Tips for standout internal newsletters

To increase employee engagement and open rates in a monthly newsletter to roughly 1,700 University Services employees, University Marketing Communications internal communicators recently tried out Axios’ Smart Brevity approach (this video series goes more in depth).

Get to the gist

• Familiar details dilute messages and distract from important information. Focus on what’s surprising or new to show your email isn't a waste of your reader’s time.
• Pick “1 Big Thing” and place it at the top of your message.
• Email greetings are often too long. Use a sentence or two and then get into the main point of the email.
• Bullets make your message easily scannable.
• Following a consistent format helps readers know what to expect.

Check out these apples

Since launching this format in May 2022, the emails have a 62% open rate and 6.56% click rate on average. In addition:

• The majority of respondents to a survey preferred the Axios-style format compared to the previous format.
• Some of the most clicked links were in the third or fourth item listed, which demonstrates people are scrolling further than the first few sentences.

Key ingredients

Attention-grabbing email subjects beat generic, repetitive ones

• Become a flu-fighter!
• Get the best benefits for your buck!

Don’t fear puns, alliteration, or rhyming words when they make sense

• It doesn't get "cheddar" than this.
  “Cheese” wisely! Visit the Meat and Dairy Salesroom from 2-5 p.m. on Wednesdays to buy a variety of U of M-made cheeses, ice creams, and frozen yogurt located on the main floor of the Andrew Boss Lab of Meat Science.
• Nar-what?
  What makes the narwhal, a type of whale with a unique spiral tusk that lives exclusively near the Arctic Circle, so special? Find out at the Smithsonian’s Narwhal: Revealing an Arctic Legend exhibit at the Bell Museum through January 8.

Keep it regular
Include 1 Big Thing, a fun fact, closing thoughts, and don't include more than five items.

• 1 Big Thing: Get to antibody-building!
  Don’t let the flu sneak up on you! It’s the best time of year to get your annual flu vaccine. Make a flu shot appointment today at Boynton.
• Did you know?
  The University’s Locksmith Shop manages more than 200,000 keys! They certainly open a lot of doors.

Don’t freak out—link out
Provide key details and use links to supplement the rest. People who want to learn more about a subject will click on them.

If you have any questions about making your internal emails stand out, reach out to the UR Internal Communications team at [email protected].