The smash.gg Shops Newsletter

Project Overview

This newsletter's purpose was to increase revenue earned from repeat customers by spotlighting news and items from large-scale shops, and increase visibility for small or newer shops. It was a monthly publication, sometimes breaking schedule to coincide with the announcement of a high-priority shop. When I joined smash.gg, the shops newsletter had been suspended for a few months and was in need of a revival as well as a design overhaul.

Tools Used: Adobe Photoshop, MailChimp

Redesign: The previous shops newsletter was comprised primarily of text, and a few images of product mockups taken directly from the shop being advertised. As a consumer, I saw room for improvement; when I receive emails about new products, I'm most compelled to click when I see interesting or fun graphics displaying the product or highlighting a promotion.

My goal was to segment the newsletter into a couple more sections that would remain consistent with each iteration. Every volume would feature a spotlight tournament that headlined the newsletter to encourage readers to open their email and browse.

A logo and banner image was created at the top of each newsletter to give it some consistency for branding, and would alternate in colour palette to match the headlining shop.

I moved away from floating mockups of apparel, and instead tried to use model images (or would use Photoshop to edit stock photos to resemble a model) wearing the shop's merchandise for more visual interest.

Writing Copy: After the newsletter was redesigned, in addition to being responsible for creating all graphics used in each volume, I also primarily created the copy used in the newsletter. With the redesign, I opted to modify the tone of the newsletter to be more lighthearted and fun, with a goal of creating a sense of fear-of-missing-out in the reader.

Results

Through tracking our mentions on social media, we noticed an increase in users making posts that referenced the newsletter, including appreciatory messages from our clients.