Ask HN: Do newsletters work? Why do websites push them so much?

Re:Ask HN: Do newsletters work? Why do websites push them so... by ChuckMcM on Monday August 01, 2022 @11:33AM (#32307508)

No, just no. AB testing how much you can squeeze out of the channel has a huge negative backlash. A customer driven "send these more often" or "send these less often" offer in the email will give the customer the ability to set the level of engagement that works best for them and avoid both rage quits and user hostility to being "worked."

A friend of mine was hired by Peet's to try to clean up the mess they caused by doing this to their previously loyal fan base, it has been a lot of work and expense.

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Re:Ask HN: Do newsletters work? Why do websites push them so... by TurkishPoptart on Monday August 01, 2022 @03:13PM (#32310772)

This works until the people who get 3 emails a month unsubscribe. Don't break it if it works.

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Re:Ask HN: Do newsletters work? Why do websites push them so... by mbesto on Monday August 01, 2022 @02:55PM (#32310554)

> A friend of mine was hired by Peet's to try to clean up the mess they caused by doing this to their previously loyal fan base

Clean up what? You test it once and if it works, it works, if it doesn't you revert back. You're not going to get a huge backlash of brand loyalty for increasing a monthly newsletter to 2x/month. And if you get ANY backlash you simply revert back. Most people wouldn't even notice.

I think you're overthinking my recommendation.

> A customer driven "send these more often" or "send these less often" offer in the email will give the customer the ability to set the level of engagement that works best for them

You should have this option regardless of what techniques you use.

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Re:Ask HN: Do newsletters work? Why do websites push them so... by pessimizer on Monday August 01, 2022 @05:36PM (#32312348)

> And if you get ANY backlash you simply revert back. Most people wouldn't even notice.

The people who dropped the newsletter after it became spam definitely won't notice that you reverted back to the expected behavior.

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Re:Ask HN: Do newsletters work? Why do websites push them so... by edmundsauto on Monday August 01, 2022 @05:56PM (#32312545)

It depends on the size of that group and their sensitivity. I’ve found that consumers generally don’t think as much about it as tech people - it’s much more random than we like to think.

If your test costs 2% of newsletter receipients who were 2 emails away from unsubscribing, it might be worth it.

As always, know your audience.

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