6 Email Newsletter Examples to Keep Prospects Engaged

Newsletters—recurring roundups of news, tips, or product updates—are the most popular type of emails that marketers send. In fact, more than 80% of respondents from our 2021 State of Email survey use them in their email marketing programs.

Email newsletters are a highly popular tactic used by B2B and B2C marketers across verticals, including news outlets, non-profits, agencies, independent thought leaders, and more. As popular as they are, they’re tough to do right. How do you create a newsletter that entices prospects to sign up—and keeps subscribers coming back for more?

We’re sharing what makes a good newsletter, complete with six newsletter examples to help you get inspired, whether you’re looking to get started or looking to reimagine your current one.

(And if you want a deeper dive, we break down all the key elements in our new guide: Start and Grow Email Newsletters People Love ).

Read on to learn more about:

• What makes a good newsletter?
• Why you should look at examples of newsletters
• B2B newsletter examples
• B2C newsletter examples
• News media newsletters examples
• How to claim your free newsletter guide

What makes a good newsletter?

Generally speaking, subscribers sign up for a newsletter to stay up-to-date with a brand or business. That said, if someone opts in to receive a newsletter, it doesn’t mean you should only send promotional news.

Through the lens of marketing, an email newsletter is a nurture tool—they build brand trust and credibility, and nurture direct connections with subscribers. And a good newsletter should be filled with content that’s helpful, educational, entertaining, or inspirational. 

Despite your industry, brand, or reasons for sending a newsletter, it should not be about a hard sell. As Ann Handley puts it: consider email newsletters as a bridge to the rest of your marketing.

Here are some reasons people may subscribe to an email newsletter (from StoryDoc):

• Receive discounts: 39% 
• Read current news: 21% 
• Learn about something of interest: 18% 
• Get access to exclusive content: 16% 
• Receive product announcements/updates: 5%

Why you should look at examples of newsletters

Looking at newsletter examples from other brands and businesses is a great way to fuel ideas for your own campaigns.

Whether you’re looking to start a newsletter or give your current one a refresh, you’ll walk away with inspiration to keep your subscribers engaged.

B2B newsletter examples

Let’s take a look at some examples of newsletters in the B2B space.

Asana

First up is project management tool Asana. Their product is all about helping teams organize, track, and manage their work.

Why Asana’s newsletter works

Asana covers a few topics in this newsletters, touching upon productivity and career pathing, to name a few. They all fall under a general theme of success in the workplace, which is relevant to their customer base.

Here’s an overview of their title/section headers:

• What your teams need to succeed
• How to prioritize the work that matters
• Strengthening your team from the bottom up
• Special report: What Gen Z needs from leaders right now
• 1-minute recap: What’s new in Asana

They’ve broken up the content of the email with colored blocks (purple and black) to help create visual breaks throughout the email, keeping readers engaged as they scroll.

The end of the newsletter includes a quick roundup of product updates, with a “1-minute recap: What’s new in Asana” section. This presents the content in an easy-to-scan, digestible format.

Bolt

Bolt is in the business of online payments, aiming to make the world of ecommerce better with seamless shopping experiences. Their newsletter ThinkShop provides “the latest ecommerce insights and strategies” to subscribers.

Why Bolt’s newsletter works

Here’s what works well with ThinkShop:

• Each issue has a host. This gives each newsletter a personal touch.
• A recurring “chart of the month” section paired with a quick summary of why it’s important.
• Concise and digestible “quick hits” that subscribers will find interest in.

Overall, this newsletter delivers educational and insightful content that’s hyper-relevant to Bolt’s target audience. It’s formatted with readability in mind, making it easy for subscribers to skim and scroll.

B2C Newsletter Examples

Disapora Co.

Disapora Co. is a food and beverage company specializing in single origin spices. They’re  rooted in equity, which plays a big part in their product and marketing efforts.

Their newsletter Open Tab brings “seasonal reading lists, highly cookable recipes, feelings-filled harvest reports, and lots more” to subscribers’ inboxes.

Why Disapora Co.’s newsletter works

Let’s break down what makes Open Tab engaging:

• Clear visual anchor points. Achieved by bolding the first word of each sentence and using chili pepper emojis (🌶️) as bullets.
• Bold and beautiful imagery. An illustration is used as the hero image, followed by an eye-catching photo.
• Tone of voice. The email copy is playful and touches upon cultural references, bringing in relevancy for subscribers.

All in all, the content is helpful, educational, and inspirational—everything from recommended readings, recipes, and tips. Although they do promote their products, it’s woven into the copy in a natural way.

KitchenAid

KitchenAid—a home appliance brand—puts out a monthly newsletter themed as “KitchenAid Stories.”

Why KitchenAid’s newsletter works

What works well in this KitchenAid newsletter? 

• Variety of content. There are over ten different content pieces to dive into across home, design, travel, and culture.
• Simple yet elegant email design. The simplicity of the layout complements the imagery and makes it all the more eye catching.
• Light promotional push. Once readers reach the end of the newsletter, they are met with one (and only one) promotion.

News media newsletters examples

News media, outlets, and publications are one of the most popular industries for sending newsletters. Let’s take a look at some examples.

The Hustle

The Hustle is a newsletter under the HubSpot umbrella. Marketed as a “5-minute newsletter keeping 2M+ innovators in the loop with stories on business, tech, and the internet,” subscribers get exactly that. The Hustle delivers news headlines relevant to their reader’s industries, and thorough write ups on featured topics—providing a mix of both short and longer form content.

Why The Hustle’s newsletter works

The newsletter is easy to read: there are no lines of copy that surpass three lines. Text styling is used strategically to help with readability—like bolding the first few words of each paragraph.

Although it’s a considerably long newsletter, they keep subscribers interested by breaking up blocks of copy with imagery, encouraging readers to scroll. There’s even a sentiment counter at the end of the newsletter, which helps encourage engagement (via clicks) and provides valuable feedback to their email team.

Learn how to add live polls to your emails in our Guide to Live Polls and Social Proof in Email → 

The Daily Skimm

The Daily Skimm was created to be a short, simple newsletter for urban women ages 22 to 34 to help initiate conversations about current events. Delivered daily, the newsletter “prepares you for your day in minutes” and “makes it easier to live smarter.”

Why The Daily Skimm’s newsletter works

As it’s name suggests, The Daily Skimm is highly skimmable. Similar to The Hustle, the variations in text styling helps with readability; instead of bolding the first few words, they hyperlink the first line of each paragraph.

In terms of the content, it’s all relevant to their target audience, and described in a short and succinct way. The copy is also written in a tone tailored to resonate with their core demographic.

How to claim your free newsletter guide

Looking to start an email newsletter or revamp your current one? We created a step-by-step guide (and a free email newsletter template!) to help you get started. You’ll learn:

• How to choose your email newsletter’s purpose, audience, cadence, look/feel and content 
• Ways to encourage newsletter engagement and measure success 
• Best practices we apply to Litmus newsletters, that you can use to your advantage