What 240 brands send when they write to their audience.
VerifiedBy George Hartley, Co-founder·Updated September 3, 2026
What editorial emails are
Editorial email design refers to emails structured to inform, entertain, or engage readers with content, much like a magazine or newspaper. These emails prioritise storytelling and value delivery over immediate sales. They often feature longer-form text, curated content, and a consistent brand voice.
This page is one slice of the Nitrosend email library. It holds 380 real emails from 240 brands, all of them collected out of two ordinary inboxes. Nothing here is a mockup.
6median CTAs
10%exactly one CTA
17%use first name
Editorial emails you can look at
Filter by industry, design style, layout or length. Open any one to read the subject line, what it is doing, and the prompt that rebuilds it.
What 380 of them actually do
We collected 380 editorial emails from 240 distinct brands. This segment shows how many brands prioritise content and engagement. Your newsletter's voice is more important than its design; consistency of voice, not templates, builds audiences. I have seen this first-hand. theSkimm grew to 3.5M+ subscribers entirely on voice.
The vast majority of editorial emails use a single column layout, accounting for 93% of our collection. This preference simplifies readability, especially on mobile devices. Most of these emails are also text heavy, with 51% prioritising written content over images. Only 21% include a hero image at all.
Despite their content-first approach, editorial emails still drive action. The median email in this collection contains six calls to action, showing a clear intent to guide readers. Most are long, with 63% of emails designed for a deeper read. This aligns with their primary role as newsletters, which make up 61% of this segment.
An instructional tone leads this segment, used in 55% of the emails we collected. This suggests brands aim to educate or guide their audience. However, few brands personalise the content beyond a subject line. Only 17% address the recipient by their first name, indicating a missed opportunity for deeper connection.
Many editorial designs favour a restrained colour palette. Nearly 38% of emails in this collection are monochrome, suggesting a focus on content clarity over visual flair. Media publishing brands make up the largest industry segment at 28%, which aligns with the content-driven nature of editorial emails.
None of this helps if the send never lands, which is a email marketing problem rather than a design one.
What to take from these
Prioritise voice over elaborate design. As I have seen, anti-slop wins.Stick to a single column layout, as 93% of brands do, to ensure readability across devices.Don't shy away from multiple calls to action; the median editorial email includes six.Embrace an instructional tone, like the 55% of brands in this collection, to educate your audience.Design for long reads; 63% of these emails are long, focusing on deeper engagement.Look to The Guardian or National Geographic for examples of content-rich emails.
Editorial emails primarily aim to inform, entertain, or engage subscribers with valuable content. They build audience loyalty and establish brand authority by providing curated articles, updates, or stories, rather than focusing solely on direct sales.
Our data shows editorial emails predominantly use a single column layout, making up 93% of the collection. They are often text heavy (51%) and frequently adopt a monochrome colour mood (38%), prioritising content clarity and readability over complex visual designs.
While not their primary goal, editorial emails can indirectly support sales by nurturing relationships and building trust. They often include multiple calls to action, with a median of six per email, guiding readers to explore more content, products, or services after engaging with the editorial piece.
Every plan includes full stack emailing: Flows, Newsletter Campaigns and Transactional Email, plus our NitroWheel LLM and all agent integrations (Claude, ChatGPT, Codex, Cursor and others). Pay for what you send, not who you store.
