How to start a newsletter: a step-by-step guide for small businesses

First: what is your newsletter for?

A newsletter works when it has a clear purpose. Before writing a line, answer two questions:

• What do you want people to do? Come back to the shop, book a table or an appointment, buy online, call you for a quote.
• How often will you write? Once or twice a month suits almost every small business. Little but steady beats bursts: a newsletter that turns up after six months of silence feels like a stranger’s.

Write both answers down: you will need them for your sign-up form (“what you will get, and how often”) and to decide what goes into each email.

Choose the right tool

Sending a newsletter from Gmail or Outlook, with everyone in blind copy, looks like the easy option, but it is not: those services cap you at a few hundred recipients a day, there is no unsubscribe link, and the emails easily land in spam. You need an email marketing tool. When choosing, look at:

• the price over 12 months, at the size your list will be in a year;
• no platform branding in your emails;
• sign-up forms and automations included, even on the smallest plan;
• data kept in the EU, with a data processing agreement (DPA);
• an interface you understand straight away, in your language.

We compared the prices of the most popular platforms in our guide to cheap email marketing, and the free plans in Free email marketing. Spedito is free up to 500 contacts with every feature, then €5 a month for up to 1,000 contacts.

Sender and domain: the step that keeps you out of spam

People should recognise you at a glance in their inbox. Pick a simple sender name, your business name (“Rossi Bakery”), and an address on your own domain, such as hello@rossibakery.com, not a @gmail.com or @outlook.com address.

Then verify your domain: add a few DNS records wherever you bought it, so Gmail, Yahoo and Outlook know the emails really come from you. On Spedito it is four records to copy, with instructions for GoDaddy, Namecheap, IONOS and other providers: see Verifying your domain. You can prepare your emails in the meantime.

Find your first subscribers, the right way

You probably are not starting from zero: you already have people who are interested. Here is where to find them, always with their consent:

• Your customers: if they gave you their email while buying, you can write to them about similar products, as long as you told them and every email lets them unsubscribe. Everyone else needs to opt in.
• A form on your website: a box at the bottom of the page, or a pop-up that appears after a few seconds.
• A sign-up page with a QR code: print it on the counter, on flyers or on receipts, and put the link in your Instagram bio. You do not even need a website.
• Your online shop or bookings: with Shopify, WooCommerce or Calendly connected, customers who agree join the list automatically.
• A reason to sign up: a small discount on the first order, a recipe, a monthly tip. Say clearly what people will get.

Never buy email lists: it is not lawful and it damages the delivery of all your emails. The rules to know are in GDPR and email marketing, and for solid proof of consent, turn on double opt-in.

The welcome email, on autopilot

The moment someone subscribes is when they are most interested in you. A welcome email that goes out straight away, on its own, is often the most-read email of all. Include:

1. a thank-you and a line about who you are;
2. what they will receive, and how often;
3. the gift you promised, if any (the discount code, the guide);
4. one invitation: visit the shop, book, see what is new.

On Spedito you create it under Automations, starting from the welcome template: it runs on its own for every new subscriber from your forms.

Write your first newsletter

A good small-business newsletter is short and personal. A structure that works almost every time:

1. Subject line: short and concrete, saying what is inside (“Our autumn bread is here”). No shouting in capitals.
2. Preview text: the line shown under the subject; use it to finish the thought.
3. Opening: two lines, the way you would talk to a customer at the counter.
4. One main story: something new, a tip, an event. Just one, told well.
5. One call to action: a clear button (“Book now”, “See what’s new”).
6. Sign-off: your name. People reply to people.

If you are not sure what to say, start here: a shop shows new arrivals or a tip on using a product; a restaurant the seasonal menu or a special evening; a studio or practice a practical tip and a question customers often ask; a salon this month’s trends and free appointment slots.

On Spedito the AI can help you write the first draft and, if your customers speak different languages, send each of them the newsletter in their own. Before sending, always send yourself a test and open it on your phone.

When to send, and how to tell if it works

There is no perfect day or time for everyone: it depends on your audience. Pick a moment when your customers have two minutes, mid-morning on a weekday for example, and stick with it for a few sends. To find out which subject line works better, Spedito can run an A/B test: two subjects to part of the list, then the winner to everyone.

After every send, look at four numbers:

• Opens: an estimate. Since Apple Mail started preloading images, many emails count as opened even when nobody read them: treat opens as a trend, not an exact figure.
• Clicks: the most reliable number. It shows what people really care about.
• Unsubscribes: a few with each send are normal. If they rise, you may be writing too often, or about things people do not care about.
• Bounces: addresses that no longer exist. If there are many, the list needs cleaning.

Spedito sends you a summary with these numbers 24 hours after every send.

Mistakes to avoid

• Buying or scraping email lists.
• Sending nothing but offers: mix in tips, stories and news.
• Making an email that is one big image: filters cannot read it and many people will not see it.
• Hiding the unsubscribe link: people who cannot find it press “spam”.
• Disappearing for months, then reappearing out of nowhere.
• Sending from a Gmail or Outlook address instead of your own domain.

Frequently asked questions