click-through rates, while Mondays see the best open rates. Plus, 25% of emails are opened within the first hour.

Here’s what to keep in mind when scheduling:

Once your emails are sent, check your stats to see how these timing decisions affect engagement.

Track Newsletter Metrics

Keep an eye on these key performance indicators (KPIs):

Export your analytics data (e.g., as a CSV file) and look for patterns. Pay close attention to which content and subject lines perform best.

Use Data to Make Updates

Use the insights from your stats to tweak your newsletter and make it more effective.

For instance, 'how-to' subject lines often achieve open rates above 43%, according to Publisher Weekly.

Improving Content: Identify sections that get the most clicks using tools like the "Newsletter clicks" feature. Then, use this information to:

• Adjust your content's style and length
• Focus on topics your audience loves
• Rearrange or improve your call-to-action (CTA) placement
• Make your visuals more appealing

Personalising for Your Audience: Analyse engagement trends among different subscriber groups. Tailor your content based on these patterns - research shows 91% of consumers prefer personalised experiences. This approach can help you connect with your audience more effectively.

Conclusion

Creating a newsletter system takes effort and attention to detail, but the rewards can be substantial. With the right tools and strategies, you can craft newsletters that resonate with your readers and deliver measurable results.

Here’s a quick breakdown of the key elements:

A strong newsletter strategy can yield impressive outcomes. For example, publications using Ghost generate over £25 million annually, showcasing the potential of well-planned email campaigns.

To keep your newsletter effective:

• Focus on creating content that speaks directly to your audience.
• Regularly review analytics and tweak your approach as needed.
• Keep your subscriber list clean by removing inactive users.
• Experiment with sending times and adjust based on engagement trends.

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