How could it be improved?

1. Very few people read introductory paragraphs of text instead choosing to scan the email for something of interest. A more effective way of summarising is a short bulleted list that links to the article pages, taking readers straight to your website.

2. Currently, the titles in the grey header bars have more visual prominence than the article titles themselves and ‘Tip of the month’ or ‘In the news’ don’t give any indication as to the content they’re promoting. Time-poor readers, looking over your email, may quickly switch off. Consider making these header areas smaller and increasing the size of the promo titles.

3. The promo titles themselves also require careful thought – ensure they really give a clear idea of what the article is about. Titles like of ‘Simplicity Minded Management, Harvard Business Review’ could be quite cryptic to some readers. Instead explain the core message of the article, ‘De-clutter your organisation’ for example.

4. The design could make more economical use of the given space. The newsletter is very linear, with all sections one on top of the other, requiring you to scroll to see the bulk of the content. This could be a deterrent to a many readers.

5. The email is a little on the text heavy side. Combined with the linear design, this makes the email quite long and less enticing to read than it could be. The first few paragraphs of each article have been included – but that doesn’t necessarily give a good overview of the article. Think of the newsletter as a taster – giving a sample of what’s to come. A few lines for each introduction is ample, summarising the article’s content to make it sound intriguing.

6. Images tend to grab the reader’s attention before anything else, so it’s important to place them intelligently. Currently they are all the same size, but you should consider using one larger image to draw attention to the most important article and give the reader a clue where they should look first.