Q&A on unlocking the secrets to profitable newsletters

In the digital world email marketing isn’t just surviving, it’s thriving. Innovative platforms like Beehiiv and Mailchimp are leading the charge by making it simpler for anyone to launch and profit from newsletters. This surge in newsletters is hardly surprising given email’s unique advantage as a personal, owned channel for direct audience engagement. P.S. This page may contain affiliate links. Please see my disclosure for more information.

We had the opportunity to chat with Francis Pollara, founder of TheFutureParty newsletter, which the platform says continues to send over 66 million emails annually to its active subscribers. Francis now advises brands and creators on crafting newsletters to foster community and connect with customers.

“I believe anyone can build a successful newsletter as long as they have a clear vision, market awareness and a willingness to put in the initial effort,” Francis told us.

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Newsletters have grabbed headlines, with some fetching high-dollar deals and evaluations. Morning Brew, for example, started as an email newsletter. Insider Inc. acquired a controlling stake in Morning Brew in 2020 with the deal reportedly valuing Morning Brew at around $75 million.

It’s important to note that newsletters don’t have to be newsy. We recently came across Every Baby Is Different Anyways, a newsletter with a heartfelt take on parenthood. Unlike other resources authored by parents reflecting on past experiences, this newsletter offers real-time insights on parenting. A recent post writes, “In many ways, it is easier than ever to be a parent and in some ways, it is harder than ever. We have new data, new best practices, and new gadgets that both can make the process easier and harder.”

Francis, tell us where people should start when it comes to creating a newsletter?

The first step to launching a newsletter is identifying a niche that is trending or underserved. You want to be able to differentiate and create content that your audience is actually interested in. Finding a niche with momentum will make attracting subscribers that much easier, especially considering people already have jam-packed inboxes. You will need to incentivize them and prove that your newsletter is worth them receiving one extra email. Within your niche, think about the content pillars you can fall back on as you are creating your content.

Every Baby Is Different Anyways does this by narrowing in on parents, family and friends as caregivers to a newborn. Looking at their content, their pillars might be self-care, health, parenting tools and resources, honest product reviews and first-hand lessons learned. The creators relied on their perspective as new parents, sharing parenting tips for the first time. The result is raw, direct and insightful information that takes in challenges we all face in the moment.

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How do you build an initial audience?

You ideally want to identify some sort of organic channel to share and gain subscribers for free. This is important initially because you need highly engaged subscribers. You could surely start with your friends and family contacts. Leverage specialized Facebook groups and subreddits by posting valuable content linking out to your landing page. Sharing posts on LinkedIn and using Help A Reporter Out (HARO) are great ways to build credibility and authority on your niche subject. Run cross-promotion partnerships with similar newsletters that are likely to have subscribers who would value your content. These are all free and sustainable methods of growth. Later on, you might also try sweepstakes and paid ads, or, if you choose to be on Beehiiv, you can take advantage of the Boosts Marketplace to monetize your newsletter on day one with minimal effort. Then reinvest that revenue into paid growth with Boosts too (more on this below).

How can you turn a newsletter into a business?

Monetizing a newsletter can be a challenge, but there are some simple things you can do to make it easier. The first is partly in planning your niche, some niches are just inherently harder to monetize than others. Choosing your niche for your monetization goals is important.

Initially, I recommend growing your newsletter with a free subscription until you hit 10,000 subscribers (which can take only three months). After this point, you might want to consider a freemium tier and a paid tier. For example, Every Baby Is Different Anyways might one day put some of its more valuable content behind a subscription paywall. Expect to convert less than 1% of your freemium subscribers to paid but this strategy really does help to differentiate your revenue while providing more value for subscribers who want to pay for it.

You also will want to explore affiliate linking and sponsored ads. Both of these require a bit of work to partner with brands but they also can generate substantial revenues. Then there is Beehiiv Boosts which we mentioned before – this is really a game-changer in the world of newsletters. It works by enabling a co-registration marketplace where other publishers pay for leads when subscribers convert on your page. After a subscriber enters their email on your page, they are presented with similar newsletters you recommend and they can opt-in to as many as they like. This means, each new subscriber you convert could generate between $2 to $10 immediately upon subscribing. There is nothing better than immediate payback. This kind of monetization unlocks completely new potential for you to reinvest that revenue into the content, paid ads, or even paying for your own Boost leads to growing your list with high-intent and engaged subscribers.

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Tell us more about engagement and retention.

The significance of user engagement and retention in the newsletter business cannot be overstated. A newsletter is only as good as its readership, and maintaining high open rates and click-through rates is critical for its success.

To keep subscribers engaged, Every Baby Is Different Anyways uses weekly polls and interactive content to initiate discussion. The readers like this approach as it gives them a sense of involvement and community. It also gives the team helpful feedback and insight into what content and topics resonate the most with their audience.

To reduce churn, you want to regularly monitor email open rates and click-through rates. If a subscriber hasn’t opened an email in a while, send them a personalized email asking if there is anything more they’d like to see more of. This level of personal touch works wonders for retention and often sparks new content ideas.

How do you decide if it’s right for you to build a newsletter?

When building a newsletter, growth tends to ebb and flow. There are periods of slow growth and instances where you may question whether the juice is worth the squeeze. If you are sending only one a week, things can move fairly slowly. You only get new data to look at once every 7 days and as a result, organic growth tends to spike after a send due to sharing, then wind down in the days following. There is no instant gratification.

The most important takeaway is that understanding your audience is critical. Paying close attention to your audience will help you make successful steps to tailoring your newsletter to them. Find a niche you are passionate about and focus on delivering high-quality, engaging content. Be patient with your growth, and remember that your subscribers are not just numbers. They are people with interests, questions and a desire to learn. Treat them as such, and they’ll reward you with their loyalty.