5 Newsletter Strategies to Implement Now

We’ve written about our favorite newsletters and strategies to convert via email in general, but as consumer newsletter products continue to evolve, it’s important for marketers to adapt. We’ve identified five trends to test in your newsletters over the next few months, as well as tool suggestions to help make it possible.

🖋 Surveys and polls

Surveys not only provide your consumer an opportunity to give feedback, but they also can be an interactive tool that keeps your users engaged. Whether it’s a simple ‘tell us how you feel’ (like the one we included in our latest newsletter) or something a little more impactful like, ‘if you’re considering moving’, there’s no subject matter humans are interested in more than the subject of ourselves. Surveys provide an outlet to discuss matters important to your audience all while providing content and fuel for your editorial team without requiring a significant planning period. And now with a relevant survey or poll, you’ve piqued a consumer’s interest on what other readers may feel toward a certain topic as well. Respondents are likely to stay engaged until the results are delivered, too, so you’re in turn creating a system that fuels itself.

Tools to consider: HubSpot, Survey Monkey, Canva (for visual aids), SecondStreet, Google Forms, Crowd Signal

📊 Stats, numbers and graphs

Whether it’s fueled from the survey types mentioned above, utilizing data within a newsletter in a unique format can communicate your content in an easy to digest way. Particularly as consumer attention is so fractured, charts and graphs can communicate content quickly, much like the use of bullets and indentations. Utilizing charts also breaks up the monotony of the inbox especially when you consider how many emails your reader is receiving per day. (Hint: It’s a lot.)

Tools to consider: Canva, Lucidchart, Tableau, Google Data Studio

💰 Paid newsletter opportunities

If email is the largest driver of ROI in the digital landscape, and traditional publishing revenue outlets are dwindling, paid newsletters are a logical evolution to the medium. Be mindful of what likely would warrant payment in this medium, though. The news is available in a multitude of places, a round up of your top links may not be enough. Likely the magic recipe is going to be something based around a certain personality or niche topic. (Think of the patreon accounts you follow for inspiration.) Perhaps it comes with access to a private Facebook group, Slack or Discord Channel to form a sense of community with fellow subscribers? Regardless of topic choice, one thing consumers will not tolerate is anything less than a ridiculously simple payment plan, especially for something that could be as little as $5/month. So make sure your checkout process is seamless by accepting Venmo, Paypal, ApplePay, etc. 

Tools to consider: Substack, Stripe, DepositFix, Revu

💵 Diversify your newsletter revenue offerings

Besides the traditional ROS ads, consider selling the sponsorship of an entire email, or even a particular section. What about a trivia section of the day sponsored by a different category of advertiser dependent on the trivia’s content? (i.e., health trivia sponsored by a local gym or medical advertiser.) Consider putting a head-to-head bracket challenge where the votes are collected with one simple tap. Stout vs. Ale, sponsored by your local brewers guild, for example. This type of user engagement is fun and interactive, but also fuels dedicated interest, debate, and editorial content driven by the results. 

Tools to consider: SecondStreet, Typeform, Crowd Signal 

🤓 Testing is always trendy

Keep in mind that what likely may work with your audience may not work anywhere else. Don’t stop until what you see your audience responds to. While some publishers have moved away from the link style newsletters, others continue to see success utilizing the traditional format. But, don’t let that stop you from trying something new in your newsletter format this year. As the medium evolves, so should you. 

Tools to consider: Utilize your tool’s native A/B testing functionality available in most major market ESP’s

Did we miss anything? Want to brainstorm more ideas? Drop us a 📧 to discuss more.