The Telegraph's Maire Bonheim and David Alexander on newsletters for different business goals
Apr 2, 2024
auto_awesome
The Telegraph's Maire Bonheim and David Alexander discuss prioritizing newsletters, subscriber funnel stages, community-focused content, and live events. They also touch on newsletter retention as a tool for subscriptions. The news roundup covers The Atlantic's profitability and 1m subscriber milestone, emphasizing high-quality content for subscription growth.
Newsletters are crucial for media companies to engage subscribers at different stages and retain them.
Investing in high-quality and exclusive content can lead to profitability and subscription growth.
Deep dives
Importance of Newsletters and Community Building
Newsletters have become a crucial focus for media companies like the Telegraph, reflecting a global trend towards prioritizing this product. The Telegraph's extensive newsletter portfolio, with 35 newsletters, showcases how they are investing in different subscriber stages, engaging existing subscribers, and attracting potential ones. The newsletters serve various purposes, from retaining subscribers to providing a window for potential registrants, emphasizing the significance of community building through inclusive and informative content.
Subscriber Engagement and Revenue Growth
The Atlantic's success story of reaching 1 million subscriptions demonstrates that focusing on revenue per user rather than just subscriber numbers can lead to profitability. By offering deep and exclusive content, the Atlantic increased subscription prices and strategically managed operations to boost revenue. This approach, coupled with a disciplined outlook on long-term sustainability and a strong leadership vision, resulted in significant revenue growth, with an increasing share coming from subscriptions.
Algorithmic Newsletters and Subscriber Retention
Algorithmically curated newsletters showcasing top articles based on reader interests have proven successful in engaging readers and enhancing retention rates. The correlation between newsletter engagement and long-term subscriber retention highlights the value of newsletters in creating high-quality and loyal reader bases. By leveraging newsletters as a marketing tool that showcases outstanding journalism, media companies like the Telegraph can attract and retain subscribers effectively.
Community-Centric Approach and Reader Interaction
Fostering a sense of community through newsletters involves creating low-barrier interactions that encourage reader engagement and feedback. The Telegraph's initiatives, such as user-generated content like 'Letters to the Editor' newsletters, demonstrate a commitment to valuing reader contributions and building relationships. Personalizing newsletters through interactive features, journalist-led content, and reader events like live interviews further enhance community engagement and reader loyalty.
This week we speak to The Telegraph’s Head of Newsletters Maire Bonheim, and Deputy Head of Newsletters David Alexander, about the publisher's newsletter portfolio. We talk about why The Telegraph and others are prioritising newsletters, how newsletters can be used at different stages of the subscriber funnel, and what they’ve learned from a community-focused approach to their Politics newsletter.
Marie and David also discuss building a live event from a newsletter brand, and the value of newsletters as a retention tool for the subscriptions-focused publisher.
In the news roundup we have a good chat about The Atlantic’s announcement that it is profitable and has hit the 1m subscriber milestone. We discuss the extent to which investing in high-quality content (longreads, mostly) creates a virtuous circle when it comes to growing subscriptions.
Sign up for our own daily newsletter and community forum at voices.media
Get the Snipd podcast app
Unlock the knowledge in podcasts with the podcast player of the future.
AI-powered podcast player
Listen to all your favourite podcasts with AI-powered features
Discover highlights
Listen to the best highlights from the podcasts you love and dive into the full episode
Save any moment
Hear something you like? Tap your headphones to save it with AI-generated key takeaways
Share & Export
Send highlights to Twitter, WhatsApp or export them to Notion, Readwise & more
AI-powered podcast player
Listen to all your favourite podcasts with AI-powered features
Discover highlights
Listen to the best highlights from the podcasts you love and dive into the full episode