How to Build and Grow a Newsletter as a Business Model

[Supa]

@MTF how is everything going with Mailerlite? Any feedback from your readers about your new design yet?

 

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[MTF]

@MTF how is everything going with Mailerlite? Any feedback from your readers about your new design yet?

Unfortunately the move caused my open rates to drop from average 60-65% to 45-50%.

Since people now need to click a link in the newsletter to read the issue I now also know how many are active readers. And that number is depressing - out of 306 subscribers who received my last issue only about 30 clicked the link.

My feedback rates on Feedletter are also down to almost nothing. They dropped from about 15 votes to 3.

We'll see how it evolves over the next weeks. As much as these numbers suck I know that the current setup is necessary for better future prospects. It also uncovered how many of my subscribers aren't engaged.

 

[StrikingViper69]

The team behind Ghost run a newsletter on running a newsletter here: Publisher Weekly

It occurred to me that I'm effectively running a newsletter with my blog. I'm almost certainly moving to Ghost this week, one or two things left to check before I pull the trigger.

I've been testing Ghost this week and it's wonderful to use. I've got a few tweaks to test with the code before I switch completely.

 

[MTF]

The team behind Ghost run a newsletter on running a newsletter here: Publisher Weekly

It occurred to me that I'm effectively running a newsletter with my blog. I'm almost certainly moving to Ghost this week, one or two things left to check before I pull the trigger.

I've been testing Ghost this week and it's wonderful to use. I've got a few tweaks to test with the code before I switch completely.

Be careful if you need any customization with the theme as Ghost is terrible at that (unless you're a developer).

 

[Supa]

Unfortunately the move caused my open rates to drop from average 60-65% to 45-50%.

Since people now need to click a link in the newsletter to read the issue I now also know how many are active readers. And that number is depressing - out of 306 subscribers who received my last issue only about 30 clicked the link.

My feedback rates on Feedletter are also down to almost nothing. They dropped from about 15 votes to 3.

We'll see how it evolves over the next weeks. As much as these numbers suck I know that the current setup is necessary for better future prospects. It also uncovered how many of my subscribers aren't engaged.

Sorry to hear that the rates have dropped.

Did you verify your domain at Mailerlite? I didn‘t do that at first and had all of my emails go to the spam folder. Since I verified it, every email I tested so far went to the inbox.

 

[MTF]

Sorry to hear that the rates have dropped.

Did you verify your domain at Mailerlite? I didn‘t do that at first and had all of my emails go to the spam folder. Since I verified it, every email I tested so far went to the inbox.

I verified it, authenticated it, and aligned it.

 

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[Supa]

Little update. Moved the .com domain to my host as well and have it as the site‘s main url now, while the .net domain still works.

Also made quite a few changes, some smaller some bigger, to the site. If you want to, you can check it out here:

sunny-mind.com

Currently working on the second article. Also trying myself at social media, mostly Instagram and looking into ways to link to the articles on Reddit without it seeming like spam and without violating the rules of many Subreddits.

Have had a few page views so far, and no newsletter sign ups. But that‘s not really unexpected with just one article published so far.

 

[MTF]

Currently working on the second article. Also trying myself at social media, mostly Instagram and looking into ways to link to the articles on Reddit without it seeming like spam and without violating the rules of many Subreddits.

With Reddit, you need to start participating in your chosen subreddit(s) first without promoting anything. Then maybe link to an article in a comment. Then after maybe a couple of weeks try linking directly from your post.

Your angle is a bit unclear to me. At first sight it looks like a newsletter the style of r/UpliftingNews but then the articles are more about psychology. I'd narrow this down a bit because at the moment I think that many people will be confused.

I actually think that a newsletter with positive news would be a better idea than general psychology. There are some big newsletters in this niche already, for example Newsletter Archive – InspireMore (275k subscribers), The Good News Network: Positive Stories 24/7 (no idea how many subscribers but it's been online since 1997) or The Goodnewsletter: A free weekly email filled with good news (26k subscribers).

 

[Supa]

With Reddit, you need to start participating in your chosen subreddit(s) first without promoting anything. Then maybe link to an article in a comment. Then after maybe a couple of weeks try linking directly from your post.

Thank you, I‘m going to participate more in some Subreddits. Done that before and found it a pretty good way to offer value to others. Maybe I find a way to do that again.

Your angle is a bit unclear to me. At first sight it looks like a newsletter the style of r/UpliftingNews but then the articles are more about psychology. I'd narrow this down a bit because at the moment I think that many people will be confused.

Thank you for your thoughts on this. I got to admit, the term „Stories to warm your mind and heart“ can be a bit misleading as the articles are not really stories. I already thought about changing it but really liked the term, so I kept it until now. Maybe it‘s time to change it now. Ideas or Insights instead of Stories would probably fit better to the articles.

My biggest inspiration for the type of content comes from The School of Life. One great example is their video Overcoming Bad Inner Voices.

So, what the articles hopefully can do for readers, is to offer insights into shared human experiences which we usually do not talk much about with others. Helping readers to understand themselves more, feel less alone with their experiences, especially what goes on inside of our mind.

But yeah, the first article was pretty heavy on the psychological stuff. Mainly because of the rather complex topic.

 

[MTF]

I just realized the irony of me being your stereotypical lone wolf and trying to create a community with my newsletter. Perhaps I should change my plans to something that would account for my non-social personality as I've already learned on many occasions in my life that me + being social in a group simply doesn't work.

 

[Andy Black]

I just realized the irony of me being your stereotypical lone wolf and trying to create a community with my newsletter. Perhaps I should change my plans to something that would account for my non-social personality as I've already learned on many occasions in my life that me + being social in a group simply doesn't work.

I figured out I don’t want to build, grow, or manage a community. I’m happy to engage in the forum, as a hobby and break from working.

I do like the idea of building a email newsletter. It’s one-to-many communication rather than many-to-many.

 

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[MTF]

I figured out I don’t want to build, grow, or manage a community. I’m happy to engage in the forum, as a hobby and break from working.

I do like the idea of building a email newsletter. It’s one-to-many communication rather than many-to-many.

I just finished reading Make No Small Plans: Lessons on Thinking Big, Chasing Dreams, and Building Community - Kindle edition by Bisnow, Elliott, Leve, Brett, Rosenthal, Jeff, Schwartz, Jeremy. Religion & Spirituality Kindle eBooks @ Amazon.com. by guys who created Summit (basically a community of top players) and realized that's completely NOT my world.

The work they had to put in to make it work was all dependent on being an extreme extrovert who doesn't mind spending time with other people 24/7.

I had a vision to create a community for my newsletter as that would make most sense to make it financially viable. But now that I realized what it would entail, I don't think that would work for my personality. And like I said, I have plenty of real-world experiences why as I tried to put myself in uncomfortable situations with many people. It always backfired and I ended up hating such events even more.

 

[MTF]

My switch to WordPress and MailerLite has uncovered how few people actually read my newsletter.

Now that I send people to the website to read the article (instead of sending the entire issue in the email) I can easily track how many actually read them (or more precisely, go to the website).

My average open rate is between 50-55%. My click-through rate is just 13-15%. This means that out of about 350 subscribers, only about 40 bother to visit the website.

Seriously questioning the entire model if people subscribed to a newsletter on freaking EXCELLENCE can't even be bothered to click on a link. Sometimes I feel like I'm not cut out for this stuff anymore.

 

[StrikingViper69]

My switch to WordPress and MailerLite has uncovered how few people actually read my newsletter.

Now that I send people to the website to read the article (instead of sending the entire issue in the email) I can easily track how many actually read them (or more precisely, go to the website).

My average open rate is between 50-55%. My click-through rate is just 13-15%. This means that out of about 350 subscribers, only about 40 bother to visit the website.

Seriously questioning the entire model if people subscribed to a newsletter on freaking EXCELLENCE can't even be bothered to click on a link. Sometimes I feel like I'm not cut out for this stuff anymore.

that's actually quite high.

Most people don't click through to read emails... most people talk big but won't take action.

I remember hearing a statistic from Tony Robbins that 90% (or more) of people who bought his personal power tapes didn't listen to them.

But the 13% that are clicking through are the people you want to be thinking about.

Also, you don't know if that's 13% clicking through, or 13% one week, and a different 13% the following week (meaning 26% of your audience are reading some emails)... so it could be a greater proportion of your audience reading some emails, but at any one point in time only 13% will be reading the latest one... if that makes sense?

If you're hitting 13% click throughs, keep going!

 

[MTF]

that's actually quite high.

Most people don't click through to read emails... most people talk big but won't take action.

I remember hearing a statistic from Tony Robbins that 90% (or more) of people who bought his personal power tapes didn't listen to them.

But the 13% that are clicking through are the people you want to be thinking about.

Also, you don't know if that's 13% clicking through, or 13% one week, and a different 13% the following week (meaning 26% of your audience are reading some emails)... so it could be a greater proportion of your audience reading some emails, but at any one point in time only 13% will be reading the latest one... if that makes sense?

If you're hitting 13% click throughs, keep going!

I understand what you mean. I could check the data but I'm pretty sure it's the same people every week.

Also, keep in mind that it's a link to an article. You open the email to get a link to this week's issue. I know for a fact that way fewer people are reading this than before on Ghost because I have almost zero Feedletter feedback on the articles (and previously I had up to 15-20 votes).

Take a look at the stats (I added the feedback form with #12, then switched to WordPress/MailerLite from #17):



The numbers aren't visible there but Issue #15 got 30 votes while Issue #18 (sent last week) just 6.

And let me point out that I had about 100 fewer readers when the newsletter was still on Ghost so these numbers are even worse.

I don't get the point of subscribing to a newsletter that you don't even read.

 

[StrikingViper69]

I understand what you mean. I could check the data but I'm pretty sure it's the same people every week.

Also, keep in mind that it's a link to an article. You open the email to get a link to this week's issue. I know for a fact that way fewer people are reading this than before on Ghost because I have almost zero Feedletter feedback on the articles (and previously I had up to 15-20 votes).

Take a look at the stats (I added the feedback form with #12, then switched to WordPress/MailerLite from #17):

View attachment 43367

The numbers aren't visible there but Issue #15 got 30 votes while Issue #18 (sent last week) just 6.

And let me point out that I had about 100 fewer readers when the newsletter was still on Ghost so these numbers are even worse.

I don't get the point of subscribing to a newsletter that you don't even read.

Are these numbers saying that your readers were more engaged with Ghost than what you have currently?

 

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[MTF]

Are these numbers saying that your readers were more engaged with Ghost than what you have currently?

I can't say that with certainty. I can only say that 2-4x more people clinked on a link at the end of the article giving their feedback. Now that feedback link is on the website and it gets clicked rarely.

 

[MTF]

From the Sparkloop newsletter:

KEY TREND​

Personality-driven content​

True fans of quality cinema will remember the classic quote from Ricky Bobby in Talladega Nights: "if you ain't first, you're last".


This sentiment has long been a popular one in journalism and news reporting. With emphasis put on the value of getting the "big scoop".


But for newsletters? Not so much (anymore).


Smart operators are rapidly learning that readers place little value on you being the first to "break" a story in their inbox.


The audience is looking not for news, but for the writer's personal take, opinion and insight on a given subject.


As Toby Moses, head of newsletters for The Guardian told Press Gazette:


"There’s been this personality-driven news trend recently [...] newsletters feel like they offer an opportunity for a way to talk to readers quite directly that is distinct from what you can do on the website".


This dynamic makes sense in a world where — increasingly — people's media consumption habits are shifting rapidly from brands and channels to creators.

It's also a huge opportunity for newsletter operators.​

Being "first" is hard and unpredictable. It requires a huge budget. And you're constantly fighting against superior distribution channels for "time-sensitive" media — like push notifications and Twitter.


Embracing personality-driven content, on the other hand, plays into a newsletter operator's strengths.


The inbox is an inherently personal place. Where the reader will afford you more attention than they would elsewhere.


More importantly — unlike competing to be first — there's nobody out there who can write your personal take better than you can.

So how will this play out?​

Already, we can see the changes unfolding across newsletters of all kinds...

• The Guardian is one of many traditional publishers ditching the "bundle of curated links" approach to newsletter creation in favour of original, long-form newsletter content
• Morning Brew and other first-movers are acquiring/launching personality-driven newsletters of their own, like Money with Katie
• Newsletter operators are seeing value from investing more time into strengthening their personal connection to readers. From being active on social media, to events and more "personable" content formats like video on TikTok and Youtube

Our take is that this isn't a fad. It's a trend that's here to stay.

 

[FastNAwesome]

Be careful if you need any customization with the theme as Ghost is terrible at that (unless you're a developer).

Just started learning Ghost for my own benefit. Am senior web developer btw.

Theme styling should be no issue for me, if you get stuck with that, PM me.
No cost but no promises either

Have had a few page views so far, and no newsletter sign ups.

A few is as good as 0
Get at least measly 100 or 1000 pageviews
Didn't notice you in a while on forum, good to see you How are things going for you @Supa?

If you're hitting 13% click throughs, keep going!

+1.

I don't get the point of subscribing to a newsletter that you don't even read.

Interest in the topic? You may be expecting too much from subscribers. Who merely gave an email.
Folks pay for the gym all the time and then don't go.

I do read an occassional email or read/listen to an article, but at this point in my life,
I'm SO busy, and there are many more things so much more important to me.

I'm sometimes late emailing an invoice - a thingy that gets me monies.

Am I a bad subscriber because of that? Fair enough if I am, you can stop emailing me whenever you want

Ask @Fox though. I'm subscribed to his emails too.
I don't open each of his emails either.

But do like to keep up with his offers, and recently he had one (an ebook) which was the fastest online purchase I ever made.

He had a confirm your subscription email (I guess to ditch tyre kickers and spammers skewing his metrics), and also think he had an audience segmenting email recently, as in, if you want such and such click link 1, if you want such and such click link 2 etc. @Fox ?

Now that feedback link is on the website and it gets clicked rarely.

Sucky metric if you ask me. Also - is your conversion tracking is on point? I am yet to see a business that got this 100% right, happy to review it for you and show you how you can review it too.

 

[MTF]

Theme styling should be no issue for me, if you get stuck with that, PM me.
No cost but no promises either

No longer using Ghost. It sounds good in theory but after a couple of months it sucks. The lack of easy customization will keep it niche unless they change their approach.

Folks pay for the gym all the time and then don't go.

Good point.

Sucky metric if you ask me. Also - is your conversion tracking is on point? I am yet to see a business that got this 100% right, happy to review it for you and show you how you can review it too.

What do you mean by conversion tracking? I track sign-ups.

 

[MTF]

Last week I sent a survey to my list and asked them a few questions about my newsletter, the content, the length of it, etc. I then followed up with people who left their email address and asked them some extra questions.

Based on the survey and the interactions, I created a new, shorter format for the newsletter. Looks like it was a good move:

 

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[Andy Black]

Last week I sent a survey to my list and asked them a few questions about my newsletter, the content, the length of it, etc. I then followed up with people who left their email address and asked them some extra questions.

Based on the survey and the interactions, I created a new, shorter format for the newsletter. Looks like it was a good move:

View attachment 43489

Love this. Great engagement too.

Mostly people want shorter, concise, and actionable. Adding stories and context can help too, but not everyone is in the right mode the moment they open an email.

Giving people the option to skim and then stop/read more is helpful. I like that about the Indie Hackers emails which has a nice and consistent format.

That “Read More” could send people to an article on your site, or content on some platform too. I think that’s a good value exchange for people who get your emails for free: they get free content, you get their engagement on some social media post.

I still send the occasional email and I always try to have at least one link in it so people learn to click.

(If you don’t mind me saying, I also love that you seem to be more focused now on creating what your audience/market wants.)

 

[MTF]

Mostly people want shorter, concise, and actionable. Adding stories and context can help too, but not everyone is in the right mode the moment they open an email.

Yes, I hope I was able to strike the right balance between these so that it's not too short as that can be a problem as well. For example, I usually find Farnam Street newsletters too short. I remember getting the first email and being like "What? That's it? Did I miss something?"

(If you don’t mind me saying, I also love that you seem to be more focused now on creating what your audience/market wants.)

I still think that it's a societal problem if people consider 15-minute articles way too long but let's leave it at that 😀 In the end, It's Not About What You Like

By the way, I got 3 more positive comments since posting that previous post so there's a lot of response to the new format.

 

[FastNAwesome]

What do you mean by conversion tracking? I track sign-ups.

Cool. That's a well picked goal/conversion.

I was referring to where you mentioned that feedback link is clicked rarely. Which could mean different things. E.g.maybe your readers are perfectly happy. Or not annoyed enough to fill the feedback form. Or maybe link is not well placed/worded/designed/showing at the right time. All this can be worked on, I guess what I wanted to say was - at this point, I'd more look at metrics like sign-ups, e.g.where you get them from, and also unsubscribes.

(Unsubscribe page could also be a cool place for feedback form, with multiple options including writing their own. And also an opportunity to try and change their mind.)

And my other point was to make sure your conversion tracking is technically set properly.

No longer using Ghost.

Curious to what you switched to, and what are your impressions so far?

 

[MTF]

Curious to what you switched to, and what are your impressions so far?

WordPress (on Kadence Theme and Blocks) + MailerLite.

Ghost sucks BIG time compared to this set-up.

 

[redshift]

MailerLite was actually just acquired recently for $90m

Vercom acquires marketing automation startup MailerLite for $90M | TechCrunch

Vercom, a cloud communication platform (CPaaS - "communications platform as a service") has acquired marketing automation startup MailerLite — based out

techcrunch.com

Great time to be on the selling shovels side of email marketing as well.

 

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[Supa]

A few is as good as 0
Get at least measly 100 or 1000 pageviews

You are right.

Am not surprised though, as with just one article so far, I didn't do much to promote it. Except for creating some social media profiles and slowly starting to add content there.

Plan is to start promoting it more, when there is a bit more to read on the site.

Didn't notice you in a while on forum, good to see you How are things going for you @Supa?

Yes, been reading here and there but haven't really been active for quite a while. Glad to see, that someone remembers me on here

Things are going quite good I think, what about you?

Last week I sent a survey to my list and asked them a few questions about my newsletter, the content, the length of it, etc. I then followed up with people who left their email address and asked them some extra questions.

Based on the survey and the interactions, I created a new, shorter format for the newsletter. Looks like it was a good move:

View attachment 43489

Very happy to see these reactions!

 

[FastNAwesome]

Things are going quite good I think, what about you?

Thanks, same here

 

[ArmanK]

Love this thread. MJ wasnt joking about how valuable a simple thread can be!

I was sold on this idea after watching some of Ali Abdaals youtube videos.

I just started my website/blog/newsletter (whatever you want to call it) and have committed to writing a new weekly post for the next 2 years (104 posts in total).

My plan is to write about the most impactful books I have ever read. Sharing some stories, thoughts, and takeaways from them.

I think the important thing is to write about what interests you then you will never face writers block.

Not sure if this will lead to anything but at the very least it will help improve my writing.

Thoughts?

 

[MTF]

My plan is to write about the most impactful books I have ever read. Sharing some stories, thoughts, and takeaways from them.

I'd focus on a specific niche/topic because otherwise IMO it will be too broad.

Not sure if this will lead to anything but at the very least it will help improve my writing.

It definitely will a lot, and it will teach you to be consistent with writing.