Is a Daily Newsletter Too Much?
If you get a daily newsletter, or run a daily newsletter. I'd love to know if you think it's too much. If so why? if not. why?
I started a daily google sheet tips newsletter a couple weeks ago in support of a new product: Better Sheets
Had ran a weekly for 2 years. Now realizing that the unsubs are coming quicker.
On my weekly I get unsubs, it happens. but I only see it and feel it once a week.
Now that I have 2 unsubs each day. It's a bit much. So, I wonder is a daily newsletter too much for this topic?
I'm sending a daily google sheets tip. For free.
Each one obviously is an ad for the longer deeper tutorials. Maybe it's too much of a hard sell?
Maybe give subscribers a choice between daily newsletter or weekly roundup?
Absolutely correct. The subscriber should have the option. I wish it were easy to implement on the writer side, but I bet I could do something interesting on Substack.
Perhaps the "easiest" implementation is to make one or the other paid.
Or create two different substacks... Better Sheets Daily, Better Sheets Weekly
that seems overcomplicated....
Hard for me to give advice since I'm not familiar with how substack works.
Right now on your website, it says the newsletter is weekly. Maybe people are unsubbing b/c they expect weekly and are getting daily instead?
Also, is 2 unsubs per day really a lot? I don't know how big your list is, or how many signups you get daily, but that kind of churn doesn't sound like a lot.
Can you ask those who unsubbed why they did?
I'm coming more from a Mailchimp background where it would be pretty easy to create two mailing list groups, let users pick their preferences, and have an automated email asking why the recipient unsubbed.
But having two different substacks sounds like a reasonable solution to me.
Good Eye! I just found it and changed it. Thanks!
2 unsubs a day, In the grand scheme of things. No.
List now is 70...wait...71 thanks for subbing!
Technically speaking, I can't ask them. I can't email them. I should have some sort of exit survey. Mailchimp does that.
Your content looks really interesting. I was in finance for 14 years so I know Excel really well. I'm not that familiar with Sheets other than the basics so I look forward to learning more.
I think the question for you is how to get your content in front of the right people. I have to imagine that the applicable audience for this is huge – pretty much anyone in business that uses G-Suite and any type of data or business process. But reaching these people is going to be tough. Most probably aren't even aware of what Sheets can do.
Knowing Excel as well as I did was absolutely a super-power in my career and I would imagine that Google Sheets can do the same for a lot of people.
By the way, I find your website kinda hard to navigate. You're probably going for an interesting design, but I think you may be better off with a more conventional site layout, nav/footer etc.
Good luck with it all!
I get irrationally annoyed by daily subscriptions even when I've been keen on the info. But the most recent time I clicked unsubscribe, I was given the option to receive weekly updates - so I chose that option instead.
of course, this is the answer. Gosh I wish there was an easy one click option for this in email programs. I will try to implement this asap. It's so correct to give the user the option here.
I receive daily newsletters and they’re not too much (otherwise I’d unsub)
I think get 4 that I read almost every day:
Morning brew
The hustle
Seth Godin
The daily thread.
The 2 news ones make sense because they’re news. Seth because it’s Seth and it’s short but can change my entire thinking for the rest of the day. The daily thread is a short dose of outdoors and outdoors clothes - some escapism and takes seconds to read.
They all provide value to me. So I’d be disappointment if they didn’t show up in my inbox.
I also started getting yours which I like but not sure about it as a daily for me. And the important bit is “for me”. I think daily tips for sheets makes sense. A weekly would be too much (if it was aggregation of the daily).
I’m just not using sheets enough to get value from it. If I was doing freelance financial analysis as I was a a couple of years ago, it would be perfect - especially as I’m an excel guy and not sheets and there are some differences.
So, I think your target audience is the one to tell you if daily is too much. Most of the comments here don’t seem to be who your newsletter is for.
Also if your goal is to sell product via the email, then daily is 5x more opportunities of catching someone ready to buy. And if they’re on the daily, they really want this content. Daily might mean smaller lists, more engaged and more sales than a weekly with a larger list. Maybe.
I have read all the comments on this topic because newsletters are my main topic.
To summarise it. People seem to don't like daily newsletters until they provide consistent value to subscribers. Weekly newsletters are a preferred option so that subscribers don't have full email inbox. Hmm, I wonder if people would like a daily newsletter that will contain all messages of their subscribed newsletters and half-automatically manage their newsletter subscriptions base on interaction with a newsletter?
Yes, the daily newsletter is WAY too much, for pretty much anything. People barely have time these days and inboxes are never at 0, so having more emails coming in each day would annoy the hell out of me. Even weekly may seem a bit too much for your type of newsletter, however, I haven't seen the content, so I cannot judge. Either way, check with your audience, ask them what they want.
You should check out the content.. if you use google sheets.
The thing is... we. (I and most of the ppl I know) use google sheets every day. and every day we're googling for answers. But those are just what we ask. The tips I share are creative use cases. new ways to use old tools. Aesthetic improvements.
And I think I'm going to expand the idea of a newsletter. I'll deliver somethign each day but it'll be a different medium. 1 audio only, 2 videos and 2 text/screenshot tips a week. Give some variety.
Well maybe... I am just not as a hardcore user of Google sheets. I assume the average person pretty much knows the basics of Sheets, so a few hacks sprinkled within a few newsletters during one month would be my preference, but I may not be the audience you are targeting.
But, I guess the numbers don't lie - check your open rate and maybe click rate, this will tell you a lot.
But again, I believe there are a % of people that definitely don't want daily newsletter as that may feel too crowded, so not sure if that is the reason for all those unsubs, but just check to be sure.
However, if they unsubbed, then maybe they are not your core audience and you want people that use Google sheets every day AND want tips sent daily.
Just my two cents.
Yes. There isn't a product on earth that I want to hear about every single day. Thats probably the number one reason I unsubscribe for mailing lists, the constant updates.
Weekly is probably fine providing its a useful newsletter
Well this isn't updates. it's tips. and generally speaking even if you don't read them they sit in your email so you can search for them.
Each one can be read in about 1-2 minutes. not much of a written newsletter.
you can see the archives here: http://bettersheets.substack.com/
I'm wondering, i'm also doing daily mails, but my product is a daily dev tip, so it seems to make sense.
Do love the tips in the comments to change to a weekly subscription.
How long do you write for? or do you use other mediums?
My idea for the next few weeks is to make use of the audio format substack has.Do at least 1 audio only call it Sheet Talkin'
And then do at least 2 videos. and 2 text only with screenshots. Thought that would add variety to it.
Hey, so this is my product: https://daily-dev-tips.com/
It's short articles and the mails are even shorter, but they get some good open/click rates actually
And so far nobody unsubscribed.
I think the audio sheet talkin is actually a great addition!
I would totally unsubscribe from any newsletter that sent me one daily (or would not subscribe to it in the first place). If I was so interested in the topic of the newsletter that I am fine receiving one on a daily basis, I wouldn't mind shelling out money to buy a book / video course / whatever on the topic and hence would do that instead. I have unsubscribed from multiple newsletters that increased their frequency once I had signed up, primarily because I simply don't have the time to read a newsletter every day and every unread mail sitting in my inbox only contributes to the feeling of "Oh I have so much more to read".
Weekly is definitely better and that too if it is a topic I am very passionate about, otherwise lesser frequency is better.
Of course everyone is different and that's my perspective.
Well this is a newsletter to promote a library of videos. So the point is to find ppl who are so interested that they want to buy more.
And it gives those who can't afford it, plenty of value, for free.
Here's a few daily newsletters I love that aren't written out:
flowstate.substack.com music to work to
scott's cheap flights: airplane deals.
the only way I can increase my frequency is also sending on weekends.
You could send different kinds of content every day. Let's say monday could be productivity tips using sheets, tuesday could be opinion on no-code, etc. Quora does this and it might work for them. Why not give it a try?
Yeah absolutely will give it a try. I'd rather give this a try first than decrease the sends.
I got this in mind, but probably will organize it more organically in a week or so:
Looks nice! Looking forward to see the results you get with this.
Yep, I think a daily newsletter might be too much for some people. I'm actually working on a newsletter that sends periodic reports on the user's Spotify listening statistics, and when signing up it's possible to choose to receive it daily, weekly and/or monthly. Contrary to my initial expectations, hardly anyone has chosen to receive the daily report.
in your case does daily mean 7 days a week or 5?
is there an option to send 3x a week? or set the days?
7 days, yep. So far no option to send 3x a week or set the days...
Hey Andrew.
I wouldn't really care about the frequency as long as it added value. Seth Godin blogs every day, and I enjoy reading that. Paul Graham blogs a few times a year, I enjoy reading that as well.
I think Seth Godin is a really great example. His daily newsletter is just a blog post directly to your inbox. His posts are short and concise. I know what to expect and that's why I enjoy it so much.
True so true
I've unsubscribed from newsletters that came too frequently. For me, twice a week or even once a week is preferable, and with as few stories or links as possible. I'd prefer a newsletter once a week with 5 carefully chosen stories that interest me than one a day filled with stories I have to plow through to reach the good stuff.
It's giving me pause to slow down to 3 a week perhaps. Or just figure out a way to add in variety. a long discussion 1 day, a long tutorial 1 day, and 3 short quick tips the other 3 days.
Variety is the spice of life. right?
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You don't use google sheets? Most people I know who do.. use google sheets every day.
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Surprisingly, to me, the most loved videos I've made are to improve Aesthetics. Staring at that blackest black text on whitest white background grates... irritates the eyes.
I made this video free about making better tables: https://www.loom.com/share/af96c3315b7a40b59a9e619106a06889
And here's some basic keyboard shortcuts to speed up your process.
https://www.loom.com/share/d58c57477a134190a97469b87d76a6f0