Improve Your Stakeholder Newsletters with the Right Design

How can you improve your stakeholder newsletters?

It’s all about having great content, something to say, and of course, the perfect design.

With web design and email design being ever-changing disciplines, we thought we’d share some of the key concepts around improving your stakeholder newsletters to improve engagement.

How to improve stakeholder newsletters

Here are 10 steps you can follow to deliver better newsletters:

1. Plan it out

When it comes to stakeholder newsletter design, keep things clean and simple.

A sketch on paper helps you pick the key elements you need before you start creating your newsletter.

A single column of content is easier to scan and read and will scroll smoothly on mobile devices.

2. Consider your branding

Colours should be on-brand, but be mindful of how colours are linked to emotions.

Consider how your brand colours look when used for fonts, borders or other elements.

3. Welcome

Begin with a strong header.

Sitting at the very top, it should include your logo or company name, a newsletter title or image.

This will be the very first thing your audience will see when opening your email, so make sure it creates a good first impression.

4. Create a hierarchy

Create a sense of importance with colours, shapes and size of the text.

Like a newspaper, the heading should be large, with your articles broken up by subheadings.

The subheadings should be smaller than your header, but larger than the article text. This makes content easier to consume as people often skim through.

It’s okay if you only have one or two key messages for stakeholders to see. Less is more in design and if you have plenty of white space, your message will really jump out.

5. Consider a short attention span

People want to find information quickly and if they’re looking for stakeholder news, this means they want something specific from you.

Present your information clearly, saving less important information for lower down the email and try not to repeat a message over and over during the course of a series of emails.

Try and keep the message fresh, even if you are sending reminders and nudges.

6. Images

A newsletter full of text will be very boring to look at and will most likely end up in the trash. Try to choose images that engage your reader and complement your message.

Choose a landscape format, so as not to take up too much screen space. Also consider how your images will look when reduced in size, like on a mobile phone for example. The more detail in your image, the harder it will be to see what’s going on.

And try to keep your images to under 30% of the whole newsletter so it stays out of spam filters.

7. Fonts

When it comes to fonts, keep it simple. Not everyone has the same fonts installed on their computers.

That fancy new font your brand uses isn’t going to display for the vast majority of your audience and your newsletter won’t look the way you intended.

Stick to tried and tested fonts like Arial, Calibri, Times New Roman or Georgia, that are clean, uncluttered, and easy to read. Avoid novelty handwriting or cursive fonts that will make your newsletter appear unprofessional.

8. Keep it relevant, informative and valuable

Make sure your newsletter relates to the industry and focuses on issues that will be of interest.

Include content that is educational or informative and try to offer something useful.

9. Ask for what you need

A call to action is a critical part of your email newsletter and a button is a great way to get people to click through.

Whilst it’s quick and easy to link text, if it’s not clear and obvious enough, it can be a missed opportunity for a sale or a conversion.

10. Don’t forget to test!

Make sure you test your newsletter before you send it out to your hundreds or thousands of recipients.

Test how it looks in different mail clients like Outlook and Gmail. Test how it looks on different browsers like Internet Explorer and Chrome. See how it compares on different devices such as your desktop, tablet or mobile.

There may be things you don’t notice when you’re building your newsletter until you see it in your Inbox.

Streamline your stakeholder newsletter process

Tractivity has helped hundreds of stakeholder engagement and management professionals improve their newsletter communication. Our built-in email tool enables you to send branded and non-branded emails to all your stakeholder groups with ease.

Frequently asked questions

How do you improve stakeholder newsletters? Effective stakeholder newsletters combine great content with a clear, well-structured design. Keep layouts clean and simple; a single column works best for readability and mobile scrolling. Use strong branding, a clear content hierarchy, relevant imagery, and a prominent call to action. Always test across different email clients and devices before sending, and keep the content fresh, focused, and genuinely useful to your audience.

What should be included in the header of a stakeholder newsletter? The header sits at the very top of the newsletter and is the first thing recipients see when they open the email, so it must make a strong first impression. It should include your logo or company name and a newsletter title or image. Keep it on-brand and ensure it clearly communicates who the newsletter is from and what it represents.

How do you create a clear content hierarchy in a stakeholder newsletter? Use size, colour, and shape to create a sense of visual importance, similar to how a newspaper is laid out. The main heading should be the largest text, with subheadings smaller than the header but larger than the body text. Generous use of white space makes your key messages stand out and makes content easier to skim. One or two clear key messages per newsletter is often more effective than trying to communicate too much at once.

What are the best fonts and image practices for stakeholder newsletters? Use widely supported, clean fonts such as Arial, Calibri, Times New Roman, or Georgia; avoid novelty or cursive fonts that may not render correctly on recipients' devices. For images, choose landscape format to minimise screen space usage, ensure they remain clear when reduced to mobile size, and keep images to under 30% of the total newsletter to avoid triggering spam filters. A good balance of text and imagery makes the newsletter more engaging and more likely to be read.

How do you keep stakeholder newsletters relevant and engaging? Focus on content that is genuinely informative, educational, or useful to your stakeholder audience. Address issues relevant to their industry and interests, and avoid repeating the same message across a series of emails, even when sending reminders. Keep the message fresh. Shorter attention spans mean the most important information should be presented clearly and early, with less critical content placed lower in the email.

What is the best way to manage and send stakeholder newsletters? The most efficient approach is to use a dedicated stakeholder engagement platform with a built-in email tool, allowing you to send branded newsletters to all your stakeholder groups from the same system where your stakeholder data is stored. This means every open, click, and response can be tied back to individual stakeholder records, giving you far richer insights than a standalone email tool and keeping all communication in one centralised place.