Newsletter World

In the runup to Covid, and certainly ever since, you could summarize the meta with one word: email. Email is the one distribution pipeline that isn’t owned by some mega-corporation. It gave publishers a direct method by which to communicate with users.

With each type of email, consider what metrics you want to use to measure success. For a Traffic-driving newsletter, you’ll probably track clicks or time on site after someone clicks. For Destination newsletters, clicks aren’t as relevant, so you may want to look at reader feedback or surveys to understand what’s working. If you only use one metric... See more

Marketing emails

Finally, there are Marketing emails. These are explicitly designed to sell something or promote something.

Courses

Courses are newsletters that teach readers a new skill, habit, or lesson. But unlike most newsletters, which might go out every day, every week, or every month, Courses have two unique features:

1. They’re automated, so if you sign up today, tomorrow, or a year from now, you’ll get the full series of emails. (Courses are built a lot like a wel

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Alerts

Alerts are shorter newsletters designed to let readers know when a new, specific type of content is published. Breaking news alerts from newsrooms about can’t-miss big stories are the most common.

Destination newsletters

These newsletters don’t try to get readers to click out — they want to keep readers in the inbox. Most of the content is provided right there as you scroll through the email. While a Destination newsletter may include a few external links, the newsletter itself is the destination.

When I think about Destination newsletters, I... See more

Traffic-driving newsletters

A decade ago, most newsletters in the news world were built around the idea of driving traffic. When I asked colleagues why they wanted to launch a newsletter, they often said, “I want more traffic to my stories, so I thought a newsletter could help,” as though I had a million readers in my back pocket who were just itch... See more

The deeper you dive into the email world, the more you realize there aren’t just a few types of emails you can send. Best-in-class organizations and operators might send up to eight different categories of emails, each with a specific purpose in mind:

1. Traffic-driving newsletters


2. Destination newsletters


3. Alerts


4. Courses


5. Pop-up newsletters


6. Transactional emai

... See more