Newsletter noob: what should I do next?
2 weeks ago I had an idea for a newsletter. As always wanted to validate the idea without spending any $, so I created a free landing page with mailchimp to subscribe, added an options for a paid version using Gumroad. And began sharing it in relevant spaces on reddit, faecbook and quora.
with very little effort and 2 weeks later I have 60 subs (no paid yet). I didn't even send anything yet but I'm supposed to send my first email next week.
I have 0 experience with newsletter. Does 60 subs mean that idea is valid? if so where should I start? should I keep using mailchimp or better move to substack.com for example?
Any other tips or advices would be appreciated.
Thank you
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60 subs with no posts sounds pretty nice, considering you haven't done a ship page or something.
I would just write something and see what the reception is like.
I am approaching 100 subs but I have written 4 posts already, 5th on the way. My growth has been slow, but I'm still optimistic. Waiting for that snowball effect to eventually kick in.
Yes this is what I'm planning on doing.
any tips one how to get people feedback?
and what do you use to manage your newsletter?
Similar to you and I. I took some of your feedback and built a playlist https://podbytes.co/video/ckaoncevx0n5w0165b5xqz4q6.
I am only at 30 subs right now (1 week in). So I should be learning from you.
At the bottom of the newsletter, I have three options dislike, meh, and like. These are all hooked up to google forms (fixed permissions). That's one way to get feedback I learned from the hustle.
The other is to DM folks and just ask. I think you should do that consistently for a month and you should have all the data you need.
Nicely done! yes its way better with the playlist view. I just noticed what issue, once the first episode finishes it moves to the second but its on mute.
I like the google forms idea, its simple and should get the job done at least for now!
Maybe we can figure out something to help each other and keep growing (share feedback, knowledge, etc..)
The google forms are what thehustle.co uses. So if it's good enough for them, it's good enough for me haha. It could always be better based on what you need but until you know that answer i.e certain branding, formatting, analytics, etc it should be good enough for sure.
I'd be happy to keep following up with each other and sharing ideas. I am still very new to this and learning as much as I can.
Thanks for the feedback. With the mute button, it's a requirement in mobile browsers. Chrome allows you to auto-play videos now, but it's required to set the video to mute by default, unfortunately. This is out of my control.
This is a very interesting approach @storycreator. Do you see that people actually use those "three options"? I was thinking of doing something similar on my newsletter since it's hard to get feedback.
I use Substack. I am not totally happy with it if I may be honest.. the lack of custom forms is a huge negative, but I am only sticking with them because of the ease of upgrading to paid subs. Even then, I will probably be switching soon.. too many shortcomings.
As for feedback, I only got some via word of mouth on LinkedIn. Someone said they liked the newsletter and forwarded it to their co-workers! I don't have any other way of collecting feedback right now.
my advice: go for it-- start sending it then week by week see how your subscribers respond and go for there. if you're doing it all on free platforms, you've got nothing to lose!
Thats the plan!
Thanks
What’s your newsletter about? Curious
It's for drop shippers