Nerding Out on Newsletters

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Annemarie Dooling

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Newsletter Growth Lead, Vox Media

@TravelingAnna

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Alexandra March

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Newsletter Editor, HuffPost

@ByAlexMarch

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Using News Events To Build A Niche Email Audience

• Forget the one-size-fits-all model
• Use the data you have at your fingertips to create products that provide value to a reader
• Create processes that allow you to launch a newsletter in an hour — not a month

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CASE STUDY 1

TRUMP’S FIRST 100 DAYS

• Launched with data and anecdotal feedback
• Goal: to provide value to readers and help them be active news consumers rather than passive, while building reader loyalty

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Our Hypothesis / The Results

Our Hypothesis: Niche email experiences lead to fast growth and better introduce readers to a brand than a one-off welcome before an influx of content

What Worked: ~100K subscribers in slightly more than 100 days, open rates between 30% and 60%, better introduction to the HuffPost email experience

What Didn’t: Our readers wanted to do more about the news than we could offer them, the number of communities we focused on was small

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CASE STUDY 2

OUR ROYAL ROUNDUP

• Launched with data
• Goal: to respond to a news event in a way that could more deeply engage this niche audience, while introducing them to the HuffPost email experience

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Our Hypothesis / The Results

Our Hypothesis: Our readers who are hyper-engaged with royals content onsite and on social channels can be converted to really engaged HuffPost email readers, and may be more likely to sign up for additional email offerings

What Worked: We launched this within days of the wedding announcement, our average open rate is ~67% on average, the list is growing steadily

What Didn’t: This product might be so niche that subscribers may not opt into newsletters with a broader focus

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CASE STUDY 3

OUR HATE TRACKING EMAIL

• Launched with data
• Goal: to respond to a news event in a way that could more deeply engage an audience interested in this topic, and to capture a new audience for HuffPost

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Our Hypothesis / The Results

Our Hypothesis: Email can be used as a tool to capture new visitors during intense news events so you can continue to reach them and convert them to loyal readers over time

What Worked: More than 1,000 people subscribed the first week we launched and the list continues to grow, our open rate has hovered around 30%

What Didn’t: Our onboarding process for new visitors to the site should have been better

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Take This Away

• Have a voice, tone, mission and audience in mind for every email product
• Subscriber number across one list shouldn’t necessarily be your top goal
• Integrate newsletters into news distribution flow more and create newsletter acquisition pathways throughout your platforms
• Respond to your newsletter readers. They are among your most loyal, and they may be the ones financially supporting your journalism one day!

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Jenny Zhang

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Newsletter Editor, Eater

@jennygzhang

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So you’ve launched your newsletter. Now what?

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✨ A/B TESTING ✨

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What is A/B testing?

Source: Zapier

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Why A/B test?

• Increases your opens, click throughs, etc.
• Provides insights into what your audience responds to, which can inform how you continue to refine and improve your newsletter

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Example 1: Our readers don’t like us to be coy

• Cinnabon’s Carrie Fisher tribute enraged Twitter > Why the internet is furious with Cinnabon

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• Coca-Cola had the best Super Bowl ad this year > The best Super Bowl ads this year

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Example 2: News >>> for our readers

• O4W Pizzeria Ammazza may be moving to the BeltLine > Atlanta’s hottest new brunches

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• April Bloomfield’s LA restaurant has a name > Where to get thick crust pizza in LA

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Example 3: A layout optimized for clicks

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Tips & takeaways

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Create a list of elements you want to test in an organized, systematic way

• Sender name
• Subject line length
• Single vs. multiple topics
• Tone/voice
• Emojis
• Numbers
• Types of stories
• Layout
• Preheader text
• Etc.

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Meticulously track all of your test results

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Make sure the test results mean something

• Look for statistical significance
• Don’t just consider a single test result in isolation

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A B T

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(get it?)

There’s always something else you can test!

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Data + qualitative feedback + editorial judgment = a stronger, better product

💌

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Annafi Wahed

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Founder, The Flip Side

@AnnafiWahed

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How to Build and Manage a Politically Diverse Team

• When they’re all volunteers…

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• Working remotely…

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• Across 3 time zones…

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But first, a bit about us

TheFlipSide.io - TheSkimm meets Politico; we’re your daily digest of the best op-eds and analyses from liberal and conservative media

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What we do 5 days/week

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The team

In the beginning, there was just me and I was very sad:

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One year later, we have a full (and growing) team and are one happy crew:

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Lessons learned along the way

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The interview process (1)

In the beginning, this was our selection criteria:

• Understands our mission
• News junkie
• Good writer
• Works well under pressure

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One year later, we have added a few things:

• Understands our mission
• News junkie
• Good writer
• Works well under pressure
• Is ACTUALLY open minded
• Has a sense of humor

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The interview process (2)

The best way to gauge open mindedness is to give concrete examples:

• How do you feel about reading ThinkProgress and Daily Kos on a regular basis?
• How do you feel about citing Breitbart?

Sense of humor is a little trickier…

• If you had to write a satire about X story, what would be your angle?
• Do you think the FBI will open an investigation into Hillary’s broken toe, or Trump’s 2nd scoop of ice cream first?

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Onboarding

In the beginning, it was the wild wild west:

The rule is there are no rules! You’re all smart cookies; you’ll figure it out!

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One year later, we have set up some systems and processes:

• Training guide
• List of approved media outlets (split first by liberal / conservative / libertarian / center; then into tiers 1, 2, and 3)
• List of FAQs
• Newbies shadow old timers

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Building team rapport (1)

In the beginning, we were focused solely on the 7 am deadline:

The work is its own reward!

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One year later, we make time for team building:

• Team t-shirts!
• Hangout sessions where we get to know each other
• A little healthy competition (“MVP of the week”)
• Celebrate not just work-related successes, but also personal news

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Building team rapport (2)

In the beginning, we thought people just wanted to do the work assigned to them and sign off ASAP:

You’re all done! Off you go!

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One year later, we realize people want to be a part of something bigger:

• They WANT to know all the other things that are going on (they WANT to help me draft cold emails! And research bloggers! And design flyers!)
• They WANT to help make decisions, not just be told “here’s what we’re doing”

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Keeping the peace

Disagreements are inevitable:

• Topic of the day: climate change, or the economy?
• Hour-long debate about the definition of “fake news” (is it only false news stories, or also misleading news stories?)

If things start to get heated:

• Intervene early and reframe/steer the conversation
• Humor really is the best medicine!
• Don’t be afraid to play mediator (both in the group channel, and via DMs)
• Don’t be afraid to make the call (yes, that means “siding” with 1 person or another)

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Random nuggets

Set early deadlines:

• “My computer has been acting weird all day!” = it’s going to be a late night
• “I’m finishing up, but wanted to double check a few things!” = 30-45 min delay
• “Almost done!” = 20 min delay

Know your team’s schedules:

• If it’s college students: when is spring break? Finals week?
• If it’s full-time professionals: are they in the middle of a big project? When’s it due?

Sometimes it won’t work out:

• Better to let someone go than to let them bring the whole team down

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Dan Oshinsky

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Director of Newsletters, The New Yorker

@danoshinsky

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Email is hard. But not for the reason you think.

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1) Email page

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2) Preferences page

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3) Shareable sign-up pages

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4) Right rail boxes

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5) Bottom boxes

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6) Inline sign-up units

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7) Top units

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8) Footer unit

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9) Social icon unit

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10) Sign-up posts

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11) Post-email share sign-up

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12) Homepage unit

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12) Homepage unit

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12) Homepage unit

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13) Remnant ad inventory

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14) Referral program

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15) Author bios

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16) Inside-the-email CTA

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17) Facebook promo

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18) Apple News promo unit

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19) Pocket promo unit

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20) Lead gen unit

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21) Carousel unit

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22) Sweepstakes

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When it comes to email, the problem isn’t finding good ideas for growth, products, or testing.

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Email only works when you have strong partners to work with.

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Newsletter Q&A

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