How To Write an Effective Company Newsletter: A Step-by-Step Guide
Internal communication is key to keeping your teams informed and engaged, yet it's often overlooked. In our guide, learn simple strategies to deliver updates that capture attention and improve transparency across your organization.
*This post is about how to write an internal, employee-facing newsletter. If you want to learn about how to write an external, customer-facing newsletter for a business-to-business (B2B) audience, see our article on how to write a B2B newsletter.
Why Write an Internal Company Newsletter?
For many organizations, an employee newsletter is a key part of the internal communication strategy.
1. Builds Strong Company Culture
When employees feel that they are being communicated with transparently, they have more trust in their employers, as well as each other.
2. Improves Employee Engagement
Engaged employees are more productive and motivated. Show them, that they matter. Involve them in decision-making when possible. If you foster a sense of belonging, employees will care about the company. And they will read internal newsletters.
3. Boosts Cross-Departmental Collaboration
Often, people have no idea what people in other departments, or even their own team, are doing. So, show them. Celebrate each success as a company. Sharing ongoing initiatives can spark new ideas and collaboration opportunities.
4. Makes Employees Feel Good About Their Achievements
Great jobs should be celebrated. But, sometimes, people are too shy or humble to celebrate their achievements. Recognition in an internal company newsletter is a great way to make them feel valued.
Now let's take a look at the steps you should take to write a successful employee newsletter.
How To Write a Company Newsletter
Step 1: Identify Your Audience and Goals
The first step in designing an effective internal newsletter is identifying your audience and setting clear goals.
Who Are You Writing For?
Is it a big company where employees are spread across different departments? Do they all sit in the office, or do some of them work remotely? How do they vary in terms of age or job functions? Understanding who you're writing for will help tailor your content to their needs and interests. Learn how to personalize your email in our article How To Personalize Email: 8 Tips for Email Automation Success.
Set Clear Objectives
Once you have a good sense of your audience, the next step is to outline the goals of your internal newsletter. What do you want to achieve? Common objectives include:
Informing employees about company updates.
Boosting engagement with interactive content (polls, surveys, etc.).
Recognizing employee achievements.
Promoting upcoming events.
Clearly defined goals will shape the design and content of your newsletter.
Step 2: Develop a Content Strategy for Employee Newsletters
Content is king when it comes to newsletters. While design elements are crucial, the content you include will determine the level of employees engagement.
Topics for employee newsletter:
Company News: Updates on company performance, strategy changes, or major announcements.
Departmental Updates: A brief overview of what each department is working on.
Employee Spotlights: Recognize employees based on a few indications.
Events and Training: Highlight upcoming events, workshops, or training opportunities.
Fun and Interactive Sections: Quizzes, contests, or trivia that encourage interaction.
Keep it Balanced
Don’t overwhelm your employees with information overload. Strike a balance between essential updates and light, engaging content. Keep your tone friendly yet professional, and ensure your newsletter is easy to skim.
Engaging Headlines and Subheadings
Much like external newsletters, internal ones also need engaging headlines. Make sure your headlines are concise but intriguing enough to grab attention. Subheadings should break down the content for easy navigation, especially in longer newsletters.
Step 3: Design Principles of Internal Newsletters
Design is a key factor in ensuring that your internal newsletter doesn’t go unnoticed in the inbox. A poorly designed newsletter can feel cluttered and difficult to read, whereas a well-designed one will guide the reader effortlessly through the content.
1. Consistency with Brand Identity
Your internal newsletters should align with your company’s branding. Use your brand’s color palette, fonts, and logos to create a cohesive look. Consistency in design across all internal communications reinforces your brand identity.
2. Mobile-Responsive Design
With many employees working remotely or accessing emails on their phones, it’s crucial to ensure your internal newsletter is mobile-responsive. Test how it looks on different devices before sending it out. Use a single-column layout for better readability on mobile devices.
3. Easy-to-Read Layouts
Keep the layout clean and simple. Use headers, bullet points, and white space to break up the content. This will make your newsletter easier to scan and more visually appealing.
Use Short Paragraphs: Avoid long blocks of text.
Add Visual Breaks: Use images, icons, or infographics to break up text and add visual interest.
Stick to a Consistent Structure: Have a clear hierarchy for different sections (e.g., company news, employee achievements, etc.).
4. Visuals and Imagery
Images are a great way to humanize your internal newsletter and improve your email graphics. Include photos of employees, teams, or events. Visual content is much more engaging than text-heavy newsletters and makes it easier for employees to connect with the message.
Avoid Stock Photos: Whenever possible, use authentic company images instead of generic stock photos. Employees are more likely to engage with content they can personally relate to.
5. Accessibility in Design
Ensure that your newsletter is accessible to all employees, including those with disabilities. Use appropriate font sizes, avoid overly decorative fonts, and ensure color contrast is sufficient for readability.
Step 4: Engage Employees with Personalization and Interactive Elements
To boost engagement, try personalizing your newsletters and including interactive elements. Personalization can include addressing employees by name, highlighting specific teams or departments, or even using data to recommend relevant content.
1. Personalize Content
Address your employees directly by using their names or mentioning their team or department via automated personalized emails. You can customize specific sections of the newsletter to share team-specific achievements or news.
2. Include Calls to Action
Incorporate interactive elements, such as calls to action (CTAs). These can include surveys, polls, or invitations to company events. Encourage employees to engage by offering easy ways to participate.
3. Use Surveys and Feedback Tools
Use dynamic email content and ask for employee feedback via surveys. You can even include questions about the newsletter itself, such as what they’d like to see more of or which sections they find most engaging.
Step 5: Measuring the Success of Your Internal Newsletter
After sending out your internal newsletter, it’s important to track key metrics to understand how well it’s performing. Regularly review these metrics and use the insights to refine your newsletter strategy over time.
Key Metrics To Monitor
Open Rates: How many employees are opening the newsletter?
Click-Through Rates: Are employees clicking on links or CTAs within the newsletter?
Engagement Rates: Are employees responding to surveys or engaging with interactive content?
Qualitative Feedback: Gather feedback from employees on the content, format, and overall effectiveness of the newsletter.
Design Your Employee Newsletter with Topol.io
Designing your company newsletter should be fast, intuitive, and enjoyable, not a technical headache. That’s where Topol comes in. With our drag-and-drop email editor, you’ll spend less time fighting formatting and more time sharing content your team actually wants to read.
Here’s why thousands of organizations trust Topol to power their internal and external communications:
Drag-and-drop simplicity - Build beautiful, responsive newsletters without touching a line of code.
Hundreds of professional templates - Start from a gallery of polished, ready-to-use designs, all customizable to your brand.
Consistent branding - Lock in logos, fonts, and colors so every email looks on-brand.
Dynamic personalization - Use merge tags and conditional visibility to tailor messages to different employee groups.
Multi-language support - Create one newsletter that adapts to global teams automatically.
Reliable rendering - Ensure your emails look perfect across Outlook, Gmail, Apple Mail, and mobile devices.
Easy export & integrations — Send directly through dozens of ESPs or export clean HTML code.
Start free 14-day trial today to see for yourself!