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ASK HN: Might people be interested in a newsletter physically mailed to you?

6 points by canadianwriter ↗ HN
Was thinking about newsletters and how most are forgettable or are left unread in your inbox amongst spam and everything else.

If it was physically mailed, it would be something a bit more special.

7 comments

[ 4.0 ms ] story [ 23.3 ms ] thread
LandR
No. We need less paper mail not more.
moxylush
Yes, it would differentiate. Use QR codes to quantify.
potta_coffee
This is essentially a magazine, or at least a zine. There's niche interest in these kinds of things. I think if the content has lasting and unique value, something that I'd want to keep around for a long time, then yes. Otherwise you're sending out junk mail.
open-source-ux
I agree. It would need to be nicely designed and laid out. Each edition of the newsletter might have a different appearance. It should be something that makes people happy to collect and keep.

On the other hand, if the newsletter is the equivalent of an email simply copied and pasted into MS Word and then printed and mailed, people might view it as something throwaway and low value.

croh
I would love it. But content should be very special, like unique DIY projects, innovative papers or something like phrack.org. I really miss good tech magazines.

But am not from Canada, fyi.

Jugurtha
The newsletters are forgettable because the content is forgettable, not because of the medium in my opinion. If the content is forgettable, and the medium is paper, it would be left unread in the physical trash bin instead of the virtual trash bin.

>If it was physically mailed, it would be something a bit more special.

A counter-example to this is: physically mailed junk is no more special than emailed junk. It's even more irritating.

I think the goal is to write content that would at least survive the bin, at most entice people to have it in physical form.

One way to test your hypothesis is to do make digital content, with an option to print it beautifully, not just the browser/HTML print, but a button to download the nice printable PDF. Tracking the percentage of people who find the content interesting enough to want it as a PDF tells you something. The percentage of people clicking to print the content tells you something.

I think this could be a first step to answer your question.

Maybe having a field for an address and asking people if they want to receive the content in physical form can shed some light on your answer. Maybe you could also send a binder with a distinctive color/logo so people know where to put your newsletter, and it creates a "thing" where people share photos of their binder.

It could be a part of a ritual where recipients wait for your newsletter, it arrives, they read it, and they carefully put it with the previous numbered issues.

Maybe you can send colored paper according to the season (spring, summer, autumn, winter). People could build collections.

Maybe you could do themed according to geographic locations, and maybe you could be inspired by philately and numismatics. People could share issues, or borrow issues unavailable.

pryelluw
Id rather spend the money on better content.