What have we found to expand your email knowledge today?

Here are a few of our favourite links from across the email and business world, carefully curated just for you:

Find of the week ⭐

Did someone say Spotify for…email?

Yep, that’s a thing! And with the audio space for newsletters growing, this looks like something we may wind up using a heap in weeks to come.

We recently ran into Earbox, and the premise is pretty simple:

For all you folks looking to listen to your inbox and build playlists of stuff to listen to, this is a neat one to check out here.

We're also constantly on the lookout for new resources, news, tools and links, so hit us up if you've got something valuable to feature!

But everyone reading it should feel like they'd pay for it anyway.

That's the real test for pretty much anyone sending emails now, isn’t it?

And no, we're not being cute about it. "Worth paying for" often gets treated like a pricing decision. You know, something you bolt on once the list's big enough or the numbers finally look respectable.

If that’s your perception, (un)fortunately, that’s not it because, well, it's a value decision.

And you can make that call today. Regardless of size, if you're the kind of sender your readers would seriously miss if you stopped, sponsors would fight one another to queue for, and the whole shebang's actually built to last (not scrambling to hold itself together, but we'll get to that), then you’re on the right track.

So today’s bit of advice is built on three key questions, and three pillars, folks.

Let's run through those together.

This is what we define as “Reader Value”, and it starts with something that you’re probably aware of, but needs work.

You need to define the actions readers are taking to determine whether your email is actually something of value.

The good news is that email metrics tell us a LOT (unlike the vanity stuff on socials, you’re getting serious engagement stuff). We all know open rates are unreliable at best, but the stuff that tells you if your audience is actually engaging starts with your click rates and replies.

There are also metrics like unsubscribe rates, audience growth rates, lifetime value (we’ll get to that), and more, but a proverbial “finger on the pulse” is not you keeping an eye on your subscribers, as much as it is on your own email health.

The moment those key actions start declining, this is an indicator of lost value.

If you’re not sharing what folks are there for in the first place, not structuring that well, not delivering on value and losing subs faster than you’re gaining them, there’s a harsh truth in all of this for you…

Your readers are probably not going to notice if you stop sending.

Harsh as that may sound, this is the foundation upon which your email success is built. If there’s no “value” for the audience, there’s no value. Full stop.

That's “Sponsor Value” right there. But there’s something that trips so many senders up (especially in growing newsletters): Many of us reckon sponsorship only starts once the list's big enough.

It doesn't (we promise).

A focused 3,000-subscriber list in a tight niche will out-earn a broad 30,000-subscriber list most days, because what sponsors actually pay for is an audience they (genuinely) can't reach anywhere else. Not eyeballs.

And these aren’t vanity numbers on a media kit nobody double-checks either.

Compare these two pitches and tell us, honestly, which one gets a reply:

"Hi, I run a newsletter with 8,000 subscribers, would you be interested in sponsoring an issue?"

"I write to 3,200 fintech founders who open at 44% and click at 2.1%, well above average. [SponsorX] fits this issue's theme. Media kit attached, packages from $250."

That cold ask with nothing to evaluate…that’s modern-day LinkedIn bro-hustle without substance (yeah, we ignore those too).

The other hands a sponsor a decision they can actually make.

~67% of newsletter creators already monetise through sponsorship (more than any other route), and creators with a ready media kit close deals roughly three times faster than those without one.

Build yours before you think you need it. Future you will be buying the drinks.

“Structural Value” is the boring pillar, guys, and also the one subtly protecting the other two (the unsung hero of the three, if you will).

Things like re-engagement are hygiene, not cruelty: every disengaged subscriber drags down the numbers a sponsor and a mailbox provider both read. Kicking a few ghosts off your list protects the audience you've actually got, and costs you nothing you were using anyway.

We've also gone deeper on segmentation before, but the short version still holds: segment out the people who've opened, clicked or replied in the last 30 to 60 days. Lead with that number, not your total subscriber count. It's the one that's actually true, and the one that'll make a sponsor open their wallet.

Then there's consistency, which does more heavy lifting than anyone gives it credit for. A reader who knows exactly when you'll show up trusts you more than one who gets surprised, and that trust is what eventually gets monetised, whether that's sponsorship, a paid tier, affiliate links, or something else entirely.

Ask yourself honestly (and we mean honestly, not LinkedIn-post honestly) what the answers to these three questions are:

Would even 10% of your list notice if you stopped sending tomorrow, or would it just be your mum? (We've all got our mums on the list, and we love them for it, but they don't count.)

Then ask yourself if you can state your niche in one sentence without hedging?

And, lastly, do you know your engaged segment size, or just your total subscriber count?

If you hesitated on more than one of those, you've just found your starting point, and that's probably useful to know (and where you need to begin).

To make this easier (and because we care about making the lives of all members of this community better), we built the Newsletter Value Scorecard.

This 4-minute exercise puts an actual number on all of this: 15 questions across the three pillars above (scored honestly), giving you one clear picture of where your newsletter stands right now.

If you’re keen to see if your email is worth paying for (even if you never intend to monetise), try it out!

Charging is optional. Being worth it? Never!

(And, P.S. If you’re stuck or need help with this, pop us a mail here, and we’ll be glad to chat!)

Potato, tomato 😅😅


August lies ahead. Stay unst(opp)able!


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