This guide takes you from nothing to a sent newsletter. It uses a fictional example throughout: a family-run restaurant and guesthouse near Soufrière that wants to keep in touch with past guests and local diners.
Step 1: Decide who it is for and what it is for
Our example has two audiences: local diners, who care about the weekly menu and events, and past guests abroad, who care about rooms and the view. It decides on one monthly newsletter with two versions, sent to two segments. Write your own one-line purpose before you touch a template: “Keep past guests dreaming of Soufrière and booking directly.”
Step 2: Gather your contacts, carefully
Pull addresses from the booking system, the guest book and the website sign-up box, but only those of people who agreed to receive news. Tag them “local” or “overseas” as you import. Saint Lucia’s Data Protection Act 2011, partly in force since 2023, expects data to be collected fairly and used for the purpose people were told about, and guests from Canada or the EU are covered by consent rules at home. If in doubt, read our permission guide first.
Step 3: Choose a template
Pick a layout from the template gallery. For our example, a restaurant or hotel template with a large header image, a two-column section and a clear button works well. Apply your colours and logo, then save it as your master template so every future edition starts the same way.
Step 4: Write the content
Keep to a simple structure:
- Header image: your own photo. The guesthouse uses its terrace at sunset with Petit Piton behind.
- Lead story: one thing that matters this month. In October, that is the Creole menu for Jounen Kwéyòl.
- Two short items: a staff introduction and a note on rainy-season hiking conditions.
- One call to action: “Book your table” for locals, “See October rates” for guests abroad.
Write short paragraphs. Use the WYSIWYG editor to adjust formatting and the button builder for calls to action that are easy to tap.
Step 5: Personalise
Insert the first-name field in the greeting and set a fallback such as “friend” for contacts without a name. For the overseas version, you might mention the month of their last stay if your data includes it.
Step 6: Test
Send test emails to yourself and a colleague on different phones and at least one computer. Check images, links, the unsubscribe link and your address in the footer. Read it aloud; if something sounds like a brochure, rewrite it.
Step 7: Schedule
For local diners, a Thursday mid-morning send in AST gives time to plan a weekend meal. For overseas guests, schedule by their time zone: remember that Saint Lucia does not change its clocks, so the gap with New York or London shifts during the year.
Step 8: Read the results and improve
After two or three days, look at clicks and bookings rather than opens alone. Which story drew the most clicks? Did locals and overseas guests behave differently? Adjust the next edition accordingly.
Common first-newsletter mistakes
- Importing every address you have: old supplier contacts, guests who never opted in, colleagues’ personal emails. Start smaller and cleaner.
- Too many stories: one lead story and two short items is enough.
- Images as text: an offer written inside a photo is invisible when images are blocked and unreadable for screen readers.
- No reason to click: every edition needs a clear next step.
- Sending once and stopping: put the next three dates in your calendar before you send the first.
Planning the next editions
Our Soufrière guesthouse sketches a simple plan: November, early-booking rates for winter; December, the Festival of Lights on 13 December and Christmas menus; January, winter highlights; February, Independence Day on the 22nd and Valentine’s dinners. Planning around the Saint Lucian calendar means you never face a blank page.
A note on where your data is stored
Mailpro hosts your list and newsletters in Switzerland, on private infrastructure outside US jurisdiction. Switzerland holds an EU adequacy decision, which is useful when you mail European guests and when you document cross-border transfers under Saint Lucian law. See Mailpro’s Swiss data centre.
Going further
If you prefer to code your own design, read about HTML newsletters. For an overview of all creation options, go back to creating newsletters in Saint Lucia.