10 Creative Newsletter Ideas to Engage Your Customers

Zero engagement. Zero read time. Zero conversion.

That’s probably how you lose customers if you send humdrum, uninteresting newsletters, functioning as snooze buttons pressed on your subscribers’ interest. Just zoom over your previous emails. If their monotonous nature is like a lullaby, gently rocking you into a nap, the problem is crystal clear. Every email newsletter may need a jolt of creativity to engage customers more effectively and wake them up from a deep slumber you lulled them into.

So, we’ve collected 10 awesome newsletter ideas that will keep your subscribers filled with enthusiasm or even adrenaline (wait for one particular suggestion!), always engaged and loyal, and ready to renew your app subscription or purchase more products/services from your company.

But the email newsletter basics go first, as always.

What Is a Newsletter?

There’s no reinventing the wheel here.

Living up to their name, newsletters are e-letters packed with news.

Unlike a marketing email (e.g., a promo, a limited-time offer, or a triggered cart abandonment email), a newsletter is an electronic correspondence that updates customers with new information.

For example, look at this email newsletter from Buffer. It informs the reader about a new app’s feature allowing users to add notes to the content in Buffer.

The fundamental task of newsletters is to ignite customer interaction through reading and engaging with the email content. In turn, such an experience grows loyalty and retention and, ultimately, translates into more sales.

Email Newsletter Facts Worth Knowing

70% of people prefer to interact with brands via email.
69% of B2B marketers distribute their content via email newsletters.
Eight out of ten SMBs bank on emails as the #1 channel for customer acquisition.
Every user gets an average of 96 emails in the inbox day-to-day.

As you can observe, the competition is fierce.

But rest assured: you can easily win it with creative newsletter ideas.

Best Newsletter Ideas for Year-round Customer Engagement

We’ve dug up those specially for you. Copy and save them all immediately before everyone else!

1. Compose an absorbing narrative

I was a chronic procrastinator.

My procrastination problems came to a head when I worked as a press officer for an Irish company.

I thought the job was going well.

My boss thought otherwise.

He fired me because I missed a few important deadlines.

Getting fired when you’ve two small kids?

I didn’t know how we would pay the bills or what this meant for my career…

[…]

Wouldn’t you want to read further and discover what happened next?

That’s only the beginning of an engaging email newsletter by Bryan Collins (Become a Writer Today).

Stories like this have more power to impact human brains than plain facts. They are 22 times more memorable in the first place. Second, they immerse customers in an exciting and emotional reading journey.

Think of a story you can tell your customers in your newsletter. It may be your brand’s story or a compelling narration from one of your employees, customers, affiliates, influencers, etc. For example, one of the emails from the American Red Cross contained a story from Joan Brasher, a Red Cross volunteer, with the subject line: How I became a part of the Red Cross team.

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2. Ask ‘Can you?’ questions

What are those, and how should you leverage them when designing an email newsletter?

Take the low-down on this tactic from Albert Kim, VP of Talent at Checkr, who recommends applying it to your newsletter for higher customer engagement. He explains, “Having originated from the academic sphere, the ‘Can-you’ question types are highly engaging in email newsletters, too, because they are thought-provoking and daring. On the one hand, they evoke a chain of thoughts and prompt newsletter subscribers to engage with the content actively rather than consume it passively. On the other hand, they create a sense of challenge and achievement.”

Over to original newsletters examples with “Can-you” subject lines:

Can you color hair over highlights? (oVertone)
Can you spot a publishing scammer? (Reedsy)
Can you manifest a healthier you? (TotalWellness)
Can you wear black to a wedding? (InStyle)
Can you answer this? (The Motley Fool)

3. Add social proof

Don’t Take Our Word. Take Theirs.

That’s how SelectSoftware Reviews entitled the newsletter with a case study.

Gary Hemming, Owner & Finance Director at ABC Finance says, “People trust other people. When they see others benefit from a service or product, this psychological phenomenon (social proof) increases their trust and promotes the so-called community feel. That’s why when writing creative newsletters, it’s great to showcase real-life experiences and stories”

Gary Hemming shares his tried-and-tested list of social proof examples to enhance customer trust and engagement via an email newsletter:

Case studies
Ratings or reviews
Testimonials
User- and influencer-generated content
Customer success stories

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4. Personalize with Qs: Questionnaires and Quizzes

These are amazing newsletter ideas for driving unprecedented customer engagement through the power of interactivity and personalization. And they have been well-tested in practice.

Jerry Han, CMO at PrizeRebel, describes how the brand uses those in the newsletter, “We add surveys and quizzes to PrizeRebel’s emails to engage users into personalized interactions and segment them by interests. They are, by a wide margin, the best drivers of user engagement in our email newsletters.”

Here’s how PrizeRebel sends out profile questionnaires to personalize their experiences.

Alternatively, look at this fun and engaging swipe quiz in the newsletter from Central England Co-operative.

By the way, it drove a 28% click-through rate (CTR), nearly ten times higher than the average CTR (which is 2.62%).

5. Check the customer’s pulse continuously

In plain language—ask for customer feedback regularly.

Jonathan Feniak, General Counsel at LLC Attorney, remarks, “While sending a feedback or review request via a newsletter, you do several things at once: demonstrate your care, keep your finger on the customer’s pulse, and engage with customers more effectively. Besides, if sent periodically (ideally, once a quarter), it helps you notice and address your product or service drawbacks in a timely manner.”

Here are a few feedback questions Axel Lavergne asks to improve customer experience:

How is the trial going?
Any feedback on your experience so far?
Is there anything holding you back?

You can turn to surveys as well:

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6. Drop a downloadable item inside

Downloadables are digital files subscribers can download directly from email to their devices. When incorporated into newsletters, they should contain relevant information and add value, which is critical for a customer-first approach.

A downloadable file can take virtually any form:

Ebook
Template
Checklist
Infographic
White paper
Report
Or anything else.

Check out this downloadable report from SEJ’s newsletter.

You can encourage your newsletter subscribers to download the item with clickable CTA buttons, such as “Download now” or “Download your copy.” Once they click and open the downloaded element, they start engaging with your brand’s content beyond simply scrolling through the email and leaving.

7. Turn your newsletter into an interactive playground

According to Jesse Hanson, Content Manager at Online Solitaire & World of Card Games, if you don’t use this powerful trio of interactive elements, your newsletter may lose the customer engagement game (pun intended). He highlights, “Adding gamification, animation, or video transforms a newsletter from a lifeless into an energetic playground where subscribers feel the adrenaline rush. Later, this heart-pounding experience keeps them coming back for more.”

Indeed, interactive content boosts the email open rate by 73%, while a video alone can increase the CTR by 300%.

Let’s look at engaging newsletter ideas driven by interactivity.

Game-like elements: Contiki gamified email with a wheel-spinning activity to help newsletter subscribers decide on the next trip.
Animation: Sona added an animation illustrating a new feature in the newsletter.
Video: Intercom inserted a video into a newsletter arriving with the subject line: Which AI chatbot is right for your team?

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8. Roll out the red carpet to upcoming events

An event is, per se, an invaluable touchpoint in the customer journey with your brand. Yet, it’s tough to spellbind customers into registering and participating. But here’s a magical trick. You just need to announce it via a newsletter creatively. And voila—your customers follow the event link and get involved.

First, consider the following event ideas for your email newsletter:

Webinar
Product launch
Conference
Live Q&A session
Charity or fundraising event
Masterclass
Expert panel or roundtable

Userlist regularly invites newsletter subscribers to friendly live roundtables or Happy Hours on Thursdays.

Then, it would be better to make the event feel exclusive. To achieve that, indicate limited availability or special access, evoking the fear of missing out (FOMO) and the desire to attend.

The eLearning Industry team encourages newsletter readers to hurry up and save their spots due to limited seats.

9. Spill a secret

One word.

Only one word may be enough to transform your boring text into a creative newsletter people will die to read.

This word is “secret.”

But why does it work? 

Brooke Webber, Head of Marketing at Ninja Patches, explains, “Secrets attract people and lure them to open and read emails. All thanks to the ‘will to mystery’ effect rooted deeply in psychology. When you share something secretive or private with your customers via an email newsletter, they also feel special and honored to be a part of a closed community or a particular group trusted to know this information.”

Webber provides a list of actionable newsletter subject lines for spilling secrets more creatively in your emails:

We’ve Cracked the Enigma of _____
Secret About _____ You Have Never Been Told Before
Leaked Secrets From _____
Mystery Uncovered: _____
X Unheard-Of Secrets About _____

DeptAgency disclosed “the secret sauce for getting AI right” in their newsletter. Meanwhile, CreatorIQ blew the lid off successful influencer marketing campaigns.

10. Revamp your holiday newsletter

Do you celebrate holidays with your customers?

Perhaps it’s high time to unfurl the festivities in your email newsletters for better customer engagement on:

Christmas
Valentine’s Day
Easter
Halloween
Thanksgiving Day
Black Friday
Cyber Monday

Grammarly rocked its holiday newsletter with 50% off in Cyber Monday savings.

Now, let’s discuss business-related holidays.

When you congratulate your customers on niche holidays relevant to your business or industry, you appreciate what matters to them, capture their interest, and increase the likelihood of engaging with your newsletter.

For instance, Bloomscape celebrates Plant Appreciation Day, Soundwave Hearing → World Hearing Day, King Arthur Baking → National Keto Day, whereas AppSumo → Small Business Saturday.

Your Turn to Write Creative Newsletters

With these fantastic newsletter ideas, you’ll add a splash of color to your blank canvas and transform routine updates into engaging messages to have your subscribers on the edge of their seats, eagerly awaiting your next email.

So, pick up the brush and start crafting your newsletter masterpieces.

Image by rawpixel.com on Freepik