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How to create a premium newsletter (+ some case studies)

The humble email newsletter is evolving with a new business model. Enter the premium newsletter.

A premium newsletter is a subscription business that generates sustainable recurring revenue by sending unique content to its members via email.

A growing number of online publishers are relying on email newsletters to build an audience of paying subscribers which can generate thousands or even millions in annual revenue.

This article includes successful examples of newsletter subscription businesses — before exploring everything you need to know to start your own.

Case studies

There are plenty of interesting examples of premium newsletters in a variety of niches that are already paving the way, which helps to highlight some of the key factors that make them so successful. Here are 11 examples to provide further insight and inspiration.

Stratechery pioneered the daily premium newsletter

Ben Thompson is one of the early adopters of the premium newsletter model. Members can enjoy the analytical tech industry blog posts and daily newsletters by subscribing for a monthly or annual membership. While some of the content on the site is free, thousands of people have subscribed to support Ben’s work and access the daily email newsletter.

The Browser has over 10,000 subscribers

This newsletter curates 5 recommended articles from a variety of topics every day for its subscribers, and is entirely run by two editors, Robert Cottrell and Caroline Crampton. Monthly subscriptions start at $5, with annual subscriptions starting at $48. Read more about The Browser’s story in this interview .

Side-project Normcore Tech generated $4k in the first few months

Tech writer Vicki Boykis started a newsletter as a side project and quickly began attracting subscribers and revenue within the first 5 months .

“From my personal perspective, it’s more than I’ve ever made writing in a year consistently, and I keep getting new subscribers, so I’m pretty happy with it.”

De Correspondent generate millions with a successful hyperlocal newsletter

96% of the Dutch publishers' revenue comes from paying members who sign up for the daily newsletter. Memberships are €7/month or €70/year, but they also receive nominated donations and additional support from members who can afford it.

They’re well known for being transparent about their revenue with members, which helps to foster engagement and retention.

Sinocism now has more than 50,000 subscribers

This informative newsletter by Bill Bishop is about business, political and social relationships between China and the U.S. With over 50k subscribers in total and premium members are paying $15/month.

Larger media organizations like Business Insider are moving towards premium subscriptions

Business Insider was acquired by large media company Axel Springer in 2015, and has been selling premium newsletter subscriptions for several years. BI Prime and BI Intelligence subscriptions have $1 “free” trials, annual membership and even enterprise options.  

Rediverge sold out of limited early adopter spots in 24 hours

This independent publication about remote work, world travel and building a different kind of life was launched by Ghost’s founder John O’Nolan in November 2019. Rediverge is now a few months into building a growing community of more than 250 subscribers who receive the private newsletter in their inbox.

Off the chain provides a daily newsletter to investors and early access to podcast episodes

Anthony Pompliano’s cryptocurrency newsletter sends both free and premium issues, with a “daily letter” for paid members. It already has more than 40,000 subscribers (free and paid) and starts at $100/year or $10/month.

Jessica Lessin founded The Information with subscriptions as the only revenue stream in 2013

Since then the publication has gone on to become very successful, with a free weekly newsletter, and daily news analysis for paid members. The Information members also get access to a whole host of other member benefits like exclusive articles and access to a Slack community. The Information has a $399 annual plan which thousands of subscribers pay for!

Advisorator generated more than $12k within the first year

Freelance journalist Jared Newman ran a free newsletter for two years, and noticed there was a demand for something more focused on tech advice. So Advisorator was born, which has $5/month and $50/year subscriptions, and attracted 200 subscribers in the first year.

“Nothing compares to the freedom of running your own publication, in which people have invested specifically in hearing what you have to say” — Jared Newman

Explorers Club gained over 15,000 subscribers in the first year

Craig Mod runs two newsletters, Roden and Ridgeline , alongside a membership business that boasts other benefits like longform essays, office hours and podcast content.

These examples include solo creators, smaller independent publishers, and larger publications with a team behind them. But what is interesting is that the size of the organization doesn’t necessarily correlate with its success. It’s entirely possible to generate large amounts of sustainable revenue and run a full membership business as a writer, creator, or solo founder. Equally, this business model works well for publishing teams at scale.

Why use email and not something else?

Trends come and go, but email is never going away. It consistently performs above all other mediums and has done for a long time.

With over 3.9 billion email accounts worldwide and 306 billion emails sent per day, average open rates for email are between 20%-30% and click-through rates are around 3%. This might not sound that great, but compared to other channels like social media, where average reach is 6% or less and click-through is 0.5%, it actually stacks up pretty well ( Source ).

Not only that, premium newsletters are far more likely to exceed the averages since they're not cold marketing emails being sent to a large audience, but targeted emails being sent to a niche audience who are paying to receive emails.

Social media networks are saturated, advertising models are broken and the internet is full of spam, bots and tracking. Consumers are getting tired of this, and increasingly searching for alternative ways to discover the best content that serves their needs. This is where a paid newsletter comes in!

Niches are becoming big business

Creating a premium newsletter gives you the opportunity to cut through the noise. You can find a niche and attract a very specific audience. Your audience is made up of people who make the choice to sign up for your newsletter. They actually want to hear from you, and hopefully in some cases will be willing to pay for that benefit. Email is the most effective and direct way to share your work with these people.

You can still use other formats, too

A newsletter is a vehicle for communication that works well. But you can also combine or coincide a newsletter with a blog, a community, a podcast, a video channel, essays, photography, music… or anything else you can think of. Many of the case studies above do exactly this!

How to create a newsletter

Now we know what a premium newsletter looks like and have seen examples of what success looks like, let’s dive into how to create a newsletter for yourself. We’re going to start with some initial tips for finding your niche, the technical specifics of getting setup, and methods for attracting your first subscribers.

Step 1: Find your niche

For any kind of premium content to work, it needs to be genuinely unique. Asking questions such as “what am I interested in?” or “what am I an expert in?” is a good start, but what you really want to spend time figuring out is: How you are going to offer something that people want or need, and simply can’t find elsewhere? The more specific you can be about this, the better.

Uniqueness can take many forms, here’s some examples:

• Provide value — For example, a curated newsletter saves time, an analytical one teaches readers something, a business tips newsletter enables readers to make better business decisions. In a lot of these cases, the newsletter also helps people to make money which is usually the most convincing justification for a subscription of any kind.
• Fill a content gap — When there are simply no good outlets providing curation or information to those who want it the most you have a prime opportunity to create something of unique value. These are rare to find!
• Provide a unique perspective — Creating a newsletter that provides your own perspective on a niche topic that is already saturated can work, but it usually requires having an existing audience to work with.
• Provide entertainment — Arguably the most difficult space to be in, since entertainment is subjective which makes it more difficult to set yourself apart. But that doesn’t mean it’s not possible. There are many popular YouTubers for example, whose main value proposition is pure entertainment.

What is your value proposition? Remember, you’re expecting people to pay for your newsletter. Providing unique value is something that all successful businesses have to figure out. People selling physical products or software have to overcome the exact same hurdles!

The good news is – many of the successful newsletter authors featured earlier in this article didn’t start out as well-known names within their niche. They’ve built a  brand using their newsletter to become well-known. They did this by figuring out a genuinely unique approach within a specific niche and started consistently creating exceptionally good content. That’s what you need to do!

Further reading: The unexpected (but proven) way to find your niche

Step 2: Build your platform & start publishing

Once you’ve got an initial strategy in place, you’re going to need a subscription commerce platform to host your premium newsletter. The bare minimum you’ll need to get started is:

• A page where people can subscribe
• A way to take payments
• A method of sending email newsletters to subscribers

Creating a paid newsletter website

This may sound daunting if you've never built a website before or don't have any coding skills, but there are now plenty of beginner-friendly options, including ours , that make this entire process achievable in a short space of time. The choice is yours, so make sure you do some research and experiment to get an idea of what tools work best for you.

Newsletter authors can get started with Ghost by spinning up a publication in the space of 3 clicks, which immediately gives you a website that you control, as well as full premium newsletter features including sign-up and sign-in forms, plans, and payments via Stripe and member management.

Creating subscriptions & taking payments

Once your premium newsletter has a home, it also needs to accept payments from subscribers. The most common way to do this is to have a sign up page or modal featuring paid plans, which allows readers to subscribe with a credit card.

Any good subscription commerce platform handles this for you using an integration with a payment gateway. The thing to research here is whether there are any additional fees or percentages taken out of your revenue, as this varies depending on your chosen platform.

This works in Ghost by connecting a Stripe account that you own, and using the portal widget to run the signup forms. That's all you need to start taking payments, no code required. Once a new member has subscribed, they'll be added to the member dashboard and receive all future emails.

Sending newsletter content

You may decide to use a platform that has email newsletters built-in, like Ghost or Substack, or use something like Memberful that manages memberships, but requires an additional tool for emails. Either way, you need to choose a reliable mechanism for sending newsletter content to subscribers.

Any post created in the Ghost editor can be sent to subscribers in a few clicks and it's possible to send emails to both free and/or paid subscribers based on post access level. For example, you might choose to send daily newsletters to paid members, and weekly issues to free members.

Doing more than the basics

Beyond that, you’re probably going to want some additional functionality, including but not limited to:

• Custom domains
• A custom branded website
• Member-protected content
• Member management dashboard
• Integrations with third-party tools
• Content embeds for video and audio

It's always a good idea to plan for the future when deciding what technology to use to power any business. All of the successful case studies earlier in this article have built something fairly custom and are offering a variety of perks and content types to their members, which helps them to grow and retain their members.

Ghost leaves you with open avenues to customize, scale, and personalize your membership site down the line. Most publishers choose to start simple and then do the customization work once their proof of concept is working and they're generating some predictable revenue.

Running costs 💸

Craig Mod covered the ongoing costs to run this type of business in an article about running a membership program. It gives you an idea of the kind of things you need to consider, such as hosting, domains, email and membership software:

everything from hosting to member management and emails. Ghost never takes a percentage of your revenue, so the only extra fees you’d pay are for payment processing (Stripe charges 2.9% +$0.30). This makes it fairly easy to plan and budget.

Get started in a few hours or less with Ghost by signing up for a free trial and using our members guides !

Step 3: Build a business

Launching a premium newsletter needs some form of strategy behind it. Studying the examples earlier in this post exposes a few common methods for launching a paid newsletter:

Launch to an existing audience

This won’t always be applicable, but when it is it can be a great strategy to step out into the world of memberships and find out how many of your existing readers would be willing to pay. Ghost allows you to import existing subscribers from anywhere if you'd like to give existing readers immediate access.

Use content access levels to your advantage

Experimenting with free and paid content can be a great way to build an audience and drive awareness about your newsletter content.

• Run a free newsletter (less frequent, less unique content) to attract new subscribers into the top of your marketing funnel, and periodically promote upgrades to paid plans to access the best content.
• Share public previews of content on your website, and only unlock the full post with a paid subscription, using content protection.
• Publish entire articles publicly alongside premium newsletter to attract organic search traffic, or run sponsored posts to targeted groups with Facebook ads.

Early adopter pricing

Most new publications use the launching phase as a time to experiment with pricing strategies. It's common to start out with lower prices for your first paying subscribers (early adopters) when you're still adding content and ironing out the finer details. This is a great opportunity to test your business strategy and content in the wild. One way to do this is to offer a limited number of memberships at a certain price, and then increase it once they have all sold out:

Make sure you’re working towards a pricing model that's sustainable for your business. Many creators undervalue their work which can lead to economically unsustainable business models.

Further reading: How to start a membership business without a huge audience

Crowdfunding campaigns

Running a crowdfunding campaign is another way to launch, which not only generates initial funding to support you in the early days, but also functions as a marketing campaign for launching. De Correspondent famously did this to launch an English-speaking version , raising $2.5 million, a lots of attention, and thousands of founding members.  

Word of mouth

No matter what your strategy is — word of mouth is always the strongest marketing channel of them all. The great thing about publishing for a specific niche is that your audience is often a group of people who talk to each other. Consider fostering word of mouth by asking your members to share your work, or even offer a referral program .

We've now learnt what successful examples of paid newsletters look like, and walked through the main 3 steps required to launch your own sustainable publishing business. Let us know what you do next by applying to join our community !

A parting note: Many publishers running paid newsletters have shared that their biggest regret is not starting sooner. Like any other type of business, it's a constant process of iteration and improvements, so don't wait around for perfection to get started.

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A Newsletter Case Study by JoAnn Sciarrino: The Daily Press

Center for Innovation & Sustainability in Local Media

UNC Hussman School of Journalism and Media

A Newsletter Case Study: The Daily Press

Utilizing a new visual, map-based email newsletter allowed for the Daily Press, a news organization in the Hampton Roads-Tidewater (VA) area, to increase unique clicks by 36% over the control email. The results of a six-week test suggest that allowing individuals to see where a story occurred on an interactive, visual map drives higher levels of interactivity and elaboration, which may offer the possibility for the Daily Press to charge higher advertising rates.

The purpose of this research was to test digital subscriber interactivity and elaboration from a new visual, map-based approach to email newsletter versus the current text-based email newsletter for the Daily Press, an extremely successful community news organization located in Newport News, Virginia. Higher levels of interactivity and elaboration by digital subscribers will ostensibly enable the Daily Press to charge higher advertising rates for visual, map-based email newsletter versus the standard or current text-based email newsletter, thereby increasing overall advertising revenue.

Introduction

Eight years after the Great Recession sent the U.S. newspaper industry into a tailspin, the pressures facing America’s newsrooms have surprisingly not abated, especially in community media organizations. While national digital circulation in 2016 increased 2% over 2015, advertising revenue continue to be under pressure (Cao, 2016). Therefore, developing new streams of revenue without also increasing fixed costs, is imperative to the sustainability of local media organizations.

Situation and Context

The Daily Press organization has three print newspapers, along with a tourism magazine, phonebook, and e-newsletter, in its portfolio. The local economy, however, has stalled, with many jobs (both military and blue-collar) leaving the area – and those that have returned being lower paid. According to Abernathy and Sciarrino’ s Digital Transformation Map, The Daily Press are in quadrant 3 (Figure 1) – a tool that highlights where an organization is in terms of available resources and involvement of its audience. Is a majority of the audience actively involved and interacting with the content they are consuming—creating and posting comments and actively saving and sharing material? If so, this is what is referred to as a dynamic media environment. In such an environment, customers want to be active participants in conversations with each other and they want to interact with the content they consume.

As an organization in quadrant 3, the Daily Press should be following rapid prototyping to continue to innovate and introduce products and services, or marketing and distribution efforts, that add value for either subscribers or advertisers. The prototyping in quadrant 3 typically involve the creation of more highly targeted offerings for a myriad of audiences. These activities will help to facilitate an eventual move to lucrative quadrant 4. Additionally, news organizations in quadrant 3 should continue efforts to reduce, streamline, or eliminate costs through improvements in business processes and supply chains. By expanding products and services and developing new marketing capabilities such as with the creation of a new map-based email newsletter to increase interactivity and elaboration, the Daily Press can charge higher advertising rates, the surplus of which may fuel other, new products and services.

Map-Based News Content

In 2012, work by Lindgren and Wong argued that to help advance journalism, the use of presenting the news in a mapped format can help audiences understand what, why, and how local news gets reported, and the potential values of such a change. In 2015, the Global Database of Events, Language, and Tone (GDELT) launched a map that cataloged and geolocated every news story around the globe (ignoring sports and entertainment) – even updating every hour. Users can see what stores are moving across state and country lines, as well as which areas are experiencing a boom in each day.

Taking things to a more local level, news organizations have experimented with allowing users to find stories by clicking a map. For instance, WRAL, an NBC-affiliate television station in Raleigh, NC has News Near Me, a map-based system that allows a user to click on a given area and see what news has occurred over a selected period. A recent study suggests that location-based news in mobile news apps continues to grow. Even so, newspapers continue to lag broadcast news organizations in terms of location-based services (Weiss, 2018). The current landscape for combining digital media and location-based services suggests that things are still in the experimentation phase (Goggin et al., 2015).

Digital Media Subscriber Interactivity and Elaboration

Today, the average American spends almost six hours each day consuming media (eMarketer, 2017). The value of editorial content online remains strong, with nearly 60% of Internet users’ time spent online consuming original content (Medich et al., 2011). The potential value of a strategy that leverages relevant content has not been lost on publishers (Holcomb & Mitchell, 2014). To access whether an organization’s content strategy is relevant for consumers, publishers rely on a measurement system focusing on elaboration and interactivity.

Recipients who experience higher elaboration—or “self-generated thoughts” (Stiff & Mongeau, 2003) — which has been linked to improved retention of a message (Leigh & Menon, 1987), recall of message details (Mitchell, 1983), and an overall increased affiliation towards the message and provider (Burnkrant & Sawyer, 1983). Interactivity typically describes how the audience read, interact, or even share content.

Elaboration and interaction are measured using a number of metrics, provided by web analytics software, that are not limited to clicks, time on page, scroll depth, click-throughs, video views, and video complete. Specifically, scroll depth, which measures and records the amount of message content a recipient navigated through on a webpage, would be particularly helpful to ascertain whether the user experienced higher elaboration with the content.

Daily Press Research Method

The research method conducted for the Daily Press map-based email newsletter was a classical A/B test, whereby the control or “A” version of the test measured digital subscriber interactivity and elaboration from the current Daily Press text-based email newsletter, versus the visually mapped email newsletter format or “B” version (Appendix 1) for a period of six weeks. Approximately half of the digital subscribers for the Daily Press received the “A” version, while the other half received the “B” version of the weekly newsletter. Each week, performance on the following metrics for both the “A” version and the “B” version was recorded to test the level of interactivity and elaboration: clicks, time on page, scroll depth, click-throughs, video views and video completes. It is important to note that no changes were made to the landing webpages or web template for the Daily Press, as the “A” and “B” versions of the newsletter were the only variables being tested.

The research test period launched on February 18, 2018 and ran through April 3, 2018. During this test period, email newsletters were sent on 27 individual days. The “A” and “B” versions of the email newsletter always went on the same day, at the same time, with the exact same subject line. This rigor allowed for a true A/B test, allowing for all aspects of the email to stay constant, except for the content presentation.

Sample Overview

The Daily Press has a monthly average of approximately 10,400 email subscribers, which allowed an even split of a randomized 5,200 subscribers in the control group and 5,200 subscribers in the mapped format. The sample used during this test was representative of the demographics and subscriber characteristics of Hampton Roads – Tidewater region. The overall demographic makeup of the sample can be described as conservative, Caucasian, and transient, due to the nature of the area’s reliance on the military (60% of the employment market related to Department of Defense jobs). The average age of the email subscriber is 35. Of the known information about the sample, 29.5% subscribers have 4-year college degrees. There are children (under the age of 18) present in the household of 36.3% of subscribers.

The results of the A/B test suggested that the “B” version (mapped e-newsletter; aka “Variation”) was a better driver of clicks than the “A” version (“Control”). Both versions were almost identical in terms of numbers of daily emails sent, delivery rate, and open rate (18%) (Figure 2).

However, there was a marked difference in terms of the unique click and total click rate between the two emails. This was observed at each distinct time period evaluated: daily, weekly, monthly and at overall completion. During the six-week trial, the “B” version of the email had 36% more unique clicks than the control email.

Finally, the conversion rate and standard error were used to create a z-score (-11.63), which produced a p-value of 1.5E-31, meaning that the results were statistically significant at the 95% and 99% level. This suggests that the results of the test were not due to mere chance. Moreover, this suggests that the significantly higher unique and total click volume from the “B” email visitors was caused by the new, map-based format.

An almost identical number of emails received, with a sizeable increase in the number of unique opens. The results were again statistically significant at both the 95% and 99% confidence levels.

The map-based visual treatment of the “B” version (“Variation”) resulted in statistically, significantly higher clicks and click-through rates versus the “A” version (“Control”), indicating a higher level of interactivity and elaboration for the visual, map-based email newsletter.

There was no statistically, significantly higher difference in the open rates between the two versions, although this was as expected due to the identical nature of the distribution, subject line and time of day for the newsletters. The data shows that once the email was opened, subscribers interacted with the stories more frequently with the “B” version (“Variation”). Specifically, the behavior of clicking on map-based stories boosted unique clicks (the number of individuals clicking a link to the Daily Press website) from 1.7% to 2.3% — a nearly 40% increase in web activity over the course of a week or month. The results of this test suggest that individuals are more likely to click on a link to a story based on a mapped location versus text.

Why individuals are more likely to click on a particular link tied to a location is something that deserves more attention. Is it because it is closer to where the individual lives, works, or has relatives? Or is it due to being able to easily put a headline together with a location. Similarly, digging further into the website metrics, including how long individuals stay on the website, whether they continue to dig further into content our bounce after clicking one link, and if they watch and consume video content, should be measured in future tests. The engagement of the visitor, who is now more likely to visit the website through a web-based email will become the focus of future research in this area.

Limitations

This test occurred in one specific metropolitan area with one news organization. In smaller markets, it is unclear if map-based emails would be beneficial as the major area is smaller. The Daily Press also sent out three to four emails weekly – a number that may be unsustainable for a smaller news organization.

Additionally, we had hoped to look at the scroll depth, video views, and video completes of the “A” (“Control”) and “B” (“Variation”) versions of the email newsletters. However, at this time, the Daily Press could not accurately track and measure this due to a new digital reporting system that occurred during the test. While these additional metrics were not required to determine interactivity and elaboration for the “A” and “B” versions of the email newsletters, they will be extremely helpful in future research to better understand subscriber elaboration.

By: JoAnn Sciarrino, Knight Chair of Digital Advertising and Marketing, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill John Prudente, Research Associate, Center for Innovation and Sustainability of Local Media, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Burnkrant, R. & Sawyer, A. (1983), Effects of involvement and message content on information-processing intensity. Harris, J. (ed). Information processing research in advertising (43-64). Lawrence, Erlbaum Associates, Inc., Hillsdale, NJ.

Cao, A. (2016, June 15). Newspapers’ woes linger as digital ad spending, cable network revenues rise. Retrieved from https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2016/06/15/news-media-yahoo-google-twitter-facebook-verizon-tv/85937176/

eMarketer (2017, May 1). US adults now spend 12 Hours 7 Minutes a day consuming media. Retrieved from https://www.emarketer.com/Article/US-Adults-Now-Spend-12-Hours-7-Minutes-Day-Consuming-Media/1015775

Global Database of Events, Language, and Tone (GDELT). Retrieved from https://www.gdeltproject.org/

Goggin, G., Martin, F., & Dwyer, T. (2015). Locative news: Mobile media, place informatics, and digital news. Journalism Studies, 16(1), 41-59.

Holcomb, J. & Mitchell, A. (2014, March 26). A deeper look at the digital advertising landscape. Pew Research Journalism Project. Retrieved available at http://www.journalism.org/2014/03/26/a-deeper-look-at-the-digital-advertising-landscape/

Leigh, J. & Menon, A. (1987). Audience involvement effects on the information processing of umbrella print advertisements. Journal of Advertising, 16(3), 3-12.

Lindgren, A. & Wong, C. (2012). Want to understand local news? Make a map. Journalism Interest Group, CCA. Retrieved from http://cca.kingsjournalism.com/?p=169

Mitchell, A. (1983). Cognitive processes initiated by exposure to advertising. Harris, J. (ed). Information processing research in advertising (13-42). Lawrence, Erlbaum Associates, Inc., Hillsdale.

News Near Me (2018). WRAL. Retrieved from https://www.wral.com/news-near-me/13696752/

Stiff, J. & Mongeau, P. (2003) Persuasive communication. Guilford Press: New York.

Weiss, A. (2018). Location-based news in mobile news apps: Broadcast leads in geolocated news content, newspapers lag. Newspaper Research Journal, 39(1), 42-54.

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Case Study: How to Make 6-Figures With An Email Newsletter

Stefanos Bournias

Last Updated Dec 08, 2020

“I think 2020 might be the peak email newsletter year,” he said. 

That's Emanuel Cinca, founder of Stacked Marketer; a 6-figure daily email newsletter with over 16,000 subscribers.

Emanuel noticed the email newsletter trend in around 2019 and has experienced explosive growth in the 2 years since he founded Stacked Marketer. 

I sat down with him to distill his lessons into actionable takeaways that are applicable to anyone thinking of starting and monetizing an email newsletter. Here’s what you can learn:

1 Free Newsletter that Generates 6-Figure in Revenue 2 Why Use Email and Not Another Channel? 3 How to Create a Newsletter 4 Technical Stuff: Creating a Newsletter 5 Attracting Your First 100 Subscribers 6 Monetizing Your Email Newsletter 7 Getting to 16,000 Subscribers and $100k in Revenue 8 Stacked Marketer’s Future

Free Newsletter that Generates 6-Figure in Revenue

Stacked Marketer curates digital marketing news, tech and actionable advice in a daily newsletter which can be consumed in 5 minutes or less. 

In under 2 years, Stacked Marketer has grown to over 16,000 subscribers and is projected to generate over $200,000 in revenue by the end of 2020.

Just look at this upward trajectory of growth in subscribers:

While the current hype is around premium (paid) newsletters, Stacked Marketer took the old school approach to monetization through ad placements & sponsorships. 

Aside from those two monetization strategies, there are plenty of other strategies that you can use to monetize your newsletter, which we’ll get into later.

Before we get into the nitty-gritty, let’s see why email is still a superior channel.

Why Use Email and Not Another Channel?

“Email is a great channel to deliver something useful,” says Emanuel. 

Everyone says they hate email. But for all the animosity and the number of companies that have set out to assassinate email (think Slack, Asana, Facebook Messenger), it’s thriving and spawning a whole new, democratized style of publishing. 

Email is the gentle, dependable workhorse that everyone relies on. And it’s a channel that still works extremely well. 

There’s a reason that large publishers like Quartz and Vox are moving into the space and emphasizing email newsletters as a way to reach readers. [ * ]

But what I find fascinating is that it provides a democratized platform for the smaller fish.

Here’s what some of the smaller creators who run successful newsletters have to say about email's superiority as a channel.

1. Eddie Shlyner from Very Good Copy  (ex Head Copywriter @ G2)

“You just get a lot of bang for your buck. Every email campaign is measurable, targeted, and if you’re building an ethical list, welcome . And the ROI is remarkable. Something like every $1 spent on email marketing gets a $38 return. Nice. Bottom line, email is an incredibly intimate, flexible channel that doesn’t cost a lot to use. If you know copywriting, you’ll likely find success.”

2. Justin Blackman from Pretty Fly Copywriting :

“Email is the only platform that lets you speak to your *entire* audience in a personal, genuine, uncensored manner—where you can TRULY be yourself—without having to finagle some wonky algorithm and pray that people see it. There’s nothing more personal than an inbox.”

3. Dave Harland from The Word Man (copywriter for Nespresso, Land Rover & other Fortune 500 companies):

“Email is a superior channel because people have signed up for it, so you have more of their attention from the outset, rather than just shouting something out loud and hoping someone will listen, like most other forms of marketing.”

In an increasingly noisy world, email provides a channel to reach readers 1-on-1 and deliver something useful in a truly meaningful way. 

The small team at Stacked Marketer experimented with a Youtube channel and a podcast but quickly found that they require a different set of skills and a significant effort to grow.

Plus, they wanted to have a direct connection with their audience as much as possible, says Emanuel.

As Emanuel pointed out, the email newsletter wave has been swelling for some time now and it’s reaching its peak.

Obviously, you’re reading this so you can learn how to ride the crest of that high and beautiful wave before it crashes and rolls back and all you’re left with is a regretful view of the high water mark.

Aloha. Let’s learn how to ride that wave.

How to Create a Newsletter

With the plethora of tools at your disposal today, the technical aspect of creating a newsletter is pretty straightforward (we’ll get into that in the next section). 

This section is about taking a step back to think about the substance of your newsletter. 

In other words, what will you be writing about and how can you provide value or offer a unique angle in your industry?

Finding Your Niche

In 2018, Emanuel started building email lists for different niche audiences. Nothing was catching on but he realized something crucial:

He was trying to build a product in an industry he didn’t know. 

So he took a step back and started thinking about how he could add value in an industry he knew well; marketing. 

I’ve written about this time and time again and had to go through my own niche selection process throughout my career as a content marketer. 

So many people get stuck in the niche selection phase because they overcomplicate it. 

Your niche lies at the intersection between your interests, knowledge and experience. Here’s how you can identify this intersection with a stupid-simple exercise:

Once you’ve identified your niche, you can start working on refining your unique value proposition.

Clarifying Your Unique Value Proposition (UVP)

Providing unique value is something that all successful businesses have to figure out. This is true for businesses selling physical products, software, and a newsletter (even if you aren’t expecting people to pay for it)!

What unique value, angle or perspective can you provide? 

I’ll make this easier for you by breaking it down into 3 “value-providing buckets:”

• Convenience . A curated newsletter helps people save time.
• Entertainment . An entertaining newsletter helps people with...well, pure entertainment. 
• Actionable knowledge . An analytical or business newsletter helps people make better business decisions (and more money).

Now, you don’t have to pigeonhole yourself into any of these buckets. But if you define your value proposition clearly within the confines of these three buckets, you’ll have a higher chance of resonating with a specific audience. Obviously, you can (and probably should) provide an element from all three buckets. 

Notice how Stacked Marketer have done precisely that with their UVP:

Carefully curated digital marketing news, trends, ad tech and actionable advice delivered every weekday to your inbox with a sprinkle of humour.

Let’s break that down:

• Carefully curated digital marketing news = convenience.
• Ad tech and actionable advice = actionable knowledge.
• A sprinkle of humour = entertainment.

Providing Value

Remember, if you plan on monetizing your newsletter (which you probably are since you’re reading this), you need to truly provide value. 

Focus on one of the three value-providing buckets to begin with and start sprinkling on top using elements from the other buckets once you’ve found your mojo. 

Technical Stuff: Creating a Newsletter

As I mentioned earlier, the technical part of creating a newsletter is easy. The only ounce of wisdom that I can impart here is that you need to think ahead when choosing your newsletter service. 

Choosing a Newsletter Service Provider

Before you jump in with any particular provider, spend some time anticipating how you intend to monetize your newsletter and what kind of benefits you might offer your subscribers. 

Planning ahead here is crucial because if your provider doesn’t have the functionality or services you need, it’ll take substantial work to develop it or you’ll have a glued-together system that increases your workload. 

You don’t want a part of you to regret not using a full-service paid newsletter platform or a subscription management service after you’ve done the hard work of building an audience.

So which provider should you go for? 

If you want to start a subscription-based paid newsletter, Memberful provides a subscription management service with neat features like member-only podcasts, subscriber comment sections and automatic archives. 

If you’re planning on starting a free newsletter and monetizing it with different strategies, SendFox provides a simple solution with neat automations and a user-friendly interface. 

Stacked Marketer use Campaign Monitor, which they switched to from Active Campaign because it didn’t provide granular user permissions and good templating language. 

If you have no idea what functionality you’ll need, here are some things you may need that go beyond the basic infrastructure of actually getting your newsletter content sent to your subscribers. 

Beyond the Basics

Here’s some functionality that you might want to add:

• A custom domain
• A custom branded website
• Member-protected content
• Member management dashboard
• Integrations with third-party tools
• Content embeds for video and audio

Getting a Custom Domain and Building a Branded Website

People often get stuck or delay launching their email newsletter because they think they need a fancy website. 

Here’s what Emanuel has to say about that (I couldn’t agree more):

“You definitely don’t need a fancy website. When it comes to newsletters specifically, all you need to start is a landing page where people can submit their email. On that page, you should have 3-4 lines explaining what your newsletter does and you’re more than good to go.”

All you need is a field to capture people's email address and a reason for them to give you their email address. The reason is your UVP, which we discussed earlier. And you can easily set up an email capturing field with the landing page feature in SendFox.

As Emanuel mentions, condense your UVP into 3-4 lines or a single sentence if possible. 

Running Costs

The hard, recurring costs of running a newsletter are primarily the email provider you use, web hosting, domains and email and other software. 

Stacked Marketer spend $800 per month for their tech stack. 

“If you’re a one-person newsletter, you can cut costs significantly. Running costs will purely depend on how much your tool of choice costs for the number of subscribers you have,” says Emanuel. 

Attracting Your First 100 Subscribers

The hardest part about starting a business is getting started in the first place. The second hardest part is getting your first customer, and your first 100 customers and beyond. 

Within a day of launching, Stacked Marketer had their first 100 subscribers and 1,000 subscribers within their first month. Before that discourages you, I’ll drop this quote of encouragement from Emanuel to give you perspective: 

“I was probably right on the edge of knowing enough people to try this thing out…”

And here’s exactly what Emanuel did to get there:

“At the very beginning, shoutouts and paid/cross-promos were the core. Those strategies can generate 50-200 new subscribers very quickly, and when you start from nothing, that’s a big increase.”

Let’s break those down.

1. Get Industry Friends to Beta Test

One of the most common mistakes people make when launching a new venture is not reaching out to their professional network to receive feedback. This is a crucial step that will allow you to refine your product and help your launch. 

What if you don’t have any industry contacts? 

You do! Check your LinkedIn, reach out to old/current colleagues, and ask your friends on Facebook!

Slight Caveat: When Maria Popova launched the wildly popular (6M+ subscribers) Brain Pickings, it was an email newsletter sent out to 7 of her colleagues. [*]

Prior to launching, Stacked Marketer reached out to 10 industry contacts to beta test the newsletter for a week and provide feedback. Aside from the 10 contacts, they also reached out to other friends who “might be interested and might be able to help,” says Emanuel. 

If the feedback from your beta testers is positive, you can ask them to help with the launch. Which brings us to the next step in attracting your first 100 subscribers; launching to an existing audience.

Here’s what an early promotion from a beta tester looked like for Stacked Marketer: 

2. Launch to an Existing Audience Via Shoutouts

Look, if you had an existing audience launching a newsletter would be an easy game. The crucial thing is to look at the resources you have instead of what you don’t have...yet. 

As in the previous step, use your existing network. 

“My Facebook friends - that was the audience,” says Emanuel. “I would say that the audience was bigger than zero but not significant.” 

If you don’t have an existing Facebook audience or you don’t want to use it for whatever reason, you can leverage someone else’s audience (which you should do regardless) by arranging shoutouts with your network. 

Here’s an example of a shoutout Emanuel arranged on Affiliate Success in the early days (when Stacked Marketer was still called What The Aff:

1. Ask people you’ve built a relationship with. Ideally, you should show them what you’re building first and ask them if they like it (remember, your beta testers). If they do, you’re on the money. 

“I don’t think any of those contacts would have given us a shoutout if they thought our newsletter is bad or if some random person asked for it,” says Emanuel. 

2. Ask nicely.

At this stage, you should have received some feedback and arranged some shoutouts to start getting some traction. The next step is to leverage paid promotions to really increase your reach.  

3. Leverage Paid & Cross-Promotions

“Paid & cross-promotions are definitely a good way to increase your reach in the early days. It will often be hit or miss but the hits should make it worth it,” says Emanuel. 

How do you find paid & cross-promotion opportunities that make sense for your audience?

“Whether in dedicated communities, FB groups, or twitter, if you do research into what other newsletters there are out there, you will find your prospects.” 

The key here is estimating how well that audience will resonate with your newsletter. There’s no sure-fire way to gauge this but with trial and error you’ll have data that will allow you to make calculated risks. 

“You will also learn what sort of other audiences resonate the best with your newsletter, just like we did.”

Here are the key metrics that Stacked Marketer look at for paid promotions:

• Average cost for a unique click for the placement
• Audience relevancy compared to average advertiser; less relevant = higher cost per click, more relevant = lower cost per click. 
• Is the expected cost per new subscriber OK given the CPC and our usual conversion rate?

And here are two examples of Stacked Marketer’s most and least successful paid promotion campaigns:

Most successful campaign: A placement on a section of Morning Brew called Brew’s Bets. This landed Stacked Marketer 3K new subscribers at a cost of under $3 per subscriber.

“This placement was available for a cheaper price than usual because it was back in April 2020 when the pandemic just started hitting ad budgets,” says Emanuel. 

Monetizing Your Email Newsletter

Finally. The section that you’re probably here for. It’s ok. We all like money. I don’t judge. But i’ll tell you this: if monetization is your sole purpose, you probably won’t have enough steam to push through if you don’t see results fast enough. 

So many people give up with the treasure chest right below their feet because it’s not aligned with their values and they don’t have the drive to see it through. 

Life advice aside, here are Emanuel’s top 5 monetization strategies for beginners. 

Sponsorships & Advertisements

Sponsorships and advertisements are a common way to monetize free content and one the strategies that Emanuel emphasizes is the best path to monetization for beginners. 

When are you ready to start charging for ad placements in your newsletter?

“It depends on what type of readers you have. If you have two readers but they are Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos, you can certainly already monetize that...we started at about 2k subscribers and 1k unique openers.”

Obviously, you don’t have to take the exact path that Stacked Marketer took. Once you feel like you have a sizable enough audience to drive results for your sponsors, you’re ready to start arranging sponsorship deals. 

How do you acquire sponsors and what do you offer them? 

For any business, there are two main channels to acquire customers; inbound and outbound. 100% of Stacked Marketer’s sponsors have come through inbound. 

Above the fold on the homepage, Stacked Marketer have a CTA to “Advertise With Us.”

Which redirects sponsors interested in advertising to this page:

Now, how do you determine how much you should charge for ad placements and what can you offer? 

How much you charge highly depends on who your readers are and what other channels advertisers have to reach them. 

To come up with initial pricing, do research to see what other similar publications in your niche are charging. Once you have an idea of your initial pricing, you can start testing to see how advertisers respond to it.

If your newsletter is fully booked with placements then your pricing is too cheap and if you don’t have enough placements it’s too expensive. Simple demand and supply. Here’s where you need to engage in a balancing act looking at feedback and performance from sponsors alongside your growth in terms of reach.  

Affiliate Deals

“Affiliate deals can work but only a small percentage of them are good so it’s best to focus on other avenues.”

If you’re not sure how affiliate deals work, here’s a quick explanation:

You promote a company's products as an affiliate and receive a commission on each sale that is driven by you. In the case of a newsletter, this would entail linking to a company's sales pages in your newsletter to drive your readers to make a purchase. 

Since you only want to promote companies you actually admire/use their products, the best way to find affiliate offers is to check the websites of companies you want to work with and see if they have any affiliate deals. 

Once you have a sizable audience that trusts you (or even 1000 true fans), your monetization options start to get more fun, interesting and creative. 

Exclusive Communities & Premium Content

An exclusive community is one where membership is paid for. Exclusive communities are a hot commodity because you can easily turn a community into a company. 

In fact, companies are buying communities to increase their reach and open up new avenues of monetization (think of Stripe’s recent acquisition of the Indie Hackers community). 

Stacked Marketer has an exclusive Facebook community called Stacked Marketer Insiders which provides members with x, y, z. 

Paid content can be tricky. You have to provide something people are willing to pay for. The best way to gauge this is to ask. 

When you have an idea for content that you think is worth being paid for, ask your readers if they would pay for that specific kind of content. Ideally, you would already have a teaser or first version of the content you want subscribers to pay for. 

Other Monetization Strategies

• Courses: Package your expertise into a paid course and upsell your true fans
• Consultations: Provide 1-on-1 consultations for your subscribers/their businesses
• Physical Products: Create a physical product relevant to your newsletters themes

Getting to 16,000 Subscribers and $100K in Revenue

As you grow your newsletter, you want to build a more sustainable and repeatable process for growth. The crucial thing to understand is different growth strategies apply to different stages of your newsletters growth. 

Here are two core strategies you should use after you hit about ~2k subscribers. 

“When you can afford to do paid ads, exploring FB, Twitter, Google (maybe even Reddit, Quora, Snapchat or Pinterest, depending on your niche) is a must.”

This is where you have the space to scale your reader acquisition with relatively little effort once you figure out the targeting and the ad creatives. 

Paid ads won’t be a set and forget strategy, but you should aim at having a system that brings in subscribers regularly that you can still tweak and improve over time. 

Referral Program

A referral program helps you acquire new users by incentivizing your subscribers to onboard new readers through tangible rewards. 

Here’s an example to simplify that; for every new reader your subscriber onboards, you give them a cake. 

Stacked Marketer started a referral program in early 2019 and saw “a great boost;” around 20% of their daily new subscribers.

“The key for the referral program are the prizes and the numbers of referrals needed for each prize.”

Stacked Marketer have some creative incentives from membership in their private FB group to custom magazine covers to a trip to Austria. 

Ready to Start Your Own Newsletter?

“For now, we’re working on improving our free content.” Emanuel told me about his future plan. And that wraps up this massive case study.

If you ever considered starting your own newsletter, here’s the key takeaways:

• Find your niche. Focus on the intersection between your interests, knowledge and experience
• Clarifying Your UVP. The UVP of a newsletter usually falls under one (or more) of these: convenience, entertainment, and actionable knowledge.
• Choose an ESP. Anticipate how you intend to monetize your newsletter to figure the additional features your ESP needs to have.
• Attract your first 100 subscribers. The best place to start growing your subscribers is your existing network.
• Decide how you want to monetize your newsletter. Some options include sponsorship, affiliate programs, paid content, and more.
• Scale to the moon. Keep delivering what you’ve promised your subscribers and find new ways to grow the list.

Starting a newsletter should be a fun, rewarding passion project. If you approach it with that in mind as opposed to chasing the mighty dolla’ bill — you’ll make the time to start and grow your newsletter slow & steady. 

And, you’ll have a blast in the process!

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How to write a persuasive email that will increase your revenue, the 5 biggest mistakes you’re making with infographics, how to tweak your email campaigns for the new normal.

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12 great case study examples (plus case study writing tips)

GatherContent Contributor, Writer

5 minute read.

Interviewed by:

Table of contents

Lead with Content

How to put content at the centre of digital transformation.

Padma Gillen

Digital Content Consultant

This long-form content style is also becoming more common as more marketers discover its value. According to Hubspot’s 2021 State of Marketing report , more than 30% of marketers use case studies as a primary marketing media—up from 13% in 2020.

If you’re new to the world of case studies, we’ll be diving into what case studies are, why they’re important, and how to create your own. We’ll also highlight some compelling case study examples that you can learn from.

What is a case study?

A good case study highlights customer stories showing the following:

• The problems the business faced before using a product or service
• How the product or service proposed to solve the problems
• The before and after of using a product or service
• The measurable positive impact of the product or service on metrics such as click-through rate, website traffic, or sales

While case studies are most often product or service-focused, sometimes businesses use them to share their brand or founder story.

These types of case studies typically focus on organizational progress, such as how they grew their revenue or website traffic. One example is this Outfunnel case study on how the team saved over 80% of its time with user onboarding.

Why are case studies important?

They may not suit every business. But case studies are beneficial, for example, for helping SaaS brands reach future customers.

If they make sense for your industry, case studies should be an important part of your content marketing strategy for many reasons.

Three reasons you should incorporate them as soon as possible are:

• To provide value to your audience: At its core, the best marketing doesn’t just drive sales; it serves its audience. Case studies are a brilliant way to teach your audience tips they can incorporate into their businesses. It can also serve as research for industry experts to quote.
• To show off your expertise: A great case study is a perfect blend of data and storytelling. It showcases your expertise to your target audience, most likely dealing with similar issues. By telling a good story in your case studies, you’re essentially saying, “Look how we made everything better for X client—we can do that for you, too.”
• As social proof: Because case studies are available to the public, they’re undeniable social proof—better than hard-to-believe testimonials with client initials. This makes them extra valuable as MOFU and BOFU content ; they can drive sales at the click of a button.

Good to Know: Not sure how to use case studies? They work well as lead magnets, landing pages, repurposed blog posts, and, if you have the capacity, even video content!

12 real-life case study examples to bookmark

Reading about the mechanics of case studies is more straightforward than writing case studies from scratch.

That’s why we’ve gathered 12 real-life marketing case study examples you can review before you embark on creating yours.

1. GatherContent | University of Edinburgh

What works: In this great case study, GatherContent includes quotes from the client (the University of Edinburgh) about how their software has improved their content workflow. This adds a human element and will help readers with the same issues identify with the client.

View more GatherContent case studies .

2. Omniscient Digital | AppSumo

What works: Omniscient Digital includes client feedback in video format and shares the results they achieved in a digestible bullet point format.

3. Bit.ly | Vissla

What works: Besides hosting this case study on their website, Bit.ly provides a PDF link that can both be viewed online or downloaded. Plus, the PDF is visually appealing and easy to read.

4. Asana | Autodesk

What works: Asana leads with their impact and includes basic information about their client to the right of the page so the reader immediately gets bite-sized background information.

5. Shopify | Bombas

What works: Shopify includes a video in their case study, as well as multiple eye-catching images of Bombas products. This ensures that the case study serves both companies, possibly generating customer interest in Bombas socks.

6. Outfunnel | Alight Analytics

What works: Outfunnel has repurposed its case study into a blog post, which increases its visibility. The study is also full of client quotes, which adds valuable social proof.

7. Sapling | Zapier

What works: Sapling also shares quick preliminary information about Zapier on the left panel and includes several screenshots to show the impact of their product on the company’s processes.

8. BigCommerce | Skullcandy

What works: The quick metrics in bold hit readers quickly and highlight BigCommerce expertise to potential customers even before they read the entire case study.

9. Google Ads | L’Oreal

What works: Video format. Few things beat hearing the client praise the service and explain the process and results of the campaign in their own words.

10. ActiveCampaign | Your Therapy Source

What works: ActiveCampaign efficiently showcases the problems and solutions before delving into how they helped the client achieve desired results.

11. Intuit | Xenex Healthcare

What works: The main benefit is highlighted on the first page of the PDF and the rest of the study delves into the process and the nitty-gritty of the product’s impact.

12. Grayscale | Upwork

What works: This page features minimal text. It focuses on quotes from decision-makers at Upwork and ends with a call-to-action that will likely drive conversions.

How to write your own case study

How can you write engaging, effective case studies like the examples above? Here are six steps.

1. Identify a worthy case

Think of projects—either for yourself or for clients—that got outstanding results. Then, whittle it down to the cases that your target audience is most likely to relate to , perhaps because they experience the same problem or have the same goal as in the case.

2. Reflect on your chosen case

Once you’ve decided on the case you’ll start with, do some deeper reflection on the details. What was the project goal? What challenges did you encounter along the way? How did you overcome them to reach your goal?

3. Think about differentiation

Take the last step even further and think of anything you did differently than others might. Did you an experimental tactic or strategy or create a custom solution? If so, use those details to subtly show potential customers why they should be interested in what you have to offer.

4. Gather quotes

Next, get hard-hitting quotes from project stakeholders or clients. Having their thoughts on goals, project obstacles, the solutions provided, and the outcomes will make your description of the case more credible.

5. Draft your case study

Time to turn the details you’ve compiled into a case study draft. How? We’ll talk about the best format for case studies shortly.

6. Add visuals

Next, create visuals that will reinforce the main points of your case study. These could include:

• Charts or screenshots to show the change in metrics before and after the project
• An infographic to give a brief visual overview of the case
• Pictures of deliverables (e.g. a web design agency might show a picture of the new site it designed for a client)
• Product images such as screenshots from within your software that was used on the project

After any designated reviewers and approvers give their stamp of approval on the case study, it’s ready to be published and promoted!

What’s the best case study format?

We’ve seen A+ examples of case studies and gotten some more context on how to create them for your brand or organization. Now, it's time to get to work. As you do, remember to include the following vital sections in your case study format:

• Client name and profile
• The problem
• Your solution (and screenshots!)
• Before and after ( real results with data)
• Appealing visuals, photos, illustrations, infographics, charts, and graphs
• A memorable CTA

Ready to get started? Thankfully, you don’t have to go it alone.

GatherContent—a powerful tool for case study creation

GatherContent makes it possible to keep track of all your case study research —even while working with your marketing team. You don’t have to guess what stage the piece is at or consult another tool to know when your part is due or who to pass the torch to.

GatherContent is a content hub that helps you keep all your content creation in one place , whether you’re writing blog posts, email newsletters, social media posts, or case studies. With content modeling features like Components , you can effortlessly maintain brand identity throughout all your case studies.

Read more customer success stories here to learn more!

Techniques for collaboratively prioritising content

Learn six collaborative methods for prioritising content so your team can be aligned and have confidence in the content being published..

About the author

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9 Great Email Marketing Case Studies (and Counting)

• News and Updates Updated August 2020 Posted: August 2015

On this page

Transparency is hot right now, but not in email marketing.

You can see how many Twitter followers a brand has. Lots of businesses blog about their audience growth. And some newsletters share their subscriber count as social proof .

But no one talks about open and click rates, ROI or impact on the bottom line. It’s taboo in the email world.

That makes it really hard to find email marketing case studies. If you want inspiration for your own campaigns, there aren’t many options. You can:

• Read blogs like this one 🙂
• Dive into ReallyGoodEmails.com
• Sign up for newsletters and products to receive their emails

Other than that, all you can do is test your assumptions relentlessly.

We’d like to make it a little easier to read stories about great email campaigns so we collected some of our favorites. Here is the criteria for the case studies we included:

• They are real case studies, not a best practices pieces.
• They include quotes or data from the campaign creators.

That sounds simple until you start exploring the web for stories that meet those two rules. We’d like to add to this list so if you know of a great email story, let us know in the comments.

Together, these posts are long enough to be a book. So we turned them into one.

Download an .epub file

What Startups Can Learn from Watsi’s Wildly Successful Email Campaign

Read it | Share it | Save it

This story is too nuanced to accurately summarize but here’s a primer.

Watsi is the first non-profit to be part of Y Combinator. They crowdsource healthcare funding for people all over the world. To drive recurring revenue, they broke out their monthly donation feature into its own product and launched it separately.

They used email to source early feedback, used social proof to create buzz and built a personalized newsletter to keep users informed about their donations.

Here’s a snippet from this post:

Part of showing people what they’re getting is investing in communications where you aren’t asking for anything. Instead, you’re thanking people for their business or their participation. You’re acknowledging your end of the deal where you’re committed to delighting and surprising them. This is something that for-profit startups tend to neglect – the importance of not just sending a receipt for a purchase, but honing that interaction to make customers feel something more.

Email marketing is isn’t a channel – it’s one layer of a customer-centric company. This case study reveals how complex (and truly valuable) it is to use email to grow a business.

Building a Newsletter Welcome Series from Scratch

Help Scout’s signature flair is purpose .

As they considered how to welcome to new subscribers – and there are more than 51,000 – they knew that aligning business goals with a great experience was key. They pulled it off by ensuring each email sought to achieve a single, measurable goal.

Each of the five emails in the sequence is explained in detail, including the intended purpose and suggestions based on their own learnings.

How The Skimm’s passionate readership helped its newsletter grow to 1.5 million subscribers

Building a profitable business with email is very different than using email to build a profitable business.

Watsi, for example, uses email to support their product. In The Skimm’s case, the email is the product. When newsletters become a business, it’s worth paying careful attention to their strategy. (We detailed an example of this in our Death to the Stock Photo case study .)

The Skimm’s email newsletter reaches 1.5 million daily. That growth has been fueled by an intense understanding of their target reader and an community that is eager to help. There are more than 6,000 “ Skimm’bassadors ” actively spreading the word about this business.

There’s a lot to learn here but if you take just one lesson, let it be this:

The Skimm focuses on women ages 22-34 in big cities throughout the country. They are busy, they’re on the go. It’s a professional audience. And we looked at what they do first thing in the morning. Your alarm goes off, you grab your phone, and you read emails from friends and family first. It really made sense to us to introduce a product that fit in with that routine. And email is very much in the routines of the demo that we’re going after.

There’s no need to reinvent the wheel. Meet your target audience where they’re already active.

How to Gather 100,000 Emails in One Week

I hope you’re noticing a trend in these case studies: Pulling off a wildly successful email campaign isn’t easy.

Even when the goals are simple, the logistics tend to get messy. The smartest companies dig in anyway.

In Harry’s case, they used a landing page to gather 100,000 emails in the week leading up their launch. As a shaving company, they are competing against institutions like Gillette. The only way to outsell them is to out-maneuver them.

Harry’s drove traffic to a landing page, asked for a signup, then used a referral mechanism to incentivize people to share the product. Those who referred friends earned free products. They gave away a ton of free razors that week but it cost way less than broadcasting the upcoming launch on traditional advertising channels.

This post gets into the nitty gritty of driving the traffic, managing the flood of interest and actually delivering the free products.

The Art and Science of Turning Free Trials Into Happy Customers

If you’re a small startup, you’ll be able to relate to this story.

Alex Smith runs marketing at ContactMonkey . As a growing company with a small team, it became too difficult to onboard new customers one at a time. So Alex created a series of events in the application that trigger emails or pause existing campaigns.

The result was not only happier customers, but faster growth. Once the triggers were in place, ContactMonkey was able to guarantee that each customer received the right messaging at the right time.

This post shares the exact emails and triggers ContactMonkey uses to onboarding their users, along with some ideas for blurring the lines between CRM and email marketing.

The Science Behind Those Obama Campaign E-Mails

I think this line will pique your interest about Obama’s last campaign: “Most of the $690 million Obama raised online came from fundraising e-mails.”

The Obama campaign famously used a casual, conversational in tone in the email subject lines. The most famous subject line was simply “Hey.” Another – “I will be outspent” – raised $2.6 million on its own.

Source: Slideshare

This didn’t happen by accident. The folks behind the campaigns tested incessantly, sometimes playing with a dozen or more variations on a single email. Here’s one of the most interesting findings revealed by digital analytics directo Amelia Showalter:

…these triumphs were fleeting. There was no such thing as the perfect e-mail; every breakthrough had a shelf life. “Eventually the novelty wore off, and we had to go back and retest,” says Showalter.

They bottled lightening over and over through rigorous testing and exceptional copywriting. The viral effect was manufactured, not serendipitous.

What We Learned From A Week Of Prototyping A Newsletter In Public

When Buzzfeed began developing a daily email newsletter, the editors turned to Facebook for feedback. They shared their prototypes ( here’s an example ) with their own friends. They made each iteration of the newsletter public to ensure they could patch any holes before launch.

Interestingly, editor Millie Tran said the most useful part of this exercise was the intense focus on the product/market fit:

The most valuable thing about this exercise was that it allowed us to avoid getting too emotionally attached to any one idea early on and to keep tweaking and adjusting the product to be better.

As we’ve written before, email is an extension of your product and should be treated with the appropriate care.

Buzzfeed also wrote a follow-up to this post about using email to test early versions of their mobile app.

Learning vs. Selling

This is a personal story based on my experience here at Vero. Last year, we created 14-step campaign to welcome new subscribers to the blog. The open rates were decent and we heard some positive feedback from customers about the campaign.

Then we nuked it.

Because it a) wasn’t helping us convert readers into customers and b) it wasn’t helping us learn about our readers. We replaced the entire campaign with a single email.

Tons of people replied and we’ve been able to shape our content and emails to match our readers’ challenges and needs. The lesson is here to create opportunities to learn before you try to sell your product.

The Most Successful E-mail I Ever Wrote

A single email can change a business.

Derek Sivers, founder of CD Baby, realized this after he created this masterpiece of a shipping confirmation email :

Source: Smashing Magazine

The email went viral. At the time, no one put any effort into their transactional emails . The personal touch resonated with a lot of people.

That one silly e-mail, sent out with every order, has been so loved that if you search Google for “private CD Baby jet” you’ll get over 20,000 results. Each one is somebody who got the e-mail and loved it enough to post on their website and tell all their friends. That one goofy e-mail created thousands of new customers.

Simon Schmid calls this finesse the “personality layer.” Here are a number of other examples.

A few more case studies from the Vero archives:

• TripAdvisor’s Unfair Email Marketing Advantage
• How Amazon Dominates E-Commerce with Email
• How Death to the Stock Photo Built a Profitable Business with Email
• Why Product Hunt’s Emails Are So Addictive
• Evernote’s Simple But Useful Onboarding Emails

And here’s a few suggestions from readers:

• How The New York Times gets a 70 percent open rate on its newsletters

Want to send more personalized mobile and email messages to your users?

Customer story.

How UNO uses email marketing from the data warehouse to deliver personalized mortgage broking

Check out Vero , customer engagement software designed for product marketers. Message your users based on what they do (or don't do) in your product.

Consider signing up for a free trial. No credit card required.

8 Secrets Behind The World’s Most Successful Newsletters

A newsletter is one of the most common kinds of marketing email sent, yet it remains one of the toughest to get right. Almost every brand wants to have a crack at it as it gives you a direct option to communicate with your potential customers.

But what makes a newsletter successful?

Let’s take a look at what popular newsletters like Healthline, Nat Geo, and The New York Times have in common and what you can do with your next newsletter planning to engage your subscribers better than ever.

8 Secrets behind the world’s most successful newsletters

A newsletter is an email that people subscribed to your mailing list receive on a periodic basis. It contains useful information pertaining to their interests along with informing them about deals and offers as well as what you are up to.

Newsletters are a great way to keep the audiences in the know and form a direct connection with them. However, many brands often struggle to strike the correct balance.

If you too are looking for ways to make your newsletter more engaging and one that converts, here are some of the secrets behind the most successful newsletters to give you some ideas. Keep reading.

1. Include infographics

As many as 67% of marketers use infographics in their marketing content .

The power of visual content in attracting interested people is not even in question anymore. Infographics help visualize tedious data, tell a story, and present information in engaging ways.

For example, here is an infographic from a McDonald’s newsletter that instructs how healthcare workers can avail themselves a thank you meal from a McDonald’s restaurant:

The use of the infographics highlights a process, breaking it up to make it easier to understand. Similarly, you can use infographics in your newsletters to break up the walls of text and make the content more breathable.

Click here to learn how to make an infographic in minutes. Remember that like all things that fo in a content piece, infographics should also be used as and when needed. Stuffing up the entire page will detract from the original purpose.

2. Ace the signup

The process of acing the perfect newsletter begins before the subscriber even gets to the newsletter. Signups are the form a person fills in to receive a newsletter. They need to be engaging and convincing enough for a person to willingly register themselves.

Learn more about creating the best newsletter signup here .  First things first, your form needs to be visually appealing — one that attracts the attention of the user right away. Next, list out clearly what they are to gain from signing up for the newsletter.

You can even go as far as to give the users the option to choose what they want to receive from you. The way National Geographic’s newsletter sign up does it in the below:

This gives subscribers the freedom to choose the content they want to see. It in turn increases engagement with the future content as it becomes one that is catered to them instead of being generic. 

3. Provide value

The purpose of a newsletter for a subscriber is to receive useful, important, and unique information about the topics they care about and that they might not get anywhere else. 

Ironically, many brands don’t get this aspect right as they focus more on advertising their products or other arbitrary logistics.

The sole focus of your newsletter should be to provide value to your customer. The promotional material should not exceed more than 10% of the content . The idea is to quietly slip in the advertising without it being too noticeable.

Healthline newsletters (in the example above) have aced the formula of creating a valuable USP . They provide findings and studies as the first source — making their newsletters a genuinely valuable resource to their subscribers. This brings them authentic engagements and increases their goodwill.

4. Pick attractive subject lines

The job isn’t done once you get people to sign up to your mailing list. Because even after signing up, they are not guaranteed to open up your email. You have to get them to open the mail.

Don’t rely on generic subject headings such as ‘September newsletter’ because they are easy to get lost in the sea of emails a person receives on a daily basis. Instead, be creative with them.

Create urgency in the reader to open the email to know the important thing you are telling them. As depicted in the example below:

The headline can be about a survey finding in the newsletter. Or an offer the reader cannot refuse. Or simply a piece of important news the reader ought to know about. Make sure it’s short, precise, and conveys the message without being clickbait-y. 

5. Have a clear CTA

Any content piece used in marketing most probably has a call to action you want the reader to take upon consuming it. And since a newsletter contains multiple pieces of content, there is a possibility of having multiple CTAs that can feel overwhelming to a reader. 

The simple solution is to have an overarching CTA that every content piece may lead to. And any different CTA you may have can be one that isn’t demanding or urgent.

A CTA that says something like ‘consider this if you can or if you have time’ lets the reader know they can always come back to it whenever they want. It doesn’t feel pressing or overwhelming. Most importantly, it doesn’t confuse the reader. 

6. Take care if compatibility on mobile

46% of emails are opened on mobile today. Mobiles are becoming just as important players as desktops, laptops, and tablets when it comes to email marketing. The key difference they have from the other devices is that they have significantly smaller screens. 

Therefore, it’s important to optimize your content for mobile . The text is the most important factor in it. Your copy needs to be short, precise and broken up into multiple paragraphs. Try to use images that don’t have a great height.

Space the content out and break up the text with pictures, videos, and infographics. It keeps it fresh and engaging for the readers. Play around with fonts to make important bits stand out more.

The New York Times newsetter (in the example below) is a great example of a simplistic design that is both easy to load and compatible on all devices. Not to mention easy on the eyes by using a fair bit of elements to highlight the stories.

7. Keep it simple

Many brands get caught up in creating the most stunning-looking newsletters that take too much time and energy. The fact of the matter is that no matter how great your newsletter is, it is still going to be perused only once.

It renders using time-consuming designs useless. This applies to everything from content and copy to images and design. Keep it minimal and focus more on delivering the value you promised to the readers.

The above example of the newsletter from The Weekly Roast perfectly illustrates the policy of keeping things simple. It used subdued colors and minimal text but vibrant images to capture your attention.

This is the kind of structure that is not too time-consuming to create. The images don’t take too long to load on the mobile and there is a clear CTA for the users to know what the brand wants them to do post reading the email.

8. Keep learning

The last trick that successful newsletters use is that they keep evolving with the times. Even if your newsletter model is successful, you should strive to do better. Trends keep on changing and you should always look to capitalize on them.

Keep learning from the newsletters or brands you admire. The easiest way to do this is to subscribe to a newsletter of your choice and see what you like the most and least in it. Try to emulate it with your newsletter. 

Another way to do this is to directly ask your subscribers what they enjoy in the content from you and where they would want you to improve. People who are subscribed to you are already interested in what you have to say. They are likely going to enthusiastically respond to a question like this.

Lastly, you have tools like A/B testing at your perusal to examine your experiments. Tweaking around the mails and seeing which option works better helps you create better, more personalized content for your readers. 

9. Conclusion

Newsletters are the most common kinds of emails sent by a brand. It makes them all the more important to stand out from the crowd. The key to newsletter success lies in experimentation and learning from your mistakes.

Remember that trends change swiftly and you should strive to keep up with them. At the end of the day, it is about providing value to the subscribers who choose to be associated with your brand.

Let us know in the comments what you think are the most important aspects of a newsletter that you would wish to nail.

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Hello, and welcome to my blog! Let me present myself.

My name is Ani and I am a trilingual Digital Marketing & Analytics Specialist with 10 years of experience across multiple sectors including Cloud-based services, SaaS, Digital payments, Mobile apps, and Executive Education, among others.

My expertise covers areas such as Google Ads, Google Analytics, Search Engine Optimization, Content Marketing, and Social Media.

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Newsletter Case Study: How We Grew The SME Wrap To 2 Lakh+ Subscribers

• by Rapti Gupta
• April 9, 2021
• 9 minute read

A few days ago, we sent out the 100th edition of our fortnightly newsletter –  The SME Wrap.  So far, the newsletter has had over 2,00,000+ subscribers. It also adds at least 500 signups every month to Instamojo. If you’re wondering how to start and grow a newsletter business, this case study can help.

• 1 The SME Wrap – an origin story
• 2 Designing the SME Wrap
• 3 Setting up the SME Wrap 
• 4 Scaling the SME Wrap in numbers
• 5 Benefits of running a newsletter
• 6 Celebrating 100 editions of the SME Wrap

The SME Wrap – an origin story

Four years ago, a few people gathered in a particularly cold conference room in the Instamojo office to start something new. The team wanted to create something that would add value to our subscribers.

Problems we wanted to solve

We knew our users were looking for resources they could start using and implementing in their business immediately.

There was much to learn on the internet. However, it could get really cluttered out there. It could get extremely confusing to pick and apply the knowledge to their business.

Another problem point we wanted to solve was delivering contextual business news . It’s mighty important for an entrepreneur to stay updated about the market to stay ahead in business.

🔥  Reading the news and using it smartly not only helps a business get a dipstick of the market & latest trends, it also improves critical thinking.

And that became our USP.

When you start a newsletter (or create any content piece), it’s important to ask yourself these 3 main questions: 1. Why should I read this newsletter – what value will it add for me? 2. What makes me different from existing options for the reader? 3. Why am I creating this newsletter – the purpose

Before we started off the newsletter, we asked ourselves these questions and began crafting our strategy based on the answers. 

We haven’t looked back since.

Our value adds:

Our goals were clear. The newsletter should help entrepreneurs think better and make informed decisions about their business. Be it decoding GST or just understanding the benefits that the annual budget allocated for small businesses, the SME Wrap had to simplify the concepts.

Every SME Wrap is thematic. Like a sitcom episode.

In every SME Wrap, you will find something unique and hand-picked from the Instamojo editorial team. We don’t just include our own content but also pick the best, most relevant content on the internet as per the theme.

Also, the newsletter offers occasional product discounts (25% FLAT OFF on PREMIUM ONLINE STORE), and partner offerings (FREE GST & COMPANY REGISTRATIONS).

Since our product is essentially free to get started with – all our newsletters have a signup button.

What made our newsletter stand out:

There are tons of curated newsletters in the market. But few catered to our userbase. Small businesses/entrepreneurs from tier II & tier III cities needed direct information about the latest developments in the business world. They are always on the lookout for new resources in topics like – digital marketing, finance, market regulations & laws.

Most news websites cover news as is. It is seldom explained how the laws, regulations, or new developments actually impact a business. That’s where we came in. The SME Wrap didn’t just simplify or demistify difficult, confusing topics; we did it in a way that appeals to our userbase. The newsletter gave our readers serious information in a fun way.

Here’s one of our most popular SME Wraps. Click on it to read the full newsletter.

Not to brag but people have called it the best email they’ve received about GST when we first sent it. (Why do people auto-delete tweets!)

Designing the SME Wrap

The name of the newsletter almost came instantly to us. Sitting in that conference room, when the name was brought up, all of us just agreed in unison that it had a ring to it. We have Alka Gupta to thank for it.

It is a fortnightly ‘wrap’ of all the business events so it made sense. To top it up, our then- designer Yatish Asthana conceptualised the logo to make it look like what it is today – a burrito/or a roll – a wrap!

Congratulations! On a lighter note the "SME wrap" design really cracked me up. Whoever designed these – kudos! 🙂 — Mriganka (@heymriganka) April 25, 2019

Yatish also helped us design the layout of the newsletter.

The layout of a newsletter can actually make or break it – literally! (I speak HTML).

We wanted to give out only the most relevant information so we decided to send a limited number of links. The newsletter had to have a personal touch, while also having a clean layout, so we went ahead with designing the layout and having it HTML coded into our email service provider.

I found this really cool checklist of things to consider when you want to design a newsletter that you might find useful.

After our rebranding exercise in 2018 , we also changed the logo of the SME Wrap but retained its essence.

Setting up the SME Wrap 

One of the biggest (and probably the trickiest) part of starting/setting up a newsletter is your email service provider and your IP . We wanted to ensure our newsletter is delivered to inboxes so we took it slow and steady.

The newsletter’s opt-in form was hosted as an exit-intent pop-up on the Instamojo homepage. It also had the form embedded in our “welcome back” landing pages, and other relevant spaces where we thought the user could benefit from it.

The SME Wrap was set up on Sendinblue and to date, we’ve been using it to power newsletters.

If you’re looking to learn more about email marketing, don’t forget to take this FREE course we built with Hubspot on mojoVersity.

5 things you can do to ensure your emails reach your subscribers:

Have an opt-in form on an extremely relevant landing page, send an email to the user immediately after they hit subscribe, set up a dedicated ip for your newsletter, clean up your subscriber list every 60 days.

Running a successful newsletter is a lot like gardening or keeping plants. You prune them for better growth. Your newsletter can get a lot of junk leads and invalid emails. These emails can be categorised under soft bounces, hard bounces, and undelivered.

These reports will be available with your email service provider. Over time, your subscriber list also becomes old. People stop reading it or can generally lose interest.

Keep it genuine

Mailboxes, just like customers, are becoming more aware by the day. Steer clear of gimmicks that don’t agree with what you promise to your subscribers. Sure, feel free to be cheeky but never be fake about your content. Also, it helps to keep a tab on your spam score.

Scaling the SME Wrap in numbers

In the first week, we had just about 100 subscribers. Week over week, we started seeing improvement in the number.

We were also very happy about our open rates and click rates. Our average open rates always remained at 27% and click rates hovered at 5%.

It took us 4 long years to build a loyal userbase. Today, we have 40K active readers on the SME Wrap. What’s most interesting is every month at least 500 sign-ups come from the newsletter alone!

How to get your first 1000 newsletter subscribers

Building a valuable and loyal userbase takes time. It’s a gamble of fast growth vs sticky growth. If you want to grow your newsletter user base, here are some pointers that can help:

• Collect leads before you launch the newsletter. Set up a landing page and promote it aggressively. Your landing page should talk about how exciting your newsletter is and what the subscriber is going to get out of it
• Join communities where you can talk about your newsletter and get visibility
• Do collaborations with other newsletter creators – give them a mention and get a mention in theirs!
• Add ‘ forward to a friend’  links in your newsletter. Also, add share on social media links on it so people can show you the love if they really like it. In fact, about 20% of the SME Wrap subscribers are referrals!
• Add your newsletter subscription link to your social media bios, your email signature, your Telegram and Whatsapp status and more.
• Stay consistent with your content. If you add value, you will see your email list grow for sure

Benefits of running a newsletter

People have been saying email is dead yet, email takes the trophy for the most number of conversions. It is the most successful & effective channel for communicating with customers.

Running a newsletter on any platform (WhatsApp, email etc) has great advantages. I’ll just list a few of the most important ones:

• It allows you to build a community and the power of community cannot be undermined. It will brand you as an industry leader and help you connect with your audience better. What’s more, it will help you make more sales too!
• Speaking of which, newsletters are a money-making machine! To give you some perspective, Morning Brew – one of the most successful newsletters with 2 million subscribers – sold a majority of its stakes to Business Insider for $75 million !More recently, Twitter also acquired the newsletter platform Revue to get into the newsletter business. Soon after, Facebook revealed that it is developing a newsletter platform as well. Newsletters helped many businesses grow, yours can too!

Celebrating 100 editions of the SME Wrap

It’s been a hell of a journey authoring the newsletter for 4 long years. We experienced many ups and downs, some editions were sent at the wrong time and some editions had the worst open rates. Some went with typos (we’re only human).

Running a newsletter doesn’t just mean experimenting and testing your subject lines. It also means adjusting your eventual goals and expectations from the newsletter. A good newsletter demands having to deliver value to your subscribers every time you send them an email. It requires spending time on each edition and putting an extra bit of effort into it for your customers.

If you are already a subscriber, thank you for reading the SME Wrap!

To celebrate 100 editions of the SME Wrap, we included some special giveaways in the newsletter for subscribers. Feel free to subscribe  to it and hit me up on LinkedIn to chat about newsletters!

SUBSCRIBE TO THE SME WRAP

• 5 Email Hacks to Increase customer response rate
• email campaign
• email newsletter
• how to build a newsletter business
• how to grow newsletter subscribers
• how to run a successful newsletter
• how to set up email newsletter
• Newsletter case study

Rapti Gupta

Content Marketer. Serious Nonsense Enthusiast.

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The Ultimate Newsletter Content Strategy Guide

Back to the blog.

As a part of your content marketing strategy, creating an email campaign that attracts, engages, and retains your target audience can be a challenge.

So, how can we make it easier?

An email newsletter 👈

An email newsletter is a powerful tool for reaching your audience and driving engagement with your brand. It is one of the most effective ways to keep your email list informed about new products, services, events, and promotions and showcase your expertise and authority in your industry.

However, creating an effective newsletter that resonates with readers always requires a thoughtful and strategic approach.

In this article, we’ll discuss why an effective email newsletter strategy is necessary for success, the essential components of a great newsletter, and offer tips on creating a winning email newsletter.

Why you need an effective newsletter marketing strategy

An effective newsletter marketing strategy is crucial to achieving your email newsletter goals, such as increasing website traffic, lead generation, and overall sales.

Here are the benefits of having an effective newsletter marketing strategy:

• 🧱 You’ll build relationships with your subscribers: A newsletter is a great way to build a relationship with your subscribers by providing them with valuable content that helps them solve their problems or meet their needs. By doing so, you can earn their trust and loyalty, which can lead to long-term business relationships.
• 📈 You’ll boost engagement: An effective newsletter can increase engagement with your brand by encouraging subscribers to visit your website, read your blog posts, or follow you on social media.
• 🚘 You’ll drive traffic to your website: A well-crafted newsletter featuring your latest blog posts, promotions, events, and carefully curated external content, can drive traffic to your site.
• 🔋 You’ll generate leads: By including calls-to-action (CTAs) in your newsletter, such as free downloads or consultations, you can generate leads that can ultimately convert into paying customers.

The essential components of a successful newsletter

When it comes to your newsletter content strategy, you’ll want to include the following essential elements:

• 🤯 A compelling subject line: The subject line is the first thing your newsletter subscribers see in their inbox, so it should be attention-grabbing and relevant to the newsletter’s content.
• 🤩 An engaging header: The header should include your logo and a catchy tagline that reflects your brand and sets the tone for the newsletter.
• 💰 Valuable and relevant content: The newsletter’s content should be informative, relevant, and beneficial to your subscribers. It can include blog posts, industry news, how-to guides, case studies, and more.
• 📞 Calls-to-action (CTAs): CTAs should be included in the newsletter to encourage subscribers to take action, such as visiting your website, downloading a free resource, or signing up for an event.
• ⭐️ Personalization: Personalization can help make your newsletter more engaging by addressing your subscribers by name, sending them content relevant to their interests and preferences, and including personalized recommendations.

All the essential components of a successful newsletter and more!

Using rasa.io’s newsletter tool automatically send a unique personalized newsletter for each person on your email list! 

Seven tips for writing an effective email newsletter

At rasa.io, we know a thing or two about email newsletter marketing. Here are seven newsletter strategy examples that can help you create effective newsletters:

• Know your audience: Before you start writing your newsletter, you need to know who your audience is, what their interests and pain points are, and what type of content they prefer.
• Be consistent: Your newsletter should be sent regularly, such as weekly or monthly, to keep your subscribers engaged and interested in your brand.
• Keep it short and sweet: Your newsletter should be concise and to the point, with a clear focus on the main topic or theme.
• Use visuals: Images and videos can help make your newsletter more engaging and memorable.
• Test and optimize: Test various subject lines, CTAs, and email content to see what resonates with your audience segment and optimize your newsletter accordingly.
• Monitor your results: Use analytics tools to monitor your newsletter’s open rates, click-through rates, and other metrics to see how well it’s performing and make adjustments as needed.
• Provide value: Your newsletter should provide value to your email subscribers by offering them helpful information, insights, and resources that help them solve their problems or meet their needs. Doing so establishes your brand as a trusted source of knowledge and expertise in your industry.

Bonus Tip: Using a newsletter platform, like rasa.io , you can curate your own original content into your newsletter(s). Depending on your audience segment, you can assign a blog post at the top of the newsletter to drive increased traffic to support SEO goals. 

Bonus Bonus Tip: In other situations, you may feature a blog post at the top of the newsletter to drive conversions by displaying a lead generation piece. 

The strengths and weaknesses of email newsletters

While newsletters are a powerful tool for reaching and engaging with your audience, they also have drawbacks.

First, consider some of the strengths of introducing a newsletter marketing strategy into your overall marketing campaign:

• Newsletters are relatively inexpensive to produce and distribute, making them a cost-effective marketing tool.
• You can target newsletters to specific segments of your audience based on their interests, preferences, and behavior.
• With analytics tools , you can measure the effectiveness of your newsletter in terms of open rates, click-through rates, and other metrics.

Now let’s consider some of the drawbacks or weaknesses:

• Your subscribers may receive dozens of newsletters in their inbox daily , making it harder for your newsletter to stand out and grab their attention.
• Your newsletter may get caught in spam filters , preventing it from reaching subscribers’ inboxes.
• Some subscribers may unsubscribe from your newsletter if they find it irrelevant or uninteresting.

Curious how your rasa.io newsletter would look? Book a demo 👈

The good news is that you can overcome those weaknesses by following these tips and best practices. But, of course, it also helps if you have a solid content curation strategy to help your newsletter resonate with subscribers and support your marketing goals.

O ur users love to brag about the growth of their businesses. ​

Start seeing better results by sending better emails .

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The Newsletter Naming Blueprint: Steps to Success

In the ever-evolving world of email marketing, where newsletters are the linchpin connecting brands with their audiences, the art of naming these digital publications stands as a critical and often underestimated facet of success. This article takes you on an...

26 Successful Newsletters Making Money In 2024

Did you know that in the past five years, there has been more than a 50% increase in the number of people who read newsletters?

Newsletters are one of the few things you can use to market yourself as a trusted expert. A well-written newsletter can educate your subscribers and build connections with them.

Email newsletters are a great way to connect with customers and potential customers. It’s a newsletter’s job to inform, persuade, and sell to your audience.

Here are some real life success stories of starting a newsletter:

1. MarketBeat ($36M/year)

Matt Paulson, the founder of MarketBeat, came up with the idea for his business while working as a freelance writer in college. He discovered that stock investors were eager for real-time information and news about their investments, leading him to create a newsletter that provided convenient and timely updates. Over time, MarketBeat evolved into a financial media company, generating $8 million in revenue in 2019 and boasting 1.3 million email subscribers.

How much they make: $36M/year Current team size: 17

Financial media company MarketBeat, founded by Matt Paulson, provides objective financial information and real-time market data to empower individual stock investors to make better trading decisions, generating approximately $8 million in revenue in 2019 and ending the year with over 1.3 million unique email subscribers due to a freemium model with 75% of revenue from advertising and 25% from subscriptions.

2. I Know The Pilot ($840K/year)

"I Know The Pilot" is a free travel deal platform that sends airfare and accommodation deals to subscribers daily, with a focus on international travel.

Garth Adams, the founder of I Know The Pilot, came up with the idea for his business after noticing that people were occasionally sharing cheap flights on shopping deal websites. He decided to start his own flight deals site, separate from his existing site IWantThatFlight.com.au, and launched IKnowThePilot.com.au as a WordPress site attached to a Mailchimp email list. The business grew rapidly, with over 780,000 email subscribers, 110,000 app users, and 550,000 Facebook fans at its height.

How much they make: $840K/year How much did it cost to start: $1.5K Current team size: 0

I Know The Pilot founder Garth Adams shares how he grew his airfare and accommodation deals newsletter from a simple WordPress site to over 780,000 email subscribers, 110,000 app users, and 550,000 Facebook fans on a 100% free business model, and how he's pivoted domestically during the Covid-19 pandemic.

So... can you actually make money with a newsletter?

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4. Domain Name Wire ($9.96M/year)

Andrew Allemann (from Seattle, WA, USA) started Domain Name Wire almost 19 years ago.

Revenue $830K / month View case study Team 1 founders / employees

Reports of email's death are greatly exaggerated. Andrew Allemann has gone from zero to up to $10,000 a month in just 3 years with a low overhead side hustle: An email newsletter and an online directory that helps connect podcasters with guests. Finding it difficult to find guests for his own pod…

• Andrew Allemann, a Seattle-based entrepreneur, established his company Domain Name Wire in 2015 - a news website focusing on WordPress, web hosting, and the domain name sector.
• Andrew has been working in the domain business since 1997. He has been quoted in numerous prestigious publications, including the New York Times, Financial Times, Wall Street Journal, TechCrunch, Washington Post, Bloomberg, Sydney Morning Herald, NPR, Fortune, and Guardian.
• Through Domain Name Wire, he attempts to offer guidance on technology-related media issues ever since the company was founded in 2005.
• Domain Name Wire provides advice to businesses on domain name selection.

Read the full story on internetx.com ➜

4. Money Talk ($1.2K/year)

Qin Xie, a journalist and editor based in London, launched her reader-funded newsletter, Money Talk, during her furlough period due to the pandemic. After coming across a post about the future of journalism on Substack, she saw an opportunity to write about personal finance, a topic she was already familiar with and interested in. With low overhead costs and a desire to equip herself and others with knowledge on handling finances during a recession, she quickly launched the newsletter and has received positive feedback and early success.

How much they make: $1.2K/year How much did it cost to start: $0 Current team size: 1

Qin Xie launched Money Talk, a reader-funded newsletter on personal finance, in May 2020, and made £100 in the first month, chiefly promoting it on LinkedIn.

5. KickFlips ($48K/year)

Casey Woodard, the founder of KickFlips, came up with the idea for his business after years of successfully flipping items and receiving numerous requests from friends to teach them how to flip sneakers. He noticed a gap in the market for an affordable and effective resource for learning to flip sneakers, which led him to create KickFlips. Since its launch in February 2021, KickFlips has gained over 1,500 users organically through word of mouth and referrals, and is generating $4,000 in monthly revenue with minimal expenses.

How much they make: $48K/year Current team size: 1

Founder Casey Woodard started KickFlips, a sneaker and streetwear flipping resource, which currently brings in around $4,000 per month in revenue with roughly $150 in expenses, boasting a little over 1,500 users almost exclusively through word of mouth and referrals.

6. We Do It Remotely ($6K/year)

Joseph Solomon, the founder of We Do It Remotely, came up with the idea for his business after experiencing the freedom and fulfillment of a location-independent lifestyle as a freelancer. Through his own successes and challenges in the freelance world, he recognized a lack of powerful, actionable advice for freelancers and decided to create a resource to empower other freelancers. Starting as a content agency and evolving into a premium course and newsletter, We Do It Remotely aims to provide freelancers with valuable insights and strategies to grow their remote freelance businesses.

How much they make: $6K/year Current team size: 0

We Do It Remotely founder Joseph Solomon began as a content agency, which then transformed into a 4-week training program earning $500-2500 per month and is now a paid newsletter focusing on offering actionable tips and insights to freelancers worldwide, most of whom are writers and marketers.

7. Seedtable ($60K/year)

Gonz, the founder of Seedtable, came up with the idea for his business while living in Argentina and missing the European startup scene. He launched a weekly newsletter on European tech and later expanded to include startup rankings and a Breakout List. With a focus on authentic coverage and the freedom to say whatever he wants, Gonz has attracted a loyal audience of investors, founders, and employees at top European organizations.

How much they make: $60K/year Current team size: 1

Seedtable is an authentic weekly newsletter on European tech, business, and politics, with 10,000+ subscribers and 50,000+ monthly visitors to its startup rankings, providing an insight into the European tech industry for investors, founders, and employees of leading Euorpean tech companies and funds.

8. Ticker Nerd ($48K/year)

Luc and his business partner Sam started Ticker Nerd after realizing the need for a more effective way to keep up with stock information. They decided to apply the model of another tool, Exploding Topics, to stocks by finding trending stocks through social mentions and conducting sentiment analysis. With a landing page, they were able to generate over $1,000 in sales within a week, validating the idea. They pivoted their approach, built relationships with Product Hunt members, and had a successful Product Hunt launch that resulted in around $5,800 in monthly recurring revenue. They continue to grow organically, implement an affiliate program, and have plans to offer new products and education components.

How much they make: $48K/year How much did it cost to start: $100 Current team size: 0

Ticker Nerd is a monthly subscription service for investors that surfaces and analyzes trending stocks before the hype train arrives, and now has $4.5k in monthly recurring revenue from its newsletter without spending a single dollar on advertising, having validated the business via subreddits and organic Product Hunt launch strategy.

9. Pete Codes ($14.4K/year)

Pete focused on promoting his website on platforms like Product Hunt and Hacker News to attract a large number of visitors. He also prioritized charging customers for newsletter ads and sponsored articles early on to test demand. Overall, his strategy of gaining exposure and monetizing the website quickly helped him attract and retain customers.

How much they make: $14.4K/year How much did it cost to start: $40 Current team size: 1

No CS Degree founder monetizes website interviewing self-taught web developers earning an average monthly revenue of $1,100, with email marketing and sponsored articles from coding boot camps, and plans to grow the site through job board and online course resources.

10. Chief in the North Newsletter ($48K/year)

The Chief in the North Newsletter is a Substack publication that provides in-depth analysis and insights into the Kansas City Chiefs and the NFL.

Seth Keysor, a longtime football fan and writer, started the Chief in the North Newsletter as a way to provide in-depth analysis of the Kansas City Chiefs and the NFL. With over 5,500 subscribers in less than two years, the newsletter has become a legitimate side income of over $4,000 a month for Keysor. By offering unique insights and bypassing clickbait, Keysor has attracted a loyal following of diehard fans.

How much they make: $48K/year How much did it cost to start: $0 Current team size: 0

A sports writer launched a newsletter that now has over 5,500 subscribers in under 2 years and generates a legitimate side income of over $4,000 a month, with a subscription fee of $12 a year or $2 a month, by providing in-depth analysis for diehard Kansas City Chiefs and NFL fans.

11. Contrarian Thinking ($3M/year)

Contrarian Thinking is a premium membership community that teaches people how to add cash-flowing income streams to their portfolios and achieve financial freedom.

Codie Sanchez, the founder of Contrarian Thinking, came up with the idea for her business after experiencing numerous career changes and realizing that money was the key to solving problems. After working in finance and investing, she decided to blend her love for writing, investing, and teaching others to create a company that helps people achieve financial freedom. Through her premium membership community, Contrarian Cashflow, she teaches members how to add more cash-flowing income streams to their portfolios and build the life they have always dreamed of. With over 100,000 newsletter subscribers, a community of 1.5 million people, and a run rate of $3 million this year, Contrarian Thinking is empowering individuals to challenge the status quo and shape their own destinies.

How much they make: $3M/year How much did it cost to start: $5K Current team size: 4

Contrarian Thinking is a premium membership community that teaches its 1.5 million members how to implement cash flow strategies to achieve financial freedom, with a current run rate of $3 million and a goal of $50 million ARR in five years.

12. Failory ($12K/year)

Rich Clominson, the co-founder of Failory, came up with the idea for the business after experiencing multiple failures with his own startups. Recognizing the value in learning from these failures, he decided to create a platform where failed startup owners could share their stories and lessons, in order to help future entrepreneurs avoid making the same mistakes. Since its launch, Failory has gained traction and grown its community, with plans to monetize through sponsorships and affiliate marketing.

How much they make: $12K/year Current team size: 0

Failory is a community where failed startup owners come to tell their failure stories and the mistakes they committed, offering advice for future entrepreneurs.

13. Cup of Coffee ($221K/year)

Cup of Coffee is a daily baseball and culture newsletter that provides fans with a comprehensive summary of significant news in Major League Baseball, along with analysis, commentary, and coverage of other current events, reaching over 10,500 subscribers and generating average monthly revenue of $18,400.

Craig Calcaterra, a former lawyer and sports writer, came up with the idea for his baseball and culture newsletter, Cup of Coffee, as a way to continue sharing his writing and analysis after being laid off by NBC Sports. He wanted to provide readers with a daily briefing on the latest baseball news and other topics of interest, all delivered in the morning to start their day. Since launching, Calcaterra has built a loyal subscriber base through social media promotion, offering free newsletters, and running occasional sales. Word of mouth has also played a significant role in the growth of the newsletter.

How much they make: $221K/year How much did it cost to start: $200 Current team size: 1

Craig Calcaterra's daily baseball and culture Substack newsletter Cup of Coffee has amassed just under 10,500 subscribers, with over 3,300 paying monthly ($6) or annual ($65) subscriptions, achieving average monthly revenue of around $18,400 and growing.

14. Yolo Intel ($240K/year)

Yolo Journal is a travel lifestyle media brand that publishes a physical printed magazine three times a year and has a successful travel-focused newsletter, Yolo Intel, which is the most popular travel newsletter on Substack.

Yolanda Edwards, founder of Yolo Journal, came up with the idea after realizing there was a gap in the market for a travel magazine that focused on providing trustworthy and insider information. With her background in the magazine industry and passion for travel, she launched Yolo Journal and quickly gained success, with her weekly newsletter now bringing in $20k a month.

How much they make: $240K/year How much did it cost to start: $15K Current team size: 1

Yolo Journal's founder, Yolanda Edwards, launched a travel lifestyle media brand with a magazine and newsletter that now generates $20k a month in revenue. Edwards' business success can be attributed to understanding the hole in the magazine market and creating trust-worthy insider information.

15. Prime Publishing LLC ($7.2M/year)

Stuart Hochwert, founder of Prime Publishing LLC, came up with the idea for his business while noticing that traditional print publishers in the Arts and Crafts space were experiencing circulation declines. Seeing the shift of "eyeballs" moving online, he developed a plan to create a free website focused on Arts and Crafts, leading to the launch of FaveCrafts.com. This decision, along with strategic marketing efforts and the addition of premium content, has contributed to Prime Publishing's success, generating over $10 million in advertising revenues and diversifying their revenue streams.

How much they make: $7.2M/year How much did it cost to start: $650K Current team size: 46

Stuart Hochwert grew his company Prime Publishing LLC to generate over 30 million monthly page views and $7 million in annual revenue by creating free, advertising-supported cooking and crafting websites and premium, ad-free digital products.

16. Book Club Chat ($48K/year)

Heather Caliendo, a journalist with a passion for reading, turned her love for books into a profitable business with Book Club Chat. Despite the saturation of the book blogging market, Heather stood out by creating a beautifully designed website and focusing on providing book club questions tailored to novels. With over 5,000 visitors a day and earning $4,000/month in ad revenue, Book Club Chat has become a go-to resource for book clubs around the world.

How much they make: $48K/year How much did it cost to start: $50 Current team size: 0

Book Club Chat founder Heather Caliendo started a website dedicated to book club questions, reviews, and book lists with no upfront costs by dedicating a lot of time to reading and writing high-quality content that attracts over 5,000 daily visitors and has made $4,000 per month in ad revenue alone by focusing on organic search, SEO, and Mediavine.

• 50 Trending Newsletter Businesses [2024] 1 of 5
• 7 Tips For Starting A Successful Newsletter (2024) 2 of 5
• 17 Marketing Ideas For A Newsletter (2024) 3 of 5
• 33 Pros & Cons Of Starting A Newsletter (2024) 4 of 5
• How Much Does It Cost To Start A Newsletter? (In 2024) 5 of 5

17. SelectSoftware Reviews ($40.5K/year)

Phil Strazzulla, founder of SelectSoftware, came up with the idea for his business after building a personal brand in the HR space through a weekly whiteboard video series. He realized that HR professionals were struggling to choose the right software for their needs, and saw the opportunity to create an online review site, similar to NerdWallet or WireCutter, for HR software. With organic search traffic growing at 30% per month and revenues hitting $1k per month, SelectSoftware has gained traction in the market.

How much they make: $40.5K/year Current team size: 0

VC-turned-entrepreneur Phil Strazzulla, who previously built a successful b2b SaaS business, shares how he bootstrapped an online review site for HR software into a viable business with over $1k monthly revenues in just 3 months through organic search traffic growth and selling high intent leads.

18. Workspaces ($24K/year)

Ryan Gilbert came up with the idea for Workspaces when he noticed Twitter users sharing pictures of their new setups during the pandemic. Wanting to preserve these inspiring workspaces, he started a newsletter that now has over 9,000 subscribers and generates $2,000 per month from sponsorships. He recently joined YC startup Loops as Head of Content and continues to publish Workspaces while exploring new marketing initiatives.

How much they make: $24K/year How much did it cost to start: $500 Current team size: 0

The founder of Workspaces, a newsletter giving readers a behind-the-scenes tour of entrepreneurs' new desk setups, was making $2,000 per month from sponsorships and was recently acquired by YC startup Loops, with 9,000+ subscribers and open rates around 60%.

19. CoinSnacks ($360K/year)

Dillon, the co-founder of CoinSnacks, came up with the idea for the business after being fired from his job at a financial research company. With some severance and time on his hands, he realized there was a need for a beginner-friendly crypto newsletter. Since launching in 2017, CoinSnacks has become the longest continuously running crypto newsletter on the market, with over 70,000 weekly readers and a monthly revenue of ~$30,000 in 2022.

How much they make: $360K/year How much did it cost to start: $500 Current team size: 3

Crypto newsletter CoinSnacks co-founded by Dillon has been able to make $30,000 monthly by acquiring competitors and using lead generation techniques while offering a beginner-friendly layout.

20. The Mallorcan ($29.4K/year)

Art has also been a great resource for overcoming creative resistance. In terms of podcasts, I love listening to How I Built This with Guy Raz. It's inspiring to hear the stories of successful entrepreneurs and how they built their businesses from the ground up. Lastly, I find a lot of value in online communities like Indie Hackers and Starter Story. These platforms provide a wealth of information and support for aspiring founders.

How much they make: $29.4K/year How much did it cost to start: $200 Current team size: 1

The Mallorcan is a local media brand in Mallorca, Spain generating $2.5k per month revenue, offering a weekly newsletter supported by web and social content, attracting over 2.5k subscribers across its website, newsletter, and Instagram.

21. Una Vida Online ($216K/year)

Pau, the founder of Una Vida Online, came up with the idea for his business when he was looking for ways to make extra income online. He discovered the world of affiliate marketing and started creating affiliate websites. After achieving success and making more money from his websites than his full-time job, he decided to quit his job and focus on his online projects. He then created an online course to teach affiliate marketing and expanded his business to offer WordPress templates and plugins, as well as a tokenized private community for bloggers and affiliate marketers. With a strong focus on SEO, Una Vida Online has seen significant growth and currently generates about 18K per month in revenue.

How much they make: $216K/year How much did it cost to start: $100 Current team size: 1

Una Vida Online started as a side gig in 2018 to share knowledge on affiliate marketing and blogging, and has since grown into a business employing a full-time assistant and many freelancers with a monthly income of around 18K, offering online courses, WordPress templates and plugins, and a tokenized private community for people interested in generating income via blogging or affiliate marketing.

22. World of AI by aitools.fyi ($72K/year)

where I send out the newsletter from. For aitools.fyi, I use React, Next.js, and Tailwind CSS for the tech stack. I also use Stripe for payments and Google Analytics for tracking website analytics. Additionally, I rely on social media platforms like Twitter and LinkedIn for marketing and promotion.

How much they make: $72K/year How much did it cost to start: $100 Current team size: 0

"Read about Rishit Patel's journey in building aitools.fyi and the World of AI newsletter, which now generates a combined monthly income of around $6000 and attracts an average of 150K pageviews per month."

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Designing Newsletter Layouts for Engaging Experiences

By Mahima Dua

14 August, 2023

Imagine your newsletter as a captivating story waiting to be told. But here's the twist: how you tell it matters as much as the story itself. In the newsletter layout design, every pixel, font choice, and strategic placement of content plays a vital role in captivating and engaging your audience's attention and interest.

Table of contents

Why is newsletter layout important?

Key components of a newsletter layout, 2. hero section, 3. content sections, 4. call to action (cta), design principles for effective layout, how to optimize content placement in a newsletter.

A newsletter layout refers to the visual arrangement and organization of an email's content, images, and design elements, creating a user-friendly and visually appealing presentation.

A well-designed newsletter layout can significantly impact its effectiveness in conveying information and fostering a strong connection. It directly influences the effectiveness of email marketing campaigns in the following ways:

• Creates strong first impressions, encouraging further exploration.
• Clarifies your message and guides readers through content.
• Reinforces brand identity and recognition.
• Enhances readability and content engagement.
• Optimizes for mobile devices and different screen sizes.
• Boosts the effectiveness of Call to Action (CTA).
• Builds brand trust and credibility.
• Sets your newsletters apart in a competitive landscape.
• Provides data for analytics and optimization.
• Leads to better engagement and conversion rates.

Here are the key components of a newsletter layout:

Brand Identity: The header establishes brand recognition with the logo and brand name, ensuring readers associate the content with your brand.

Contact Information: Including contact details enhances credibility and allows subscribers to reach out easily.

Consistency: Maintain a consistent header design across newsletters for a cohesive brand experience.

Source: Really Good Emails

• Visual Appeal: A compelling image or headline in the hero section captures attention and encourages readers to continue scrolling.
• Relevance: The hero content should align with the main theme or message of the newsletter.
• Clarity: Ensure the hero content is clear and easy to understand, conveying the newsletter's value at a glance.
• Readability: Organize content into columns or grids to improve readability and prevent overwhelming readers with a wall of text.
• Hierarchy: Divide the newsletter using various headings, subheadings, and further bullet points to create a clear hierarchy of information to guide readers seamlessly through the content.
• Visual Breaks: Incorporate images, icons, and whitespace to break up text and maintain engagement.

Clarity: Craft concise and specific CTAs that clearly indicate the desired action, such as "Shop Now" or "Learn More."

Placement: Position CTAs prominently within the content and ensure they stand out using contrasting colors or buttons.

Urgency: Create a sense of urgency for encouraging the audience to take immediate action, e.g., "Limited Time Offer" or "Last Chance."

Source: Clever Reach

• Contact and Social Links: Provide additional contact details and links to social media platforms; hence subscribers can explore more about your brand and connect easily.
• Unsubscribe Option: Including an unsubscribe link demonstrates transparency and compliance with email regulations.
• Legal Information: Add necessary legal disclaimers or privacy policy links to ensure compliance with data protection laws.

Remember, a well-designed newsletter layout enhances user experience, promotes engagement, and reinforces your brand identity, leading to higher open rates, click-through rates , and overall campaign success.

💡 Related guide: 10 Email Newsletter Best Practices to Follow In 2023

We've curated the list of principles for designing effective newsletter layouts:

Alignment: Achieving visual balance and proper alignment is crucial to creating a harmonious layout. Whether you're using a symmetrical or asymmetrical approach, elements should be evenly distributed throughout the design to avoid a lopsided or cluttered appearance.

Hierarchy: Establish a clear visual hierarchy for guiding readers through the content. Use typography, font sizes, colors, and spacing to emphasize important elements such as headings, subheadings, and key information.

White space: Also known as negative space, white space refers to the empty areas around design elements. It provides a visual breathing room, allowing users to focus on the essential content without feeling overwhelmed.

Color and branding: Consistent color schemes and branding elements contribute to a cohesive and memorable design. Colors should reflect the brand's identity and evoke appropriate emotions or associations in the audience. A well-chosen color palette enhances recognition and helps establish a strong brand presence.

Responsive design: With the increasing variety of devices and screen sizes, responsive design is essential. Ensure your layout adapts seamlessly to different screen resolutions, orientations, and devices, providing a consistent and user-friendly experience.

CTAs: Calls to action (CTAs) guide users toward desired actions, such as signing up, purchasing, or exploring further. Use contrasting colors to stand out. Also, you may incorporate persuasive language and place CTAs strategically, typically near important content or at the end of a user journey.

Testing and optimization: Design is an ongoing process. Regularly conduct A/B testing to compare layout variations and identify which performs better. Use this information to refine and improve the layout continuously.

Email heatmaps: Email heatmaps can provide valuable insights into how recipients engage with your emails. These visual representations show where users click, scroll, and spend the most time. By analyzing these heatmaps, you can optimize the placement of CTAs and other crucial elements, ensuring that your email layout effectively captures recipients' attention and drives the required action.

Get this pre-send checklist to hit send with confidence

An interactive checklist to send error-free emails

Here's how you can optimize the content placement in a newsletter:

1. Above-the-fold visibility: Position crucial content, such as headlines, key offers, and CTAs, within the upper portion of the newsletter that's immediately visible without scrolling. This ensures that readers quickly encounter essential information.

2. "F" pattern content distribution: Research shows that readers tend to scan content in an "F" pattern, focusing first on the top and left-hand side of the page. Place high-priority elements, such as headlines and initial text, along this pattern to capture attention.

3. Logical section organization: Structure your newsletter's sections in a coherent sequence that aligns with the natural flow of reading. Start with an engaging introduction, followed by main content, offers, and a clear call-to-action at the end.

Source: Sender

4. Newsletter templates: Utilize a pre-designed newsletter template. Many email marketing platforms, such as Mailmodo , offer customizable templates that ensure a consistent and visually appealing layout.

5. Interactive elements: Incorporate interactive elements like buttons, accordions, or quizzes to engage readers and encourage interaction with your content. You can also leverage Mailmodo services for adding such interactive elements and widgets.

By following these strategies, you can enhance the impact of your newsletter's content placement and maximize its effectiveness.

💡 Related guide: 17 Best AI Email Marketing Tools for All Use Cases

A well-crafted newsletter layout is a cornerstone of effective communication. By implementing the principles and strategies outlined in this guide, businesses can create and optimize newsletter layouts that capture attention, deliver information, and foster meaningful engagement with their audience.

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1. What is the importance of an effective newsletter layout?

An effective newsletter layout is crucial because it determines how your content is presented to readers. A well-designed layout enhances readability, guides the reader's attention, encourages engagement with your message, and calls to action.

2. What role does color and typography play in newsletter layout design?

Color and typography convey your brand identity and evoke emotions. Choose a consistent color scheme that aligns with your brand and use typography to establish hierarchy – larger fonts for headings and smaller fonts for body text. This enhances the visual appeal and readability of your newsletter.

3. What elements should I consider when designing a newsletter layout?

A successful newsletter layout incorporates key design principles like balance, hierarchy, and whitespace. It includes engaging visuals, clear typography, and strategic content placement.

4. What role does branding play in newsletter design?

Branding elements consist of your logo, colors, and fonts that create consistency and reinforce your brand identity, thereby enhancing recognition among the readers.

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How to write a newsletter: step-by-step guide.

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So, you want to know how to write a good newsletter.

You’re in the right place.

I’ve been writing email newsletters for upwards of 8 years and have helped dozens of clients with their email campaigns.

It seems simple; it’s just a newsletter, after all, right?

Not so quick.

Copywriting is an art, and when done right, it can make you serious coin.

Heck, 82% of B2B and B2C companies use email marketing.

But, many entrepreneurs attempt writing newsletters before they’ve learned the proper strategies and the results are lackluster.

Sound familiar?

Today you’re going to learn how to write a newsletter that captivates people and makes them take action.

Take out your typewriter (not literally), and let’s get into it!

What is a newsletter?

Newsletters are printed or online reports that people can subscribe to. They contain useful pieces of content, updates, and news, as you can guess.

Companies regularly send out newsletters that share stories, information, and resources to help employees perform better.

But we’re focusing on a different type of newsletter today— a marketing newsletter . This is used to drive traffic to websites, generate sales, and grow relationships with subscribers.

This is the Friends Newsletter from Nick Gray for illustration:

Email marketing is older than your grandma (not literally, but close) yet still drives massive ROI.

Don’t believe me?

I’ll let the data do the talking: email marketing generates $40 for every $1 spent , according to Lyfe Marketing.

I’ve also consulted with clients and helped them set up email campaigns that generate five figures in MRR.

You can learn the strategies I used in my online courses .

But without out of the way, I’m going to teach you arguably the most important component of writing newsletters next…

Newsletter subject lines

The subject line of an email will make or break your email campaigns.

If it’s boring, no one will open it.

And if no one opens it, you won’t make any money. 👎

Approximately 35% of all recipients open an email based on the subject line alone. It’s crucial that you take the time to craft one that’s irresistible to click.

One of the best newsletter subject lines to test is one that includes their name .

I’ve never experienced higher open rates with newsletter copywriting than when I use someone’s first name in the subject line.

Something as simple as “To { Name} ” or “Hey { Name} ” works wonders.

Why is this? Because it’s been proven that calling someone by their name enhances something known as conscious processing .

It peaks their awareness, makes them more likely to examine the information, and makes them feel emotionally attached to it—since it’s their name and identity, after all.

It also shows that you’ve done your research and you’re not just sending another copy and pasted email.

To pull this off, make sure that you require at least a first name when opting into your newsletter like MobileMonkey does on their blog :

You can also use a sense of urgency or FOMO (Fear of missing out).

This will entice subscribers to open the email to avoid missing out on something great. Here are some newsletter subject line examples using this tactic:

• “12 Hours Left to Get Your Free Copywriting Course “
• “You’ll Regret Not Knowing These 5 SEO Tips “
• “John, Are You Making This Deadly Marketing Mistake?”

Look how lead pages used this strategy by simply stating, “We’re sorry:”

It instantly creates a sense of mystery.

What happened?

Is something wrong?

There are many questions that might go through your head when you hear a company you’re a customer of apologizes without context.

This no doubt greatly increased CTR as recipients would be interested to read the email.

Furthermore, I love keeping a swipe file to reference every time I’m writing a newsletter. This is simply a spreadsheet with ideas and inspiration.

When you see a headline, subject line, or any piece of copy for that matter, copy it into your swipe file. Obviously, don’t steal material from other writers, but use it for brainstorming.

I go into email marketing and lead generation more in-depth in my copywriting course if you’re interested in learning how to grow a profitable writing business.

Newsletter best practices

Now that you understand what a newsletter is and its components, let’s touch on some best practices and what to include in a newsletter.

Always include an opt-out

The Federal Trade Commission enforces a set of laws known as the CAN-SPAM Act .

This covers commercial email laws, and you absolutely need to be aware of it. Or else you might get the FBI knocking at your door.

Okay, probably not.

But, they are legitimate laws that you need to follow, and you can get into legal trouble if you break them.

Two of the rules you must follow are:

• Tell recipients how to opt out of receiving future emails from you.
• Honour opt-out requests promptly.

Any modern email service, whether it’s Mailchimp or Aweber, will provide you with an option to let subscribers opt out.

Always include this in the footer of your emails and ensure that if someone does opt out, you don’t continue emailing them. That’s when the feds will come knockin’.

If you’re enjoying today’s topic, I’d also recommend you read my email follow up guide since it contains a lot of useful information that ties in email marketing in general.

Don’t use misleading subject lines

Have you ever added “FW:” or “RE:” to an email without prior contact with that person?

If so, I have something really bad to tell you…

You’re a criminal!

The second requirement in the CAN-SPAM Act is to not use deceptive subject lines. It must accurately reflect the body of the email.

I would avoid using those prefixes in your subject lines.

Not only is it technically against the law, but it’s tricking people, and I don’t think you want to start off your relationship with a client or subscriber on that foot.

Monitor employees and team members

Do you have employees that email subscribers or prospects on your behalf?

Then you need to be monitoring that they are also following the CAN-SPAM act and general best practices.

Because guess what?

It might be someone else physically sending the emails, but it’s still coming from your address.

A.K.A, you all will get into trouble.

To avoid this, I like giving my team templates and resources to send them on the right track. Give them the link to the CAN-SPAM guidelines , email scripts, and maybe this article.

Don’t overdo it

No one wants to be spammed to death with emails every day.

Omnisend performed a study on email frequency and it’s correlation to open rate and click-through .

They discovered that the fewer emails that were sent on a monthly basis, the higher the open rates and click-through rates became.

What can you learn from this? Quality over quantity. Don’t send out emails every day. Perhaps not even every week.

Aim for a few extremely high-quality newsletters every month.

Include social sharing

Visual content is up to 40% more likely to get shared than non-visual content.

Social sharing is the easiest way to achieve a viral effect with this in mind.

Ensure that there are Facebook and Twitter sharing links at the end of your newsletter, so subscribers can forward it to all of their friends.

On that note, if you use Facebook to promote your business, don’t miss out on my Facebook ad copy article.

Add other social networks to the newsletter if you’d like, as well.

Imagine if you had 1,000 subscribers, and 50 of them shared it. Those 50 people could reach an additional 500 users if 10 individuals per subscriber read it as a result.

Writing a newsletter – the meat and potatoes

Alright, you have a good idea of what a newsletter is, what it achieves, and how to get subscribers to click based on the subject line.

Now it’s time to learn how to write a newsletter article.

How you go about this will change depending on your individual business goals, but the principles remain the same. Here’s what you need to know:

Use storytelling to create emotional connections

Stories help subscribers emotionally relate to your business, its message, and its product.

You can get a story in three different ways: stating your own experience, sourcing someone else’s story, or crafting a fictional tale.

A personal story is effective because you can tie it into writing a newsletter article effortlessly. Let’s say that you’re promoting an e-book on affiliate marketing you recently published.

You could tell the story of how you were broke and in debt, but stumbling upon affiliate marketing changed your life. You bought a car, got an apartment, and now know the secrets to master it as a business.

That’s pretty simple, of course. But, consider your own life experiences, especially emotional ones, and how you can mention them in newsletters.

Look how Ramit Sethi talked about his experience getting married and asked for subscribers’ best piece of advice in this email :

It’s a simple illustration of how a piece of personal information can make you feel closer to the other person sending the email.

If you don’t have any stories to share, there’s nothing wrong with using someone else’s. Publications, specifically news outlets , do this every day. Everyone loves a good story, but it doesn’t have to directly be yours.

Research stories and case studies on the topic of your newsletter. If it’s about machine learning, find a story about companies that used AI to transform their productivity and output.

Lastly, you can always just make up a story.

But, be careful. Don’t claim anything outrageous, like a previous customer used your product and generated $1 billion.

People will see right through that, and they’ll lose trust in you.

Read my guide on storytelling in copywriting to learn more effective tactics.

Make it a slippery slope

The goal of the headline is to make them read the first sentence.

…The goal of the first sentence is to make them read the second sentence.

…The goal of the second sentence is to do the same as above until they finally reach a call to action.

Focus on the flow of your words. You want the subject line to intrigue them first. It should relate to their needs, wants, or pain points as a customer.

Then, the first sentence needs to be bold . Use an interesting stat, a thought-provoking question, or make an absurd comment. The goal is to hook their attention.

Traffic Think Tank executed this perfectly in one of their promotional newsletters.

Short and snappy sentences make it easy on the eyes.

Every sentence has a meaning and substance while effortlessly leading into the next.

Use the other copywriting principles in the remainder of the body, and next you know, they’re at the end of the newsletter with their credit card out.

The slippery slope method was developed by the famous copywriter Joseph Sugarman. I wrote a blog post covering some of his main tactics you can read here .

Make them feel like it’s real

Imagine selling flashy cars like Ferraris or Lamborghinis. We’ll call our company Bambino’s Autos .

We’re trying to increase how many subscribers call to schedule a test drive for some new arrivals.

How could we convince these people to come test a $500,000 car?

Simply, actually.

Just make them feel like they already own it . We could write something like this:

Everyone is staring at you. People are taking pictures. The scream of the V12 engine turns every head in sight. You’re pressed back into your seat with the slightest touch of the peddle, and the digital dash looks like something developed by NASA. Just glancing at the car gives you the jitters, let alone knowing that you own it. Test drive the new Lamborghini SVJ today.

Even if you’re not a car enthusiast, I think it’s safe to say that writing like this would make you excited to go for a test drive.

It speaks to the customer’s interest in appearing special, wealthy, and wanting to drive fast. I’m generalizing here, but follow along.

The goal is to make them imagine as if they already own the product and the experience that would come along with it.

This, as a result, generates the associated emotions and makes them more likely to take action. Cool, huh?

Predict their questions and answer them ahead of time

To make your email newsletters “slippery,” you need to be able to predict what questions and thoughts your subscribers are having. This allows you to answer them ahead of time and keep them flowing through your content.

Consider what they would want to know about pricing, features, benefits , refunds, and any other detail about what you offer. Weave this into your copy, and they will think you’re a mind reader.

More importantly, it prevented obstacles.

If someone has to stop and scratch their head or wince in suspicion, you’ve lost them .

They’re likely to click off the email and do something else—losing you the sale.

This requires you to have a solid buyer persona and a great understanding of your ideal customer.

Do you? If not, it’s something you need to develop because all great copywriting stems from it .

I recommend using a free form tool like Google Forms .

Use one of the available templates or start from scratch.

Add questions that you would like to know about customers. Good ones include:

• How much are you willing to spend on this type of product?
• What problems are you experiencing in this area?
• Why do you shop with your favourite brands?
• How did you find our business?

Send this out via (no pun intended) a newsletter to collect feedback.

Finish it with a call to action

A call to action is very literal.

It’s telling the reader to take some form of action that gets them closer to a sale.

In your case, it might be a discovery call, consultation, or similar.

You can’t just leave them hanging either, so the end of the newsletter needs to forward them somewhere. Examples of calls to action are:

• “Buy it now”
• “Continue reading”
• “Get our free e-book”
• “Schedule a call today”

Want to hear some crazy stats? Wordstream found that emails with calls to action lead to a 371% increase in clicks and a 1617% increase in sales.

Yep, you read that right, too.

It’s such a simple concept, but it makes so much sense, as well.

As humans, we want to be told what to do.

It makes our lives easier since it means we don’t have to think harder.

When we see a call to action, it immediately helps us move on to the next step.

Look how the retailer Huckberry did this in one of their Labor Day sale emails:

They use the “Shop Now” call to action many times throughout their newsletter to promote visiting their online store.

Best time to send email newsletters

In my cold emailing guide , I spoke about how the best time to email someone is before 9:00 AM and after 5:00 PM.

Why do you think this is?

…Because it’s before they get to work and after they’ve come home.

Your email will be one of the first things they see when they check their mailbox if you follow this strategy.

Additionally, Hubspot discovered that emails sent at 11:00 AM on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday experience the highest open rates.

Try it out for yourself.

Every business has a unique audience, so monitor data to see if your subscribers are different. You might notice that they open emails at 2:00 PM more, for example.

Summing up newsletter copywriting

Copywriting newsletters is a great way to reach a large audience, and collecting an email list is one of the wisest things a business owner can do.

Focus on nailing a subject line that people would want to open in the first place. Urgency and using someone’s first name is a proven tactic.

Then, take the time to craft a body of text that acts as a slippery slope. Every sentence should flow smoothly into the next and ideally will make them want to finish reading the entire newsletter.

Add in your own personal stories to make them relateable, or find one that relates. Poke their imagination with vivid detail, and answer any questions they might have before they’ve even thought of them.

If you do all of that, they’ll make it to the end of the newsletter, and you can finish it with a call to action.

Check out my copywriting courses to learn more and get mentorship from me and a community of writers.

Here’s an infographic that sums up everything I spoke about today, as well:

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Company Newsletter Case Studies

Attracting new customers is important for company growth, but staying in touch and maintaining a good relationship with existing customers is absolutely essential.

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Organizing Your Social Sciences Research Assignments

• Annotated Bibliography
• Analyzing a Scholarly Journal Article
• Group Presentations
• Dealing with Nervousness
• Using Visual Aids
• Grading Someone Else's Paper
• Types of Structured Group Activities
• Group Project Survival Skills
• Leading a Class Discussion
• Multiple Book Review Essay
• Reviewing Collected Works
• Writing a Case Analysis Paper
• Writing a Case Study
• About Informed Consent
• Writing Field Notes
• Writing a Policy Memo
• Writing a Reflective Paper
• Writing a Research Proposal
• Generative AI and Writing
• Acknowledgments

A case study research paper examines a person, place, event, condition, phenomenon, or other type of subject of analysis in order to extrapolate  key themes and results that help predict future trends, illuminate previously hidden issues that can be applied to practice, and/or provide a means for understanding an important research problem with greater clarity. A case study research paper usually examines a single subject of analysis, but case study papers can also be designed as a comparative investigation that shows relationships between two or more subjects. The methods used to study a case can rest within a quantitative, qualitative, or mixed-method investigative paradigm.

Case Studies. Writing@CSU. Colorado State University; Mills, Albert J. , Gabrielle Durepos, and Eiden Wiebe, editors. Encyclopedia of Case Study Research . Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, 2010 ; “What is a Case Study?” In Swanborn, Peter G. Case Study Research: What, Why and How? London: SAGE, 2010.

How to Approach Writing a Case Study Research Paper

General information about how to choose a topic to investigate can be found under the " Choosing a Research Problem " tab in the Organizing Your Social Sciences Research Paper writing guide. Review this page because it may help you identify a subject of analysis that can be investigated using a case study design.

However, identifying a case to investigate involves more than choosing the research problem . A case study encompasses a problem contextualized around the application of in-depth analysis, interpretation, and discussion, often resulting in specific recommendations for action or for improving existing conditions. As Seawright and Gerring note, practical considerations such as time and access to information can influence case selection, but these issues should not be the sole factors used in describing the methodological justification for identifying a particular case to study. Given this, selecting a case includes considering the following:

• The case represents an unusual or atypical example of a research problem that requires more in-depth analysis? Cases often represent a topic that rests on the fringes of prior investigations because the case may provide new ways of understanding the research problem. For example, if the research problem is to identify strategies to improve policies that support girl's access to secondary education in predominantly Muslim nations, you could consider using Azerbaijan as a case study rather than selecting a more obvious nation in the Middle East. Doing so may reveal important new insights into recommending how governments in other predominantly Muslim nations can formulate policies that support improved access to education for girls.
• The case provides important insight or illuminate a previously hidden problem? In-depth analysis of a case can be based on the hypothesis that the case study will reveal trends or issues that have not been exposed in prior research or will reveal new and important implications for practice. For example, anecdotal evidence may suggest drug use among homeless veterans is related to their patterns of travel throughout the day. Assuming prior studies have not looked at individual travel choices as a way to study access to illicit drug use, a case study that observes a homeless veteran could reveal how issues of personal mobility choices facilitate regular access to illicit drugs. Note that it is important to conduct a thorough literature review to ensure that your assumption about the need to reveal new insights or previously hidden problems is valid and evidence-based.
• The case challenges and offers a counter-point to prevailing assumptions? Over time, research on any given topic can fall into a trap of developing assumptions based on outdated studies that are still applied to new or changing conditions or the idea that something should simply be accepted as "common sense," even though the issue has not been thoroughly tested in current practice. A case study analysis may offer an opportunity to gather evidence that challenges prevailing assumptions about a research problem and provide a new set of recommendations applied to practice that have not been tested previously. For example, perhaps there has been a long practice among scholars to apply a particular theory in explaining the relationship between two subjects of analysis. Your case could challenge this assumption by applying an innovative theoretical framework [perhaps borrowed from another discipline] to explore whether this approach offers new ways of understanding the research problem. Taking a contrarian stance is one of the most important ways that new knowledge and understanding develops from existing literature.
• The case provides an opportunity to pursue action leading to the resolution of a problem? Another way to think about choosing a case to study is to consider how the results from investigating a particular case may result in findings that reveal ways in which to resolve an existing or emerging problem. For example, studying the case of an unforeseen incident, such as a fatal accident at a railroad crossing, can reveal hidden issues that could be applied to preventative measures that contribute to reducing the chance of accidents in the future. In this example, a case study investigating the accident could lead to a better understanding of where to strategically locate additional signals at other railroad crossings so as to better warn drivers of an approaching train, particularly when visibility is hindered by heavy rain, fog, or at night.
• The case offers a new direction in future research? A case study can be used as a tool for an exploratory investigation that highlights the need for further research about the problem. A case can be used when there are few studies that help predict an outcome or that establish a clear understanding about how best to proceed in addressing a problem. For example, after conducting a thorough literature review [very important!], you discover that little research exists showing the ways in which women contribute to promoting water conservation in rural communities of east central Africa. A case study of how women contribute to saving water in a rural village of Uganda can lay the foundation for understanding the need for more thorough research that documents how women in their roles as cooks and family caregivers think about water as a valuable resource within their community. This example of a case study could also point to the need for scholars to build new theoretical frameworks around the topic [e.g., applying feminist theories of work and family to the issue of water conservation].

Eisenhardt, Kathleen M. “Building Theories from Case Study Research.” Academy of Management Review 14 (October 1989): 532-550; Emmel, Nick. Sampling and Choosing Cases in Qualitative Research: A Realist Approach . Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, 2013; Gerring, John. “What Is a Case Study and What Is It Good for?” American Political Science Review 98 (May 2004): 341-354; Mills, Albert J. , Gabrielle Durepos, and Eiden Wiebe, editors. Encyclopedia of Case Study Research . Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, 2010; Seawright, Jason and John Gerring. "Case Selection Techniques in Case Study Research." Political Research Quarterly 61 (June 2008): 294-308.

Structure and Writing Style

The purpose of a paper in the social sciences designed around a case study is to thoroughly investigate a subject of analysis in order to reveal a new understanding about the research problem and, in so doing, contributing new knowledge to what is already known from previous studies. In applied social sciences disciplines [e.g., education, social work, public administration, etc.], case studies may also be used to reveal best practices, highlight key programs, or investigate interesting aspects of professional work.

In general, the structure of a case study research paper is not all that different from a standard college-level research paper. However, there are subtle differences you should be aware of. Here are the key elements to organizing and writing a case study research paper.

I.  Introduction

As with any research paper, your introduction should serve as a roadmap for your readers to ascertain the scope and purpose of your study . The introduction to a case study research paper, however, should not only describe the research problem and its significance, but you should also succinctly describe why the case is being used and how it relates to addressing the problem. The two elements should be linked. With this in mind, a good introduction answers these four questions:

• What is being studied? Describe the research problem and describe the subject of analysis [the case] you have chosen to address the problem. Explain how they are linked and what elements of the case will help to expand knowledge and understanding about the problem.
• Why is this topic important to investigate? Describe the significance of the research problem and state why a case study design and the subject of analysis that the paper is designed around is appropriate in addressing the problem.
• What did we know about this topic before I did this study? Provide background that helps lead the reader into the more in-depth literature review to follow. If applicable, summarize prior case study research applied to the research problem and why it fails to adequately address the problem. Describe why your case will be useful. If no prior case studies have been used to address the research problem, explain why you have selected this subject of analysis.
• How will this study advance new knowledge or new ways of understanding? Explain why your case study will be suitable in helping to expand knowledge and understanding about the research problem.

Each of these questions should be addressed in no more than a few paragraphs. Exceptions to this can be when you are addressing a complex research problem or subject of analysis that requires more in-depth background information.

II.  Literature Review

The literature review for a case study research paper is generally structured the same as it is for any college-level research paper. The difference, however, is that the literature review is focused on providing background information and  enabling historical interpretation of the subject of analysis in relation to the research problem the case is intended to address . This includes synthesizing studies that help to:

• Place relevant works in the context of their contribution to understanding the case study being investigated . This would involve summarizing studies that have used a similar subject of analysis to investigate the research problem. If there is literature using the same or a very similar case to study, you need to explain why duplicating past research is important [e.g., conditions have changed; prior studies were conducted long ago, etc.].
• Describe the relationship each work has to the others under consideration that informs the reader why this case is applicable . Your literature review should include a description of any works that support using the case to investigate the research problem and the underlying research questions.
• Identify new ways to interpret prior research using the case study . If applicable, review any research that has examined the research problem using a different research design. Explain how your use of a case study design may reveal new knowledge or a new perspective or that can redirect research in an important new direction.
• Resolve conflicts amongst seemingly contradictory previous studies . This refers to synthesizing any literature that points to unresolved issues of concern about the research problem and describing how the subject of analysis that forms the case study can help resolve these existing contradictions.
• Point the way in fulfilling a need for additional research . Your review should examine any literature that lays a foundation for understanding why your case study design and the subject of analysis around which you have designed your study may reveal a new way of approaching the research problem or offer a perspective that points to the need for additional research.
• Expose any gaps that exist in the literature that the case study could help to fill . Summarize any literature that not only shows how your subject of analysis contributes to understanding the research problem, but how your case contributes to a new way of understanding the problem that prior research has failed to do.
• Locate your own research within the context of existing literature [very important!] . Collectively, your literature review should always place your case study within the larger domain of prior research about the problem. The overarching purpose of reviewing pertinent literature in a case study paper is to demonstrate that you have thoroughly identified and synthesized prior studies in relation to explaining the relevance of the case in addressing the research problem.

III.  Method

In this section, you explain why you selected a particular case [i.e., subject of analysis] and the strategy you used to identify and ultimately decide that your case was appropriate in addressing the research problem. The way you describe the methods used varies depending on the type of subject of analysis that constitutes your case study.

If your subject of analysis is an incident or event . In the social and behavioral sciences, the event or incident that represents the case to be studied is usually bounded by time and place, with a clear beginning and end and with an identifiable location or position relative to its surroundings. The subject of analysis can be a rare or critical event or it can focus on a typical or regular event. The purpose of studying a rare event is to illuminate new ways of thinking about the broader research problem or to test a hypothesis. Critical incident case studies must describe the method by which you identified the event and explain the process by which you determined the validity of this case to inform broader perspectives about the research problem or to reveal new findings. However, the event does not have to be a rare or uniquely significant to support new thinking about the research problem or to challenge an existing hypothesis. For example, Walo, Bull, and Breen conducted a case study to identify and evaluate the direct and indirect economic benefits and costs of a local sports event in the City of Lismore, New South Wales, Australia. The purpose of their study was to provide new insights from measuring the impact of a typical local sports event that prior studies could not measure well because they focused on large "mega-events." Whether the event is rare or not, the methods section should include an explanation of the following characteristics of the event: a) when did it take place; b) what were the underlying circumstances leading to the event; and, c) what were the consequences of the event in relation to the research problem.

If your subject of analysis is a person. Explain why you selected this particular individual to be studied and describe what experiences they have had that provide an opportunity to advance new understandings about the research problem. Mention any background about this person which might help the reader understand the significance of their experiences that make them worthy of study. This includes describing the relationships this person has had with other people, institutions, and/or events that support using them as the subject for a case study research paper. It is particularly important to differentiate the person as the subject of analysis from others and to succinctly explain how the person relates to examining the research problem [e.g., why is one politician in a particular local election used to show an increase in voter turnout from any other candidate running in the election]. Note that these issues apply to a specific group of people used as a case study unit of analysis [e.g., a classroom of students].

If your subject of analysis is a place. In general, a case study that investigates a place suggests a subject of analysis that is unique or special in some way and that this uniqueness can be used to build new understanding or knowledge about the research problem. A case study of a place must not only describe its various attributes relevant to the research problem [e.g., physical, social, historical, cultural, economic, political], but you must state the method by which you determined that this place will illuminate new understandings about the research problem. It is also important to articulate why a particular place as the case for study is being used if similar places also exist [i.e., if you are studying patterns of homeless encampments of veterans in open spaces, explain why you are studying Echo Park in Los Angeles rather than Griffith Park?]. If applicable, describe what type of human activity involving this place makes it a good choice to study [e.g., prior research suggests Echo Park has more homeless veterans].

If your subject of analysis is a phenomenon. A phenomenon refers to a fact, occurrence, or circumstance that can be studied or observed but with the cause or explanation to be in question. In this sense, a phenomenon that forms your subject of analysis can encompass anything that can be observed or presumed to exist but is not fully understood. In the social and behavioral sciences, the case usually focuses on human interaction within a complex physical, social, economic, cultural, or political system. For example, the phenomenon could be the observation that many vehicles used by ISIS fighters are small trucks with English language advertisements on them. The research problem could be that ISIS fighters are difficult to combat because they are highly mobile. The research questions could be how and by what means are these vehicles used by ISIS being supplied to the militants and how might supply lines to these vehicles be cut off? How might knowing the suppliers of these trucks reveal larger networks of collaborators and financial support? A case study of a phenomenon most often encompasses an in-depth analysis of a cause and effect that is grounded in an interactive relationship between people and their environment in some way.

NOTE:   The choice of the case or set of cases to study cannot appear random. Evidence that supports the method by which you identified and chose your subject of analysis should clearly support investigation of the research problem and linked to key findings from your literature review. Be sure to cite any studies that helped you determine that the case you chose was appropriate for examining the problem.

IV.  Discussion

The main elements of your discussion section are generally the same as any research paper, but centered around interpreting and drawing conclusions about the key findings from your analysis of the case study. Note that a general social sciences research paper may contain a separate section to report findings. However, in a paper designed around a case study, it is common to combine a description of the results with the discussion about their implications. The objectives of your discussion section should include the following:

Reiterate the Research Problem/State the Major Findings Briefly reiterate the research problem you are investigating and explain why the subject of analysis around which you designed the case study were used. You should then describe the findings revealed from your study of the case using direct, declarative, and succinct proclamation of the study results. Highlight any findings that were unexpected or especially profound.

Explain the Meaning of the Findings and Why They are Important Systematically explain the meaning of your case study findings and why you believe they are important. Begin this part of the section by repeating what you consider to be your most important or surprising finding first, then systematically review each finding. Be sure to thoroughly extrapolate what your analysis of the case can tell the reader about situations or conditions beyond the actual case that was studied while, at the same time, being careful not to misconstrue or conflate a finding that undermines the external validity of your conclusions.

Relate the Findings to Similar Studies No study in the social sciences is so novel or possesses such a restricted focus that it has absolutely no relation to previously published research. The discussion section should relate your case study results to those found in other studies, particularly if questions raised from prior studies served as the motivation for choosing your subject of analysis. This is important because comparing and contrasting the findings of other studies helps support the overall importance of your results and it highlights how and in what ways your case study design and the subject of analysis differs from prior research about the topic.

Consider Alternative Explanations of the Findings Remember that the purpose of social science research is to discover and not to prove. When writing the discussion section, you should carefully consider all possible explanations revealed by the case study results, rather than just those that fit your hypothesis or prior assumptions and biases. Be alert to what the in-depth analysis of the case may reveal about the research problem, including offering a contrarian perspective to what scholars have stated in prior research if that is how the findings can be interpreted from your case.

Acknowledge the Study's Limitations You can state the study's limitations in the conclusion section of your paper but describing the limitations of your subject of analysis in the discussion section provides an opportunity to identify the limitations and explain why they are not significant. This part of the discussion section should also note any unanswered questions or issues your case study could not address. More detailed information about how to document any limitations to your research can be found here .

Suggest Areas for Further Research Although your case study may offer important insights about the research problem, there are likely additional questions related to the problem that remain unanswered or findings that unexpectedly revealed themselves as a result of your in-depth analysis of the case. Be sure that the recommendations for further research are linked to the research problem and that you explain why your recommendations are valid in other contexts and based on the original assumptions of your study.

V.  Conclusion

As with any research paper, you should summarize your conclusion in clear, simple language; emphasize how the findings from your case study differs from or supports prior research and why. Do not simply reiterate the discussion section. Provide a synthesis of key findings presented in the paper to show how these converge to address the research problem. If you haven't already done so in the discussion section, be sure to document the limitations of your case study and any need for further research.

The function of your paper's conclusion is to: 1) reiterate the main argument supported by the findings from your case study; 2) state clearly the context, background, and necessity of pursuing the research problem using a case study design in relation to an issue, controversy, or a gap found from reviewing the literature; and, 3) provide a place to persuasively and succinctly restate the significance of your research problem, given that the reader has now been presented with in-depth information about the topic.

Consider the following points to help ensure your conclusion is appropriate:

• If the argument or purpose of your paper is complex, you may need to summarize these points for your reader.
• If prior to your conclusion, you have not yet explained the significance of your findings or if you are proceeding inductively, use the conclusion of your paper to describe your main points and explain their significance.
• Move from a detailed to a general level of consideration of the case study's findings that returns the topic to the context provided by the introduction or within a new context that emerges from your case study findings.

Note that, depending on the discipline you are writing in or the preferences of your professor, the concluding paragraph may contain your final reflections on the evidence presented as it applies to practice or on the essay's central research problem. However, the nature of being introspective about the subject of analysis you have investigated will depend on whether you are explicitly asked to express your observations in this way.

Problems to Avoid

Overgeneralization One of the goals of a case study is to lay a foundation for understanding broader trends and issues applied to similar circumstances. However, be careful when drawing conclusions from your case study. They must be evidence-based and grounded in the results of the study; otherwise, it is merely speculation. Looking at a prior example, it would be incorrect to state that a factor in improving girls access to education in Azerbaijan and the policy implications this may have for improving access in other Muslim nations is due to girls access to social media if there is no documentary evidence from your case study to indicate this. There may be anecdotal evidence that retention rates were better for girls who were engaged with social media, but this observation would only point to the need for further research and would not be a definitive finding if this was not a part of your original research agenda.

Failure to Document Limitations No case is going to reveal all that needs to be understood about a research problem. Therefore, just as you have to clearly state the limitations of a general research study , you must describe the specific limitations inherent in the subject of analysis. For example, the case of studying how women conceptualize the need for water conservation in a village in Uganda could have limited application in other cultural contexts or in areas where fresh water from rivers or lakes is plentiful and, therefore, conservation is understood more in terms of managing access rather than preserving access to a scarce resource.

Failure to Extrapolate All Possible Implications Just as you don't want to over-generalize from your case study findings, you also have to be thorough in the consideration of all possible outcomes or recommendations derived from your findings. If you do not, your reader may question the validity of your analysis, particularly if you failed to document an obvious outcome from your case study research. For example, in the case of studying the accident at the railroad crossing to evaluate where and what types of warning signals should be located, you failed to take into consideration speed limit signage as well as warning signals. When designing your case study, be sure you have thoroughly addressed all aspects of the problem and do not leave gaps in your analysis that leave the reader questioning the results.

Case Studies. Writing@CSU. Colorado State University; Gerring, John. Case Study Research: Principles and Practices . New York: Cambridge University Press, 2007; Merriam, Sharan B. Qualitative Research and Case Study Applications in Education . Rev. ed. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, 1998; Miller, Lisa L. “The Use of Case Studies in Law and Social Science Research.” Annual Review of Law and Social Science 14 (2018): TBD; Mills, Albert J., Gabrielle Durepos, and Eiden Wiebe, editors. Encyclopedia of Case Study Research . Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, 2010; Putney, LeAnn Grogan. "Case Study." In Encyclopedia of Research Design , Neil J. Salkind, editor. (Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, 2010), pp. 116-120; Simons, Helen. Case Study Research in Practice . London: SAGE Publications, 2009;  Kratochwill,  Thomas R. and Joel R. Levin, editors. Single-Case Research Design and Analysis: New Development for Psychology and Education .  Hilldsale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 1992; Swanborn, Peter G. Case Study Research: What, Why and How? London : SAGE, 2010; Yin, Robert K. Case Study Research: Design and Methods . 6th edition. Los Angeles, CA, SAGE Publications, 2014; Walo, Maree, Adrian Bull, and Helen Breen. “Achieving Economic Benefits at Local Events: A Case Study of a Local Sports Event.” Festival Management and Event Tourism 4 (1996): 95-106.

Writing Tip

At Least Five Misconceptions about Case Study Research

Social science case studies are often perceived as limited in their ability to create new knowledge because they are not randomly selected and findings cannot be generalized to larger populations. Flyvbjerg examines five misunderstandings about case study research and systematically "corrects" each one. To quote, these are:

Misunderstanding 1 :  General, theoretical [context-independent] knowledge is more valuable than concrete, practical [context-dependent] knowledge. Misunderstanding 2 :  One cannot generalize on the basis of an individual case; therefore, the case study cannot contribute to scientific development. Misunderstanding 3 :  The case study is most useful for generating hypotheses; that is, in the first stage of a total research process, whereas other methods are more suitable for hypotheses testing and theory building. Misunderstanding 4 :  The case study contains a bias toward verification, that is, a tendency to confirm the researcher’s preconceived notions. Misunderstanding 5 :  It is often difficult to summarize and develop general propositions and theories on the basis of specific case studies [p. 221].

While writing your paper, think introspectively about how you addressed these misconceptions because to do so can help you strengthen the validity and reliability of your research by clarifying issues of case selection, the testing and challenging of existing assumptions, the interpretation of key findings, and the summation of case outcomes. Think of a case study research paper as a complete, in-depth narrative about the specific properties and key characteristics of your subject of analysis applied to the research problem.

Flyvbjerg, Bent. “Five Misunderstandings About Case-Study Research.” Qualitative Inquiry 12 (April 2006): 219-245.

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College of Arts and Sciences

Department of english, department of english newsletter: march 2024.

• March 28, 2024

//Letter from the Chair/Burgess-Van Aken Retirement/Grad Student to Medical Writer/Earlier This Year/Department News/The Way We Write Now/Alumni News//

Letter from the Acting Chair

This spring, I have had the privilege of serving as the department’s Acting Chair – don’t worry, our intrepid poet-scholar, Walt Hunter , will return next semester – and, while I am no stranger to administrative tasks, I confess that this particular appointment has given me an entirely new appreciation for the depth, breadth, and awesome diversity of our department. We really do contain multitudes. (Apologies to both Walts.)

Over the last several months, we have celebrated the births of new members of our extended departmental family (welcome, again, to Malek, Julian, and Clara !), and we are eagerly anticipating the arrival of several new faculty colleagues next fall. We have served an essential role in the university’s brand-new Unified General Education Requirement, offering one hundred and nineteen Academic Inquiry Seminars to this year’s incoming first-year students. This spring, our English majors are taking an exciting array of courses, from Science and Magic in Renaissance Literature ( Maggie Vinter ) to Trans Minor Literature (Baker-Nord Postdoctoral Fellow Aaron Hammes ), from African American Dramatists (John Orlock ) to Hitchcock ( Rob Spadoni ). In her doctoral dissertation defense just last week, Hayley Verdi demonstrated the value of interdisciplinary inquiry by adopting and interrogating narrative medicine advocate Rita Charon’s concept of the “corporeal gap” for the ways that it allows new readings of nineteenth-century illness narratives.

All semester, I have had a soundtrack weaving its way in and out of my consciousness, returning always to David Bowie’s “Changes” with its haunting imperative chorus: “Turn and face the strange…” It is a strange world, indeed, when headlines proclaim that generative artificial intelligence will soon make our jobs as teachers obsolete and our literary craft a quaint relic of slower times. And yet. According to Annettee Vee , our speaker for the Edward S. and Melinda Sadar Lecture in Writing in the Disciplines last December, the  “intelligence” in artificial intelligence resides in the reader and not in the chatbot. She suggests that in our fascination (and horror), we imbue Chat-GPT with our own deeply human facility for connection, interpretation, invention. The initial jolt of recognition – when the technology accurately predicts syntactic structures and produces an application letter, a five-paragraph essay, a reader’s report – might best be faced with curiosity rather than anxiety. What can we learn about the routinized forms that characterize contemporary discourse? How should our students engage with the bland prose (and verse) produced by these tools?

In realms where pixels dance and bytes take flight,

Where ink meets algorithm, shaping words with might

The union of writing and AI begins to ignite,

A symphony of creativity in digital light.

–ChatGP

This makes me think what we do – both in our classrooms and in our creative and scholarly work – is still relevant and necessary. I look forward to facing the strange and imagining new possibilities together, as humans.

–Kim Emmons, March 2024

A Few Words on the Occasion of Barbara Burgess-Van Aken’s Retirement

by Bernard Jim

During the more than sixteen years that we have worked together at Case, Barbara has been a colleague, a mentor, and a friend.

Ours is a friendship that is a study in contrasts I suppose. When we go out for a drink, she orders wine, and I order beer. Barbara is diplomatic, poised, and thinks about the long game. I am impolitic, rash, and want to get my licks in. She taught me that there is more than one way to achieve your goals.

She is everything you could want in a mentor, and when I desperately needed a mentor, she obliged me. Generous with her time, connections, and opportunities, she’s a patient listener who knows how to talk you down from a ledge. Maybe she will take up hostage negotiations in her retirement?

She works hard, but never complains. (Editor’s Note: At her retirement party, she claimed that she does, in fact, complain. But not to me, apparently!) When you saw how much time and effort she put into the Celebration of Student Writing, for example, you didn’t need her to ask you, you wanted to pitch in.

As her colleague, I noticed that she built relationships rather than networks. Before any of us, she had developed relationships with Siegal Lifelong Learning Center, with Reflection Point, with Case Wellness, and with the Bar Manager at l’Albatros. You will not be surprised to learn that Barbara was selfless about sharing the benefits of those relationships..

I remember when we were doing observations, and I visited Barbara’s classroom. I guess it was for the sake of the Observed, but I was the one who learned something. My classroom is like a mosh pit. Hers a ballet. I am full of nervous energy. She was all grace and agility. Barbara had complete command of her seminar, and it calmed all her students down. She led the room in a few minutes of quiet meditation at the start of class. They knew she cared about their well-being, and her colleagues knew she felt the same way about them.

In the early days of SAGES, the Fellows would gather over the holidays and exchange silly gifts. Barbara would bring her Christmas cookies. They had intricate designs — trees, holly leaves, Santa — and she iced them with fine details. The care she took with those cookies was the same care she always took for her students, colleagues, and friends.

Barbara, from all of us whose lives you have touched over the past 21 years — Thank you!

After years as a higher education administrator and consultant for nonprofit organizations and higher education institutions nationwide, Barbara Burgess-Van Aken earned her PhD at Case Western Reserve University and embarked on a career of college-level teaching and research. Her academic interests include early modern women writers (particularly playwrights), Shakespeare, and higher education pedagogy.

From English Graduate Student to Medical Writer: Reflections on the Journey

by Mary K. Assad (’14)

I decided to pursue my MA in English because I was drawn to the power of literature. I wanted to read the most beautiful language I could find, examine what made it so moving, and craft analyses that would make others think, “wow, what a fascinating insight.” As a professor said in one of my earliest seminars, our goal was not to study ordinary language, but rather the most extraordinary language.

After completing my MA, I continued into the PhD program. Soon, I started to find myself drawn to language that wasn’t so extraordinary, at least not on the surface. Language of everyday life, language that gets things done. Ordinary language. I grew interested in the field of rhetorical studies and the ways in which scholars parsed language in all areas of life to gain insight into the human experience.

Taking a course on the rhetoric of health and medicine was like pulling back the curtain on a window I never knew was in the room. I realized that when you study ordinary language in a healthcare context— like personal health narratives, public health posters, or pharmaceutical ads — you could learn how people connect over shared diagnoses, or you could start to understand the fears or misgivings that patients bring to medical encounters.

Discovering medical rhetoric changed my doctoral path and shaped my approach to classroom teaching. It also made me realize that somewhere down the road, I wanted to be the one writing the messages I was analyzing. I wanted to have the opportunity to educate people on health and illness in ways that would, hopefully, inspire or empower them. Graduate studies in English led me to where I am today: working as a medical writer for Cleveland Clinic.

I have written about 250 articles in a little over two years, each one averaging 2,000 words. They’re published to the Clinic’s online Health Library , which aims to reach readers (mostly through web searches) across the nation and world. Each week, I receive several new assignments, and sometimes they’re vastly different.

I might be writing about RSV in children while researching a rare genetic disorder and finishing up a piece on the social determinants of health. I’ve written dozens of articles on surgeries, mostly cardiac and vascular. I’ve learned which blood vessels connect with the heart and at which chambers, and I’ve examined diagrams of the eye to figure out how to explain a corneal disease.

I am a humanities student thrown into a science classroom where the measure of my success isn’t a final exam but an essay I must produce to help someone understand how a disease is affecting their body. Or their loved one’s body. Maybe their child. I feel so responsible, and sometimes so helpless.

But I also feel empowered. This is something I never dreamed of doing when analyzing imagery in the works of F. Scott Fitzgerald. It’s something I never knew could be possible with a PhD in English. It’s a place I never would have reached without a deep appreciation and love of the English language and its poetries, its harmonies, its rhythms and whispers. The extraordinary language that drew me to Guilford House is still in my heart and my mind, and studying it allowed me to realize how much we need words, in all their shapes and structures, to understand ourselves and our shared existence.

I have produced more ordinary language than I ever thought I could. I am told to make my sentences shorter and simpler. I remember to add more paragraph breaks and bulleted lists. And I make a note that it’s OK — even a good idea — to start sentences with conjunctions. Then, readers will feel connected. They’ll engage and understand. And maybe they’ll feel more confident asking their doctor a question or speaking up about their side effects. Maybe they’ll be the voice for their spouse or their aging parent. Perhaps I can reassure them there’s hope or remind them of their agency in a healthcare system where it’s all too easy to get lost or never have the opportunity to enter at all.

I am a medical writer producing words that will never be literary, nor will they pretend to be. I simply want to craft language that will make a reader think, “wow, so that’s how it works” or “now I understand.” I seek to explain which symptoms should prompt a doctor’s visit, or how a parent can manage a new diagnosis in their child.

The words we use to talk about health can have the power to move someone to pick up the phone. To feel more confident as a caregiver. To feel they’re not alone, or not to blame. And to me, that’s pretty extraordinary.

Earlier This Year

Jimmy Newlin delivering his lecture “Uncanny Fidelity: Recognizing Shakespeare in Twenty-First-Century Film and Television” in January.

  Josh Hoeynck delivering his lecture in February: “Archival Apocatastasis: Completing the Charles Olson and Robert Creeley Correspondence.”

Department News

George Blake’s article about the progress of lead safety in Cleveland has been published in The Land.

Cara Byrne and Kristin Kondrlik (’16) recently published their article “Rainbows in the Window: Static Childhood in COVID-19 Children’s Picture Books” in New Directions in Childhood Studies: Innocence, Trauma, and Agency in the Twenty-first Century .

Michael Clune ‘s novel Pan will be published by Penguin in 2025

Congratulations to Cadence Dangerfield and Ellard Stolze who both passed their MA oral exams!

On Tuesday, January 23rd, Vicki Daniel gave a Zoom talk to the University of Pittsburgh School of Public Health Lecture at the C.F. Reynolds Medical History Society. The talk was titled, “‘Could a situation be more ghastly?’: Doctors, Disinfectants, and the Dead After the Johnstown Flood of 1889.”

Hayden’s Ferry Review has published five of Joseph DeLong ‘s visual poems and an interview with him as part of their online folio Mixing up Media.

Mary Grimm has won the C&R Press Award in Fiction for her book of short stories Transubstantiation .

Aaron Hammes , a postdoc in our department, is featured in The Dail y.

Walt Hunter ‘s book Some Flowers was reviewed in the Cleveland Review of Books.

English major Hannah Jackson discusses her spring break abroad with The Daily.

In late December, Kurt Koenigsberger was awarded $1.49M by the Mellon Foundation, in support of a third phase for the Cleveland Humanities Collaborative (which he directs), running through June 2027.

Dave Lucas gave the keynote at the annual conference of the Ohio Council of Teachers of Language Arts (OCTELA) in Columbus.

Alexandra Magearu published a short story about the criminalization of abortion in 1980s Romania in the other side of hope,

Marilyn Mobley ‘s book on Toni Morrison’s narrative strategies is forthcoming from Temple University Press.

Jimmy Newlin ‘s book Uncanny Fidelity: Recognizing Shakespeare in Twenty-First-Century Film and Television was published by the Strode Series in Renaissance Literature and Culture of the University of Alabama Press.

Steve Pinkerton ‘s review essay, “Ralph Ellison, Democracy, and American Vernacular Culture,” will appear in Resources for American Literary Study , 45.1.

Stephanie Redekop has received a 2024 Life Worth Living Faculty Fellowship from Yale’s Center for Faith & Culture

Camila Ring’s piece, “Precisely Knowing Not: Emily Dickinson and Generative Negation,” is now out in ELH .

Earlier in March, Robin Beth Schae r led an open-level and multi-genre workshop on Nature & Ecological Writing in Cuyahoga Valley National Park for Literary Cleveland.

Lindsay Turner’ s poem “The Forest / Wanting a Child” was published in The New York Review of Books.

Thrity Umrigar had a review of Amitava Kumar’s My Beloved Life published in the New York Times.

Hayley Verdi began her new position as Writing Center Coordinator at Ursuline College in January.

Marion Wolfe just had a chapter come out in an edited collection. Her essay is co-written with Elizabeth Rodrigues and is titled “Post-it as Praxis: Counternarrating Non-linearity and Multiplicity in Academic Lives” from the collection Career Narratives and Academic Womanhood: In the Spaces Provided , edited by Lisa Ortiz-Vilarelle.

Saar Zutsh i, an English major with a concentration in film, is one of two Case students who will show work at the Short. Sweet. Film Fest.

The Way We Write Now

by Dave Lucas

—“Who is speaking thus?”—

English faculty of a certain generation may have been haunted through graduate school by that question of Roland Barthes’s. In those days it was a delicious theoretical proposition: the death—and rebirth (and redeath?)—of the author.

Today the question returns—with far more practical stakes for those of us concerned with English studies and writing pedagogy. Who speaks? Our students? Or artificial intelligence?

If you believe the hand-wringing think pieces that accompanied the public debut of Chat GPT, in November 2022, you might think that the author is long dead, the student essay next, and complete submission to our new robot overlords not too far down the road.

Annette Vee, the 2023 Edward and Melinda S. Sadar Lecturer in Writing in the Disciplines , says it’s not that simple. In her December 11th lecture, “Automating Writing from Androids to AI,” Vee argued that attempts to automate writing are nothing new, despite the novelty of large-language model technology.

The eighteenth-century Swiss clockmaker Henri Maillardet produced a complex automaton that could write, if not compose. A century ago, W. B. Yeats and his wife Georgie Hyde-Lees turned to the spirit world for creative inspiration, as Georgie’s “automatic” writing, or psychography, became the basis (even if she never received an author’s credit) for the poet and occultist’s late work, A Vision (1925).

But it’s not just the writing that so worries and excites various observers. It’s the intelligence itself, and with it, a question of Alan Turing’s that might be set alongside Barthes’s: Can machines think?

If by “think” we mean “do human language” (a different, similarly complicated question), then the answer is no. Not yet, anyway. Vee, who teaches and directs the Composition Program at the University of Pittsburgh, explains that what large-language models like Chat GPT (that’s generative pre-trained transformer) do, instead, is to gather text and predict language based on a data set. These networks “learn” statistical relationships in large sets of data (text on the internet, for example) by exchanging language for numbers, turning those numbers into vectors that map relationships between words, then using that multidimensional map to produce words in a likely sequence.

In other words, Chat GPT isn’t speaking to you; it’s predicting what someone might say. If it looks like AI is reasoning, Vee argues, that’s because we fill in the reasoning. We humans are still—for better or worse—the (non-artificial) intelligence. Perhaps this is why—as our own Walt Hunter has argued—Chat GPT remains a lousy poet. ( https://www.theatlantic.com/books/archive/2023/02/chatgpt-ai-technology-writing-poetry/673035/ )

What about our students’ papers? Vee reminds us that—whatever our best pedagogical intentions—we’ve never known with absolute certainty who’s writing those, whether our students or their roommates or someone else entirely. Whether those essays were composed in a dorm room or bought online or manifested from an astral plane, we can never truly know.

We can develop and employ software to police other software, or we can recognize the opportunity at hand: Chat GPT, Grammarly, and other writing applications offer us a chance to reengage with our students in a discussion of the complexities—the very human struggles and victories—of the writing process

Indeed, as Vee reminded us in her lecture, the best faculty approach requires no technology whatsoever, only that human element that artificial intelligence cannot replicate: talk to your students. Ask them their own thoughts and fears about AI, other emerging technologies, and enduring creativity. Listen to what they say. Our human interactions remain—for the time being, at least—where language, thinking, and writing remain most truly alive.

Edward (ADL ‘64, MED ‘68) and Melinda Melton (FSM ‘66) Sadar established the Edward S. and Melinda Sadar Lecture in Writing in the Disciplines in Spring 2009 to showcase research and scholarship in writing across the disciplines, including the histories, cultures, and contexts of specific writing practices, writing instruction, and communicative technologies. The lecture is held annually.

Alumni News

In 2023, Mary Assad (’14 ) gave invited presentations in two fellow CWRU alums’ writing classes: Kristin Kondrlik ‘s Professional and Technical Writing course (West Chester University) and Danielle Nielsen ‘s Writing for the Web course (Murray State University). Mary’s talk, “Professional Writing in a Healthcare Setting,” focused on what it’s like to work as a medical writer, how to get started in the field, and how to craft health content that people can understand. Mary is entering her third year as a medical writer for Cleveland Clinic’s Health Library.

Lisa Chiu (’93) has an essay in Labor Of Love: A Literary Mama Anthology about the foods her mom prepared for her after she gave birth.

Laura Evers (’18 ) has an interview in The Georgia Review with poet and Cave Canem 2022 Prize winner Ariana Benson about her book Black Pastoral.

Alum (’16) Kristin E. Kondrlik ’s article has been published in the Rhetoric of Health and Medicine Journal. This article represents an international perspective on celebrity, media and pandemics. Kondrlik worked with @wise.beck, @colleenderkatch, and Hua Wang on this idea, which grew out of a Twitter conversation during the pandemic.

Andrew Reichel (English BA with film concentration, ’17) is concluding his final year at New York University’s Moving Image Archiving and Preservation Master of Arts Program. His most recent internship was with Electronic Arts Intermix in New York City.

Brad Ricca (’02) interviewed Henry Winkler at his Writers Center Stage appearance in November.

Brandy Schillace (’10) discussed her new novel— The Framed Women of Ardemore House —at the Orange Branch of the Cuyahoga County Public Library.

In February, Michelle Smith once again orchestrated her annual performance showcase Blax Museum.

On February 29th, Nadia Tarnawsky presented “Vesna Krasna: Beautiful Spring,” an exploration of Ukrainian spring songs at the Ukrainian History and Education Center.

Alum (’07) Christopher Urban ‘s long short story / novelette “The Reading Lamp” was recently published at On the Seawall.

Alum (’10) Marie Vibbert ’s latest story just came out at Clarkesworld — Rail Meat” –a professional thief tries her hand at being living ballast in space yacht races.

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Women workers at greater risk of being replaced by AI: study

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More From Forbes

How To Get A Grant For Your Small Business

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Seeking out grant funding is an often untapped opportunity in the entrepreneurial world. While there are complexities involved in the application process, the benefits of obtaining grant money for your small business are potentially vast—ranging from funding for starting a new venture to ramping up your company’s growth.

Small business owners often miss out on opportunities because they feel like the application process is just too cumbersome. Other times, it's because they believe they won't be eligible for a grant. But wouldn't it be a shame to miss out on assistance that could make all the difference?

Take some time to do the research and see what grants and resources are available to you. Chances are, there are programs out there that you qualify for, and with a little effort, you could be on your way to receiving the help you need to take your business to the next level.

Grants vs. Loans and Other Funding

It’s important to note that a grant is not a business loan , and as such, it does not require repayment or equity transfer. Grants consist of funds distributed for a specific purpose, typically defined by the grant program, such as research, community development, or economic expansion. This monetary gift represents a compelling reason for entrepreneurs to pursue grants as part of their financial strategy—it’s essentially free money to grow your business.

Eligibility Criteria for Small Business Grants

Grant eligibility criteria vary widely depending on the provider and the nature of the grant. However, certain common elements typically form part of the eligibility requirements. These might include factors such as location, the industry or sector your business operates within, the number of employees, the type of business entity, and your business’s financial health.

Best High-Yield Savings Accounts Of 2024

Best 5% interest savings accounts of 2024.

Common eligibility requirements:

• Business size and legal structure
• Business location and operation domain
• Business industry or niche
• Project or program specifics
• Financial needs and plan

Preparing a Compelling Small Business Grant Application

Crafting a successful grant proposal is a multi-step process that requires a strategic approach. Remember, competition for grants is often fierce, and a well-prepared proposal is your key to standing out.

A standard grant proposal includes the following sections:

Business overview and mission: Clearly outline your business’s mission and the purpose of the grant request within this context.

Project description: Define your project’s goals, scope, and anticipated outcomes, showing how the grant will support these initiatives.

Budget and financing plan: Lay out a detailed budget illustrating how the grant money will be used to achieve the project’s objectives.

Impact and benefit analysis: Articulate the broader impact and potential benefits your project will have on the community, industry, or economy, in alignment with the grantor’s mission.

Sustainability plan: Detail how the positive impacts of the project will continue beyond the grant period, ensuring lasting value.

Navigating the Application Process

Each grantor will have specific application guidelines that you must follow meticulously. This typically involves completing an application form, attaching required documents, and submitting the proposal within a given timeframe. Be mindful of deadlines and consider starting the application well in advance to avoid rushing the process.

Writing a Persuasive Grant Proposal

When writing your grant proposal , focus on addressing the funder’s key concerns, showcasing a clear alignment between your business’s activities and the grantor’s mission, and compelling storytelling that highlights the impact of your intended project. Data-driven arguments and evidence of past success can also bolster your proposal.

Overcoming Common Obstacles in the Grant Application Journey

Even with diligent preparation, the road to securing a grant can be fraught with obstacles. Being aware of these challenges and knowing how to overcome them is crucial to your success.

Establishing a solid business case

Grant providers are looking to support initiatives that have a strong likelihood of success. This means you must demonstrate the viability of your business and the project, complete with a strategic plan, market research, and any relevant track record your team has.

Articulating the right message

Effective communication with the grantor requires you to tailor your pitch to their preferences, priorities, and language. Engaging with the grantor prior to the application can provide valuable insights on how to properly frame your proposal.

Managing the application volume

Applying for multiple grants can be a time-consuming process. In such cases, consider establishing a system for managing the application process, including a calendar with important dates, reusable templates, and a clear distribution of tasks among team members or partners.

The bottom line is that the world of small business grants is rich with opportunities for ambitious entrepreneurs willing to invest the time and effort in this pursuit. By understanding the nuances of the grant application process, aligning your business goals with potential funding sources, and maintaining a strategic approach to securing and deploying grant money, you can position your venture for growth and success.

Melissa Houston, CPA is the author of Cash Confident: An Entrepreneur’s Guide to Creating a Profitable Business . She is the founder of She Means Profit, which is a podcast and blog . As a Finance Strategist for small business owners, Melissa helps successful business owners increase their profit margins so that they keep more money in their pocket and increase their net worth.

The opinions expressed in this article are not intended to replace any professional or expert accounting and/or tax advice whatsoever.

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March 26, 2024

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Two coral snakes recorded battling for prey in a scientific first

by Pensoft Publishers

Two red-tailed coral snakes have been observed competing over a caecilian in the first documented wild case of kleptoparasitism within the family Elapidae.

Kleptoparasitism, or food theft, is a well-documented behavior in many animal species , but is seldom reported among snakes in natural habitats.

The observation, detailed in a recent study published in Herpetozoa by Henrik Bringsøe and Niels Poul Dreyer, showcases the two Micrurus mipartitus snakes engaging in a tug-of-war over the limbless amphibian.

Elapid snakes are venomous and among the deadliest serpents in the world. There are more than 400 species comprising a very diverse group of snakes such as mambas, cobras, kraits, taipans, tiger snakes, death adders, sea snakes and coral snakes.

The battle occurred in the dense rainforests of Valle del Cauca, western Colombia. Surprisingly, in the tussle, one snake also bit the body of the other. However, the researchers suggest this was likely accidental.

After 17 minutes of observation, the losing coral snake released its bite hold on the caecilian. The winner then moved away from the losing snake, which did not follow.

The study suggests that while such behaviors may be more common in captivity due to controlled environments, their occurrence in nature has been largely underreported, likely due to the elusive nature of these reptiles and the challenges of observing them in their natural habitats .

"Snakes in captivity do that often when only one prey is offered in a terrarium with two or more snakes. But it is rather surprising that it has not been observed more frequently in the wild," says lead author Henrik Bringsøe.

This case sheds light on the coral snake interactions with prey species . Caecilians, such as the one in this study, have shown remarkable adaptations such as toxin resistance and increased mucus production.

Provided by Pensoft Publishers

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