Wishing you had more newsletter ideas in your swipe file?
Consider your wish granted. And, nope, it’s no genie doing that for you, but this blog post. We’ve packed it with fresh email newsletter ideas that you can take for a spin anytime you like.
So whether you’re only starting a newsletter or someone who’s looking to spice up their email marketing with engaging newsletter content, you’ll find this idea bank pretty helpful.
Let’s get on with it:
125 audience-engaging newsletter ideas to try today
1. Interview industry experts
Planning to create original newsletter content to turn your subscribers into loyal readers? Well, this is it. Pick brains and pass on what you learn.
Headstart Copywriting does the same in their email newsletter. They refer to interviews with marketing leaders as “fireside chats” for readers’ inboxes.
2. Interview inspiring people
You don’t need to limit interviews to talking to experts only.
Leah Ryder who runs the Write | Werk newsletter takes a different approach (or, rather an empowering approach) by interviewing females who are crushing it in the content marketing space.
3. Host a poll
Yep. It’s one of the most fun things to put in a newsletter — says the one who always opens The Daily Carnage Newsletter just to cast my vote in the interesting polls they send daily.
4. Share what you’ve published
You don’t always need to create new content, you know. You can share your blog posts instead.
To keep the workload light, share your blog post’s intro in the email or write a few lines and hit send as Brian Dean does:
Alternatively, use the Trello approach to newsletter-ing by sharing a roundup of all that you’ve published with a click-worthy CTA:
5. Start conversations
Your newsletter doesn’t have to be formal. Stir conversations with readers just as Joe Pulizzi does in The Random Newsletter:
6. Share a case study
But, hang on. Don’t knock out a salesy, self-praising case study and call it a day. Instead, make it about your reader. Here’s some inspiration:
7. Share a post from a guest blogger
Have a popular blog that welcomes posts from guest bloggers? Why not share the guest post with your email list. Perhaps, you can add your commentary to the guest content too.
8. Share quick tips
You can always share some quick tips with your subscribers too. Remember, you can discuss one tip or give some quick tips in bullet points. Just like in this edition of the Brevo Marketing newsletter:
9. Share stepwise tactics
This one is one of my favorite newsletter themes as it gives quick advice to the reader by sharing actionable steps about something.
Want to see it in action? Read Do More, With Less from Demio:
10. Share an actionable idea
Not big on sharing steps? Do it the Indie Hackers way by sharing one action idea that’s laid out in a paragraph or two.
11. Share facts
Yep. Facts are amazing and easy to read and digest. And, if you can cherry-pick the most interesting ones, you’d end up giving your subscribers a lovely treat!
12. Talk about what you’re reading or eating or even dreaming about
That adds a human touch while giving a bit of behind the scenes peek into your mind.
Kevan Lee’s newsletter has a dedicated newsletter section on what their team’s reading.
13. Hiring? Spread the word
The Animalz team does that. You can also ask subscribers for referrals.
14. Curate job openings
Another approach here is to gather job openings relevant to your email list and send them out in your newsletter.
Christina Pashialis does that for her ContentUK newsletter:
15. Share how-to guides
You can also take an educative approach to your newsletter theme. Give a breakdown of how to do X or Y. Or, if you’re big on publishing mighty guides as we do, share them with your readers.
16. Curate great content from around the web
If you’re into curation or gathering the best reads that you think will interest your readers, serve them to your subscribers in your email newsletter.
Here’s Marketing Spark curating links:
17. Don’t just curate, share your opinion too
Honestly, this shows you actually read what you share in your emails, making it an awesome newsletter idea.
James Whatley’s Five things on Friday was all about this:
18. Share an interesting tweet or Facebook post
In his weekly newsletter, Jimmy Daly shares a “Tweet of the Week.”
If you or someone on your team tend to be active on any social media, you can always make this idea a regular section in your emails.
19. Share social proof
Did someone just say something nice about you? Spread the word!
20. Talk about what’s up… in bullet points
One of the best newsletter ideas I’ve seen comes from Nick Parker. In The Journal of Messy Thinking, Nick goes on to talk in bullet points, making the email ultra-easy to read.
See for yourself:
21. Send a letter from a key team member
This can help you bond well with your target audience. For instance, your CEO could write to your readers.
Lauren McGoodwin, the Founder and CEO of Career Contessa, sends out a monthly email where she talks life, what’s happening, and stuff like that. She’s pretty much rocking it, making her letter one of the best monthly newsletter ideas.
22. Give an insider peek
Have a cute pet picture that’s been circulating your company’s Slack channel? Did your team have virtual drinks? Share that with your readers — these are all excellent newsletter content ideas.
Want to see this in a real newsletter before you go about executing this newsletter idea? Check out Column Five Media’s #inspiration Slack channel that they shared in their email:
23. Spotlight someone to follow in the industry
Love finding new people to follow on social media? Share the love like Dennis Shiao does:
24. Hand out an insider’s dos and don’ts list
Where checklists are common, dos and dont’s give people a quick idea of what to avoid and what to stick with. So you can always tap into this newsletter idea. Or, make lists part of your newsletter theme.
25. Share a tip of the month
If you’re looking for monthly newsletter ideas, this one’s for you. But there’s a lot more to share on a monthly note than a tip. You can play with sharing a monthly interview, how-to video guide, gated content asset, even free consultation sessions.
James Tennant, Founder of Converge does this well by sharing monthly trending keywords in their TrendingUp newsletter:
26. Share news of your community
Have a Facebook group? Share what people are talking about. Do you host a Twitter chat? Discuss what you’ll be chattin’ about.
It’s a great way to create FOMO (Shh! Don’t tell anyone, but I’ve joined several communities this way — cause FOMO, you know!)
27. Recommend podcasts to listen to
If you’re an avid podcast listener, this is a useful idea. You can share a podcast to listen to, a podcast episode that’s Thor-level worthy to tune into, or even discuss an episode. There are several newsletter ideas here, really!
28. Share what’s up on your podcast
Have a podcast yourself? High-five because that can be one of your newsletter themes. And if you’ve some email copywriting chops, you can drive significant traffic to your podcast.
29. Share your Spotify list
The real purpose of a newsletter is to build relationships. And if music can bring you closer to your readers, why not share your playlist with them!
30. Share new features and how to use them
New and old features that your software offers can both make great newsletter content. Wondering how? By teaching subscribers how to use them.
The Miro team does the same in this newsletter:
You can also take a different approach by creating an explainer GIF like this email does.
31. Create a fav-feature series and loop in employees
This is another of the fun things to put in a newsletter.
But… here’s the interesting bit: instead of tooting your own horn, get your employees/teammates on board to talk about their favorite feature of your software.
Even better, create a customer favorite feature series.
32. Share lessons you’ve learned
Another one of the best work newsletter ideas is sharing small nuggets of what you learned. It could be something you picked up on a new project you just wrapped up or something you observed as you looked at the trends.
Here’s David Perell sharing wisdom in Monday Musings:
33. Package lessons from folks in the industry
You can always pass on key takeaways from industry experts too. Eddie Shelyner does that a lot in his newsletter:
34. Share a roundup of what you’ve published
This could be an yearly roundup or quarterly one. Call it ‘the best of 2020’ or ‘the best of this quarter.’
35. Discuss X things you wish you knew when
Yep. People love these. Not only because they give them a quick learning opportunity, but because they get to see what you struggled with as a starter.
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Free plan includes access to all core email features, 300 emails/day, 40+ email templates, and customizable signup forms to grow your newsletter list.36. Talk mistakes
Like common mistakes content marketers make or common mistakes people make when making sushi. Any observations that help your readers will do.
37. Point out mistakes you made
Want to connect more with your subscribers? Open up and tell them what mistakes you learned doing something.
38. Celebrate with your subscribers
Been doin’ well in your business? Launched a new feature? Go on. Tell your achievement to the world.
39. Dive into a story from history
Fenwicks’ Chris Gillespie does this best:
But remember: you can’t just pull any story from the archives. You need one that resonates with your target audience and teaches them something.
40. Tell a childhood story
Stories know no bounds. You can pick one from anywhere such as your childhood.
41. Shoutout to people you appreciate
Make this one of your newsletter themes. Just as Ann Handley has:
42. Write case studies
Yes, you can always link back to case studies you publish on your site, but this is a different approach. Your newsletter content can be all about a case study that you write for it.
Zero to Marketing does this. Here’s a peep:
43. Go all in with teardowns
Remember how fascinating taking apart a toy used to be? Newsletter content that breaks down things is also equally interesting so why not give it a go?
Here’s how Val Geisler introduces tear downs in her Open Rates newsletter:
44. Give practical examples
Examples are the jewel in any content’s crown, be it newsletters, blog posts, even books. So be like Harry Dry who teaches a lot, but with each point he makes, he gives an example — one of the best things to put in a newsletter.
45. Analyze a sub-niche
Want to get really, really specific with subscribers?
Go deep into your field and pick out a topic that would interest your audience. Then fangirl over it with your readers.
Here’s a newsletter example: the Font Review Journal obsesses over typeface designs and analyzes them in its emails.
46. Think up a series
This could be any series — a bookathon takeaway series or a “3 shorts” series that looks at three news events in bullet points as Divinations does:
47. Share a video series
You can also do a video series. Creating Loom tutorials is easy so you can hit record and talk about your favorite marketing campaigns, the best virtual events you’ve attended, or even the Twitter chats you join.
48. Share a tips-based video in your company newsletter
Not sure if you can pull together a video series? Take it slowly. Talk about one feature or just about any one thing in your video and test the waters.
49. Encourage subscribers to ask questions
This is another great newsletter idea to put into practice. You’d be surprised to see how adding a small question can get people to hit reply and chat with you.
50. Talk news
Hang on! We reached 50 newsletter ideas. 50 Boy, oh boy! You’ve got work to do on that newsletter of your’s.
Circling back… News can be one of the things you put in a newsletter or your email content can be centered around it. Your call. Morning Brew focuses on the latter.
51. Share industry-specific news
You can also take a magnifying glass to news distribution by talking about industry-specific news.
So, instead of going all in CNN style, adopt the specific Animal Planet mode. The Hustle, for instance, focuses on tech and business only.
52. Let graphics do the talking
Visuals always make good newsletter ideas! Since we’ve already talked about adding videos, it’s only natural we add graphics to this newsletter ideas list.
Besides, there's a lot of scope to be creative here. Minimum Viable Planet, for example, tackles a serious topic with good graphics and humor.
53. Share easy to digest hacks
For example, you can share productivity hacks, but keep them short so they’re easy to read.
54. Discover, discover, and share
If you’re an explorer, this one’s for you. You can add what you discover as one of your newsletter themes. Or, make your newsletter content about it — whatever works for your readers.
55. Break down tough concepts into simple to understand ones
Your newsletter content can make life easy for its readers too. Just as Technically does. The brains behind it break down technical concepts and use emoji-laden sections to break out concepts.
56. Help people make sense of things
This is another useful newsletter content idea. Master something and then teach it to others. I know how to use Trello so I can write emails explaining how to hack into the project management app.
Plus, here’s a real-life newsletter example: Kyle Akerman who explains Google analytics (in tips) to busy marketers.
57. Share a promo video
Oh and before I forget, there’s another way to tap into video in your emails. Create a promo!
58. Tell what’s up
A lot of people in your audience don’t have the time to look up from their desk to check out what’s new. The solution? Give it to them. Just as Goodreads tells me which new books come out each month.
59. Share reports in a few lines
People rarely read word for word. They just skim read stuff.
So it makes sense to assume that only a handful read full reports, which gives you the opportunity to do the reading and summarizing work.
Trends.vo does just that for their readers:
60. Share insights
We’ve talked about adding tips, hacks, and how-tos to your newsletter content. Doesn’t make sense if we miss insights, right?
Think with Google’s emails share that kind of gold. You can too.
61. Highlight the best product deals for your readers
Alert readers about discounts, limited time deals, and the like as AppSumo’s emails do and they’ll thank you a ton for it..
62. Answer reader questions
Another one of the best monthly newsletter ideas is to host a Q&A session in your emails. Or, ask questions in every email and answer them as your newsletter content in the next letter.
Lenny does this in this newsletter:
63. Teach how to make things
This could be anything from starting a blog to running a newsletter.
Jay Acunzo’s newsletter themes revolve around building brands, content marketing, creativity, podcasting, and stuff like that.
64. Look at the trends with your readers
You can talk trends as well. What’s Hot in Enterprise IT/VC does a comprehensive analysis of the trending articles and tweets that leaves readers up to date with what’s hot.
65. Reveal industry secrets
There’s nothing that brings people closer than secrets. Honey Copy does that in Sticky Notes (swear I wanted that name for my newsletter!)
66. Open up with your thoughts
This needs some guts. But, executed well, you can gather up an army of subscribers that think like you do.
I love how Jason Bradwell shares his musings in The B2B Bite:
67. Write an essay
Sounds counter-intuitive, but folks read long essays too. The catch? Your essays have to be ridiculously good.
Here’s Andrew Chen’s Newsletter for some inspiration soak-up:
68. Send out inspiring stuff
Everyone’s learning all the time. But the motivating shtuff is a confetti rain — one that everyone needs now and then.
Translation: curate and share inspiring stories, quotes, and tidbits that amaze people.
69. Make predictions
Have experience making on-point guesses? Or, you’re plain good at seeing the future? Then, pull out the crystal ball.
Case in point: Insiders explains the future of DTC and retail businesses.
70. Add a funny edge to things
The Garbage Day newsletter gives us another newsletter idea. It brings out the fun side of the internet.
71. Help people see meaning in their work
Deep conversations over the meaning of life, work, and all that jazz also make great newsletter content ideas.
Jocelyn K. Glei’s newsletter is all this and more:
72. Encourage people to reflect
Here’s the thing: we all need to reflect. And, more often than an annual reflection. This creates great demand for newsletter content that makes people pause and think.
This MINNA email edition does it well.
73. Share memes
Memes make excellent newsletter content. Create some yourself or source some from social media.
74. Send out infographics
This is one of the best email newsletter ideas to try. Because, one, infographics are 50% easier to read. And two, they hold your audience’s attention real good.
75. Review things
Or you could review articles and books, if not new products.
76. Go in-depth with a story
Where you can share news in bullet points or a few paragraphs, you can dive deep into it too. Perhaps gather some relevant research on it as well.
Here’s how The Information does this.
77. Share some UGC
This is user generated content or content that your readers share with you. It could be a question, compliment, or a picture that you encouraged them to share as part of a challenge such as an image of their workspace.
78. Tell people how well they are doing
If you’re a SaaS business, you can send out emails on how well your customers are performing.
Not only does this make for one of the finest monthly newsletter ideas, but you can execute such how-you-are-doing-reviews weekly or quarterly too.
79. Offer free subscription
Again, this works for SaaS newsletters and other service businesses.
80. Pick apart internal data
Wear your researcher’s hat and look for trends just as Grammarly did in this email:
81. Share an explainer video
This is another bonzer newsletter idea for SaaS and service-based business owners.
Explain how your service works or how working with you looks like. You can also have an onboarding video.
82. Review your customer’s year
Share your service’s user highlights and surprise them with what they might not have guessed!
For instance, Todoist told me I tend to be productive on Mondays.
83. Share templates, checklists, or workbooks
Remember: whatever makes your reader’s life easy, it’s worth adding to your pool of newsletter ideas.
84. Disclose your research findings
Sharing research findings is pretty OG, if you ask me. It positions you as an expert and gives your reader a ton of value that they can’t get anywhere else.
Awesome newsletter content: check ✔
85. Introduce subscribers to speakers on board
Hosting a webinar? Speaking at a conference? That’s your next newsletter issue sorted.
Because, hype is one of the important things to put in a newsletter when hosting or participating in a conference/webinar. How? By telling subscribers what’s going to happen and who’s going to be present.
86. Give a recap of an event, conference, or webinar series
There’s valuable newsletter content to share post an event or session. Even if you aren’t the host, you can always highlight your takeaways.
Case in point: Buffer decided to share their take home messages on the blog and then shared it in their newsletter.
87. Share what happened at an event
It doesn’t have to be lessons learned all. the. time. You can write about something funny that happened or give a summary.
88. Share upcoming events
We aren’t done with the events just yet.
One last idea: have a dedicated section or randomly share important events around the corner.
89. Assign readers an action step
That’s also one of the best performing newsletter themes and a hat tip to Tiny Spells’ emails that does this daily:
90. Share quotes
Ah, we can’t forget this newsletter idea, can we? Share quotes — specific to something or otherwise.
Scott Monty’s emails have quotes:
91. Give people some food for thought
I bet there’s no one who does this better than James Clear.
92. Announce a collaboration
Pairing up with somebody? Tell it. It’s pipin’ hot news that the world needs to know!
93. Share mind blowing stats
If you’ve been working hard and hitting goals, share away. Even better if you have proof in numbers.
94. Celebrate a milestone
People like celebrating and cheering up for others. So if you’ve been double-minded about sharing your achievement, don’t be. Add the achievement to your newsletter content.
95. Announce a party
This could be a launch party, achievement party, business-is-4-today party, or anything, really.
96. Share a BTS video
Looking for more fun things to put in a newsletter? A behind-the-scenes (BTS) video will do the trick. If you bake, for example, you can shoot the process and add it to your email newsletter.
Here’s a newsletter featuring a BTS video from Patagonia.
97. Add any BTS, really
BTS comes in all shapes and sizes. So, if you aren’t into video marketing, you can add a GIF in your email or a picture. Or just write about it.
98. Narrate your back story
If you create new collections or work on creative projects regularly, sharing your thoughts on the process can make awesome newsletter content for you.
Speaking of stories, you can also always share your success story with your email list.
99. Tell how you can help, but with proof
Here’s Headspace being all pro with proof of how they help:
100. Share exclusive deals
Wait… we just made it to a 100 ideas! Time to pop some confetti.
Back to business now: sharing exclusive deals in your emails works for both service-based owners as well as ecommerce stores.
101. Create FOMO
If you’re working on something new, let’s say an eBook, you can share sections from it. You can tell how much work you’re doing as well — any of the FOMO-inducing copy tactics will make for a great email newsletter idea.
102. Email a giveaway
This one’s self-explanatory.
103. Announce a sale
Again, pretty explanatory.
Example coming through:
104. Create a challenge
This one’s a dope newsletter idea to engage subscribers.
105. Share your secrets
Give your email list an insider peek into how you work or create something.
106. Share what you’ve got in store
For ecommerce businesses, this is another one of creative email newsletter ideas. But, as you do this, make sure you focus doesn’t waver from making it all about the reader.
Nutrafruit does this well in their newsletter.
107. Hype a limited edition
Ecommerce owners, this is another idea for you. Take it from this letter that does it well:
108. Talk about a new product
You can also do that or discuss the marketing strategy you’ve planned out for your product launch (if it interests your email list, that is).
109. Or, inform about a restock
Buyers can quickly forget what they wanted to get once it’s out of stock, but a little push can go a long way.
110. Explain how to use your product
In other words, be smart and create content around your product.
Here’s inspiration from The Glenlivet:
111. Share news
Launching a new store? Starting a podcast? That’s news. And news that’s worth sharing with your email family.
112. Give people solutions
Whether it’s by asking them a series of questions or giving them a quiz, help people make the right choices.
Here’s what I mean — live in GoDaddy’s email:
113. Share quizzes
These could be informative ones, but a little fun doesn’t hurt, does it?
114. Announce free shipping
Free shipping is always such a heart-winner (ask someone who loves shopping). In fact, 86% of shoppers abandon their carts due to shipping costs with 90% saying that free shipping is the top incentive to get them to shop often.
So you know what to do, right?
115. Push people to pre-order
Not only does this work for ecommerce, but also for SaaS and a small business selling digital products.
116. Create a product-based GIF
This one’s a smart way to feature your product as well as hold your subscribers’ attention.
117. Share product reviews
If word on the street about you is positive, you need to celebrate and shout it loud. Both for yourself and for getting people to buy from you in case you forgot 90% of users read less than ten reviews to form an opinion about your business.
118. Host a Q&A session with your teammates
These make for pretty engaging newsletter content, the type that can boost your open rates.
119. Share related products
If you’ve caught yourself surfing the related products section on your favorite store only to end up adding another product to your cart, you need to do this.
120. Educate about your product
There are just so many ways to talk about your product without sounding self-absorbed or sales-y. Educating readers about it is one such way.
121. Talk about what makes you different
That is, highlight your unique selling proposition (USP) to tell what makes you, well, you!
122. Add an FAQ section
FAQ sections aren’t limited to websites. Adding one to your email is one of the best newsletter ideas — one that Kai Davis leverages.
See for yourself:
123. Start a referral program
You can always give an incentive, a discount if you sell something, for example. The Managing Editor newsletter take a unique approach:
124. Share YouTube videos
Or, your favorite TED talks that you’ll suit your email list’s taste too.
125. Ask for feedback
Whether it’s for your newsletter, a webinar series, or a recent blog post, you need feedback to thrive. So let’s complete this email newsletter ideas list with one last idea: send out an occasional feedback survey.
Alternatively, let people vote their preference like this:
Put these newsletter ideas to work
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