Prologue

We all subscribe to newsletters, right?

I mean, you’re subscribed to a newsletter about newsletters, so I have to assume it’s not the only one that hits your inbox.

And while the metrics we all focus on are the ever important open and click rates, I find myself wishing there was a way to measure deletion rates.

Huh?

I’ll explain.

There are some emails I get that I open, scan, determine they serve no purpose for me, and delete.

There are some that contain links I deem worth clicking and open new tabs, either to read right away or “save for later.”

I then typically satisfy some bit of my brain that does a happy dance when I delete the email.

“There. I’ve processed this. I can move on.”

As if it’s a pesky task I just conquered.

But there are some I know I’m not done with yet.

Some that either contain or link to such good information that I cannot bear to destroy them.

“What if I accidentally close that open tab?”

“What if I forget how the sender made a topic that never made sense before suddenly so clear? Or just wrote so well I wish I could add it to my bookshelf?”

Those are rare.

They get saved, flagged, added to swipe files.

I know those words warrant revisiting.

They’re too good to delete.

Is your newsletter undeletable?

Do your readers feel like they found a secret goldmine that gets delivered right to their inbox?

Here’s the kicker: This issue of Opt In might be one you delete. It’s Thanksgiving week and I’m trying to take a little break from work and count my blessings.

So I’m reducing the usual content overload down to an appetizer and will hit you with a feast next Tuesday.

There are less links and less commentary than usual. If this is your first issue, hang in there.

Or go check out the archives. Every issue is available on the publication site and you can search by topic if that’s your thing.

It’s been 10—wait, 11—amazing weeks.

And we’re just getting started.

Happy Thanksgiving, all.

Screen Share

10 Newsletter Creator Interviews in 10 Weeks

Y’all.

What a fun project our Screen Share series has been. I have a very special one in the works for next week (psst: he’s a former newsletter editor of BuzzFeed and The New Yorker), but I thought I’d share a recap of who we’ve chatted with so far in this truncated issue.

You know, so you can catch up.

Thank you to

• Scott Rogerson of UpContent
• Bryan Kelly of The Wright Society
• Simon Owens of Simon Owens Tech and Media Newsletter
• Mark Evans of Marketing Spark
• Mary Ellen Slayter of Managing Editor Magazine
• Russ Henneberry of theCLIKK
• Leah Ryder of Write | Werk
• Anum Hussein of Below the Fold
• Margo Aaron and Hillary Weiss of HAMYAW
• Hung Lee of Recruiting Brainfood

Know someone who’d be great for this? Connect us, please.

How Harry Dry of Marketing Examples Grew His Newsletter to 38,000 People in a Year

Just in case you’re super bummed and can’t go a week without a video interview, here’s one I found this week. This is a great interview from Harry Dry of Marketing Examples via The Marketing Meetup.

Newsletter Tips

How to Use Facebook Ads to Get More Newsletter Subscribers

The team at Paved provides instructions for setting up Facebook ads for your newsletter. You’re welcome.

Related: If you use Curated, here’s a video tutorial to help you set up conversion tracking for your Facebook ads.

Marketing

This Simple Strategy Will Stuff Your Business so Full of Content That It Will Have to Wear Its Fat Pants

See? You get your feast after all.

How to Use Emotion to Make Your Brand’s Content More Compelling

“People remember what makes them feel.

Content is no different. If you want something to resonate with audiences, you need to tap into what emotions you’re addressing. If you don’t have a handle on this, you won’t execute the content as well as you could have, and you may not engage as many people as you’d anticipated.

Here are some best practices I’ve found when it comes to fusing emotion and content.”

4 Strategies Marketing Leaders Can Steal From Hip-Hop Producers

This one is 2 Legit 2 Quit (Reading).

Curated News

We’ve had some really amazing new newsletters launched using Curated recently. Check out these two that seem to fit the season.

Instalicious

Spoonful of Optimism

Opt In Challenge

Diversify for the Holidays Like theSkimm

Last week’s challenge was to think about productizing your newsletter. This week’s is to check out how theSkimm launched a holiday shop of editor-curated gift recommendations and consider whether this approach (or a variation of it) would be right for you in the future.

It really depends on your goals and how you’d go about partnering to create a gift guide for your audience, if that even makes sense for your brand. Maybe it could be just a special issue instead of a full-blown microsite. Make it undeletable.

Let me know. Reply, email me at Ashley[at]optinweekly.com, or find me on LinkedIn to hit me with some feedback. I’d love to know what you think.

Also, I’d appreciate it if you shared it with fellow email newsletter creators. All archived issues will be available on OptInWeekly.com, so you can send them the link to check it out.

Have a great week sending, y’all.

Thanks for reading,