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Ask HN: Do newsletters work? Why do websites push them so much?

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111–120 of 174 posts

Re: Ask HN: Do newsletters work? Why do websites push them so much?

#111
post #80

My company sends a newsletter once a month. We're selling roasted coffee. This single day account for 20-30% of our monthly revenue. In fact email is our single best performing channel. Hope this info helps. EDIT: I should also add that we're combining every newsletter with some "offer" e.g. we make a new blend or roast couple of bags of some coffee we don't typically stock. We're also keeping it very personal - it's…

What service do you use for templatizing amd sending the emails? Are they personalized?

Re: Ask HN: Do newsletters work? Why do websites push them so much?

#112

God. I know newsletters work and I've been told to start one a dozen times for a personal project but i just HATE getting them. Not all newsletters but the ones that are clearly just another push notification market channel that dont add any additional value. Those seem to be the bulk of newsletters. The ones that are actually interesting take a lot more time and effort to make.

They don’t have to take any effort. I have a soon-to-launch side project that automatically turns Facebook business page posts into monthly newsletters.

I could use a few beta testers. DM @WhidbeyHacker and I’ll add you to the list.

Re: Ask HN: Do newsletters work? Why do websites push them so much?

#113
I think it really depends on the content. I have a software product that manages all kinds of data. To raise awareness, I also have a newsletter that I send out a couple times a month. In the newsletter, I try to educate people about data issues and how computers process data. I try to make it interesting to people who might never even try out my software (https://didgets.substack.com/). While the purpose of the newsletter is to get people interested in looking at my product, I try not to push it too much. I don't enjoy newsletters that are nothing more than a sales pitch.

Re: Ask HN: Do newsletters work? Why do websites push them so much?

#114
post #48

Tangent: do web push notifications work? A lot of websites ask if I want to be notified via a web push, which I personally find very annoying and have never tried it. But perhaps people (consumers/users and sellers/creators) find them useful? Bonus question: are you subscribed to any web push notifications? Which ones and why do you like web push vs. a newsletter or RSS?

I guess many people hate them, but subscribe without thinking about it and don't know how to unsubscribe. For the websites I would expect them to be quite useful, because they will get a lot of extra traffic and returning customers. Even if people don't like the volume of notifications, they will still click on them if the headline sounds interesting enough. Bonus answer: I think they are quite useful for web applica…

Yep, my MIL had accidentally subscribed to several, and when I next saw her laptop, the notifications came in all the way up the right side and were pretty disruptive.

Re: Ask HN: Do newsletters work? Why do websites push them so much?

#115
post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I assume that returns are diminishing, and turn negative past a certain point. If a company that I'm interested in sends me an email once per month, then I generally don't mind it. I might even appreciate it. Send it every two weeks, and you're training me to tune out and usually click the "Delete" button without looking at the content. Send it weekly, and you've irritated me enough to have the motivation to unsubscr…

> I assume that returns are diminishing, and turn negative past a certain point. Which is why you should test it. Jan '22 -> once a month Feb '22 -> twice a month Mar '22 -> thrice a month Jan '23 -> once a month Feb '23 -> twice a month Mar '23 -> thrice a month Compare and contrast for both unsubscribe rate and conversion.

No, just no. AB testing how much you can squeeze out of the channel has a huge negative backlash. A customer driven "send these more often" or "send these less often" offer in the email will give the customer the ability to set the level of engagement that works best for them and avoid both rage quits and user hostility to being "worked."

A friend of mine was hired by Peet's to try to clean up the mess they caused by doing this to their previously loyal fan base, it has been a lot of work and expense.

Re: Ask HN: Do newsletters work? Why do websites push them so much?

#116
post #67
post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your example click rate is about an order of magnitude higher than the average.

I think it depends on the content and audience. I routinely get open rates in the mid 20% range when I send out a newsletter email.

Selecting an email to delete it in the Apple mail.app also opens it. Doesn't mean I'm actually reading it.

Re: Ask HN: Do newsletters work? Why do websites push them so much?

#117
My PhD was on crowdfunding in the Creative Industry - One of my published papers was on the effectiveness of online marketing channels (email newsletter v. facebook v twitter) ... Quick answer is that, for "fans", email newsletters are a far stronger marketing channel than facebook or twitter. You can read the paper here: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S074756322...

Re: Ask HN: Do newsletters work? Why do websites push them so much?

#119
I think it's trivial to see it "works" in the sense that it costs nothing and generates at least some positive revenue. The expected value of doing it from the producer end is greater than zero.

Does that mean you should do it? That's the more interesting question. Panhandling works. Spamming works. Direct mail campaigns, sending out mass texts to lists you buy from states that sell voter records all work. Standing on the street corner asking random passersby if they want to buy drugs works.

But you're ruining a commons. Mail, SMS, and email are nearly useless communication channels now because the signal to noise ratio is so low. They're major annoyances you spend more time deleting and curating than actually getting value from as a user. It's understandable that producers don't see it that way or don't care. From their perspective, they have some unique value proposition that is just so great for their users that they need to keep them informed. The problem is there are millions of other producers who feel exactly the same way, and the net downpour is so overwhelming on the consumer side that it doesn't matter. I don't care how high value these information streams are. There is a limit to what I can consume in a day, and I would rather select and curate myself, on a pull model, and some days consume nothing at all, rather than have it all pushed at me. If you haven't heard from me in a while as a customer? Guess what? That means I'm probably happy. I bought your product, I'm using it, and I'm satisfied with it. I don't need another. When I do, I'll come back, but that might be years in the future. Deal with it. I can't buy something from every vendor I've ever done any business with every week for the rest of my life.

Re: Ask HN: Do newsletters work? Why do websites push them so much?

#120
post #114
post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I guess many people hate them, but subscribe without thinking about it and don't know how to unsubscribe. For the websites I would expect them to be quite useful, because they will get a lot of extra traffic and returning customers. Even if people don't like the volume of notifications, they will still click on them if the headline sounds interesting enough. Bonus answer: I think they are quite useful for web applica…

Yep, my MIL had accidentally subscribed to several, and when I next saw her laptop, the notifications came in all the way up the right side and were pretty disruptive.

My grandmother thought her computer had a bunch of viruses because of how Windows 10 showed them.
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