Getting better data from newsletter surveys
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Getting better data from newsletter surveys

Hi! This post was originally appeared in the 99 Newsletter Project newsletter. Every other Sunday(ish), I share tips from my deep back of tricks developed from growing loyal audiences and paid subscribers for more than 20 years. All without AI-written content or hustle bro bullshit. What’s not to love? Recently, I had a great email…

Get inspired: Voting Guide Roundup (February 2024)
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Get inspired: Voting Guide Roundup (February 2024)

2024 is a presidential election year, so newsrooms around the country are using starting to publish Voter Guides. In recent years, voter guides have become a pretty common feature of news websites. However, perhaps I’m a little early, because I found about as many guides from past elections as I did for 2024. The samples…

4 little newsletter design upgrades your readers will love
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4 little newsletter design upgrades your readers will love

Designing emails is hard. Email is an old format. It’s restricted from different directions by different inbox providers. There’s so much that doesn’t work in email the way it might on the web or in an app. Or it works in Gmail but doesn’t work in Outlook. Or vice versa. This leads email newsletter design…

Q & A: Sunny Sone, The Trace
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Q & A: Sunny Sone, The Trace

Sunny Sone is one of my favorite journalists. I worked with Sunny when they interned at Austin Monitor, then later when they were Digital Editor for the Texas Observer. They are thoughtfully innovative, willing to experiment with new methods and formats to build new pathways between people and journalism. Sunny Sone is currently Associate Newsletter…

Get inspired: Birthday and Anniversary emails (August 2023)

Get inspired: Birthday and Anniversary emails (August 2023)

There’s no shame in celebrating success! Each year a newsroom stays in business is a huge win. Too many publications close each year, while others teeter closer to the brink. Celebrating your newsroom’s birthday is a great reason to reinforce your commitment to your community. It’s also a great reason for a fundraising campaign or…

What to do when Mailchimp segments aren’t working
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What to do when Mailchimp segments aren’t working

What do you do when your Mailchimp segments aren’t working? Not working in this situation means the segments aren’t sent to everyone in the segment you built. For example, the segment has 2,000 subscribers, but a campaign sent to that segment only goes to 1,700 people. Two clients recently ran into this problem with Mailchimp…

Q & A: Jill Shepherd, ProPublica
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Q & A: Jill Shepherd, ProPublica

Most people don’t like asking other people for money. It’s hard. It feels gross. In my experience, this is especially true for journalists. However, as more newsrooms launch as nonprofits or lean into subscriptions, the skills to raise money from individual readers gets more important every day. Persuading people to pay for journalism is a…

The 3 biggest newsletter page mistakes publishers can fix right now to get more subscribers
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The 3 biggest newsletter page mistakes publishers can fix right now to get more subscribers

Over the last several years, publishers have invested heavily in newsletters. That’s great! Newsletters make great products and are effective tools for distributing content. They also are useful for acquiring more paying subscribers or donors. Likewise, readers love newsletters as an alternative to social media recommendation engines. A great user experience goes far in building…

Get inspired: Newsletter Signup Page Round-up (March 2023)

Get inspired: Newsletter Signup Page Round-up (March 2023)

A publisher’s newsletter signup page benefits two different types of readers: Tips for getting useful insights from these newsletter signup page examples Each landing page in this roundup is from February-March 2023. The goal here was some variety, so publishers could see what other publishers are doing on their signup pages. I’ve added comments to…

Q & A: India Daniels, Newswire by City Bureau
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Q & A: India Daniels, Newswire by City Bureau

Newswire from City Bureau is one of my favorite newsletters. In a recent Newsletter Spotlight, I highlighted how Newswire’s redesign showcased a change in strategy rather than a visual redesign with some new fonts but the same content. I wanted to learn more, so I spoke with India Daniels, who writes Newswire. During our conversation,…

Bring your newsletter identity to life with better messaging on About Us and signup pages.

Bring your newsletter identity to life with better messaging on About Us and signup pages.

A strong newsletter identity is how you align your goals with reader value. You spent time researching and strategizing your newsletter before it launched. You may have used a guide like the NPR Newsletter Identity plan, which is great! But now you need to take that plan publiTo to show readers the value you hope…

Newsletter Trends 2023 – A Wishlist

Newsletter Trends 2023 – A Wishlist

It’s that time of year again! Year-end lists and predictions! Well, I don’t do predictions. Predictions don’t age well. And for every Nostradamus-like perfect prediction, the same person usually has a dozen embarrassing ones (about micropayments). There’s another reason. 9 times out of 10, a person’s “prediction” aligns perfectly with what they are trying to…

18 NewsMatch email examples from 2022 to inspire your next fundraising campaign

18 NewsMatch email examples from 2022 to inspire your next fundraising campaign

If you’ve worked in a nonprofit newsroom, you’re no stranger to NewsMatch. If you aren’t familiar, NewsMatch is a collaborative fundraising program that has raised $223M for nonprofit journalism organizations since 2016. Even more amazing is that $192M of that total came from individual donors. For this roundup, I’ve shared a selection of NewsMatch email…