Photo by Elena Koycheva on Unsplash

So...success huh? Ambiguity at its finest.

I don’t know about you but this is something that I’ve been thinking about. In my previous post, I spoke about my introspection, “me time” moments that have been an all-consuming daily activity. Last week, I thought about impact, this week let’s talk about what success and failure really mean.

Let’s start from the beginning…

Don’t want to read the copy? Scroll down for the readings and examples or just scroll through the list of links.

As some of you may know, my team and I are currently working on a new product that aims to help newsletters with discovery, engagement, and ownership.

I’ve been speaking, really learning, from newsletter authors as to what it means to create and maintain a newsletter. It’s tough work, to say the least. At the end of the conversation, I’m often asked…

“Raquel, you speak with a lot of curators, here are my metrics, would you consider me successful? What could I be doing? Are other curators doing something that I am not?”

The first few times I was asked this, I thought:

Why are these writers asking me this? I don’t have a newsletter (previous to this.) They have an amazing newsletter which is why we are talking to them, are they not seeing that? Why are they not seeing that? How are they interpreting their metrics? What information are they missing? Are they concerned about subscribers and unsubscribers, open rate, click rate?

Essentially: What do they not see that I see so clearly, an excellent newsletter.

I started to think about this a little more, the frustration that newsletters have expressed when looking at the metrics.

Let’s go through all of them.

Subscribers Open Rates Click Rates Unsubscribers

I decided to talk about these metrics because it’s mostly what newsletters are looking at + these are the analytics that substack provides for their authors.

This week we’ll look at subscribers.

Subscribers.

Question: Looking at your subscribers there are a couple of things that could be going through your head.

Why have my subscribers plateaued? Is that a good or a bad thing? Why did I gain X subscribers when last week I only gained x? How did my subscribers find me? Who are my subscribers? Are people out there talking about me?

Interesting. Whether you’ve asked yourself all these questions, one, or none at all, they are all probably part of your “success metric.”

Pains: Finding new subscribers are hard, once you’ve exhausted your circle, it’s hard to find more people (the right people) to subscribe to your newsletter.

Possible Solution: Think of the reader. It’s equally as hard for you to find them as for them to find you. Fact.

Ask yourself, where do your readers hang out? What social media networks do they engage with most - Twitter, LinkedIn, Reddit, Instagram? What do they like to read? What content resonates with them? What are they currently going through?

Paint a picture of your subscribers and go find them.

You’ve probably already have posted your newsletter everywhere, but if you haven’t that’s the first step. Put it in your bio on Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, etc.

Who has inspired you to create a newsletter? Contact them, cross-pollinate. A great way to get in front of similar readers.

When it comes to asking for feedback, it’s not easy for people to respond to your email. So, make it easier. Bill Murphy’s Understandably has a one-click star-rating system in place that he set up for feedback.

A Closer Look:

Why have my subscribers plateaued? Is that a good or a bad thing? No, it’s not a bad thing. You still have your subscribers and they are continuing to allow you in their inbox. If you want to re-engage them… What day and time are they opening up my newsletter? Adjust to their preference.

Should I change my format? Some stats for you: Add a Video: Vimeo’s Stats 40% open rate (Youtube’s OR is 29%) Cap your subject line at ~90-140 characters which has a 24% open rate. Use emojis in your subject line (if it aligns with you) - a 25% increase in open rates vs no emojis. Create a Preheader - allowing your readers to get a one-liner as to what your newsletter issue will cover. (28% increase in open rates.) Am I connecting with my audience? This is a big one. I’ve taken data from Campaign Monitor which can your guide for engagement. Pro-tip: it may be worth to clean out some of your ghosts or zombies. Gmail, in particular, looks at your open-rate and places you in the promotions tab (either because your subscribers haven’t opened your newsletter, your email subject line is clickbait-y, or if your first paragraph is selling something.) To re-engage your readers, ask a random person to read your last post and ask for feedback. Things to look out for: When their first question arises while reading (ask why they stopped reading at that point.) Tell them not to click on anything but if they wanted to, which links do they want to click on. How long are they spending on a certain paragraph or point within their newsletter? The idea is to see how well you tell a story, when does the reader loses interest vs captivated by a topic they want to open up a link, etc. Story building is crucial to the newsletter process. Talk about you: I love it when people talk about themselves so I know who’s the voice behind the curator along with the backbone or point of inspiration for the issue. That way, I get some context as to why you are sharing this with me. Action-Based content: whatever you are writing about, allow your readers to apply the content they’ve just learned with something actionable. What can they do with this information? Get crafty. If something you’ve linked to in the past is relevant, tie it in. It re-builds this concept of trust and validity. Your content doesn’t have to be one-and-done.

Why did I gain X subscribers when last week I only gained x? How did my subscribers find me? It’s about your readers’ search. This is how I find new newsletters: Check my newsletters to see if anyone was mentioned. That’s my #1 source to find new newsletters - it’s a recommendation based on someone I trust. (Re-enforcing cross-pollinating.)

Search on Twitter: “new newsletters” - #newsletters (mostly junk but sometimes I find new ones that I find interesting.

Reddit/Newsletters: I often am looking for new newsletters here because for some reason I find Reddit credible. Maybe I’m crazy but I’ve found gems through this channel.

MuckRack’s Search Tool: Go to Media Outlet and put in Newsletter. That’s where I search for some of my topics. People are trying to find you but help yourself be found. Who are my subscribers? Are they talking about me? No easy answer for this one, there isn’t any information on your subscribers demographic. I would phone Substack or your platform provider to receive this information.

Are they talking about you? Yup. Probably. Again, you wouldn’t know. All I could say is create a Google Alert or Talkwalker for your newsletter title and name. So, whenever you are mentioned you are notified. (P.S. My team is working on this.)

Again, it’s tough out there. In a world where you spend so much time curating, writing, creating your newsletter yet you know none of these answers (unless of course, you have an external platform.)

Readings and Examples



That’s all for now, I challenge you to do one small thing during this time!