Are you looking to ace your new email newsletter? Below are 5 things you need to make sure you do.

1- Figure out what kind of newsletter you want to send.

One of the biggest problems with email newsletters is that they are often cluttered and unfocused because they are supporting every aspect of your business. Product news goes right next to PR stories, blog posts go next to a random event week…it’s kind of a mess. Email – whether it is a newsletter or not – needs one common thread to hold it together.

One way to help reduce the randomness of an email newsletter is by keeping it to one very specific topic. So instead of it being about your company in general, maybe it is dedicated to one vertical.

2- Set expectations on your “Subscribe” page

Once you have figured out your newsletter’s focus and content balance, make sure you are properly communicating about them on your subscribe landing page.

Get specific. Tell potential subscribers exactly what will be in the newsletter as well as how often they should expect to receive it.

As a subscriber, wouldn’t that be awesome! You’d go in with open eyes knowing exactly who you’ll be receiving an email from, what they will be sending you , and how often they will be sending it. As a marketer, having this information up front will help diminish your unsubscribe and spam rates as well.

3- Get creative with email subject lines.

Even if your subscribers sign up for your emails, there is no guarantee that they will open your emails once they get them in there inbox. Many marketers try increasing familiarity with their subscribers by keeping the subject line the same each day, week, or month that they send it.

But let’s face it, those subject lines get old for subscribers – and fast. Why? Because there is no incentive form the subject line to click on that specific email right this instant. A better approach would be to try to have a different, creative, engaging subject line for each newsletter you send.

4- Pick one primary call-to-action

Part of what makes a newsletter a newsletter is that you are featuring multiple pieces of content with multiple calls-to-action.(CTAs) But, that doesn’t mean you should let those CTAs share equal prominence.

Instead, let there be one head honcho CTA – just one main thing that you would like your subscribers to do. The rest of the CTAs should be “in-case-you-have-time” options. Whether it is simply to click through to see a blog post or just to forward the email to a friend, make it super simple for you readers to know what you want them to do.

5- Keep design and copy minimal

Newsletters can easily feel cluttered because of its nature. The trick for email marketers to look uncluttered revolves around two things: concise copy and enough white space in the design.

Concise copy is key – because you don’t actually want to have your readers hang out and read your email all day. You want to send them elsewhere (your website or blog, for instance) to actually consume the whole piece of content. Concise copy gives your readers a taste of your content – just enough that they want to click and learn more.

White space is key in email newsletters because it helps visually alleviate the cluttered feel, and on mobile, makes it much easier for people to click the right link.