I started a newsletter about finance for hackers, here’s my learnings about email
Hi Guys,
A little background, https://capitalminded.com is a weekly email I started writing earlier this year to explain DIY investing topics (indexing, automated portfolios, ETF selection, smart beta, etc) and what’s happening in the economy to busy non-finance people.
So far the landing page has been converting really well, and each time we gained another 1k subscribers I used a new email provider for that portion of the list to see what I’d like. My thesis, as well as conventional wisdom I’ve read, was that more expensive options like Mailchimp, etc. would have better open rates than cheap transactional services.
However, after testing a block of 1k subscribers on Amazon SES (the absolute cheapest option available) via EmailOctopus, I’ve seen no change in open rates from more expensive services. Sometimes SES is actually higher. We’re still consistently pegged at 55-60% opens each week after 3 months of testing.
Wondering if others have had a similar experience?
Great landing page. I subbed. Have you read 'The Intelligent Investor'?
The Intelligent Investor (paired with the earlier “Security Analysis”) was pretty much the quintessential book for an entire generation of successful investors and hedge fund managers. They’re great. If you haven’t yet, google Warren Buffets “Superinvestors of Graham and Doddsville” article from the 80s to hear more about Ben Graham’s influence.
I also like to recommend Malkiel’s Random Walk for beginners (a sobering read for the Robinhood and Crypto set who seem to be under false ideas about their prospects of being successful while “trading”).
However, my favorite is actually Bernstein’s Four Pillars of Investing, probably because it was the first book I read on investing many years back and what originally sparked my interest in finance.
Your landing page is absolutely stunning. Looking forward to receiving a newsletter, now.
In our experience, deliverability is heavily tied to the domain and sender reputation these days, rather than simply just the IP it's coming from. Glad to see EmailOctopus is working for you - feel free to PM me your username and we'll ensure you get well looked after
Appreciate the kind words Thomas! We’ve been loving EmailOctopus thus far.
Really well designed landing page! I'm curious what your conversion is on people who get to the site?
I’ve found coversion rate to be wholly dependent on the traffic source. We’ve been featured on a lot of design blogs and that traffic has converted poorly (10-20%), and open rates have been lower—likely because those people aren’t looking to learn about investing, they’re looking to learn about design. In Glengarry terms, “the leads are weak!”
However when we’ve been mentioned in threads about finance on Reddit and Hackernews we’ve converted about half of those visitors and sometimes as high as 63%.
Hey there! Love the landing page - how'd you design it or what stack are you using?
I like your concept and have subscribed for your emails. Btw, we are working on a FinTech product and would love to explore partnership opportunities with you. I have contacted you via the Contact Us form on your LP. I hope we can connect to chat more.
I’m interested but my inbox is quite busy. Perhaps have a few sample articles available on the site. These can help with SEO and improving ad relevancy.
Hi Paul, we’re actually working on a site refresh that includes a sample letter, good to hear confirmation that this is desired!
Really cool landing page. Crisp and unique. Question, what are your traffic sources to the landing page? Or is it mostly word of mouth?
Also, any plans to monetize?
So far I’d say the best traffic sources have been word of mouth mentions on reddit/hackernews (and also people forwarding the emails to their friends has been big).
As far as monetization, I have some longer term plans but for the foreseeable future I’m just focused on trying to produce the most valuable/interesting content possible as well as growing the list to build the brand.
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