Most business owners neglect the simple email lists. Whether you’re using MailChimp, Constant Contact, or some other email platform, the power of email is universal. Email gives business owners the ability to reach out to hundreds — even thousands of customers easily. If done correctly email newsletters can boost conversion rates, increase click through rates, and help brand awareness.

At Pixelized Designs, we deal with business owners all the time who are not using email marketing or email newsletters simply because they don’t know how, and they’re not sure where to start. These business owners often ask us “what type of emails should we be sending?” or “how can we make our customers care?” In this article, we will provide 40 email newsletter ideas that you can start using today. Choose topics from this list that fit your industry, your audience, and the personality of your brand.

Feature Something/Someone

The goal of this section is to highlight something or someone that you think your readers would be interested in. For example, if you’re a nonprofit, you may want to feature star volunteers or companies that help you make a difference. Small businesses may want to feature employees or their product/app. Keep it relevant and change it up from time to time.

1. Customer or member of the day, week or month
2. Employee or volunteer of the day, week or month
3. Product, artwork or song of the day, week or month
4. Quote, poem, scripture, recipe, joke, or word of the day, week or month
5. Deal of the day, week or month

Have Some Fun!

These email newsletter ideas aim to generate interactions that boost CTR, signups for contests, etc. These shouldn’t be used all the time so your subscribers don’t get “burnt out” but when used correctly, these can help a lot.

6. Themed Horoscopes (gardening, business, writing)
7. Host a contest or giveaway (be sure to include value)
8. Use a creative signature. Don’t rely on “sincerely” try something like “Cheers!” “Until next time” or “XOXO” depending on the personality of your brand.

Provide Useful DIY Information

Depending on your industry and audience, DIY information is some of the best content you can use. Be sure to use a subject that catches readers’ attention, then provide DIY content they want. If done correctly, this content should link to your website or landing page to get people interacting with your site.

9. Simple, yet useful, information for the DIY’ers out there.
10. Five tips and tricks … keep this relevant to your audience
11. Five steps on how to start ____. Again, keep it relevant
12. Three steps on how to do ____ better/faster.

Make Announcements

When used correctly, these email newsletter ideas help your subscribers relate to your brand with milestones, boost registrations and awareness of events, sales, etc. The content in these emails should be shareable where subscribers would want to tell their friends.

13. Make a milestone announcement
14. Tell your followers about an upcoming event
15. Pre-sale or Pre-register alerts
16. Talk about a new product, feature, or service
17. Last-chance alerts for sales, event registration, or limited time offer

Curate Content Like a Pro

Curating content is one of the easiest email newsletter ideas. All you have to do is create a list of links to your content or third-party content. Be sure the content you link to meets your standards for quality.

18. Tease your video, podcast, blog article, etc. The goal here is to boost your click through rate
19. Post a collection of your popular blog articles
20. Best free online resources for ____ (choose an industry specific topic)
21. Provide links to research on industry specific topics
22. Must-listen-to podcasts

Make It Personal

The goal of these suggestions are to help make your brand or yourself more relatable. History of your business or defining your mission is a great first email to send subscribers.

23. History of your business or organization, include your mission and goals
24. Things or ideas you’re loving currently
25. Best advice you ever got about _____
26. Behind the scenes glimpse of your business or organization
27. Write an anecdote that is relatable to your readers but still connects to the company
28. Books on your nightstand

Go Visual

Sometimes simple is better. You can have an impactful email newsletter that is entirely visual. From infographics, to reviews turned into graphics, this content is something your subscribers will read, but might not cause them t interact with your site.

29. Unexpected or metaphorical photo or drawing
30. Professional headshots of you or your team actively doing what you do best
31. Infographics
32. Take your reviews or quotes and turn them into a graphic

Make It About Them

Knowing your subscribers and audience is important. Making content about the is even more important. These suggestions aim to encourage those subscribers to interact with you or your company.

33. Share a customer review or success story
34. Call to action. Encourage users to take some action, buy a product, rate an app, take a survey, etc.
35. Share an offer just for existing customers
36. Use survey tools to send a customer survey
37. Headline, image, or story that appeals to your subscribers’ aspirations
38. Crowdsource a product or service
39. Send a thank you to all your subscribers
40. NEVER send spam