Releasing my first newsletter tomorrow. But there's a problem: I only have 3 subscribers 😬

Hey Brayden,

I'm one of the 3 subscribers so I thought I'd leave some feedback for your first newsletter. I want this to be constructive and I understand it can be difficult to read about things that you can do better but I will still try to make my feedback direct and actionable.

The email template

You should set a width limit to the template because it doesn't look good when one line goes the width of the screen and the rest of the text only goes half-way.

The usual width is 600px, it will work well for most non-mobile devices, including the preview pane in Outlook for smaller screen laptops (learned this last part a few months ago, lol).

It also isn't well optimized for mobile because it just shrinks everything so the text is rather small on small screens. HTML for email is not the same as for web but if you can build HTML landing pages, you should be able to adjust for email too with some research.

More than half of your subscribers will be reading your newsletter mainly on mobile. Make sure their experience is good.

The content

This might have been affected by your small number of initial subscribers but it feels like there is no content. It feels more like a welcome email I should get once I subscribe, it doesn't feel like a full newsletter.

You just repeat what we should be seeing but... Why not just show it? Give the HTML tip now, share part 1 of your journey, code snippets for themes, etc.

I think this is the reason why giving a discount for your theme feels very strange. The questions that instantly pop to my mind: "Why is Brayden qualified to sell me HTML themes? Discount or not, why would I buy it?"

The sign off says next Friday will be like this one and it leaves me wondering "Will it be another theme and that's basically it?"

Asking for help and for people to share it is fine though, don't worry about it. I think that part you certainly did OK with.

Some highly subjective points for the content:

• I don't like it when newsletters try to use my name "to make me feel special".
• "And yes, like I said earlier I'll be giving you, my subscribers," -> cut "my subscribers", just address the one reader. Don't talk to a crowd, talk to the person. It sounds like it goes against the previous point but there's a subtle difference: I know you send the newsletter to many people, but I am the one reading it, I'm in the moment. When you call out my name, it reminds me you don't actually know me so it falls flat. When I am reading, it's me with the voice in my head that you are creating, so it is 1-on-1. Don't take me out of it by addressing the crowd.

As I said, highly subjective but worth playing around with these 2 points too.

Other tips that come to my mind without a particular category

• Don't use Gmail, get a domain and build its reputation. Inboxing will get harder and harder over time. The easiest way to consistently inbox is to do it right from the beginning. I wrong a relatively detailed deliverability guide here that you can read (there's no content lock, it's all free on our website).
• I would recommend you either don't use link shorteners or use one under a domain you own that only you can use. Public shortlink domains are a common flag for deliverability.
• I understand that you might want to convey emotions but I think you overdid it with emojis in the text. I think you can save them for some headlines and/or big moments where emojis would significantly enhance the emotion you are trying to deliver in the text.
• Add a real welcome email or use the subscription confirmation email as a welcome email. That's where everything starts and if you get that wrong, everything else gets more difficult too.

That's about it... Of course, all of this is my opinion so it doesn't necessarily mean it's all the right way to approach it. In the end, you are best off testing some suggestions that make sense and looking at the data.

Once you send an email you'll have an archive. and you market out that everyone missed the first edition, don't miss anymore.

The first edition is easier to forward than no edition.

You miss 100% of the shots you don't take.

Call your subscribers out by name. Make them feel special.

I suggest sending a 'draft' to your contacts to get feedback on your newsletter. Then, also ask them if they'd want to receive your newsletter moving forward.

This does two things:

1. The feedback will help transform your newsletter to something your target audience wants
2. The process of iteration with your contacts will make it more likely for them to signup

This reply is a bit late, but hope it helps you next couple of issues!

I would say two things:

• Don't worry about that number
• You do have to try some things to get the word out

I started This Week's Worth 2 months ago with 4 people on the list and now I'm at 48. And none of them are my mom 😅.

I looked for some articles on how to grow your audience and tried some methods that I identified with + was willing to spend that effort. Some of them really made a difference.

Focus on the process and in enjoying it.