eNewsletter popularity has exploded in recent years. News publishers and brands alike are producing top-tier content and delivering it directly to your inbox.
Yet not all eNewsletters are created equal — some stand above the rest.
We asked the creative and content teams at Questline Digital to share their favorites. We’re diving into the 11 best eNewsletters and identifying what makes them great.
While these eNewsletters differ greatly in design and topic, each example still has a lot in common. The best eNewsletters always have the following attributes:
- Niche audience
- Consistent schedule
- Simple design
- Helpful content
- Links to more information
- Not overly promotional
- A bit of personality
Don’t have time to read our full breakdown? Here are high-level tips to take away from these best eNewsletter examples:
- Don’t be afraid to include bold imagery or multimedia.
- Write for your audience — some prefer short content while others want longer form.
- Content should not only be interesting but helpful to your audience.
- Keep it simple and focus on providing quality content.
- Do the work for your readers by giving them a topic overview and relevant links.
- Try offering something exclusive to subscribers.
- Personalize eNewsletters based on subscriber interests or behaviors.
- Use a repeatable format.
- Offer your customers topic-specific eNewsletters.
- Always teach your audience something new they can apply to their daily lives.
- Save your audience time.
1. Lily Lines, Washington Post
The best eNewsletters are typically known for their extremely clean designs. Lily Lines breaks the mold by focusing on incorporation of unique illustrations. Still simplistic in image size, placement and organization, the Lily Lines eNewsletter showcases bold visuals in every issue.
Delivered consistently on Mondays and Thursdays, Lily Lines curates important and empowering stories for women in the know. It is one of the many specialty eNewsletters published by The Washington Post.
Recommended by Questline Digital’s Senior Copywriter, Breanne George.
Takeaway for your energy utility: Don’t be afraid to include bold imagery or multimedia. Eye-catching illustrations, animations and videos go a long way in building eNews engagement.
2. Robinhood Snacks
Catering to an audience of busy readers, Robinhood Snacks provides stock enthusiasts with bite-sized updates on the financial market. Subscribers can see what’s new with stocks and the economy in just three minutes a day.
Focused on information sharing, the eNewsletter doesn’t include much imagery and sticks to providing hard-hitting advice and news.
Recommended by Questline Digital’s Creative Director, Joe Pifher.
Takeaway for your energy utility: Write for your audience — some prefer short content while others want longer form. Understand if you’re writing for people who are short on time or for those that want an in-depth understanding.
3. School of Motion, Adobe
Curated specifically for users of Adobe products, this best-in-class eNewsletter delivers motion design video tutorials, podcast interviews and in-depth articles. Lighthearted in tone and bright in color, School of Motion caters to its community of creatives.
All eNewsletter content is focused on helping subscribers grow their skills and capitalize on capabilities within Adobe products. It is delivered weekly and shares helpful blogs and upcoming courses.
Recommended by Questline Digital’s Video Animator, Mary Harrison.
Takeaway for your energy utility: Content should not only be interesting but helpful to your audience. Make sure to always provide value.
4. Energy Rant
This eNewsletter sends a full blog post to its subscribers every week. It hits on energy efficiency issues, adding a bit of satire. With minimal design, Energy Rant is a great reminder that content trumps all. Your readers subscribe because they want to see what you have to say.
Recommended by Questline Digital’s Senior Energy Analyst, Mike Carter.
Takeaway for your energy utility: Keep it simple and focus on providing quality content. The best eNewsletters don’t need to be fancy to be impactful or engaging.
5. MLB Morning Lineup
This daily eNewsletter is built for baseball fans who don’t have enough time to watch every single game. It includes snazzy headlines, video clips and links to game summaries and highlights. For added fun, Morning Lineup also includes a daily trivia question seen only by subscribers.
Recommended by Questline Digital’s Content Director, Scott Miller.
Takeaway for your energy utility: Do the work for your readers by giving them a topic overview and relevant links. Skimmable is the magic word.
6. The Morning, The New York Times
The New York Times daily eNewsletter, The Morning, is a powerful example of unique content. It’s Editor David Leonhardt includes exclusive stories and entertainment made only available to subscribers.
Covering a wide range of news, the eNewsletter guides readers through current events and provides useful links, opinions, recipes and games.
Recommended by Questline Digital’s Creative Director of Video Content, Matt Irving.
Takeaway for your energy utility: Try offering something exclusive to subscribers. Maybe it’s a discount, chance to win, piece of information or a game. Either way, this makes subscribers feel special and gives them a reason to subscribe.
7. Goodreads
Highly personalized, the Goodreads bimonthly eNewsletter delivers book recommendations based on subscriber behaviors. Your reading history guides what your eNews issue covers – whether newly released mystery books or an interview with a popular sci-fi author. Messages are always colorful and full of imagery.
Recommended by Questline Digital’s Content Strategist, Alexandra Greenberg.
Takeaway for your energy utility: Personalize eNewsletters based on subscriber interests or behaviors. Including dynamic content is easier than you’d think!
8. Sustainability Saturday, Pela
Published by the phone case brand Pela, Sustainability Saturday shares environmental news with consumers who care about shopping intentionally.
This eNewsletter uses the same simple format every week, highlighting five stories paired with beautiful imagery. It includes product recommendations, sustainability tips, in-depth reads and clean recipes.
Recommended by Questline Digital’s Marketing Manager, Maureen Mierke.
Takeaway for your energy utility: The best eNewsletters use a repeatable format. Readers appreciate the uniformity, and it makes your job of content curation easier.
9. Axios
Known for their quick-hit reporting, Axios eNewsletters are the definition of skimmable. Entire stories are shared via bullet points and are link-rich so subscribers can move on quickly or click for a deeper dive. Axios eNewsletters are also expertly segmented with special topics that range from gaming to space. Subscribers can choose their own adventure and see only the news that interests them most.
Recommended by Questline Digital’s VP of Marketing and Content Strategy, Brian Lindamood.
Takeaway for your energy utility: Offer your customers topic-specific eNewsletters. It’s unlikely your readers are interested in everything you have to say.
10. Stacked Marketer
Want to keep up with Google updates? Subscribe to Stacked Marketer. This daily eNewsletter delivers tips for professionals in SEO, social media, ecommerce and digital advertising. Its editors recap the top news stories and curate the best articles and Twitter threads to help you elevate your marketing efforts.
Recommended by Questline Digital’s Marketing Director, Bethany Farchione.
Takeaway for your energy utility: Always teach your audience something new they can apply to their daily lives. It will keep them coming back for more.
11. growth glue
Sam always has something interesting to say and helpful to share. She fills her growth glue eNewsletter with links out to usable marketing and social resources that you’ll be thankful to hear about. She sleuths the news and available tools so you can stay in-the-know, without spending the time.
Recommended by Questline Digital’s Marketing Director, Bethany Farchione.
Takeaway for your energy utility: Save your audience time. Curate the best content and resources so they continually look to you for help.
Crafting your own best-in-class eNewsletter doesn’t have to be difficult. By following these best practices, you can establish an engaging digital relationship with your energy utility’s customers.
Be helpful and interesting, keep it simple, make it personal.