19 Best SaaS & B2B Newsletter Growth Strategies, Tactics & Experiments (2025)

💬 We all know the power of email and the role it plays when it comes to growth, but there are certainly more challenges these days when it comes to doing effective newsletters and email strategy overall that contributes to growth - the main one being is that there's a lot of 'newsletter fatigue', so you have to be smarter when it comes standing out - whether that be through content (certainly one of the main ones), opt-in practices, promotional/distribution strategies, and using other techniques stand out from the crowd.

Numerous tactics, initiatives and experiments worth testing to drive newsletter subscriber growth (for early-stage and scale-up SaaS/B2B brands - and even for ind. creators)

💬 This checklist below I've created has tactical initiatives that can be adopted essentially in any context or growth stage of the startup/business - plus, I also made sure to incl. examples/references where I thought I should, as well as potential software tooling to help with implementation for some checklist points.

I find many SaaS brands don't do the best job at optimising this, even though acquiring emails of targeted prospects is normally a key objective for many.

Rather than just having simple opt-ins, you want to optimise your landing page experience for audience growth, which you can then use for distribution across socials.

Plus, it's a great way to better 'qualify' audiences who sign up.

So, what are some of the core key elements that make a good newsletter signup page?

There are numerous elements, but there are three core that matter (to keep things simple):

• Great copy and clear messaging (especially the value prop) - compelling headline and being clear about the result/outcome and USP of what makes the newsletter worth signing up to
• Social proof - need to make it clear why audiences love it - great for trust/credibility
• Good design - make sure it looks amazing and on-brand

What are some good newsletter page examples in action to learn from? Here are some I like:

#1 - Milk Road

A good example (whilst not necessarily a SaaS in this case) is Milk Road. 

Big fan of the social proof elements and ease of signup:

• Clear input box
• “Join 330k+ subs”
• ‘5 mins daily’ which motivates expectations 
• “Read by top executives from…” (with recognisable logos)

#2 - Clickup

A great example from one of my fav tools and a top SaaS product is Clickup.

• Love the list of the core USPs of the newsletter
• “Join 350k+ subs”
• ‘5 mins daily’ which motivates expectations 
• Above fold input box (good on mobile too)
• Example references of newsletter designs on the right hand side

#3 - Ahrefs

• Another fav newsletter example of mine is from Ahrefs, which follows similar principles to the other two above. 
• I also like the fact they’ve included samples underneath their reviews/social proof section.

Two others I like with similar setups - Morning Brew and The Hustle

• I’ve still also always loved the newsletter format for Morning Brew and The Hustle.
• I like the social proof embed under the main head fold for The Hustle's page.

I've started to see some brands do this, especially in regards to different subscription types (like you see with Substack, etc), and it's a good strategic idea for numerous reasons.

• Great for doing targeted content for audiences that truly want to receive content that's for them (so personalisation)
• Helps with better segmentation
• Typically should see better retention because content is tailored
• More targeted CTAs for desired actions

Look into the strategies that the Atlantic and the likes of Morning Brew have done - they’ve done various newsletters for different topics.

If you're wanting to improve overall opt-in rates into your lists, inline forms work really well within content and blog posts.

They become even more effective when you align messaging and CTAs to what the blog post is related too.

This is a good example from Morning Brew

Recommended resource: for more opt-in optimisations for improving conv. rates for newsletter subs, I created this checklist worth checking out.

To improve opt-in rate potential, include social proof elements wherever you can when it comes to opt-in forms, whether that be in-line or pop-ups.

And just like the checklist point above, align CTAs and messaging of social proof which makes contextual sense of the landing page or content pieces where they are located.

Nice simple example here from Veed - when you see "over 1M creators", it's hard to resist not being tempted if you're the target audience (scarcity).

And of course, coming back to Milk Road- one of the best here with social proof elements.

Having a referral program for your newsletter can pay off big time - and there's numerous case studies out there that show the potential when it comes to audience growth.

Especially with benefits when it comes to growth such as:

• Gaining better quality audiences > which can lead to improved quality of new SaaS signups (due to recommendations from friends/colleagues)
• Viral coefficient potential (the potential for existing subs/users to invite multiple subs/users)
• More awareness and reach (through a better quality source)

Okay, so what are the key elements/factors that make a good SaaS referral newsletter?

Key factors/elements you've got to consider include:

• Incentives/rewards (which is a key one to motivate users to keep sharing)
• Personalised referral links (you should use 3rd-party provider to help with building this out)
• Other sharing capabilities (socials, emails, etc)
• and just overall UX and analytics - personalisation for user segments, etc.

Any successful newsletter referral case studies?

Certainly a top example of one of the best newsletter referral program setups and successes I’ve seen is by Morning Brew (read this Medium post - it's pretty good!).

Now the founder Tyler is running Beehiiv, which also had an awesome newsletter referral function worth checking out - and so many people are talking/loving Beehiiv at the moment - it's really nice to use and good UX - plus, they ship a lot of awesome features often, so I'm excited to see the future of the platform.

Another alternative platform for referral programs for newsletters is called Sparkloop, which has very good features, and is used by top brands/newsletters.

Exit intent popups are still really effective when it comes to capturing visitors before they depart - just many brands don't execute this initiative well (from what I've seen over the years).

However, they can work really well with great design, when you trigger them with messaging that makes sense based on user/visitor attributes and website behaviour, and FOMO-based messaging, combined with an "offer" in some place that is attractive of someone wanting to signup.

Low-budget Meta remarketing can work well - all about setting up automated audiences (which you can sync with most CRMs or using the likes of Zapier to help with audience list syncing).

Personalise messaging and USPs of the newsletter based on the journey of the user, as well as taking into account key persona attributes of your ICP.

This is a key strategy checklist point to think about if you want to accelerate list growth - you have to avoid the standard "sign up to the newsletter" generic-type messaging.

If you really want to grow, you have to show audiences/visitors why they should sign up - there's too many newsletters out there now, so you have to give them a good reason why you want their email.

And content resource offers (such as lead magnets) for an email exchange is certainly an element that can drive signups.

The key thing here though is that experimenting/testing various lead magnets is key.

Related to the above checklist point, some of the best types of lead magnets are "free tools" - so that's things like templates, calculators - and many others.

Few different examples out there of course which are great, but Hubspot’s classic Website Grader is a great reference.

Hubspot have a few ‘free tools’, which can help with inspiration for ideas for your context.

Another awesome example I’ve always liked and have seen shared many times is CoSchedule’s ‘Headline Analyser’.

Tip: calculators and google sheets are good giveaways to drive email acquisition.

Related to the above as an angle, it's worth strategising/brainstorming various offers/incentives that can drive more people to sub.

Here are some example thoughts to spark some ideas for your context:

• For instance Black Friday and getting people to signup for an offer prior - many SaaS brands capitalise during this period
• You can do the likes of time-sensitive offers (e.g. signup and get code for when upgrading)
• Higher tier features at lower tier pricing (which can be tied into a certain flash sale period)
• You can do special discount offers combined with lead magnets/exclusive content
• Free tool access (like the above)
• Free consultation calls/priority support access
• Tempt people to subscribe for new offer drops - highlight that if they sub, they can get access to special subscriber-only discounts/early bird pricing for premium features

Lots of potential angles/tests that you can run. :)

Growing a newsletter organically does take time, and building up the distribution to capture audiences at scale can take even longer.

So, what's a good strategy to help get in front of your ideal target audience to get those distribution numbers up and keep costs minimal?

Partner with complementary brands who want to also grow their newsletter and audience. Both brands can achieve together:

• Lower net new subscriber costs
• Increased reach/awareness
• Diverse co-content opportunities

A good way to accelerate getting in front of the ideal target audiences is advertising in other relevant newsletters.

Whilst it's not a new strategy/tactic by any means, luckily for SaaS and B2B brands, it's becoming easier to connect and place ads in other newsletters.

The likes of Beehiiv’s platform makes it easy if you use the software. 

And if you use a different ESP, make sure to check out Sparklook which has the ability to incorporate recommendations into your flow.

In conjunction with the two checklist points above and the theme of gaining more distribution potential (both organically and paid), is by working with thought-leaders/creators with existing follower bases - which can certainly help with gaining more awareness/eyeballs.

On this point though, the key thing here is to find ways to co-create content together.

• Look into platform’s such as PARTNAR, where you can connect with relevant creators/influencers who can help create content to drive whatever CTA you’re wanting to highlight.

Another distribution strategic initiative to do is work with those who run communities to explore ways to working together.

The important thing to remember here is that you need to focus on providing value to the community (and not just a pure CTA to your newsletter).

So, before you approach the founders/leaders of these community groups, you need to understand their motivations, how their community works, content they share, etc - and work out ways on how you can bring value.

Working with influencers/creators on the likes of TikTok and Instagram Reels has many benefits which I've touched on already - and there's numerous brands who are adopting this strategy for user growth, but also doing content specifically for newsletter signup growth.

It's worth checking out The Hustle's TikTok to see the sort of content they're sharing.

Related to the above checklist point, UGC-style video reviews with influencers/creators are an effective video format.

You can of course use this content to then distribute across key marketing channels, including the likes of organic socials and ads.

I also think it's a great opportunity to add video content like this as embeds on your site/landing pages - especially your newsletter op-in page - it's great for social proof and trust/credibility.

Recommended resources - if you're looking for effective ways to find high-quality influencers/creators, I've got two checklists for you here to check out:

Find quality creators/influencers with these 16 methods/tactics

Find TikTok influencers with these 12 tactics

A big channel opportunity for organic distribution is on LinkedIn - and many brands are having good success.

Carousels and documents I've seen to work well as creative formats to use as part of 'giveaways' in exchange for email signups.

Something to consider as a tactical initiative is building a quiz flow to collect high-quality-intent-based audiences.

This is an area that many DTC and eCommerce brands tend to do - and it can work for some use cases in B2B/SaaS.

The likes of the Morning Brew (an example I shared earlier with opt-ins) is doing quizzes for signups.

This is more of a 'side' strategy initiative to consider, and it won't make sense for all founders/marketers reading this guide.

However, viral comps might be worth thinking about if you want to run a campaign to really drive newsletter growth.

There's been many brands who've had great success with email acquisition, as well as seeing ROI with new user signups.

Recommended guide to check out: if you're interested to find out more about viral comp tools/tools that have referral mechanics built in for driving new sub growth, then check out this resource I put together.