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How has the Newsletters industry changed in the last 20 years and what companies are leading the charge for disruption currently?
Hello, and thanks for your question about how the newsletter industry has changed in the last 20 years and what companies are leading the charge for disruption currently. I have found that the email newsletter is making a huge comeback after it was considered to be a dying marketing tactic. I have also found a list of 20 companies who are leading the way. Below you will find a deep dive into my research, along with all the details as to how I came to this conclusion.
OVERVIEW
With the development of the internet and the rise of social media, marketers had begun to think that the age of the email newsletter was over. However, in recent years newsletters have made a comeback, but they look different to how they used to.
I have found a number of sources detailing how email newsletters have changed, and have also provided examples of companies who are leading the way in this field.
I found that the article by American Express was incredibly useful in understanding the change occurring in the newsletter industry. In addition to this, the article by Hubspot was very valuable in finding out which companies are the best examples of those who are implementing these changes to their newsletters.
CHANGES TO NEWSLETTERS
- Newsletters are making a comeback
Email newsletters saw a steady decline, however they are making a big comeback. In fact 83% of marketers are currently using them as a marketing tactic. Apparently due to the rise in endless scrollable content internet users are faced with daily, the format of a newsletter makes a refreshing, if not retro, change. According to articles by the Fast Company, The Atlantic and Medium this kind of market is set to be big again. People are welcoming the finite format of the email newsletter.
- Blog Instead of Newsletter
In the 90's a newsletter would bring incredible conversion rates of around 5-20%. However, with the rise of social media, and just the internet in general newsletters are less effective than they used to be. However, industry experts believe that emailing blog posts instead of a newsletter are the best alternative to the email newsletter that was so successful 2 decades ago. So basically companies are now converting their newsletter content into blog format and emailing that. Others are now just emailing invitations to read each newly published blog post, and are finding that they are seeing increased engagement.
- Boost Social Media Following
Two decades ago there was no such thing as social media. Today social media plays a vital role in marketing, it fosters high consumer engagement and conversion rates. Therefore companies are now using their newsletter to boost their social media following. It is being used as a tool to lead consumers to their social media site, emails with links to social media have a 158% higher click-through rate.
COMPANIES LEADING THE WAY
Hubspot and Campaign Monitor have identified these 20 companies are those who are excelling in their use of email newsletters:
1. NextDraft
2. Austin Kleon
3. InVision
4. Community.is
5. Vox Sentences
6. Fizzle
7. TheSkimm
8. Medium
9. BrainPickings
10. Litmus
11. General Assembly
12. This.
13. SaaS Weekly
14. The Ringer
15. Hacker Newsletter
16. ZURB
17. Mumsnet
18. BuzzFeed
19. Apartment Therapy
20. On
CONCLUSION
To sum up, I have found that the email newsletter was once a dying marketing tool, but is now making a comeback in a big way. These days it is advisable to the newsletter to either take on the format of a blog, or to simply invite readers to a blog post. In addition to this links with social media are very important.
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