Do Not Delete

The main feature that makes a newsletter attractive for me is SOMETHING NEW, to keep me up to date. Also, you can add coupons, like $5 off a product’s presale to make people want to read the email.
Thanks,
Daniel

Indeed. Something that will keep me interested in reading the newsletter. Tips on how to gain influence. Getting to know staff members and other members of the quirky community, coupons indeed. Contests, perhaps? All are ideas on how to gain actual readership.

Keep them interactive.

1) Newsletters that reflect the needs of the recipients, not the senders. The worst are those that are sent in an effort to “sell” a product or initiative that isn’t flying. I also blow past meaningless corporate “thank yous” that are really just another excuse to remind me the sender exists, or ask me to involve my friends (which no one would have to remind me to do if I thought my friends would be interested).

2) TIming. Infrequent, irregular, and with a week or two (minimum!) to use coupons/offers. Nothing worse than being offline for two days and finding I’ve missed something great.

3) I love the ideas posted above about interactivity. The more interactivity the better! Contests could be silly (Guess which toy sits on Ben’s desk? What’s Jess’s pet peeve? What color shirt is Michael Lacey wearing today?) or functional (Which of these three improvements would do the most to help make Quirky easier to use? Which typeface is easier to read?) or helpful to users (What were the two most important factors in the decision to take on Project 1,2,3…? What turns the Quirky staff off when considering submissions?) or broadly educational (inventors in history, quizzes on materials or fabrication processes). You could really go to town.

4) As Daniel said, prizes. Random prizes (be the 516th to enter!), prizes for correct guesses (pick the winner “out of a hat” from among those who answer correctly), prizes for the most creative answer to an open-ended question. Prizes could be discounts on submissions or purchases, lunch with a staff member, “Quirky points” to be used for some interesting purpose you all could invent (but please not like kluster, where they meant nothing). You wouldn’t want prizes for all contests, but could throw them out there now and again for fun.

5) A large enough font. I can’t even read what I’m typing now. Come on, Quirkmeisters, we’re not ALL under 25!

Simple, with a quick article, large graphic/photograph, maybe a user with a Quirky product?

Quotes–but not in the traditional sense–from Quirky user comments & suggestions, or even from the Quirky office. Sometimes there are some random tagline suggestions that are really hilarious or some really funny forum comments.

Looking forward to it!

I am also very used to glancing over badly-made newsletters, but interactive opportunities could make Quirky’s newsletter great. Polls, Guess the…, Mac v. PC showdown (from two Quirky employees), news, random prizes, and coupons (50 cents off of any product for example).

Perhaps the newsletter should have its own section in each Quirky member’s influence area, and the more influence you have, from answering polls and leaving comments, the higher the chance that you will win the weekly Quirky prize. Think about it this way: each poll you fill out gives you one point. When the next newsletter comes out, one Quirky member wins a prize which is randomly given out by lottery (each point is 1 ticket). Basically, make it awesome.

-Ezra

Include a Free idea submittal to a lucky quirk in every letter. Include articles detailing the total quirky process of our most popular products from submission to the marketplace. Include customer, vendor,
manufacturers interviews. This will also educate quirks who are influencing product.

Personal profiles

Relevant content each time that I love reading. To me it has nothing to do with design.

To echo some of what was said above, only send a newsletter if you have something of interest to me to say. If you send a newsletter weekly I will unsubscribe on day one… you do not have something I need to know (beyond the notification emails I already get) that frequently.

Here are some tips:

http://www.companynewsletters.com/indexarticles.htm