INMA Knows Newsletters

Introduction

INMA Researcher-in-Residence Grzegorz Piechota has found e-mail newsletters to be the single most effective tool to get people to subscribe and prevent churn. They work for many reasons: Readers have access to too much information and need their news curated and delivered to them from a trusted source in a simple platform. News media companies need a relationship with and data from readers. Both need personalisation and content habits to make the relationship work. From long-term niche newsletters (sports, breaking news, cannabis) to pop-up newsletters (COVID-19, the World Cup, "Game of Thrones"), news media companies around the world are finding success with this efficient and evolving way to reach audiences. Here are case studies and research into what that success looks like.

— Dawn McMullan, INMA

Exclusive INMA material on “Newsletters”

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Mediahuis streamlines newsletter creation, sign-up process

Mediahuis has streamlined its e-newsletter strategy so design and implementation of new products can quickly and easily be developed.

08 June 2020

Handelsblatt launches 2 premium newsletters in lockdown

After launching its first premium newsletter in November 2019, Handelblatt has launched two more since the COVID lockdown began: Handelblatt Inside Real Estate and Handelsblatt Inside Geldanlage (Inside Financial Investment). Here is a look at how the publisher decided which topics to tackle.

10 June 2020

4 tactics for growing e-mail newsletter lists

MediaNews Group doubled down on building its e-mail newsletter lists. The strategy helped the company capitalise on news when the opportunity presents itself while tapping into social acquisition techniques.

03 August 2020

Subscription-only newsletters

The Telegraph’s large and varied roster of registration newsletters already played an important role in building loyalty and engagement with its core readership. To support the company’s pivot to subscriptions in 2019 we developed an innovative portfolio newsletters aimed at not just retaining existing ...

01 March 2020

Gannett shares engagement ideas you can start using to attract subscribers

Members of Gannett's publishing team presented a workshop at the INMA Media Subscriptions Week on innovative strategies to increase customer engagement.

27 February 2020

Newsday marries newsletters, audience data to increase subscriptions, engagement

Newsday has been experimenting with newsletters to increase audience engagement and subscription sign-ups. The results are impressive.

24 November 2019

Digital events, subscriber-only podcasts should enhance premium subscriptions

Premium subscriptions are a great way for media companies to generate revenue, but the value proposition needs to serve the audience. Here are four ways to do just that.

16 June 2020

Globe and Mail’s 28 newsletters drive revenue, engagement

The Globe and Mail’s 28 e-mail newsletters help drive revenue through advertising, subscriber conversion, and improved subscriber retention through higher engagement.

15 July 2019

How to make newsletters that people love and that are good for your business

The first change was an editorial one. We decided that all “Gazeta Wyborcza”’s newsletters have to be written by our best authors. No shortcuts, no „newsletter writers”, only the best quality. Our newsletter users find in their mailboxes regular articles on given topic, not just a list of links. To ...

01 March 2020

New York Times: Experimenting with pop-up newsletters

INMA Presentation File

08 November 2018

How Boston Globe uses newsletters to drive engagement

INMA Presentation File

10 January 2018

Football newsletter shows power of reader-first engagement toward reader revenue

Fever Pit’ch demonstrates how a start-up goes from an idea to an engaged subscriber list to a profitable publication. The key? A highly engaged audience that feels heard.

23 September 2019

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MediaNews Group’s e-mail newsletters align process and purpose

MediaNews Group relied upon deliberate cross-company product prioritisation, collaboration, and execution to create its successful newsletter initiative.

22 August 2021

The right language can catapult a newsletter’s success

Content and distribution are essential considerations for newsletters, but linguistic decisions should not be overlooked, according to the head of newsletters at the Financial Times.

26 July 2021

E-mailed newsletters are key to subscription success at FT, Funke Media

INMA Researcher-in-Residence Greg Piechota shared the pivotal role e-mailed newsletters play in engaging and converting readers during an INMA Webinar featuring case studies from Financial Times and Funke Media Group.

14 July 2021

GQ’s short-run newsletter course bests daily newsletter open rate by 160%

GQ created the “How to Do More Push-Ups” newsletter as a 17-day course while people were under lockdown due to the pandemic, kicking off its e-mail programme and drawing in new subscribers.

17 May 2021

NZME’s OneRoof grows with personalisation, automation, and AI tools

OneRoof developed a data strategy to improve customer segmentation through declared and inferred customer data collection, which allows the team to localise and personalise listing recommendations.

10 May 2021

Newsletter dashboards measure dozens of metrics at Sydney Morning Herald, Age

The goal is not always for newsletters to drive click-through rates, but the teams know that newsletter readers who visit the Web sites have a higher on-site journey than those who come in through social or search.

27 April 2021

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Newsletters drive one-third of The Daily Beast’s new subscribers

The Daily Beast has found two newsletters are an excellent funnel to turn readers into subscribers.

29 December 2020

Funke Mediengruppe shares 9 tips for hitting newsletter goals

Putting a clear but flexible newsletter strategy in place can expose media brands to readers and engage new audiences. Funke Mediengruppe shares how it went from 26,000 newsletter recipients in May 2019 to 200,000 now.

21 December 2020

Handelsblatt shares 5 steps to expanding its brand into niche products

Handelsblatt launched industry-specific events and newsletters, engaged with decision makers, and researched similar products to expand its brand recognition and product development.

17 November 2020

Nine’s newsrooms double down on newsletters as key content platform

Nine’s newsletter strategy ensures this digital product is much more than just another to-do item for journalists. It started with making newsletters manageable for newsroom staff.

11 October 2020

Dallas Morning News boosts engagement with Best In DFW campaign

The Dallas Morning News’ Best In DFW promotion encouraged readers to vote for their favourite restaurants and used NCAA tournament-style brackets to determine the winners.

30 August 2020

Mediahuis shares 3 newsletter lessons learned

Mediahuis finds personalised e-mail newsletters outperform non-personalised e-mails, and the first article shown is critical to their success.

11 August 2020

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Expressen shares paywall success, Handelsblatt launches premium newsletters

Expressen grows from zero paid digital subscribers to 90,000 after launching its paywall in 2018, Handelsblatt reports on two premium newsletters launched during the COVID lockdown, and research shows differences in algorithmic trending stories and human selected stories on Apple News.

08 June 2020

Research, best practices for the COVID-19 content and paywall dilemmas publishers face

As the pandemic reminds people why journalism is important and publishers see incredible increases in digital subscriptions, news media companies must decide the best approach to getting key content to the public and keeping these readers for the long term. INMA Researcher-in-Residence Grzegorz Piechota offers his research on the matter, as well as a case study from La Repubblica in Rome and pop-up newsletter best practices from the founder of Inbox Collective.

01 April 2020

The Coronavirus Update Newsletter

The Coronavirus Update newsletter was developed right before the coronavirus pandemic hit North Texas. We aim to supply our readers with the latest local (and beyond) numbers and news on where to order take out to save local businesses, what the latest confirmed cases, fatalies, recoveries where in ...

01 March 2020

Good News Newsletter

Provide hope through offering good news content to peruvian audience Lift the spirit through news that demonstrate that it is possible to get ahead in the middle of the pandemic

01 March 2020

Building effective strategies for creating engaging e-mail newsletters

A Media Subscriptions Week workshop took a deep dive into e-mail and newsletter marketing strategy, including specific tactics to drive engagement and conversion.

26 February 2020

Engaging e-mail newsletters, strategies and tactics

INMA Presentation File

26 February 2020

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How publishers can use AI to predict revenue

Deepnews.ai helps publishers use Artificial Intelligence to predict the revenue potential from news content.

25 September 2019

Hamburger Abendblatt’s digital transformation focuses on newsletter, regional editions

Funke’s digital efforts for Hamburger Abendblatt include identifying content that drives subscriptions and using its newsletters and Instagram account to reach its audience.

23 September 2019

Mediahuis shares lessons from reader activation efforts

Understanding how often and in what manner readers engage with digital subscriptions helps Mediahuis reduce churn. The company’s goal: to see 65% of its digital subscribers engaging in its content each day.

10 September 2019

NZZ pushes personalisation through data and algorithms

NZZ has used business applications and data learning to drive personalisation, subscriptions, and reader engagement. The result? A 60% year-over-year increase in digital subscribers in 2018.

21 August 2019

Cannabis Post newsletter creates audience, advertiser opportunities

Since recreational marijuana legalisation news broke in Canada, Postmedia’s free Cannabis Post newsletter has grown its subscriber list faster than any other newsletter in the company’s history.

17 March 2019

Schibsted tests onboarding processes to increase subscription value

In 2018, Schibsted tested several ideas for increasing retention and engagement, many of which were successful. Here is an in-depth look at three of them.

04 March 2019

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Power On Trial Newsletter Promotion

• Promote the newsletter during the trial • Showcase a news initiative you can’t get anywhere else • Highlight Newsday’s authority on political corruption • Grow our newsletter email base Print and Digital Promotions For this campaign, we deployed print and digital ads, as well as an email blast ...

01 March 2019

How to monetise the 98% of readers who don’t subscribe

When even The New York Times converts 2% of unique digital visitors, what’s a news media company to do? Consider other pricing models.

24 January 2019

How newsletters, data, journalism drive digital subscriptions

Presenters from The New York Times, Dagens Nyheter, and Gazeta Wyborcza share their best practices and advice using newsletters to drive digital subscriptions and retention.

19 November 2018

Readers First Meet-Up: Newsletters, newsrooms, and the bad side of engagement

INMA Presentation File

19 November 2018

New York Times, FT, Atlantic share different strategies with same goal: engagement

While The Atlantic engages audiences with its membership programme, The New York Times has successfully revamped its e-mailed newsletter strategy to keep audiences engaged while FT focuses on one single metric to do the same.

08 November 2018

Debut Readers First Meet-Up delves into reader loyalty, best paywall models, newsletters

At the first INMA Readers First Meet-Up, INMA Researcher-in-Residence Grzegorz Piechota joins his passion for pubs and publishers with an in-depth discussion of the hottest topics in reader revenue and engagement.

21 October 2018

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Globe and Mail launches news service for cannabis industry

With legalisation on the horizon in Canada, The Globe and Mail recognised an opportunity to produce original content for a niche audience and fill the news needs of an industry poised for growth.

03 October 2018

Introduction

Exclusive INMA material on “Newsletters”

Mediahuis streamlines newsletter creation, sign-up process

Handelsblatt launches 2 premium newsletters in lockdown

4 tactics for growing e-mail newsletter lists

Subscription-only newsletters

Gannett shares engagement ideas you can start using to attract subscribers

Newsday marries newsletters, audience data to increase subscriptions, engagement

Digital events, subscriber-only podcasts should enhance premium subscriptions

Globe and Mail’s 28 newsletters drive revenue, engagement

How to make newsletters that people love and that are good for your business

New York Times: Experimenting with pop-up newsletters

How Boston Globe uses newsletters to drive engagement

Football newsletter shows power of reader-first engagement toward reader revenue

MediaNews Group’s e-mail newsletters align process and purpose

The right language can catapult a newsletter’s success

E-mailed newsletters are key to subscription success at FT, Funke Media

GQ’s short-run newsletter course bests daily newsletter open rate by 160%

NZME’s OneRoof grows with personalisation, automation, and AI tools

Newsletter dashboards measure dozens of metrics at Sydney Morning Herald, Age

Newsletters drive one-third of The Daily Beast’s new subscribers

Funke Mediengruppe shares 9 tips for hitting newsletter goals

Handelsblatt shares 5 steps to expanding its brand into niche products

Nine’s newsrooms double down on newsletters as key content platform

Dallas Morning News boosts engagement with Best In DFW campaign

Mediahuis shares 3 newsletter lessons learned

Expressen shares paywall success, Handelsblatt launches premium newsletters

Research, best practices for the COVID-19 content and paywall dilemmas publishers face

The Coronavirus Update Newsletter

Good News Newsletter

Building effective strategies for creating engaging e-mail newsletters

Engaging e-mail newsletters, strategies and tactics

How publishers can use AI to predict revenue

Hamburger Abendblatt’s digital transformation focuses on newsletter, regional editions

Mediahuis shares lessons from reader activation efforts

NZZ pushes personalisation through data and algorithms

Cannabis Post newsletter creates audience, advertiser opportunities

Schibsted tests onboarding processes to increase subscription value

Power On Trial Newsletter Promotion

How to monetise the 98% of readers who don’t subscribe

How newsletters, data, journalism drive digital subscriptions

Readers First Meet-Up: Newsletters, newsrooms, and the bad side of engagement

New York Times, FT, Atlantic share different strategies with same goal: engagement

Debut Readers First Meet-Up delves into reader loyalty, best paywall models, newsletters

Globe and Mail launches news service for cannabis industry

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