We may have more ways than ever to communicate with our colleagues these days, but there’s one old favourite we return to time and time again – the humble email newsletter.
In an internal communications world where we’re constantly being told that human connection is everything, it might seem strange that we’re still falling back on this most traditional of digital methods. Yet, almost every blog I read about internal communications trends for 2025 made reference to the power of the email newsletter.
In this blog – ‘The role of the email newsletter in 2025’, I want to explore why it remains such a useful tool, what the best ones look like in 2025, and how to ensure you’re getting the most from yours.
Why email newsletters are going nowhere fast
While social media, videos, face-to-face briefings and town halls all have a useful part to play in our internal communications toolkit, there’s no denying the fact that email remains one of our most effective methods of communication.
While other trends come and go, email is set to be here to stay. A recent study from Workshop has shown that 94% of internal communicators use it as their main channel, while another found that 85% believe it is their most effective channel.
When done right, email can be the quickest and most efficient way to reach large numbers of disparate staff at once. In fact, the importance of email was one of the four key communications trends I identified for 2025, which you can read more about in this blog.
What makes a good newsletter?
Before we look at what works in 2025, I want to flashback to 2012…
I was working as an Internal Communications Manager for a retail/hospitality organisation and one of the things we did each day was send a daily newsletter to every employee’s inbox at 8am.
Yes, every day. And people LOVED IT!
The content was all based on what people had subscribed to on the intranet, and the format consisted of a headline, a photo, the first few lines of a story and then a link to click through.
It worked because it was relevant. Recipients said it was the best place to make sure they weren’t missing anything, especially after a holiday or time away.
That may have been 13 years ago, and there’s no denying that newsletters have evolved over the years, but I mention this as a starting point because I think so much of what worked in this newsletter is still applicable today.
In my view, the best newsletters are:
- Short: It should be a three-minute read (or less) for the person receiving it
- Clear: Use iconography or clear consistent sections so people can see at a glance what they need to know
- Connected: Give people a flavour of what they need to know but then link to other channels to tell the full story
- Relevant: The content needs to be relevant for the person receiving it. Technology makes it much easier to create newsletters that are tailored to the individual now.
- Regular: Creating a regular touchpoint on the same day every week/month ensures people know what to expect and when, and helps to cut through other ad-hoc emails
- Creative: Use the power of storytelling to bring important messages to life
- Trusted: Use relevant data and company insights from employee-trusted sources to give weight and credibility to their messages. People need to know that the information in this email can be relied upon.
Cutting through the noise – but retaining community
I’ve touched on it in the point about relevance above, but the key difference between the successful newsletters of today and those we’ve been sending out for years is the ability to personalise them.
People don’t want more information – they want relevant information. Tailoring emails to provide a selection of what people are interested in and the subjects that are relevant to them, shows that you recognise the limited time they have to consume them. They know that this email will be one that is worth them taking a few minutes out of their day/week/month to read.
While technology now makes this a much easier proposition, it is important, however, not to take this too far and to maintain an overall sense of shared experience – one of the things email newsletters can be great for.
As Kerri Warner, Paypal’s Head of Employee Communications, Culture & Engagement, says in this article: “While […] personalisation enhances communication satisfaction and efficiency, it’s only part of the equation. To advance business and people priorities, we need to be even more intentional about ensuring we’re delivering shared experiences that foster connection to the business and culture. By creating synchronous, collective employee experiences, we foster employees’ sense of belonging—not just to specific teams or groups, but to the entire organisation.”
It is, as she puts it, “the difference between appreciating a playlist curated by AI just for you and the powerful, lasting energy of singing along with thousands of fellow fans at a live concert.”
The continued prevalence of hybrid working makes these shared experiences even more important and is something that digital communications should be looking to capitalise on, helping to inspire and unite workforces.
The same but different
The fact that email newsletters will continue to remain an important channel may come as welcome news to communications teams under siege from demands to try out new and better ways of working. But it is not a license to carry on doing what you’ve always done.
Producing a successful digital newsletter in 2025 requires time, effort and reflection. Is what you’re doing now the best it can be? Could you be making better use of technology to produce something more personalised and streamlined? How can you make yours stand out from all the other channels?
Reviewing your newsletters, email etiquette and model behaviours for email in general is a great starting point before getting stuck into the changes.
If you’d like some help looking at your communications channels and improving your emails drop our team a message info@redefiningcomms.com.
