In this episode, Louis shares how to effectively monetize and scale your newsletter business. He also talks about diversifying revenue streams beyond ads and subscriptions, calculating lifetime subscriber value, and aggressive paid acquisition tactics used by the largest newsletters.

Key timestamps:

00:27 - Intro to Louis Nicholls and Spark Loop

02:45 - Louis talks about the payback period and subscriber lifetime value and how they interplay.

06:51 - What are some common ways to decrease the payback period?

11:44 - The 2x2 matrix for revenue streams

13:12 - How do huge subscriber lists under-monetize?

16:30 - Would you encourage having both donations and subscriptions?

19:57 - How do you categorize different revenue streams?

23:08 - The difference between donations and tips vs subscriptions?

25:14 - Intermission questions

28:41 - What are some products or services newsletter operators sell that you've seen really take off?

37:04 - Do you think publishers should diversify into more products/services?

41:41 - How would you monetize the top 1% of a publisher's audience?

45:50 - How is newsletter advertising different from website advertising?

47:18 - Best practices for optimizing and getting more revenue

Show Notes

SparkLoop

Upscribe

Chiz Media

James Clear

Techcrunch

Vox

Clearbit

Why We Buy

Substack

Guest

Louis Nicholls - Twitter

SparkLoop

Host

Lesley Sim Twitter

Lesley Sim Website

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Twitter

Sticky.fm Website

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In this episode, Naomi provides insights into Invoice2go's efforts to grow their newsletter program. She shares learnings from experiments with segmenting their audience and testing different approaches, as well as the real-world limitations and challenges in executing tests and getting buy-in.

Key timestamps:

00:53 - Naomi discusses her role at Invoice2go and the goals of using email to drive activation and monetization

02:15 - Inheriting an existing email program and getting a "blank slate" for an overhaul with the rebrand

09:17 - Three pillars of the customer life cycle

15:18 - Starting a segmented newsletter strategy for different audiences

17:40 - Testing content performance but unable to find statistical significance

20:32 - Changing no-reply to actual email for a two-way communication channel

24:55 - Intermission questions

29:33 - The three newsletters Naomi picked for Invoice2go

35:07 - Successful testing of personalized outreach from faux personas

38:46 - Call to action versus call to value test.

43:35 - Doing list hygiene for the Later newsletter

45:00 - Steps taken to turn engaged subscribers into paying customers

47:13 - Key learning from the time at Later

Show Notes

Parcel

Invoice2Go

Braze

Cordial

Amplitude

Customer.io

Later

Bridget Casey

EcoSend

Guest

Naomi West - Twitter

Naomi West - Instagram

Naomi West - Website 

Host

Lesley Sim Twitter

Lesley Sim Website

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In this episode, Carin Slater provides behind the scenes at Litmus as she and her team plan, design, develop, test, and analyze the company's 4 newsletters. She outlines their Agile Marketing process, creative freedom, and focus on engagement and accessibility in each newsletter they produce. Carin also discusses the extensive research and work that went into fully redesigning their flagship newsletter, Litmus News.

Key Timestamp

00:42 - Overview of the 4 newsletters Carin produces at Litmus

01:11 - Carin's role in building Litmus' newsletters

02:08 - Process for planning the Litmus News newsletter

03:08 - How the team collaborates on newsletter copy and content

10:35 - Using Jira for project management and tasks

11:03 - The Litmus team's agile marketing process

16:24 - Process of building the Litmus weekly email

25:04 - Adding UTM codes for tracking

26:23 - Using the Litmus and Marketo tracking pixel

27:53 - Using checklist for auditing

30:35 - Optimizing QA testing for top email clients

35:14 - Tracking and analyzing link click rates

40:17 - Having fun with newsletter production

43:24 - Intermission questions

49:34 - Reason for redesigning the Litmus newsletter

53:18 - Incorporating user feedback into design

57:45 - Challenges with personalization

1:05:28 - What determines if the redesign was a success?

1:13:16 - Where to find Carin and subscribe to her newsletter

Show Notes

Litmus

JIRA

Agile Marketing

Slack

Asana

Google Doc

Figma

Marketo

UTM Codes

Apple MPP- Apple Mail Privacy Protection

Litmus Scope

Linktree

Guest

Carin Slater/@carinslater

Carin Slater Linktree

Host

Lesley Sim Twitter

Lesley Sim Website

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In this episode, Dan Oshinsky shares his insights on proven growth tactics for publishers and content creators. He breaks down strategies that work at different stages, from just starting out to having over 1 million subscribers. Dan provides tips on optimizing signup forms, using lead magnets, referral programs, contests, earned media, paid acquisition, and more.

Key Timestamps

01:41 - Dan's epic guide of 52 ways to grow your email list

02:09 - What are some foundational principles of growth?

05:46 - Creating a compelling "why subscribe" message.

06:37 - Create a newsletter landing page.

07:30 - Publishers need signup forms in multiple places

11:41 - Adding signup form at 25%, 50%, 75% and 100% for long articles

15:24 - What are some of the best growth tips for a list with 10K people?

17:47 - Contests and giveaways to get signups and engagement from readers.

23:42 - Lead magnets work well for publishers of any size.

28:04 - Referral programs work best above 10-25k subscribers.

39:25 - Are there growth tactics that you’d like to share for publishers in the 10K to 100K range?

41:44 - How does using brackets work to grow your list?

48:39 - Let's go to one million subscribers. What tactics work at this stage?

55:53 - What's one uncommon growth tip you like that you wish you'd see more often?

58:15 - What's your favorite ESP and why?

01:01:20 - What's your favorite must-read newsletter?

01:02:09 - What's your favorite piece of advice for a new set of publishers?

Show Notes

Inbox Collective

The New Yorker

BuzzFeed

52 Ways to Grow Your Email List

Nathan Barry

Beehiiv 

Substack

Carrd

OptinMonster

Poptin

WPForms

Spark Loops

Upscribe

Madison Minutes

Tone Madison

Charlotte Ledger

Berkshire Eagle

AWeber

ConvertKit

Second Street

Google Forms

Typeform

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Saeedreza Abbaspour discusses proven strategies for optimizing landing pages, maximizing conversions, and safeguarding subscriber integrity when building a high-traffic media publishing platform. 

Key timestamps

00:25 - Who is Saeedreza Abbaspour?

01:24 - Discussion on optimizing the customer acquisition funnel for a site with 100k subscribers with a goal of reaching 1 million.

03:19 - What typically happens after a user lands on the landing page from an ad click?

04:14 - What do you do to optimize that landing page?

10:23 - How customizable are the landing pages you build?

14:35 - With the free subscriber journey, how long do the campaigns typically last?

18:51 - What should be on an optimized checkout page?

22:51 - Intermission questions

26:40 - Transition to scalability and security of a high-traffic platform.

28:06 - Using WordPress for flexibility, and developer availability.

37:10  - Do you use plugins that are available or build your own?

38:08 - What form plugins do you use?

41:57 - What hosting do you recommend?

42:55 - How do you deal with bot attacks?

46:43 - Double opt-in vs. reCAPTCHA?

53:52 - Using ChatGPT to detect spam subscribers

57:13 - How long of email inactivity triggers subscriber removal?

59:06 - What key mistake do rookies make in building publishing platforms?

Show Notes

Refact

The Hustle 

The Daily Upsight 

Workweek

Advance Custom Field

reCAPTCHA

Newsletter Glue

Gravity Forms

WPForms

Cloudflare

WPEngine

Beehiiv

Substack

WooCommerce

Cloudflare Turnstyle

Guest

Saeedreza Abbaspour/@IAmSaeedreza

Refact

Host

Lesley Sim: Twitter / Website

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In this episode, Tyler Channell reveals how his company Paywall Project helps small town news sites build subscription funnels that convert readers into paying subscribers. With real examples and data, he provides an actionable blueprint to implement key strategies like metered paywalls, free to paid content upgrades, and sponsorships.

Key timestamps

1:41 - The problem small local news publishers come to Tyler to solve

2:10 - Publishers moving from platforms like Pico/Hype which lack flexibility

5:00 - Migrating off limiting SaaS platforms like Substack

7:18 -  Services that Paywall Project offers

9:04 - Example of a client earning $5k/month in a small town of 5,000 people

10:46 - Public notice revenue at risk, need for a subscription model

17:45 - Focusing on free signups over paid at first

21:01 - Typical subscription conversion rates Tyler sees

22:27 - Intermission questions

23:00 - Pricing strategy and how to determine subscription cost

31:45 - Newsletter sponsorships as an additional revenue source

33:43 - Range of rates that publishers charge for their ads

39:15 - How much should a publisher charge for a subscription?

44:50 - Tyler's recommendations for email service providers

Show notes

Paywall Project

Hype

Substack

Newsletter Glue

WordPress

Stripe

San Francisco Chronicle

Sendy

Amazon SES

Slack

Mailchimp

ChatGPT

Guest

Tyler Channell Twitter/@TylerChannell

Paywall Project Twitter/@paywallproject

Paywall Project

Host

Lesley Sim Twitter

Lesley Sim Website

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Sticky.fm Website

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In this episode, Cedric Chin shares how “earned secrets” are at the core of creating viral, thought leadership content. He shares his process for writing long-form articles and stresses how consistently publishing on a schedule can help build readership.

Key timestamps:

0:30 – Who is Cedric Chin?

1:45 – What is Commoncog about?

9:59 – Definition of “going viral” and thought leadership

11:07 - Four types of thought leadership according to Ryan Law

12:25 – Example of a viral “Yes, and” article Cedric wrote  

15:14 – Example of a viral article challenging a truism

21:48 – The “ripple effect” of viral content 

26:27 – Cedric’s most viral articles and how he identifies viral potential

36:08 – Cedric on why he aims to always share his “earned secrets” 

39:38 – Intermission questions

44:30 – Cedric explains his process for writing long-form articles

52:09 – What beginners get wrong about writing high-quality thought leadership content 

57:44 – Cedric recommending the Poynter writing tools course

Show notes

Commoncog blog

Animalz blog post on thought leadership

Hacker News

Goodhart’s Law article

Poynter 50 writing tools course

ConvertKit

Money Stuff newsletter by Matt Levine

Guest

Cedric Chin Twitter/@ejames_c

Commoncog website

Host

Lesley Sim Twitter

Lesley Sim Website

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In this episode, Alyssa provides valuable insights into various deliverability challenges faced by email senders and offers practical strategies to ensure successful email campaigns and maintain a positive sending reputation.

Key timestamps

00:18 - Who is Alyssa Dulin?

01:38 - How to prevent email deliverability issues after a long break from sending newsletters.

04:23 - Tips for warming up your email list gradually to maintain a good sending reputation.

08:02 - Understanding the promotions tab in Gmail and dealing with emails going to spam.

10:40 - Steps to take if an ESP gets blacklisted.

18:49 - Intermission questions

20:58 - Challenges with business email addresses bouncing.

26:38 - Understanding email spoofing.

26:55 - DMARCIAN.com is recommended as a resource for information and guidance on setting up DMARC records.

31:16 - Addressing automatic opens and clicks.

35:33 - Handling open rate drops and spam issues after switching ESPs.

43:05 - Kickbox, a helpful email validation tool for checking email health

Key links

EmailTooltester

MxToolbox

M3AAWG

Dmarcian

Kickbox

Alyssa Dulin Website

Alyssa Dulin Twitter/@alyssa_dulin

Alyssa Dulin Podcast - Deliverability Defined

Host:

Lesley Sim Twitter

Lesley Sim Website

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