Newsletter Introduction Examples: How to Write Catchy Intros for Your Newsletters

Knowing what makes the best newsletter introduction examples so great is vital.

That’s because the opening of your email message – including the subject line – is what determines whether any recipient reads it.

If your introduction does not convince them to read on, then it doesn’t matter how amazing the rest of the message is.

It won’t be seen 😕.

But how do you write intros that people can’t help wanting to read?

In this blog, we’ll share eight practical tips and newsletter introduction examples that get opened, read and clicked on.

1. Get to the Point!
2. I’m Talking to You
3. Ever Wondered about Leading Questions?
4. The Tease
5. Subject Lines
6. A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words

Ready to create great emails?

1. Get to the Point!

Everyone is busy.

Anyone who reads your emails wants to know what it’s all about, what’s in it for them, and what they need to do about it as quickly as possible.

All the best newsletter introduction examples get to the point immediately.

Here are two examples, one of which beats around the bush and one of which makes its point right away.

Example 1 wastes two paragraphs and about 40 words before it says anything of value. Jeff is likely to have given up reading before then.

Here’s a more visual example of getting to the point:

Economical✔

Clear✔

Compelling offer ✔

We’re going to come back to visuals on Tip 6, but there are a few important points to bear in mind when you’re wondering how brief to be.

• Try to fit all of your intro “above the fold” so that a reader doesn’t have to SCROLL to understand that key message
• Where is the fold? That depends on the recipient’s DEVICE, their EMAIL CLIENT, and their SCREEN SIZE/RESOLUTION. 41.99% of all email opens in Q1 of 2019 were on mobile devices. If you are not designing RESPONSIVE emails tailored to different layouts, you are throwing attention away.
• Will your opening fit into the PREHEADER? That is, the text that appears next to the subject line in a user’s inbox. If so they won’t even have to open the email to see it! The arrow in the image below points out the preheader

Want more newsletter introduction examples? Keep reading!

2. I’m Talking to You

Personalization matters.

Personalized emails get 25% more opens and 51% more clicks than non-personalized emails.

And people expect it.

If you get a message that starts “Dear friend” or “Hello Recruiter” or worst of all “Hi <name>”, do you keep reading?

Me neither.

It says “I don’t know you and you don’t know me”.

But if you can use the recipient’s name and show that you know about his or her interests and needs (because you’ve segmented your audience) then it’s far more compelling.

The precise words you choose can make a big difference. Take a look at these two newsletter introduction examples:

1. “Hi Susan, If you’re a residential landlord, you’ll be interested in…” ❌

2. “Hi Susan, As a residential landlord, you’ll be interested in…” ✔

Susan would rather talk to someone who KNOWS she’s a landlord, wouldn’t she?

Email is also a person-to-person medium. It’s not a broadcast channel. So treat it like one:

• Write to the recipient as “you”, not in an impersonal third-person tense
• Wherever you can, write your emails as though they were coming from a specific, named individual (who refers to themselves as “I” and your business as “us). This makes it more conversational and less likely to trigger readers’ natural caution

Ready to create great emails? Start with Get A Newsletter now!

3. Ever Wondered about Leading Questions?

Questions can play a big part in effective newsletter introductions.

They make people think and wonder about the answer, tempting them to read on.

But they can fall flat if you’ve misjudged your audience. If your question evokes a negative response, you’ve lost that reader.

Email: Are you looking for car insurance deals?

Reader: No. Goodbye.

Newsletter introduction examples that get this response, fail. If you’re going to lead with a question, make sure it’s an OPEN QUESTION that doesn’t invite a “no” response.

4. The Tease

Another opener than gets good results but is not without risks is the tease.

• Pose an intriguing question – eg “Are you smarter than a seven-year-old?”
• Make a challenging statement – eg “90% of people get this wrong”
• Create a sense of anticipation – eg “We’ve got something big coming soon” etc
• Say something that doesn’t give the key information until you click to open or scroll down – eg “The secret ingredient in this recipe is [read more…]”

The risk with teases of this sort is that you’re not Getting To The Point as per Tip 1.

You run the risk of people NOT reading on because they don’t know what the message is about and you’ve not managed to pique their curiosity.

Teases are great when you know exactly how many characters or lines a reader will see before their browser, client, or app notification cuts off 😉👍.

5. Subject Lines

Newsletter introduction examples are all very well. But what is the ABSOLUTE first part anybody sees of your newsletter?

The subject line!

If that doesn’t convince them to click and open the email, it’s game over.

A poor newsletter with a great subject line will almost always outperform a great newsletter with a poor subject line.

Everything we’ve said about email introductions applies double to subject lines.

Here are some irresistible subject lines that use some of the techniques we’ve looked at:

• “Refer a friend, get free socks”
• “Don’t read this email”
• “I’m getting in touch about [subject]
• “Your Marketing Sucks”
• “Ends Today! Massive 24-Hour Sale”

6. A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words

We’ve been talking about writing introductions, but you can open an email with a picture or a combination of words and images.

That can be a very effective and striking way of getting the point across quickly. Our brains process images 60,000 times faster than text.

This email makes its point far more effectively with a combination of words and pictures than words alone ever could.

Again, all the tips above apply to your choice of images:

• Make sure the message is clear OR make it mysterious and intriguing enough to encourage people to continue
• Get your point across above the fold
• Be mindful of device formatting
• Show that you know the reader
• Speak directly to them

So those are our top six tips on newsletter introduction examples. We hope you found them useful!😁