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Guide

How to write a newsletter with ChatGPT or Claude

Updated

ChatGPT or Claude can turn a pile of updates into a newsletter issue people read, if you ask for an issue rather than a summary of everything. Give it the updates with links, who reads it and the one thing you want readers to do, then ask for a lead story of 80 to 150 words about what readers can now do, three to five short items with one link each, and a single call to action. Ask for three subject lines under 50 characters and a preheader that adds what the subject leaves out. A newsletter that promotes your products is commercial email, so in the US it needs a postal address and an unsubscribe link honored within 10 business days, plus, by default, a line that it's an ad, which you drop only once you've confirmed that every recipient signed up.

Short answer

  • One lead story about the reader, not the company.
  • Three to five short items, one link each.
  • One call to action.
  • Footer: postal address and unsubscribe.

The brief to copy

Newsletter brief

"Draft this month's newsletter. Readers: [who, and whether they all signed up]. The one action: [what].

Pick the lead story: the update that changes what readers can do, has a number or a customer in it, and is new since the last issue. Never lead with a hire or an award. Write it in 80 to 150 words, the main fact first, with one link. Then 3 to 5 short items, each a bold 3 to 7 word title, 1 to 2 sentences and one link, most useful first. One call-to-action button, verb first, tied to the lead.

Give 3 subject lines under 50 characters and a preheader under 90 that doesn't repeat the subject. Keep the body under 400 words. Use only the names, numbers and dates below. List what you left out under "Not in this issue".

Footer: our postal address and an unsubscribe link, plus a line that it's an ad unless I've confirmed above that every reader signed up.

Updates: [paste]"

A worked example

Illustration: a made-up business. A language school writes its March newsletter to students who signed up for it. The updates: evening conversation classes from 3 March, Tuesdays and Thursdays from 7 to 8:30 pm, six students at most, levels A2 and B1 first, on the same topics as that week's daytime lessons, asked for by students who work days; the April to June timetable online; ten-minute vocabulary quizzes in the app for A1 to C1; a teacher's award. The action is booking an evening class. The issue, in part:

Northside Languages, March

Subject options: 1. Evening classes, from 3 March 2. Six students a class, after work 3. Northside in March: evening classes
Preheader: Plus the spring timetable and new quizzes in the app.

Lead: If your days are full, your conversation practice no longer has to wait for the weekend. From 3 March, Northside runs evening conversation classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 7 to 8:30 pm, with at most six students in a room, so everyone speaks. Many of you who work during the day asked for this, and the first two levels open now: A2 and B1. Each class follows the same topic as that week's daytime lessons, so you can switch between them. Book your evening class →

Also new: The spring timetable is online. Every class from April to June, by level. [link] Quizzes for your level. Ten-minute vocabulary quizzes in the app, from A1 to C1. [link]

Footer: You're getting this because you signed up for Northside Languages' newsletter. Northside Languages · [postal address] · Unsubscribe: [link]

Not in this issue: the teacher's award (good news, but it doesn't change what students can do).

The school confirmed that everyone on the list signed up, so the footer has the address and the unsubscribe link without an ad line. When the school later mails people who only asked about prices, that list gets the ad line too.

What stays with you

  1. Check every date, time and price against your updates before sending.
  2. Know who's on the list: sign-ups, customers, or people who only asked once.
  3. Process unsubscribes within 10 business days, and don't mail those people again.
  4. Read it on a phone before you send it.
  5. For readers outside the US, check that country's email rules.

Next step: save the brief

A newsletter comes every month, so keep the brief with your other marketing prompts. ChatGPT prompts for marketing, saved so you don't paste shows where your brand voice, campaigns and repeated tasks each go.

Skills for this

All skills

Questions

Can ChatGPT write a newsletter?

Yes, from your list of updates. Ask for one lead story about what readers can now do, three to five short items with a link each, one call to action and three subject lines, and tell it to use only the names, numbers and dates you gave it. You check every fact and send it from your email tool.

What does a newsletter need by law in the US?

A newsletter that promotes your products is commercial email under CAN-SPAM, business-to-business included: it needs a valid postal address and a way to unsubscribe, honored within 10 business days. It must also say it's an ad unless every recipient gave prior affirmative consent, as people who signed up have (15 U.S.C. § 7704(a)(5)(B)); if you can't confirm that for everyone, keep the line. Gmail adds one-click unsubscribe for senders of more than 5,000 messages a day.

How long should a newsletter be?

Short enough to read in a minute. The newsletter-draft skill's defaults are a lead story of 80 to 150 words and a body under 400, with subject lines under 50 characters; Mailchimp's own guidance is no more than 9 words and 60 characters. Items that don't pass "would a reader miss this?" wait for the next issue.

AI skill

Have your AI draft this issue of your newsletter

Put this skill in AI Skill Pod and everyone on your team gets it in their Claude, Cursor or ChatGPT (Pro, Business, Enterprise): one invite link, free to start. Newsletter issue draft has your AI draft an issue from your list of updates: one lead story about what readers can now do, three to five short items with a link each, one call to action, subject and preheader options, and the footer a commercial newsletter needs: a postal address and a way to unsubscribe.

Use this skill in your AI

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Sources

  1. FTC: CAN-SPAM Act, a compliance guide for business — commercial email needs a valid physical postal address and an opt-out honored within 10 business days; "The law makes no exception for business-to-business email" (read 2026-11-05)
  2. 15 U.S.C. § 7704 (Cornell LII) — (a)(5): identification as an advertisement, notice of the opportunity to decline, and a postal address; (a)(5)(B): the identification "does not apply" if the recipient gave prior affirmative consent (read 2026-11-05)
  3. Google: Email sender guidelines — above 5,000 messages a day to Gmail accounts, marketing and subscribed messages must support one-click unsubscribe and show an unsubscribe link in the body (read 2026-11-05)
  4. Nielsen Norman Group: Inverted pyramid — start with the main point (read 2026-11-05)
  5. Mailchimp: Best practices for email subject lines — no more than 9 words and 60 characters (read 2026-11-05)