Ecommerce newsletter: how to start one for your online store

How to start an ecommerce newsletter#

1. 1

   Decide what the newsletter is for

   Write one sentence: who it is for and why they would read it. For example, “For people who like well-made knitwear: how to wear it, care for it and what we are making next.”

2. 2

   Fix a format

   Use the same three parts every issue: one story, one product focus, one useful thing. A fixed format makes each issue faster to write and easier to read.

3. 3

   Choose a cadence you can keep

   Every two weeks or once a month is realistic for a small team. Send on the same weekday so readers know when to expect it.

4. 4

   Check the footer before you send issue one

   Include your postal address and a working unsubscribe link, and make sure people only receive it if they agreed to.

5. 5

   Send, then measure clicks

   Compare issues by click-through rate, unsubscribes and orders, and keep the parts readers click.

How a newsletter differs from a promotional campaign#

A promotional campaign sells one thing to one audience: a sale, a launch, a restock. A newsletter is a regular issue that people read for its own sake, and sells gently alongside. Most online stores need both. The newsletter keeps the list engaged between campaigns, so the next sale reaches people who still recognize your name.

A newsletter that features products is still marketing email under US law. The FTC judges a message by its primary purpose, and a message is commercial when a recipient would reasonably read it as promoting a product ^S1. Treat every issue as a marketing email: send only to people who agreed, and include the required footer.

A repeatable format for a small apparel brand#

Three parts are enough. Each takes a few sentences, and together they fit on one phone screen plus a scroll. Here is how an issue from Ninefold, a fictional brand selling knitwear, outerwear and basics, could look.

One story

Something true about the brand, the product or the people behind it. Ninefold: “Why our new cardigan took three samples: the cuffs kept stretching.” Keep it to four or five sentences and one photo.

One product focus

A single product or a small edit, with a reason it matters now. Ninefold: “The cardigan that came out of those samples, in oat and charcoal.” One button to the product page.

One useful thing

Advice the reader can use even if they buy nothing. Ninefold: “How to store knitwear for summer so moths leave it alone.” This part is often why people keep opening.

Short on ideas for a section? The email campaign ideas for online stores list includes content ideas, such as fabric explainers and fit guides, that work well as the useful thing.

How often to send an ecommerce newsletter#

Choose the cadence you can sustain for a year. For most small stores that is every two weeks or once a month. A newsletter that arrives on schedule builds a habit; one that appears three times in March and then disappears does not.

• Monthly suits stores with a few launches a year or a team of one.
• Every two weeks suits stores with regular new products or a seasonal range.
• Weekly works only if you have enough to say every week; otherwise issues get thin and unsubscribes rise.

Count the newsletter together with your campaigns. If a sale email and a newsletter land in the same week, readers see two emails from you. Google asks bulk senders to keep the spam rate reported in Postmaster Tools below 0.30% ^S2, and too many emails is a common reason people report spam. More on frequency in how often to send marketing emails.

Subject lines for a newsletter#

Name the most interesting thing in the issue. “Ninefold newsletter, issue 12” tells readers nothing; the story or the tip should carry the subject line. Use the preheader for the second part.

Keep the subject accurate: US law requires that it reflect the content of the message ^S1. Test a draft with the subject line checker, and see email subject lines for ecommerce for more patterns.

What the newsletter footer must include#

The footer is where most compliance lives. Under CAN-SPAM, a commercial email must include a valid physical postal address and a clear way to opt out, and opt-out requests must be honored within 10 business days ^S1. Google requires senders of more than 5,000 messages a day to its users to support one-click unsubscribe and show a visible unsubscribe link in the body ^S2; the one-click unsubscribe signal is defined in RFC 8058 ^S3.

• Your business name and postal address.
• A visible unsubscribe link that works without signing in.
• A line reminding readers why they receive it, for example “You signed up at ninefold.example”.
• A List-Unsubscribe header, which your sending tool adds.

Paste a draft footer into the email footer checker to see what is missing. Consent rules differ by country; keep a consent record for every subscriber.

How to measure a newsletter#

Measure clicks rather than opens. Apple’s Mail Privacy Protection prevents senders from seeing whether a message was opened ^S4, so open rates are unreliable for part of any list. Clicks, replies and orders are actions you can trust.

Compare each issue with the previous three by rate, not by raw counts, since list size changes. More in email marketing metrics.

How to produce an issue in 20 minutes in Claude or ChatGPT#

With Tellnod connected to Claude or ChatGPT, a newsletter issue is one conversation. Your brand, contact list and compliance footer are already set up, so the time goes into the content.

1. Gather notes (5 minutes). Paste a few lines about what happened this month, the product to feature and a tip.
2. Draft (5 minutes). Ask: “Write this month’s newsletter in our usual format: one story, one product focus, one useful thing. Keep each part under 80 words and give me three subject lines with preheaders.”
3. Preview and edit (5 minutes). Tellnod shows the real email on desktop and mobile. Ask for changes in plain words, such as “Shorten the story and move the button higher”.
4. Test and approve (5 minutes). Send yourself a test, then ask Claude or ChatGPT to prepare the send to all subscribers. The approval card shows the recipient count, exclusions and send time, and the issue is scheduled only when you press Confirm.

Tellnod adds the unsubscribe link and your postal address to every campaign, and the results card shows delivered, opens, clicks, unsubscribes and bounces, with orders within 7 days of a click once your store is connected. Automated flows are planned and not available yet, so each issue goes out as a campaign you approve. See pricing or add Tellnod to Claude or ChatGPT.

FAQ#