20 Newsletter Content Ideas For When You're Out of Topics

If you’re like most marketers, you’re always looking for new and innovative ways to energize your marketing strategy, especially your email marketing strategy. But it can be tough to come up with fresh newsletter content ideas that will capture your audience’s attention and guide them toward the next step in the marketing funnel. Lucky for you, we’ve put together a list of 20 newsletter topics that are sure to get your readers excited about your emails.

Newsletter content ideas by type 

Different types of emails work better for different industries and audiences. So let’s break these 20 ideas down into a handful of common categories, considering some great newsletter content examples as we go.

E-commerce newsletter ideas

Selling products or services online? Here are 4 newsletter types to inspire you.

1. Product promo emails

Whether you have a new product launch or a sale on a fan favorite product, use email to promote your offers. For example, you could send your customers emails about new products in stock, discounts on their favorite brands or popular items that are running low in stock. Such emails can drive traffic to your landing pages or online store and result in an immediate sales boost. Especially if you create urgency or a feeling of exclusivity.

2. Giveaways and contest emails

Giveaways and contests are a great way to grab attention, promote engagement, and increase brand awareness through referrals. So think about how you can generate hype around your products or services. For example, you could run a contest where people submit photos or videos of themselves using your product for a chance at winning free branded swag.

3. Refer-a-friend emails

Your customers likely know other people like them who are also your ideal customers. So asking them to refer their friends can be a simple but powerful way to earn the trust of more of those individuals and expand your customer base.

For best results, ideally, there’d be something in the deal for your existing subscribers and customers. For example, “Get $10 in credits to spend in our store for each friend you refer.”

4. Surveys or poll emails

Surveys and polls are a good way to gather valuable insights about your audience. For example, a post-purchase survey can help you understand why people made a purchase, what they liked or didn’t like about the purchase or process, and how likely they are to buy from you again. On the other hand, polls can be helpful for understanding what features, solutions, and offers your subscribers are interested in to inform future business decisions.

DTC newsletter ideas 

If yours is a direct-to-consumer brand, in addition to the e-commerce ideas above, you can try these 4 newsletter types.

5. Company background emails

Many DTC brands are purpose-driven with strong views on why direct-to-consumer is the best model for them and their customers. Especially if your brand is one of them, periodically telling your company story—including talking about your mission and vision—can help you earn the respect of and build relationships with members of your audience who share your values.

6. User-generated content emails

Featuring user-generated content in your emails such as reviews, video testimonials, and customer success stories can work wonders for generating interest in your offers and, more importantly, giving your sales a boost. Why? Because people trust the positive things that others like them say about you (often more than the great things your company says about itself).

7. Coupons and promo emails

Consumers love discounts and promotions like free shipping, buy one get one free, and so on! So make sure they’re always in the know about the latest incentives to buy from you. And, if you can, personalize your emails based on shopping history, past purchases, and other info you have about individual subscribers and segments of your email lists.

8. Loyalty program invite emails

Loyalty and rewards programs are a win-win for brands and their most loyal supporters. Brands get increased sales without any extra work, while brand loyalists get desirable perks. If you don’t already have such a program, consider creating one and promoting it in your emails to enjoy the power of referral marketing (AKA word-of-mouth marketing).

B2B newsletter ideas

Email newsletters are the third most popular type of content among B2B marketers. This raises a question: What kinds of newsletters are they sending out?

9. Expert interview emails

Sharing your expertise is critical for building credibility to convert prospects to leads and leads to customers. However, strategically incorporating the insights of industry experts into your email marketing campaigns can help you build that credibility even faster. So conduct expert interviews and share your thoughts on the topics discussed with your newsletter subscribers.

10. Roundup emails

Want to take the expert interview idea a step further? Do roundups of insights from subject matter experts to create high-value content that positions you as a top source of industry-related info.

You can also do roundups of curated content such as the best resources on a topic that’s relevant to your audience.

11. Webinar emails

Webinars are great for providing information and explaining how and where your solutions fit into the mix to benefit your target customers. Share details of your webinars via newsletters and generate as many qualified prospects as possible.

12. Case study emails

A big part of B2B is proving that your products or services work and will get an ROI for people considering becoming customers. And producing case studies is one way to highlight that evidence and build trust.

Yet, instead of hoping that a good percentage of your audience will find your latest case study on the website, you can take matters into your own hands and send it to them directly. This can increase your overall reach and, ultimately, create more sales opportunities down the line.

Weekly or monthly newsletter ideas

Need some more general newsletter content ideas for mostly informational email marketing campaigns? The following 4 are tried-and-true.

13. Featured resource promotion emails

Limiting your content to just one distribution channel is a recipe for underperforming content. For example, blog posts shouldn't only be published on the company blog or shared once after they're published on social media. Wide and ongoing distribution of owned blog posts, recent guest posts, guides, and lead magnets is key for your content marketing strategy to reach its full potential. And that includes sharing this content with your email list both as soon as it goes live and periodically thereafter as long as it’s still relevant.

14. FAQ emails

There are frequently asked questions in all industries, yours included. And they make excellent topics for newsletters since you already know your target market will be interested in them.

There are likely many questions you could answer, which can mean months worth of content ideas.

Think of some things people commonly ask about the problems and challenges you solve, solutions like yours or the industry in general. Then, provide answers, making sure to share your unique perspectives and experiences when you can.

15. Stories and learnings email

Humans love stories, which make them a smart way to create email newsletters that subscribers can’t wait to read. Of course, it’s a plus if the stories you tell help your readers in some way. So share your experiences and lessons learned, along with those of your peers and customers. This can demonstrate your expertise and help you to earn the trust of your subscribers.

16. Video promo email

Is creating YouTube videos part of your digital marketing strategy? If so, you can promote your latest videos or your YouTube channel in your emails. (Even if you’re not doing standalone videos, you could give people the option to read or watch your content as a video in your text-based emails.)

Employee newsletter ideas

Sending internal company-related emails to employees? Here are some worthy topics.

17. Company news emails

Company newsletters are a great way to celebrate reaching business milestones, thank employees for their work and share related success stories, keep team members informed about upcoming changes, and so on. Especially if your team works remotely, it can be good for keeping everyone on the same page. 

18. Industry news emails

Many employees keep up with the latest in the industry by themselves. But you can still encourage them to stay informed by sharing relevant industry news, especially if it impacts their work. Why not try curating a few news updates to send in your next email?

19. Employee of the month emails

You could have employees vote for one another. Or you could personally select and shoutout someone who's gone above and beyond their job duties or displayed exemplary teamwork this month. In either case, recognizing the hard work and valuable contributions of your employees is a great way to show your appreciation, keep them motivated, and maintain a positive company culture.

20. Event invitation emails

Doing a company off-site? About to host a workshop? Planning a team bonding event? Whatever the case maybe, email is an effective way to notify employees of both mandatory and optional upcoming events.

How to write engaging content for your newsletter

We’ve discussed several types of newsletters and seen some newsletter examples. Now, let’s talk about how you can create emails that get high open rates, clicks, and result in conversions.

For example, say you wanted to create an internal company email announcing an upcoming workshop. You could do this quickly and easily using Jasper templates. For example, since press releases are a news-based content type, the Press Release Title & Intro template would be a good option for this type of email. All you have to do is pop in a description, your company name and, if you’d like, a keyword and tone of voice.

Jasper will then give you several outputs that you can use as-is or as starting points for your event announcement. (Another benefit of using this template is that it also provides a title, which can double as an eye-catching email subject line.)

What if you wanted to answer a frequently asked question in your next newsletter? The Quora Answers template works wonders for this. Simply include the question, key points to mention in the reply, and a tone of voice.

Jasper will then give possible answers to choose from and, if needed, you can tweak or add to them. For writing subject lines, you can use the Email Subject Lines template, which we’ll see how to use below.

How could you use the Email Subject Lines and AIDA Framework template to create an email announcing a limited-time discount? In the subject lines template, input a company or product name, email description, and tone of voice for subject lines suggestions.

Once you’ve picked the one you like, copy and paste your inputs into the AIDA Framework template to get suggested content or copy for the body of your email. Edit, add to or combine the outputs if needed and you’re good to go.

With Jasper, you can create emails of any sort in minutes, especially if you go through Jasper Bootcamp to hone your skills. Not to mention that templates like Blog Post Topic Ideas and Video Topic Ideas can help you brainstorm what to write in an email newsletter if you’re short on ideas. Start your free trial of Jasper today and take templates for a spin!