Ask HN: Why do newsletters not work?
I run a small site to teach people to code (https://enlight.ml).
It has ~600 email subscribers. I usually send an email every week or so linking the user to any new projects which have been posted. These emails are relatively short, however, they don't drive many clicks towards the site. Why is this? Over half of them open the email, but only 8% of the list actually clicks on the links.
I've tried making the subject stand out with emojis and such, but I'm not seeing much of an interest of the site through these emails. On the other hand, however, less than 15 people have unsubscribed from the list since the site launched.
What's an alternative way to spread the word to your users? How do you guys do it?
21 comments
[ 4.7 ms ] story [ 46.9 ms ] threadPerhaps a better way to phrase things would be "how to make my newsletters more engaging?". Have you tried researching the topic? There are lots of resources online about "growth hacking" and email marketing.
Perhaps I'm a bit cynical but this seems like a clickbaity contrived effort to promote your site.
I've also seen enlight.ml posted here before, so my guess is quite a few of the subscribers came from HN or sites like it. Typically the users you get through these kinds of postings aren't all in your target audience. This might also be resulting in a lower click through rate.
The key to getting a high click through rate is delivering a lot of value. There aren't any good shortcuts.
Here are some things that may help you figure out and boost your perceived value:
* Send a survey to your users asking them what types of updates they want to get from you, and how often.
* Figure out if the same 8% engages each time, and what the patterns of click throughs are (do some people click through every single time?).
* See if anyone on your list would be willing to chat with you about the value they get from your newsletter/site.
* Do some content marketing/promotion to attract a more targeted audience.
* Make sure you're selling the benefits of doing the lesson in your emails.
* Have some clearer messaging around the signup box for the list.
I run a site to teach people data science, and I've learned a lot of marketing lessons along the way. Happy to chat further if you want -- my email is in my profile.
I've had a similar size list as high as 55% open rate and 22% click through. The key is high quality content that tailors to the subscribers on your list, and preferably that is low on spam.
Surveying the users is a great start, I'd also check out what competitors are doing for some ideas.
Maybe only 8% of them or so really care, and it's not about the medium used to reach them?
I have no idea about the average but if you get those numbers weekly its actually better than what we do (and the person who is creating the content for the newsletter is a pure marketing person).
A few things:
1. 800 email subscribers is low in terms of getting results, because open rates are low and click rates are low. Mailchimp has a good benchmark for open and click rates: https://mailchimp.com/resources/research/email-marketing-ben...
Software click rates are around 3-4% so 8% you are doing well.
Consider:
A) Ways to increase your subscriber list. This could be an offer, popup on your website, or advertising and promotion on different sites.
2. A/B test subject lines. To me, emojis seem spammy and also they can get filtered out by spam filters. So watch email deliverability cues.
3. Test frequency - more and less.
The only emails I've ever received with emojis in the subject field have been spam. But, maybe I'm not your target audience. You could try split testing this.
Doesn't that just tell you that only 8% of the list were actually interested in viewing the new project? My guess is that if you made projects that interested more people then more people would click?