Making a business newsletter from scratch, step by step

Quick answer

To make a business newsletter from scratch, choose an email marketing tool, connect and authenticate your domain, add only contacts who agreed to hear from you, build one simple branded template with a legal footer, write a short first issue with one main story, test it on phone and desktop, then send and review the results.

Starting a newsletter feels like a bigger job than it is. Most of the work happens once: choosing a tool, setting up the domain, building a template and getting the list in order. After that, each issue is a short piece of writing dropped into a ready-made frame. This guide walks through the one-off set-up in the order that avoids the common mistakes, so your first send arrives in inboxes, looks professional and stays on the right side of the rules.

Step 1: choose an email marketing tool

Do not send newsletters from your ordinary inbox. A dedicated email marketing tool handles bulk sending, unsubscribes, templates and reports properly, and protects your everyday email from being marked as spam. Most offer a free or low-cost starter plan for small lists. Compare them on ease of use, price as the list grows, automation features and where data is stored. Our comparison of Mailchimp alternatives covers the main options, and our guide to email marketing costs shows how prices rise with list size.

Step 2: connect and authenticate your domain

Send from an address at your own domain, such as hello@yourbusiness.co.uk, never a free webmail address. Then follow the tool’s instructions to add authentication records (SPF, DKIM and usually DMARC) to your domain’s DNS. These prove to inbox providers that the email genuinely comes from you. The National Cyber Security Centre’s guidance on email security and anti-spoofing explains why they matter, and our guide to business emails going to spam walks through each record.

Step 3: build your list legally

Your first list will probably be small, and that is fine. Only add people who have agreed to receive marketing emails from you, or existing customers who fall under the soft opt-in for similar products or services and were given a chance to opt out. The ICO’s guidance on electronic mail marketing sets out the rules. Do not import every email address from your inbox, and never buy a list.

Record where each contact came from, and keep a sign-up form live on your website from day one so the list can grow.

Step 4: build one simple template

For the footer, limited companies should check GOV.UK’s guidance on company details on stationery, websites and promotional material, and every marketing email needs a working unsubscribe link and a way to contact you.

Use your brand colours and fonts, a single column and plenty of space. Most people read on phones, so simple beats clever. If you want matching graphics for headers and posts, our social media design is £79.

Step 5: write the first issue

1. Write a subject line that promises something specific, such as “Three things to check before winter” rather than “Our first newsletter”.
2. Add preview text, the short line inbox apps show after the subject, that adds to it rather than repeating it.
3. Open with two friendly sentences saying what readers will get and how often.
4. Write one main piece that is useful on its own: a tip, a project story, an answer to a common question.
5. Add one call to action if there is something worth offering.
6. End with a question to invite replies, and sign it from a real person or the team.

Step 6: test before you send

• Send a test to yourself and a colleague, and open it on a phone, a laptop and in at least two email apps.
• Click every link and the button.
• Check images load and have alt text describing them.
• Read it aloud once to catch clumsy sentences and typos.
• Confirm the unsubscribe link works.

Step 7: send, then review

Choose a sensible time for your audience, such as a weekday morning for business customers or an evening for consumers, and schedule the send. A few days later, look at the results: how many people opened and clicked, any replies, and any unsubscribes. With a small list, replies and real conversations tell you more than percentages. Note what worked and plan the next issue while it is fresh.

Step 8: set up a welcome email

Before the second issue, set up one automation: a welcome email that goes to everyone who joins from your website. It should arrive within minutes, thank them, deliver anything you promised on the sign-up form, say how often you send and link to one or two of your most useful pages. Once it is set up it works for every future subscriber without any more effort, and it means new people hear from you while they still remember signing up, rather than weeks later when your next issue goes out.

Mistakes to avoid in the first months

• Waiting until the list is “big enough” to start. A first issue to forty customers is worth sending.
• Changing the design every issue, so readers never learn to recognise you.
• Sending three issues in a fortnight and then nothing for two months.
• Writing about the business instead of the reader.

Keep newsletters and order emails separate

Your newsletter tool is for marketing. Order confirmations, booking reminders and password resets are transactional emails and should keep coming from your website or booking system. Our guide to transactional versus marketing emails explains why mixing them can hurt delivery of the messages customers rely on.

Getting help

If you would rather have the set-up done for you, our email marketing and automation set-up is £149, covering campaigns, automation flows and segmentation. For what to send in the months ahead, our guide to email marketing for small businesses is a good next read. Every Luxbranding price is on our pricing page.