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5 Customer Retention Email Examples (How To Get Recurring Revenue)

July 11, 2024 No Comments

Examples & Strategies To Keep Customers Coming Back With Email

Trying to generate recurring revenue in your business? You need to focus on retention. Why? It can cost 4-5 times as much to acquire new customers than to convert a past customer.

Dumping that much money into acquisition can be incredibly exhausting, expensive, and overwhelming on your bottom line.

Thankfully, there’s a better way.

Rather than constantly straining yourself to get new customers in the door, you can leverage the customers you already have acquired and keep them coming back? How? With email.

In this guide, we’ll break down how you can tap into retention marketing with email to increase revenue and reduce marketing spend, teaching you how to write them by showing you different examples (with simple templates) that you can use today.

Ready?

Let’s begin.

TL;DR

Convincing a customer to buy again is 4-5 times more cost-effective than acquiring a new customer, making it crucial for long-term profitability and growth.
Email offers personalization, targeted messaging, and direct inbox access, making it the best channel for customer retention efforts.
Effective customer retention emails should be personalized, valuable, and aligned with the customer’s interests and preferences.
Incorporate a variety of retention emails like a thank you, new product, giveaway, win-back, and loyalty email.

Why Listen to Me? I’ve generated over $1 million with email and written over 1,000 blog posts. I run Storey Time, a newsletter where I teach people how to become full-time digital writers. Feel free to reach out to me on X anytime!

The Importance of Customer Retention

5 Customer Retention Email Examples (How To Get Recurring Revenue)

The question isn’t: “How important is customer retention?”

The question is: “How painful is customer acquisition?”

Most newcomers to the business world start off by focusing entirely on customer acquisition.

Where’s your target audience, and how can you convert them into customers?

The problem is…

If you only know how to convince someone to buy once, you’ll be wasting a ton of time always trying to persuade strangers to purchase.

On the flip side, you can grow a sustainable business — and get the most out of your efforts – by focusing more on the people who have already spent money in your business.

Why Customer Retention Matters

Customer retention gives you three main things: greater customer lifetime value, more total revenue, and more time.

1. Greater Customer Lifetime Value

Customer lifetime value (CLV) is the total amount of money someone spends on your business in their time as a customer.

If your average order value is $100 but you have 0% retention, your average customer lifetime value is $100 – since you only get people to buy once.

But if you get a percentage of your customers to come back and buy again (let’s say 50% retention), the lifetime value of your customers goes up to $150. This is because 100% of your customers bought once at $100, and 50% of your customers bought a second time at $100. The result is $150 CLV.

When you can get your customers to come back a second, third, or fourth time, you increase the total spend by each customer, allowing you to make more from each customer in their life.

2. Make More Money Per Sale

There’s another benefit to focusing on your current customers: You’ll make more revenue per sale.

If you focus on increasing your customer retention by even 5%, you could see your revenue jump 25-95%! Why is that? Because customers who have a great customer experience with a company are more willing to shop there again.

Plus, if a customer enjoyed the first product, there’s less risk that the second product will be bad. The result is people who spent a lower amount on purchase number one are more likely to be willing to spend more on purchase number two at the same company.

3. Get More Time Back

When you’re able to generate more revenue per customer, you don’t need to put in as much time and energy into constantly acquiring new customers.

The result? You can step off the gas a bit. You get your time back so you can focus on other business activities or simply having more personal time to live a little, and this isn’t easy.

How You Measure Customer Lifetime Value

Curious how you measure customer lifetime value? It’s a crucial calculation to determine the true total value of your customers.

Rather than looking at your revenue from the perspective of a single purchase, you should always aim to look at the total revenue generated from customers during their time with you.
Most new business owners focus on average order value (AOV), which is simply the average revenue generated per order from your customers.

But to get a retention-focused mindset, you should focus on CLV, or customer lifetime value.

To calculate CLV, you need to first make a few preliminary calculations:

1. Average order value = total revenue / number of orders

Example: In one year, $525,000 revenue and 2,328 orders = $225.51

2. Average purchase frequency = number of purchases / number of customers

Example: In one year, 2,328 orders / 1,992 customers = 1.17

3. Customer value = average order value x average purchase frequency rate

Example: $225.51 x 1.17 = $263.84

4. Average customer lifespan = total sum of customer lifespans / total number of customers

Example: 140,528 months / 8,047 customers = 1.41 years

5. Customer lifetime value = customer value x average customer lifespan

Example: $263.84 x 1.41 = $372.01

How To Calculate Customer Retention

Customer retention isn’t the end goal. Customer loyalty is. To get there, you need to understand how to measure customer retention.

So how do you measure customer retention?

Customer retention rate (CRR) is calculated like this:

Take the total number of customers in a given time period (i.e., one year) and subtract the number of new customers you acquired that year. Then, take the result of that and divide it by the total number of initial customers at the start of the year. Finally, multiply this by 100.

Example: You start the year with 379 customers. In that year, you lose 92 customers and gain 178 new customers.

Number of customers at the start of the period = 379

Number of customers at the end of the period = 465

Formula: Customer retention rate (CRR) = [(Total customers – New customers)/Initial customers] x 100

Example: [(465 – 178) / 379] x 100 = 75% retention rate

The Role of Email in Customer Retention

So what kind of role does email play in customer retention? A major one.

Email is the king of retention in the digital marketing jungle.

Email isn’t just a powerful force for acquiring and converting leads into first-time buyers. It’s also a crucial part of retention marketing.

Why Email Matters in Customer Retention

If you want to acquire customers, email can help.

If you’re looking to retain customers, email is mandatory.

Here are a few reasons why email matters when it comes to retaining customers:

1. Email keeps your marketing budget in check.

Email is one of the most cost-effective channels. It offers the highest return on investment of any marketing channel with an ROI of about 36:1. This means that if you invest $1,000 into your email activities this year, you should expect about $36,000 in revenue back in return (on average). Pretty wild, isn’t it?

One of the reasons the ROI is so high is because email is super affordable.

beehiiv offers robust email newsletter plans from $39-$99 per month, which gives subscribers an entire suite of growth and monetization features, but you can get started on the email newsletter platform for free for up to 2,500 subscribers! This means that until you cross the 2,500 subscriber mark with your newsletter, you’ll be getting an infinite ROI.

2. Email fuels branding through attention.

Ever heard of the phrase, “Out of sight, out of mind?” Well, that’s one of the truest statements in marketing.

If you want to generate more revenue from future (and current) customers, you need to stay top of mind.

There’s no better channel to capture and keep your audience’s attention than email.

Why? Because your marketing messages don’t have a shaky algorithm like social media and search engines. Big tech like Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and Google constantly come out with algorithm updates that make it difficult for brands and creators to reach their audience.

At any point in time, one algorithm change can mean that your marketing messages don’t get through to your people.

But with email, when you send an email newsletter out, it goes directly to your audience’s inbox. There’s no algorithm or tech overlord standing in the way. This is crucial for keeping your audience’s attention.

Whenever you want to send a marketing message, you get to reach your audience, which fuels branding, retention, and loyalty.

3. Email turns one-time customers into repeat buyers.

With email, since you don’t have any social media algorithms in the way, you get to reach your customers whenever you want. What does this mean? It means that you get to control how many touch points you get in with your audience to fuel the relationship.

You can provide massive value in a short period of time compared to other marketing methods.

And unlike social media followers or paid ad viewers, email subscribers are people who have directly opted in to receiving your marketing messages, so you can easily retain them as customers.

Thank them for their purchase, remind them of the products and services they’ve bought, and show off new products and services you offer that can provide even more value to their lives.

People who are happy with a brand don’t want to risk purchasing from a new company. It’s easier to stick with a brand they know and trust, so give them that opportunity with an email newsletter.

How To Craft Effective Customer Retention Emails

Ready to start crafting powerful emails to keep your customers coming back again and again? Keep reading to find out how. But before we do, let’s get one thing straight…

Every single email you send is a customer retention email. Read that again.

You should never think of your emails as strictly transactional. Instead, email is the best channel to build deep relationships with your subscribers and customers to ensure that they stick around for life.

Email is a retention channel, and the journey to retention starts with the very first email you send (even if they aren’t a customer yet).

What Is a Customer Retention Email?

You may be wondering, “What is a customer retention email?”

Simply put, a customer retention email is an email sent to existing customers to persuade them to purchase from your brand again.

A customer may have signed up for your newsletter after they purchased a product, or they may have joined your newsletter and then purchased a product. No matter which step they took first, at some point, they became a paying customer.

Now that you have them as a customer, it’s crucial to nurture them, provide more value, and keep them coming back as a return customer.

What To Include in a Retention Email

If you want to succeed with email, you need to master relevance. Your emails need to be relevant to the subscriber receiving it. This means that if you’re only blasting broadcast emails to your entire list, you’re doing email wrong.

You need to segment your subscribers to ensure that you’re sending the right message to the right person at the right time.

Whether you’re focused on e-commerce, coaching, newsletters, or SaaS customer retention, you should always make sure that your email content is relevant to the subscriber.

For retention emails, you’re speaking to customers.

One simple element to include is how you address your subscribers who are customers. Your emails should address the fact that they’re customers, and you should address their loyalty and support, and offer your gratitude toward them.

While they’re still a subscriber, they’ve upgraded to being a customer now; so in terms of personalization, don’t call them “subscribers.” Call them “customers” or “clients.”

But that’s just the basics of how to craft retention emails. You need to shift who you’re speaking to. Next, we’ll dive into a few examples of retention emails to give you some ideas on how to craft them yourself.

5 Customer Retention Email Examples

If you want to retain your customers for life, you need to ensure that you’re emailing them regularly.

The question is: What kind of emails should you send?

Here are some popular retention email ideas (and real-life examples) that you can save as a reference in your email swipe file:

1. Welcome Email

Your welcome email is the most important email you’ll ever send. Why? It’s the first impression your audience will get of your brand’s emails. It sets the tone for the rest of your emails, and it can make or break your ability to keep people interested in opening your emails.

A welcome email also is the email type with the highest average open rate of 47.0%! That means that 1 out of every 2 subscribers, on average, will read your welcome email.

You need to leverage the attention this email gets by kicking off your retention strategies the right way.

Here’s an awesome example of a welcome email from Smart Nonsense:

I’d put the whole welcome email here, but it’s way too long and it would probably take up half of this blog post.

Smart Nonsense does leverages storytelling exceptionally well in their welcome email. They come out with a bang, drawing readers in with a tease of what their educational comic newsletter will be like.

2. Thank You Email

The second most important email you’ll ever send is your thank you email. Its purpose is simple: to thank your new customer for their purchase. This is the first major retention email you’ll send to a brand new customer, and it’s a crucial part of turning a one-time buyer into a loyal customer.

Here’s a somewhat legendary example from CD Baby:

Derek Sivers’s thank you email from CD Baby isn’t a typical thank you email.” Rather than going the traditional, generic thank you route, he decided to lean into his creativity to give you an entertaining experience along the way to show how much he cares about the product the customer just purchased.

3. New Product Announcement Email

What is one of the best ways to convince a customer to buy again? Introduce a new product to them.

Product launches, new features, and limited edition drops are some of the best ways to bring your current customers back into your business.

Let’s face it… Some people just want to buy the new thing.

If you aren’t sure how to bring customers back, introduce a new product or service.

Here’s a great example from Magic Spoon:

Magic Spoon keeps it simple with their email here. They don’t have a ton of copy, nor do they need to. They stick to the plumbline and use something new or current (the season) to capture attention and leverage it to create limited edition cereal products:

Apple Cinnamon
Salted Caramel

Magic Spoon does a great job of showing off the products beautifully while adding urgency to promote action since the products are only available for a limited time.

4. Product Giveaway Email

Want to capture the attention of your subscribers and get them involved? One of the best ways to do this is by running a giveaway.

A giveaway will get both your non-customers and current customers to engage with your brand. It’s a way to fuel engagement and interaction, which can come in handy if you want to drive engagement or even sales.

Here’s a great example of a giveaway email by OLIPOP:

Do you notice what’s unique about this giveaway email? It’s not just a random giveaway. It’s a giveaway for a new product. And to take it even further, it’s not just any new product. It’s a collaborative product created by two companies: OLIPOP and Chubbies.

Even though OLIPOP is a soda company, they’ve partnered up with Chubbies, a men’s shorts brand, to offer something new and fun.

This kind of giveaway is a great way to keep things exciting for your subscribers and current customers, allowing them to try a brand new style of product that they may have not considered before from your brand.

Introducing a new product with a giveaway launch is one of the best and most exciting ways to release it to your audience, allowing you to fuel hype and convert customers into repeat buyers.

5. Win-Back Email

If you want to get your customer back, sometimes you have to be direct and let them know that you want them back with a win-back email.

If you notice that a particular customer or segment of subscribers hasn’t purchased anything in a while, you should send an email asking if they’d like to buy again.

Here’s a good example from GRAZA:

Graza sent out this email to any customer who hadn’t purchased in a set amount of time – maybe 60 or 90 days. Notice in their copy how they say: “How was your first taste of GRAZA?”

They’re using personalized copy here to address only first-time customers who haven’t purchased a second time yet.

Graza’s call to action is simple: Ready for a refill? Buy again. Their email showcases the olive oil in action with beautiful high-quality images with people cooking in the kitchen – a simple, yet effective, win-back email.

3 Customer Retention Email Templates

1. Thank You Email

The thank you email should come directly after someone purchases from your store.

And, no, I’m not talking about an order confirmation email. That’s also important, but that email is usually automated through your e-commerce platform.

The thank you email is different. Next to your welcome email, it’s the most important. Why? Because the moment someone purchases a product (whether online or offline), you need to reassure them of their decision. You need to let them know that they made the right choice.

Buyer’s remorse is real, whether you own a brick-and-mortar store or a small Etsy shop for jewellry online.

The moment someone buys from you, you should send them an email thanking them for their business.

Here’s an example:

“Hey [subscriber name],

It’s [your name] from [your brand name].

Thank you so much for your purchase!

We’ve got your order confirmed and are working on it now (it takes 2-3 business days to process before we ship it out).

At [brand name], my mission is to [your mission].

Nothing makes me happier than knowing I’m able to help people like you [the thing your product/service helps them achieve].

For more information on the shipping process, or for any questions about your products, check out our FAQs.

Have a great day!

-[your name]

P.S. Any questions, just hit reply to this email, and I’ll be happy to help! I offer 24/7 support.

2. Customer-Only Offer/Discount Email

Did you know that when you get someone to make a second purchase, the odds of them making a third or fourth dramatically increases?

The average first-time customer has a 27% chance of buying again. But if you can get this person to buy a second time, their odds of purchasing again increase to 45%. If you can get them to buy a third time, their odds of returning increases to 56%. See where this is going?

You should do everything in your power to get a second purchase from your customer – and do it as soon as possible. This will drastically increase your return customer rate and increase your customer lifetime value.

Here’s an example email:

“Hey [subscriber name],

It’s [your name] here.

I wanted to say thank you for your recent purchase.

It means the world to me that you’re choosing to support a small family business like mine.

As a way to say thank you, I wanted to offer you 25% off your next purchase.

The discount is available for the next 48 hours.

Here are some of our bestsellers.

Talk soon,

-[your name]

P.S. Our [new product] would go great with your [product they recently purchased].

3. Rewarding Loyalty

What is one of the best ways to keep your customers coming back? Reward them for their loyalty.

While you may choose to create a full-on loyalty program, you could also keep things simple and offer a free gift from time to time.

Make your customers feel extra special and thank them for their loyalty.

Here’s an example:

“Hey [subscriber name],

It’s [your name] here.

I just wanted to personally say thank you for being a loyal customer of [your brand name].

As a way to say thank you for your business, I wanted to treat you to your favorite drink from Starbucks with a $10 gift card. No strings attached, I just wanted to say thanks.

Anyway, reply to this email with the best email to send it to, and I’ll send it over ASAP.

Have a great day!

-[your name]

P.S. I just launched [your latest product] here, and the feedback has been amazing.

How beehiiv Keeps Your Customers Coming Back

If you want to generate sustainable revenue, you have to tap into retention marketing.

Email is one of the best retention channels you can leverage to keep your customers coming back year after year.

But without a reliable email platform, it’ll be a challenge to retain your customers. Thankfully, you can keep them coming back with beehiiv.

beehiiv is the newsletter platform built for growth.

Whether you’re looking to grow your customer base or you want to increase the number of retained customers you have, beehiiv is a powerful option.

beehiiv gives you access to:

A user-friendly newsletter editor for easy email writing
An integrated referral program to reward your loyal subscribers
Paid newsletter options with tiered subscriptions for recurring revenue

By Brandon Storey

Sourced from Beehiiv Blog

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4 Ways to Infuse Personalized Marketing With Immersive Technologies

July 11, 2024 No Comments

By Mike Szczesny

AR. VR. The technology for personalized marketing is there for the taking. Are you ready?

The Gist

Sensory shopping shifts. Engage customers with AR and VR for a realistic, virtual store experience.
AI personalization peak. AI-driven recommendations elevate customer engagement and increase loyalty.
Immersive tech investment. Prioritize AR and VR to stand out in the competitive ecommerce sector.

Ecommerce is rapidly evolving, with the lines between physical and digital shopping experiences becoming increasingly blurred. In 2023, a McKinsey study found that 71% of consumers expect personalized interactions from companies, highlighting the importance of advanced personalized marketing strategies. The future of ecommerce lies in creating blended experiences — seamlessly integrating online and offline interactions to enhance customer engagement and satisfaction.

The image depicts a handprint in white paint centered on a textured surface covered in strokes of vibrant green paint. The background is richly textured with hints of red and blue specks scattered throughout, suggesting a dynamic and creative art piece in piece a about the impact of personalized marketing. — In 2023, a McKinsey study found that 71% of consumers expect personalized interactions from companies, highlighting the importance of advanced personalized marketing strategies. Topuria Design on Adobe Stock Photos

By leveraging technologies like augmented and virtual reality, businesses can offer unique, tailored experiences that meet these growing expectations. This integration not only boosts customer loyalty but also drives growth in a competitive market.

The Evolution of Personalized Marketing in Ecommerce

Initially, personalized marketing in ecommerce was limited to basic recommendations and targeted emails. These early attempts were rudimentary, focusing on simple data points like past purchases or browsing history to suggest related products. The aim was to enhance the shopping experience by making it slightly more relevant to the individual consumer.

Today, personalized marketing has evolved dramatically. Advanced AI algorithms analyse vast amounts of data to offer personalized marketing and highly customized user experiences. From personalized product suggestions to dynamic content tailored to individual preferences, AI drives a more engaging and relevant customer journey.

For example, ecommerce platforms now use machine learning to predict customer behaviour and provide recommendations that align closely with their needs and preferences. This shift to personalized marketing has not only enhanced customer satisfaction but also increased brand loyalty and sales.

Immersive Technologies Revolutionizing Ecommerce

Immersive technologies like augmented and virtual reality are becoming essential tools in the ecommerce landscape. These technologies provide a more engaging and interactive experience, allowing customers to visualize products in a way that was previously not possible. By offering a more tangible and immersive shopping experience, AR and VR help bridge the gap between online and offline shopping, making ecommerce more dynamic and appealing.

By Mike Szczesny

Sourced from

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US sues Adobe for hiding termination fees and making it difficult to cancel subscriptions

July 10, 2024 No Comments

By Aisha Malik

The U.S. Department of Justice has filed a lawsuit against Adobe alleging that the company deceives consumers by hiding the early-termination fee and making it difficult for people to cancel their subscriptions.

In the complaint filed on Monday, the DOJ wrote that “Adobe has harmed consumers by enrolling them in its default, most lucrative subscription plan without clearly disclosing important plan terms.”

The government says Adobe pushed consumers toward the “annual paid monthly” subscription without informing them that cancelling the plan in the first year would cost hundreds of dollars.

Adobe only discloses the early-termination fees when subscribers attempt to cancel, and turns the early-termination fee into a “powerful retention tool” by trapping consumers in subscriptions that they no longer want, the complaint says.

“During enrolment, Adobe hides material terms of its APM plan in fine print and behind option textboxes and hyperlinks, proving disclosures that are designed to go unnoticed and that most consumers never see,” according to the complaint. “Adobe then deters cancellations by employing an onerous and complicated cancellation process.”

Adobe says it plans to refute the claims in court.

“Subscription services are convenient, flexible and cost effective to allow users to choose the plan that best fits their needs, timeline and budget,” said Adobe’s General Counsel and Chief Trust Officer Dana Rao, in a statement. “Our priority is to always ensure our customers have a positive experience. We are transparent with the terms and conditions of our subscription agreements and have a simple cancellation process.”

The DOJ’s complaint says Adobe has violated federal laws designed to protect consumers. The government is seeking “injunctive relief, civil penalties, equitable monetary relief, as well as other relief.”

Adobe shifted to a subscription model in 2012 and started requiring consumers to pay for access to the company’s software on a recurring basis. In the past, users could access the company’s software after paying a one-time fee.

Subscriptions account for most of the company’s revenue, according to the Federal Trade Commission, which launched a similar lawsuit against Amazon last year, saying it “knowingly” complicates the ability of customers of its Prime service to cancel their subscriptions.

Feature Image Credit: Justin Sullivan / Getty Images

By Aisha Malik

Sourced from TechCrunch

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Brewdog founder James Watt swaps beer for marketing with new venture

July 10, 2024 No Comments

By Jess Jones

Brewdog founder James Watt is set to launch a new business called Social Tip, a platform that allows users to become ‘influencers’ and earn money for promoting brands.

Social Tip has secured around £600,000 in seed funding from British tech early stage investment fund Haatch along with a number of angel tech investors.

Social Tip’s algorithm determines the value of user posts based on engagement metrics like views, likes, and overall interaction, rewarding users with cash. Brands such as Puregym, Huel and Dash Water have already signed up to the platform, which launches this summer.

It will also offer consumers the chance to monetise their posts by licensing images and rights for advertising and marketing.

Watt, who recently stepped down as Brewdog chief executive, described Social Tip as a modern twist on traditional word-of-mouth marketing.

“The most powerful marketing we ever had for BrewDog had nothing to do with us. It wasn’t the stunts, and it certainly wasn’t advertising. It was everyday people sharing their love for our products,” said Watt.

“Give me a choice between paying thousands of pounds to a social media personality to fake love my brand or rewarding masses of genuine, loyal fans, and it’s no contest,” he added.

Fred Soneya, co-founder of Haatch said that social content heavily influences how consumers buy products and services.

“Our attraction to investing in Social Tip is threefold; trust in paid advertising continues to fall, rewarding verified purchasers who share on social creates significant ROI for the brand whilst continuing to build loyalty with customers, and backing the B2B Platform which is distributed by the largest brands is the scalable strategy.

“With James at the helm, we’re excited to support Social Tip to become the first and fastest growing platform rewarding true [user-generated content] backed by verified purchases,” Soneya said.

But Watt has sparked controversy in the past for Brewdog’s marketing tactics. These include multiple run-ins with the Advertising Standards Agency (ASA), which banned the company’s advert claiming one of its beers could be considered one of your ‘five a day.’

In 2019 Brewdog and its former agency, Manifest, clashed over the launch of the alcohol-free beer, ‘Punk AF’, with Manifest founder Alex Myers alleging that BrewDog used the concept without credit or payment.

He has also faced criticism over Brewdog’s labour practices, including allegations of mistreatment of workers, claims he denies, and not paying the real living wage. Watt hit back at “ridiculous” levels of criticism following the saga.

Despite these issues, Watt remains as a board member and director at Brewdog, which he co-founded in 2007.

By Jess Jones

Sourced from CITY A.M.

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How Amazon SES Mail Manager Elevates Email Security and Efficiency

July 9, 2024 No Comments

By Pavlos Ioannou Katidis

In today’s digital landscape, efficient and secure email management is essential for businesses facing the complexities of cyber threats and regulatory compliance. Companies are seeking ways to safeguard against unauthorized access and apply audit rules, while maintaining operational efficiency. Amazon SES Mail Manager is designed to meet these challenges, offering a suite of features that enhance both inbound and outbound email flows.

Mail Manager provides key components such as traffic policies for detailed email filtering, authenticated ingress endpoints that ensure emails are received only from verified senders, and customizable rule sets that enable administrators to precisely manage email traffic. These tools aim to bolster security and streamline the email management process.

The blog explores Mail Manager’s capabilities by demonstrating how each component works and can be utilized in practical business scenarios. Some common use cases include security, where Mail Manager blocks harmful emails based on IP ranges, TLS versions, and authentication checks while leveraging third-party security add-ons. Another use case is email archiving, where you can use Mail Manager to set up multiple archives with customizable retention periods and encryption, ensuring compliance and easy searchability.

Familiarize with some of mail manager’s key components below before proceeding with the customer use cases.

Mail manager components definition:

Ingress endpoints:
- Open ingress endpoint: a SMTP endpoint responsible for accepting connections, and process SMTP conversation key infrastructure. It’s a key component that utilizes traffic polices and rules that you can configure to determine which emails should be allowed into your organization and which ones should be rejected.
- Authenticated ingress endpoint: Mail sent to your domain has to come from authorized senders whom you’ve shared your SMTP credentials with, such as your on-premise email servers.
Traffic policies: let you determine the email you want to allow or block from your ingress endpoint. A traffic policy consists of one or more policy statements where you allow or deny traffic based on a variety of protocols including recipient address, sender IP address and TLS protocol version.
Rules sets: A Rule set is a container for an ordered set of rules you create to perform actions on your email. Each rule consists of conditions and rules.
Email add-ons: A suite of 3rd party applications that are seamlessly integrated with Amazon SES mail manager. Some of them are Trend Micro Virus Scanning, Abusix Mail intelligence and Spamhaus Domain Block List.

For a deep dive into Mail Manager’s capabilities, ready this blog.

Customer background and use case

Nutrition.co is an online retail business with multiple departments, including marketing, tech, and sales, that send and receive emails. Nutrition.co is looking for a solution to monitor both outbound and inbound emails and apply various controls such as filtering, message processing, and archiving. Nutrition.co uses Outlook as an enterprise mailbox environment for its employees.

Use case 1: Nutrition.co to the world

This use case focuses on the outbound email flow, where Nutrition.co employees are sending emails outside of Nutrition.co. Some of the requirements include the archival of all outbound emails originated by the marketing department, blocking any tech emails exceeding 1mb and scanning the email content of emails originated by sales. These controls should be centrally managed and provide flexibility to edit/create/delete new ones.

Solution: Each department will direct its outbound emails to an authenticated ingress endpoint by configuring an Exchange transport rule. These endpoints ensure that only authorized senders with SMTP credentials can send emails. Each ingress endpoint generates an A record, which is added as an MX record to the DNS provider for each department’s subdomain. Additionally, each ingress endpoint is associated with a specific traffic policy and rule set. According to Nutrition.co’s requirements, all connections between the departments and the ingress endpoints must use TLS 1.3 or higher. Emails that comply with the traffic policies are processed through distinct rule sets. Emails from marketing that comply with DKIM and SPF are first archived and then sent to the recipient via the Send to Internet action. Tech emails have their recipient’s address rewritten to a test email address, while emails from the sales department undergo content scanning before being sent to the final recipients via the Send to Internet action.

Use case 2: World to Nutrition.co

This use case focuses on the inbound email flow, where third parties send emails to Nutrition.co. Nutrition.co requires inbound emails to pass SPF and DKIM and have TLS 1.3 or higher to be archived. Emails originating from warehouse.com, Nutrition.co’s fulfilment partner, are containing customer order updates. These emails should be processed by Nutrition.co and accordingly update the customers’ order status database. Furthermore, warehouse.com emails should originate from a certain IP range, have TLS 1.3 or higher and pass SPF and DKIM.

Solution: Nutrition.co will use an open ingress endpoint without authentication for all inbound external emails. This is achieved by adding an MX record generated by Mail Manager upon the creation of the ingress endpoint. This ingress endpoint will be associated with a traffic policy that evaluates TLS. If the inbound email conforms to the traffic policy, it will proceed through the rule set condition and actions. The rule set condition is to pass SPF and DKIM and the actions are to be archived and then sent to the final recipient (Nutrition.co employee) via SMTP Relay. Emails containing parcel delivery updates from warehouse.com will be directed to a separate Nutrition.co subdomain, which routes all inbound emails to an authenticated ingress endpoint. Emails from warehouse.com with TLS 1.3 or higher will meet the traffic policy requirements. If they are SPF and DKIM passing, they will be stored in a Nutrition.co Amazon S3 bucket as part of the rule set. Using Amazon S3 notifications, an AWS Lambda function is invoked upon receiving an email. This function processes the email payload, and performs an API call to update the Nutrition.co customers’ order status database.

Archiving inbound emails

In the following section, you will use AWS CloudShell and AWS CLI commands to create a traffic policy that rejects emails with TLS versions lower than 1.3, includes an open ingress endpoint, and establishes a ruleset that archives emails that are DKIM passing.

Prerequisites: Own a domain and have access to its DNS provider, in order to add the MX record.

Navigate to the AWS Management Console and open CloudShell, find CloudShell availability here. Follow the steps below by copying and pasting the AWS CLI commands to the CloudShell terminal. Note that creating and configuring these resources, can also be done from the AWS Console.

# 1. Creating archive

ARCHIVE=$(aws mailmanager create-archive \
  --archive-name NutritionCo \
  --retention RetentionPeriod=THREE_MONTHS \
  --region ${AWS_REGION} \
  --tags Key=Company,Value=NutritionCo | jq -r '.ArchiveId') && echo $ARCHIVE

# 2. Creating traffic policy

TRAFFIC_POLICY=$(aws mailmanager --region ${AWS_REGION} create-traffic-policy \
  --traffic-policy-name ArchiveTrafficPolicy \
  --default-action DENY \
  --policy-statements '[
    {
      "Action": "ALLOW",
      "Conditions": [
        {
          "TlsExpression": {
            "Evaluate": {
              "Attribute": "TLS_PROTOCOL"
            },
            "Operator": "MINIMUM_TLS_VERSION",
            "Value": "TLS1_3"
          }
        }
      ]
    }
  ]'| jq -r '.TrafficPolicyId') && echo $TRAFFIC_POLICY

# 3. Creating Mailmanager RuleSet for archiving

RULE_SET=$(aws mailmanager --region ${AWS_REGION} create-rule-set \
  --rule-set-name ArchiveRuleSet \
  --rules '[
    {
      "Name": "Archive",
      "Actions": [
        {
          "Archive": {
            "TargetArchive": "'"${ARCHIVE}"'"
          }
        }
      ],
      "Conditions": [
        {
          "VerdictExpression": {
            "Evaluate": {
              "Attribute": "DKIM"
            },
            "Operator": "EQUALS",
            "Values": ["PASS"]
          }
        }
      ]
    }
  ]'| jq -r '.RuleSetId') && echo $RULE_SET

# 4. Create ingress endpoint

aws mailmanager --region ${AWS_REGION} create-ingress-point \
--ingress-point-name Archiving \
--type OPEN \
--traffic-policy-id ${TRAFFIC_POLICY} \
--rule-set-id ${RULE_SET}

To view the resources created above, navigate to the Amazon SES console > Mail Manager and view Traffic policies and Rule sets. Below, you can see the rule in edit mode.

Navigate to Amazon SES > Mail Manager > Ingress endpoint, select the ingress endpoint named Archiving and copy the ARecord, which looks like this <unique-id>.fips.wmjb.mail-manager-smtp.amazonaws.com – see screenshot below. Add this value to your MX record.

To test if the MX record has been added successfully, open your local terminal and execute the command below:
nslookup -type=MX <your-domain.com>
The response should return the MX preference and mail exchanger containing the A record value.

Testing

To test if the inbound emails are archived successfully, send an email to an address within the domain for which you have added the MX record. Wait for 3-5 minutes to allow for email processing. Then, navigate to the AWS Management Console, go to Amazon SES, and select Mail Manager. Under Email Archiving, select NutritionCo under Archive and click on Search. This should return all the emails you have sent.

Conclusion & Next steps

In this blog, we delved into the essential features of Amazon SES Mail Manager and its application in managing both inbound and outbound email flows. We explored key components such as traffic policies, authenticated ingress endpoints, and customizable rule sets that enhance security and operational efficiency. Through practical use cases, this blog demonstrates how these features can be implemented to meet the specific needs of a business like Nutrition.co. By leveraging Amazon SES Mail Manager, businesses can significantly enhance their email security and management processes, safeguarding against cyber threats while ensuring compliance and efficiency.

Continue exploring Mail Manager’s features such as SMTP relays and Email add-ons.

By Pavlos Ioannou Katidis

Pavlos Ioannou Katidis is an Amazon Pinpoint and Amazon Simple Email Service Senior Specialist Solutions Architect at AWS. He enjoys diving deep into customers’ technical issues and help in designing communication solutions. In his spare time, he enjoys playing tennis, watching crime TV series, playing FPS PC games, and coding personal projects.

Alexey Kiselev

Alexey Kiselev is a Senior SDE working on Amazon Email. Alexey has played a pivotal role in shaping the design, infrastructure, and delivery of MailManager. With years of experience, deep understanding of the industry and a passion for innovation he is enthusiast and a builder with a core area of interest on scalable and cost-effective email management and email security solutions.

Sourced from AWS

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TikTok’s Rise as a Discovery Platform [Infographic]

July 9, 2024 No Comments

By Andrew Hutchinson

While TikTok has become a key platform for entertainment, it’s also increasingly becoming a destination for discovery, with more and more people now turning to app to learn more about products, trends and more.

Which could be an important consideration for your marketing efforts. Depending on your target market, TikTok may now be a key driver of interest, and as such, your brand should have a presence within the expanding TikTok space.

Well, for now at least. TikTok may also be gone from the U.S. as of early next year, but that outcome is still yet to be determined, amid various legal challenges.

Till then, these insights from Adobe may be of interest. Adobe surveyed 808 consumers, as well as 251 business owners, to glean more insight into how TikTok is being used for product discovery.

Some potentially valuable notes.

By Andrew Hutchinson

Sourced from Social Media Today

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11 Newsletter Websites That Successful Creators Swear By

July 8, 2024 No Comments

By Linda Hwang

Why These 11 Websites Offer the Best in Class Newsletter Services

“Now people want to know how, and there are a lot of amazing social media newsletters in the space,” Jack continued.

Jack wanted to make sure his newsletter wasn’t full of fluff. His goal was to offer advice people could take action on immediately.

As a content creator or consumer, a newsletter is a great way to share new ideas, products, trending industry news, and advice to your community.

With so many websites great for hosting newsletters, knowing what’s best for you can be difficult.

It’s okay, that’s why we’re here.

We will examine eleven of the top newsletter websites, breaking down their features, what stands out, price, and ease of use.

Whether you’re a business guru, a creative soul, or someone in between, this article will light your path to newsletter nirvana.

Why Newsletters Are Essential for Business?

Research your competitors.

Chances are, they have a daily, weekly, or monthly email newsletter.

You may be wondering why they would need one.

Today, over 4.37 billion people use email. Email is becoming more dominant over time.

An email newsletter is a publication that offers regular communication to subscribers. Newsletters play a critical role in digital marketing, especially email marketing. Often, businesses use an email newsletter to share helpful information about their company or topics related to their business that solve their customers’ problems.

A consistent email newsletter helps you as a content creator or business owner because it’s a commitment to creating content regularly.

“[Whether] you have one subscriber or ten million subscribers, you are committed to it. I have to show up every Thursday with the newsletter, even though it’s not the best time for the last couple of weeks for me to do it,” explained BenGingi, a co-creator of YASSSletter, a gastronomic newsletter on beehiiv.

“People are waiting to get it every week for the recipes they will make with their family that weekend. So, we are very committed.”

There are so many great options for websites for newsletters; which one is the best one for you?

That’s the million-dollar question, and we got an answer for you!

Selecting the perfect newsletter platform is like choosing the right gear for a journey. You need reliability, ease of use, and features that match your mission.

Our selection criteria focused on these aspects, pricing, and unique offerings that set each platform apart.

Let’s explore!

beehiiv: Monetization, Usability, and Customization

beehiiv buzzes to the top with its sweet monetization options, intuitive design interface, and customization capabilities that let your brand personality shine.

Whether you’re a small business or content creator on a tight budget, beehiiv offers a great pricing structure unseen in the email marketing platform world—up to 2,500 contacts on their free plan, Launch.

Stand out with beehiiv’s unique features like integrated advertising tools, 3D analytics tools, and subscriber segmentation.

“I’ve tried various platforms like MailChimp and MailerLite, but they all had limited features and capabilities. beehiiv makes it seamless and marries well with blog publishing,” toots Dave Schools, founder of the Entrepreneurship Handbook newsletter.

Schools continued, “This email newsletter-sending process is like no other platform. I also looked at Substack, but beehiiv was advanced with built-in growth. beehiiv is my growth engine.”

How to Start Using beehiiv

Visit beehiiv’s website and click the ‘Sign Up‘ button.
Choose your plan based on your needs.
Customize your profile and set up your newsletter template.
Import your subscriber list or start building a new one.
Create and send your first newsletter!

ConvertKit

ConvertKit is an artist’s palette of newsletter tools, offering vibrant features for creators and entrepreneurs.

Great for businesses looking for complex, commerce-based automation, selling digital courses or products, and deploying custom landing pages and funnels. ConvertKit offers responsive newsletter templates that are easy to customize with your font, color, and alignment of choice.

If you are a business offering products, they provide unlimited newsletter product pages that are fully personalized to match your brand. You can set up automated funnels to pitch your newsletter to your fans with audience growth and email tools.

They offer a limited free plan, but their Creator plan starts at $9/month for up to 300 subscribers and offers excellent automation features.

Some top creators and celebrities like Ali Abdaal and Mandy Moore use CovertKit.

“[ConvertKit] was better than MailChimp. But even then, it was still complicated, and I just didn’t know what was going on. I didn’t know how to do any of the automation stuff,” said Dakota Robertson, Wrongs to Write newsletter creator.

“But it was just really complicated trying to figure out how to do everything,”

Mailchimp

The mighty Mailchimp is the Swiss Army knife of newsletter services.

A popular entry-level marketing automation platform known for its ease of use and affordability. It offers a range of features, such as email marketing, landing page creation, and audience segmentation.

If you’re looking for an email marketing tool for one-off email blasts or promotional or e-commerce emails, then Mailchimp is a great tool to help you with your business needs.

When it comes to pricing, Mailchimp offers a variety of plans to fit different needs and budgets.

The free plan suits users with smaller subscriber lists, while paid plans provide more advanced features and functionalities, such as advanced segmentation, retargeting ads, and A/B testing.

Substack

As one of the most prominent email service providers (ESPs), Substack is a big player in the newsletter space, with 500,000 paying subscribers and millions of readers in 2023.

If you’re looking for a great way to be part of an ecosystem for writers, a simple platform without any bells and whistles, and your content being responsive and accessible through a mobile app, then Substack is the platform for you.

Publishing is free on Substack, no matter the number of subscribers you have. Substack will have a 10%+ processing fee for each transaction if you enable a paid subscription to your publication.

“I don’t remember when I first started hearing about [beehiiv]. It started bubbling up in my Twitter feed, you know, pretty active on people starting to use it or shifting over from Substack,” relayed Jon Finkel, creator of Books & Biceps newsletter, about his move to beehiiv from Substack.

“A bunch of DMs said you should do it over here,” he concluded.

AWeber

Known for its stellar customer service and robust automation tools, AWeber helps small businesses craft effective email campaigns without needing a tech wizard on staff.

The platform is an excellent choice for those who want a full-featured email platform that’s super simple and provides additional valuable tools. Trusted by over one million customers, AWeber is loved by people for its pricing, high deliverability rates, and integration abilities.

AWeber offers a free plan for up to 500 subscribers, but it has limited features (1 email page, one landing page, and basic email support). Their next plan is the Lite plan, which is $12.50 monthly.

Campaign Monitor

Campaign Monitor’s design-forward approach brings beauty to the inbox.

If you’re looking for a platform that offers automated customer journey and life cycle emails, a way to sell digital courses and products, and non-profit and fundraising communications, Campaign Monitor is the platform for you!

They offer segmentation features, A/B testing, integrations, analytics, automation, transactional emails, and dynamic content.

Campaign Monitor offers a “free trial” but only allows users to send one email to five subscribers. The next plan is the Lite plan, which costs $11 monthly for up to 500 contacts.

Ghost

Ghost is an open-source alternative to platforms like Substack and Medium. Being “open-source” means users have complete ownership of their data and content. For those who prefer ultimate control—Ghost is the platform for you!

The platform allows creators to transform their audience into a thriving business, focusing on building a membership service for their content. So, suppose you are heavily into blogging and web-first content, custom self-hosted solutions, educational content, or sharing knowledge. In that case, Ghost can help you excel in providing content to your audience.

It offers users a variety of templates, allowing more freedom and creativity in email layouts and design.

Ghost combines a modern and highly efficient framework with a website, CMS, newsletter platform, and paid subscription launch capability.

Ghost offers a 14-day free trial, then its next plan is $9 per month for 500 members.

Why Trust Me

Linda Hwang has extensive experience in B2B marketing and previously worked at a renowned international facilities management company. She played a crucial role in creating effective content and social media marketing plans there. Now, Linda is a marketing consultant who helps small businesses create compelling brand stories.

Mailmodo

Mailmodo injects excitement into email marketing with interactive AMP emails.

Described as the “new-age” email marketing tool that helps you create and send app-like interactive emails to help you get higher conversions and return-on-investments (ROI). Say goodbye to static newsletters and hello to engaging, actionable content that boosts engagement rates and delights subscribers.

With Mailmodo, you can create stunning no-code emails, integrate with 1,000+ tools, segment your audience, trigger customer journeys and automation, improve deliverability and open rates, and so much more—sitting at 4.6 stars on Capterra with 77% of their users likely to recommend the platform.

Mailmodo offers a 21-day free trial. The next plan is Lite, which costs $39 monthly for up to 2,500 contacts.

Flodesk

Flodesk marries elegance with efficiency, offering a flat pricing model that appeals to creatives and entrepreneurs alike.

How much, you ask? $35 per month.

Whether you are a beginner or an expert, you can use Flodesk to grow your business with an intuitive email builder and create beautiful templates you can customize and share.

Flodesk features campaign analytics, scheduling, contact management, event-triggered actions, and landing pages/web forms.

GetResponse

If you’re looking for marketing automation that doesn’t cost an arm and a leg, GetResponse may be a good platform.

Like its competitor, ActiveCampaign, GetResponse offers a suite of email marketing tools to deliver tailor-made offers to your contacts when they are most active.

They offer useful features such as autoresponders, unlimited landing pages, and segmentation, along with excellent spam check features to improve the chances of your emails hitting user inboxes.

They also offer good audience segmentation features, allowing you to send better-targeted emails to your subscribers.

On the popular software review site Capterra, GetResponse received 4.2 stars—68% of the users would recommend using the software.

GetResponse offers a 30-day free trial where you have access to premium features. There are some limitations with the free trial, like webinars, messages, landing pages, marketing automation, and chats.

They offer four different plans, with the most affordable starting at $15.60 monthly.

Omnisend

Specializing in e-commerce, providing omnichannel capabilities and automation workflows that turn browsers into buyers, Omnisend is an all-in-one platform making waves.

It’s the secret power for online stores aiming to supercharge their sales through targeted, personalized newsletters.

With Omnisend, you can create personalized campaigns, automate your marketing, and analyze your results to optimize your strategy. Omnisend also provides one of the best subject line testers for marketing, providing users with insights to achieve better email performance.

Omnisend offers a free plan for up to 250 contacts with limited capabilities.

The next plan is Standard, which costs $16 monthly and allows up to 500 contacts.

How to Choose the Right Website for Newsletters?

Comparing website platforms for newsletters is challenging. Each platform has strengths, features, and tools to solve specific user problems.

The best tip for choosing the right website for your newsletter is to know your business goals and strategies.

Once you have solidified those goals and strategies, you can consider how they fit with these factors: customization, monetization, user authentication, and customer domains.

Customizing your newsletter or monetizing for growth becomes easier when you have a plan. You can make tweaks to maximize effectiveness in each factor.

Customization

Your newsletter should reflect your brand’s soul.

Look for platforms that offer extensive customization options, allowing you to tailor every aspect of your newsletters to resonate with your audience.

Finkel, creator of Books & Biceps, said, “Just like authors spend significant time making sure we get the cover of our books right, newsletter creators have the same chance to make a powerful impression with their landing page and email design,” Finkel says. “The Design Lab makes that possible to do on your own, even if you’re not a great designer.”

Monetization

Different platforms offer various pathways to gold.

Whether through subscriptions, advertisements, or sponsorships, select a platform that aligns with your monetization strategy and helps you achieve your financial goals.

One of the tips creator of Future Social, Jack Appleby, provided was “Monetization: diversifying income streams.”

He shared, “Because [of my background], I am using the advertising model for sure. Since my audience are marketers looking to me to understand how to do social media or branded content, many of the partnerships I pursue are very creative branded content opportunities.”

“What really excites me are the brands I work with, where they want to do very creative executions,” he continued.

From ad placements to affiliate marketing, beehiiv provides various ways for creators to generate revenue from their content.

“We do boosts. We do word-of-mouth. We are active on social media. We are experimenting with our premium subscription, which we started in June,” offered Dave Schools, the creative mind behind Entrepreneurship Handbook.

User Authentication

From Cybersecurity Ventures, it is projected that by 2025, cybercrime will cost the world $10.5 trillion annually.

Why be part of the statistics?

For newsletter services, user authentication is crucial in safeguarding subscriber data and enhancing trust.

Imagine user authentication as the bouncer at the door of your newsletter service, ensuring that only authorized users can access sensitive information. This security measure helps prevent unauthorized access, protecting your reputation and subscribers’ privacy.

By implementing robust user authentication methods like multi-factor authentication (MFA) and robust password policies, newsletter platforms can significantly reduce the risk of data breaches, bolstering subscriber confidence in your commitment to their security.

Custom Domains

A custom domain acts like your digital signature, instantly recognizable and distinctly yours.

It reinforces brand consistency across all communications and lends an air of professionalism that free domain names simply can’t match.

Moreover, emails sent from custom domains are less likely to be flagged as spam, ensuring your carefully crafted messages reach your audience.

If you’re using beehiiv as your platform of choice, you can use your own domain name instead of the beehiiv subdomain. To connect your domain, follow these simple steps:

Log into your beehiiv account.
Go to the ‘Settings’ tab on the beehiiv dashboard.
Click ‘Publications.’
Click ‘Domain.’
Scroll down to ‘Verified Domains’ and ‘Add Custom Domain.’
Enter the domain URL and click ‘Add Domain.’

After you add the domain, you will need to configure a web domain, a redirect domain, and an email domain.

Sounds a little overwhelming?

Well, you’re in luck! beehiiv created a step-by-step video on how to do it.

Final Thoughts

These eleven platforms can help you create websites for your newsletters, making it easier than ever to find a home for your content.

It is also clear that choosing the right platform is pivotal.

Your decision should align with your specific needs, goals, and the unique voice of your brand or business.

Among the stellar platforms we’ve discussed, beehiiv emerges as a standout contender—especially noted for its monetization capabilities, user-friendly interface, and deep customization options.

“What I loved about beehiiv right away was how simple the interface was. And, I mean, the level of support is fantastic too. beehiiv does everything I need,” said Dakota Robertson, founder of Capital Creators and Wrongs to Write newsletter.

Robertson continued, “I don’t need this crazy stuff or these extra features that I just never use. beehiiv is very focused on its users and what they actually care about, and they make it so simple to use, which I love.”

As we look to the future, the landscape of newsletter publishing is ripe with possibilities.

With platforms like beehiiv, creators and businesses have the tools to craft engaging, impactful newsletters that resonate with audiences and drive meaningful engagement.

Ready to elevate your newsletter game?

Don’t miss out on the future of newsletter publishing—join beehiiv now and start creating newsletters that genuinely stand out.

Best Website For Newsletters: Frequently Asked Questions

What Makes a Website the Best Choice for Newsletters?

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, Facebook advertising became so solid for advertisers that people relied too heavily on it.

During the pandemic, Facebook made changes to its algorithm that put online advertisers into a frenzy of fear and panic. It became harder for advertisers to reach their audiences, it became more expensive to generate revenue, and profit margins started shrinking.

Who wasn’t phased by the Facebook algorithm changes?

Creators and businesses who diversified their marketing efforts with a newsletter.

How about in April of 2021, when Apple introduced significant changes to its privacy controls through its updates?

When the updates were released, they drastically limited digital advertisers’ tracking capabilities. To make things even more challenging for online marketers, iPhone users could now choose to opt out of data sharing.

With these changes and more changes toward privacy controls and data, marketers need a better way to reach their audiences.

That’s why you need a website for your newsletters.

The best newsletter platform balances ease of use with powerful features, offering comprehensive customization options, competitive pricing, and seamless integrations.

beehiiv exemplifies these qualities, providing a user-friendly environment that doesn’t skimp on the tools needed for audience engagement and growth.

Are There Any Free Website Options for Newsletters?

The simple answer is—yes.

There are “free” website options for newsletters.

Each of the eleven platforms we listed has free plans or trial periods.

These options often come with certain limitations but can be an excellent way for new users to get acquainted with the platform’s features.

How Easy is it to Migrate My Existing Newsletter to a New Platform?

Depending on your platform, migrating your existing newsletter could be as easy as reconfiguring URLs and importing and exporting contacts.

If you’re using beehiiv, you can import content from various other platforms. To do so, you follow these steps:

Log into your beehiiv account.
Go to ‘Settings.’
Click ‘Publication.’
Click ‘Import Content.’
Click ‘Get Started.’
Select which platforms from the list or ‘Other.’

There are a few additional steps for the various platforms, and the instructions will vary depending on your selection.

Once you have imported your newsletter content, you can access it anytime in your beehiiv account under ‘Write’ and then click ‘Post.’

What Kind of Support Can I Expect From the Best Newsletter Websites?

Top-notch newsletter services offer extensive support and resources, including 24/7 customer service, community forums, detailed FAQs, and educational materials.

beehiiv stands out for its responsive and helpful support team, which ensures users have the assistance they need to succeed.

By Linda Hwang

Sourced from beehiiv Blog

In Uncategorized

AI Has Done Terrible Things to Image Searching

July 8, 2024 No Comments

BY TOBIAS CARROLL

This is all heading to some very creepy places

There’s been a lot of conversation lately about the current state of search engines. More specifically, there’s been a lot of discourse about the frustrations numerous search engine users have had when trying to seek out basic information. It’s prompted some people to seek out alternatives to Google — or to work on building their own. The addition of AI into the mix has led to further dilemmas, including treating The Onion stories as factual rather than satirical.

But when it comes to the effects of AI-generated images on search engine results, we seem to be on the verge of something utterly terrifying. That’s not hyperbole; the headline for a recent story at 404 Media by Emanuel Maiberg declared that AI images “Have Opened a Portal to Hell” in search engines. That is, unfortunately, an eminently accurate description of the situation at hand.

As Maiberg explained, this article grew out of another investigation, this one into scams on Taylor Swift fan pages. While researching AI-generated images for that article, he discovered a number of what appeared to be AI-generated images of Swift. Maiberg then began researching the presence of AI-generated images in search results for different female celebrities wearing swimsuits. That’s when the investigation took an even bleaker turn.

Maiberg wrote that, for two of the celebrities in question, Google Image Search returned “AI-generated images of them in swimsuits, but as children, even though the search didn’t include terms related to age.” Following those links, Maiberg noted, can take users to “AI-generated non-consensual nude images and AI-generated nude images of celebrities made to look like children.”

Deepfake images have already popped up in ways that increase disinformation about ongoing conflicts around the globe. This latest permutation is unsettling for a much different reason and demonstrates how AI-generated images can both make it harder to seek out actual photographs and take users to thoroughly unsettling places, both literally and metaphorically.

There is, unfortunately, a reason why Cory Doctorow’s concept of enshittification has become ubiquitous in the last year or so. In a recent lecture, Doctorow described a process by which “the services that matter to us, that we rely on, are turning into giant piles of shit.” And getting a bunch of dodgy AI images — and worse — when carrying out a fairly basic image search certainly sounds like it qualifies, with a side order of moral rot along the way.

Feature Image Credit: Getty Images

BY TOBIAS CARROLL

Tobias Carroll lives and writes in New York City, and has been covering a wide variety of subjects — including (but not limited to) books, soccer and drinks — for many years. His writing has been…Read More

Sourced from INSIDEHOOK

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18 Tips For Developing Effective Ads That Convert

July 5, 2024 No Comments

Sourced from Forbes

In today’s digital-forward business environment, attracting the attention of potential customers is simultaneously easier and more challenging than ever. While social media platforms have become a key way to effectively target a specific audience segment, businesses are competing in a crowded market that not only includes other businesses but also friends, family and more.

While standing out is difficult, developing advertisements that effectively capture the attention of audiences can be done with careful planning. Below, 18 Forbes Business Council members discuss strategies leaders can leverage to create effective ads that convert prospects.

1. Craft A Compelling Call To Action

In my experience, the secret to creating an effective ad that converts is crafting a compelling call to action or CTA. A clear and enticing CTA prompts immediate action from the viewer, resulting in higher conversion rates. It should be concise and specific while offering a clear benefit to the audience. – Ryan Austin, Cognota

2. Make It Memorable

The secret to creating an effective ad that converts lies in its memorability. In today’s cluttered advertising space, capturing attention is paramount. One essential ingredient for achieving this is creativity. A memorable ad stands out, resonates emotionally and leaves a lasting impression, increasing brand recall and driving conversions. – Amber Brown, Grant Cardone Licensee

3. Connect On An Emotional Level

High-conversion commercials use captivating consumer psychology stories. Emotional triggers and inspiring stories help us connect with our audience. We improve our technique by utilizing real-time performance measurements. It is essential to connect with individuals on an emotional level because it effectively conveys the worth of your proposal, builds trust and inspires them to act. – Sergey Buchin, Irbisio Cleantech Infrastructure Fund

4. Set Yourself Apart

A key ingredient is difference. Research your competitors and aim to do something wildly different. For example, if they’re all using sleek graphic ads with catchy taglines, perhaps try a minimalist approach with a bold, single statement. The more contrast you have, the more you’ll stand out and invoke curiosity. This will leave your audiences excited and eager to make that click. – Sean Shea, ViB

5. Deeply Understand Your Audience

Your target audience is the key to successful advertising. Understanding their needs, desires and problems allows us to create advertising materials that are attractive and relevant. It’s also important to demonstrate how our product or service can help solve their problems or meet their needs. This analysis allows us to create advertising that effectively communicates with our audience. – Jekaterina Beljankova, WALLACE s.r.o

6. Tap Into Deep Desires And Fears

The No. 1 ingredient for creating ads that get people to buy is tapping into their deepest desires and fears. Craft your message to what your customer craves or worries about the most. Use vivid language to stir emotions like longing for success, yearning for love or dread of failure. Make them feel your product or service will solve their burning need. When ads ignite powerful feelings, customers feel compelled to take action. – Vikrant Shaurya, Authors On Mission

7. Blend Human Insight With Humour

In our experience, the secret to crafting an effective ad is having a deep human insight driving the story and blending that insight with humour. Understanding what triggers people’s decisions, fears and joys is crucial. Once you have that insight, infusing humour can be a powerful way to connect by creating tension. This will make the ad relatable and, most importantly, shareable. – Roberto Max Salas, Young Her

8. Be Authentic

I’ve found that authenticity is the key ingredient to creating an effective ad that truly converts. It’s about connecting with your audience, understanding their needs and addressing these concerns with integrity. This approach garners attention and builds lasting trust, transforming interest into action. Remember that customers seek solutions from trustworthy sources—authenticity drives conversations. – Aleesha Webb, Pioneer Bank

9. Create Relevant Ads

Ads can convert when they are relevant to the target segment. Ads that address a customer’s pain point have a much better chance of converting than visually appealing ones. As much as possible, it is better to test an ad on a sample population before spending a big budget on it. Testing ad effectiveness in today’s digital world is not a difficult task at all. – Sabeer Nelliparamban, Tyler Petroleum Inc / ZilBank

10. Focus On The Solution

Highlight the solution, not just the product. An effective ad connects by addressing the audience’s pain points directly and showing how your solution will make their life easier or better. – Blake Olson, Smart Prop Trader

11. Provide Timely Information

Effective ads are curated with articles that can provide customers with the information they really want in a timely manner. Traditional SEO alone is not necessarily the approach your customers want, so you will need an information platform that satisfies their needs. It would be even better to have a system that allows for interactive information sharing rather than one-way information provision. – Karita Takahisa, UNIFY PLATFORM AG

12. Localize Ads

Targeting ads based on geographic location or local preferences can make them more relevant and impactful. Customize ad content to reflect regional interests, language preferences or cultural nuances. Localized targeting will help you connect with audiences on a personal level, increasing the likelihood of conversions, especially for businesses with physical locations or regional offerings. – Ran Ronen, Equally AI

13. Utilize Good Visuals

Crafting an effective ad that converts involves utilizing good visuals that capture attention. In the property management industry, showcasing stunning images of luxurious amenities or offering virtual tours can entice potential guests to book a stay. By combining persuasive messaging with visually appealing content, businesses can create ads that attract attention and drive meaningful engagement. – Johan Hajji, UpperKey

14. Tap Into Audience Emotions

The most effective ads tap into the target audience’s emotions—whether that’s excitement, humour, aspiration, nostalgia, etc. Figure out which emotion most authentically aligns with your message and audience to deliver an advertisement that is memorable and impactful. Emotive language and strong imagery are excellent tools to make sure an advertisement isn’t looked over. – Archer Chiang, Giftpack

15. Tailor Messaging

In our experience, one essential ingredient is relevance. Tailoring your advert to address specific audience pain points and motivations increases the impact and likelihood of conversion. When your ad speaks directly to the audience’s interests and addresses their concerns, it establishes a stronger connection and drives higher conversion rates. – Chris Coldwell, Quicksilver Software Development Inc.

16. Highlight Your Unique Offering

One core ingredient you must have in your ad is the unique selling proposition of your brand. Identify and highlight what sets you apart from the rest. Hit the right spots in terms of the brand and cover all the bases the ad requires by being funny, emotional or adventurous to properly position the brand to the target audience. – Vinay Chandrashekar, Long Boat Brewing Co.

17. Be Patient

The secret ingredient for an effective ad is simple: patience. In marketing, it’s rare to nail it on the first try. View each campaign as a learning experience where even subtle changes can get you closer to your conversion goals. With that in mind, don’t be afraid to try something new. Often, the best-performing ads are the most surprising. – Mark DeHaan, TenantCloud & Rentler

18. Have A Finger On The Public’s Pulse

People like to think we’re totally rational actors making rational decisions when many things are truly motivated by a fleeting feeling or subconscious instinct. A good ad must have its finger on the public pulse. Whether that public is B2B or B2C, the things that induce virality and conversion are about getting a deep cultural and emotional understanding and then reflecting that onto the viewer. – Michael Shribman, APS Global Partners Inc.

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Feature Image Credit: Getty

Sourced from Forbes

Forbes Business Council is an invitation-only, fee-based organization for successful entrepreneurs and business leaders.

In Uncategorized

‘We’re all just fumbling around’: Advertising on Substack remains a Wild West for brands

July 5, 2024 No Comments

By Julia Waldow

Since 2022, writer Emily Sundberg has churned out edition after edition of her popular daily Substack business newsletter “Feed Me.” Sundberg writes about products she comes across organically, and she typically hears from brands she mentions in issues. “Often, founders will email me and say, ‘A ton of people came into the store asking for this, and they mentioned ‘Feed Me,’” she told Modern Retail.

It wasn’t until March 2024, however, that Sundberg ran her first sponsored Substack post. That post was sponsored by the apparel brand Free People, which Sundberg used to work for in high school. The two collaborated on a travel newsletter. Since then, Sundberg has worked with three other brands: skincare brand Medik8, supplements brand Moon Juice and nicotine replacement brand Jones.

Substack was founded in 2017 as an email publishing platform billed as one part Tinyletter and one part Tumblr. Substack newsletters are niche by nature; one may talk about beauty, another about food, another about hiking. The platform runs on a subscription model, meaning that users can pay authors a monthly fee to access their posts. Readers have paid writers more than $300 million through Substack subscriptions, according to Substack. Substack raised a $65 million Series B in 2021. In 2023, more than 17,000 writers earned money on the platform, per Axios.

As more writers flock to Substack, the channel is becoming ripe for advertising. More brands are seeking out newsletters with strong follower counts or a unique point of view for possible sponsorships. Many are targeting newsletters that are linked to influencers, mention their products or allow them to reach certain demographics, such as makeup lovers in their 20s and 30s.

Brands are also turning to Substack as a direct messaging tool. Users open Substack newsletters via email, meaning that they interact with content more actively than they might do on Instagram. For brands, that can mean a strong return on their investment. For instance, Medik8 told Modern Retail that it saw a 204% ROAS with its Substack partnership with “Feed Me.”

Still, brands and Substack authors alike described the platform as a sort of Wild West, saying they forged their own partnerships independently without guidance from Substack. Some writers charge brands a flat fee, while others accept store credit. Some have had brands approach them about sponsored posts; others have approached brands. It’s an environment where “nobody really knows what they’re doing right now” in terms of sponsorships, said Lia Haberman, who writes the Substack marketing newsletter “ICYMI,” which has 22,000 subscribers.

“We’re all just fumbling around getting set up with sponsors,” she told Modern Retail. But, she added, “I like that Substack’s not involved just yet, because the writer gets 100% of the partnership revenue… The minute Substack gets officially involved, writers will have to pay a portion of their sponsorship to the platform.”

Substack positions itself as a creative outlet, not a marketing one. In fact, its terms of service say the site does not “permit publications whose primary purpose is to advertise external products or services, drive traffic to third party sites, distribute offers and promotions, enhance search engine optimization or similar activities.”

Earlier this year, Christina Loff, Substack’s head of lifestyle partnerships, told Glossy that Substack writers are “finding freedom” from Substack’s subscription model. “[They are] finding that readers will pay them directly to get their honest takes, free of ads,” she said.

According to Axios, however, Substack is developing some sort of service to help creators sell ads. “We’re always working with writers, running experiments and listening to feedback,” a Substack spokesperson told Axios. Substack did not respond to a request for comment for this piece.

Substack has not publicly said when it plans to launch this new ad service. In the meantime, Substack authors are seeing requests from brands pile up. For instance, Erika Veurink, who writes the Substack secondhand fashion newsletter “Long Live,” said she started hearing more from possible ad partners a couple of months ago. “It feels like all my friends who have Substacks are in talks with brands,” she said.

But Substack authors told Modern Retail that simply hearing from a brand doesn’t guarantee a deal. For one, there’s the matter of price, said Veurink, who’s run sponsored posts with the finance platform Fruitful and the swimwear brand OOKIOH. “What I’ve heard conversationally is essentially $1 for every subscriber,” Veurink said. “A lot of people are in theory open to it, but when you put an actual number in front of them… a lot of smaller brands sort of freak out.”

What’s more, not all brands understand how to use Substack or even newsletters in general, Haberman said. Haberman shared she’s had success running sponsored newsletters with the software company Sprout Social and the social media management platform Dash Hudson.

Advertising on Substack, however, can be a bit of a long game. Yet some sponsors Haberman has been interested in working with expect their ads to lead to instant conversion.

“It’s awkward because I literally have to tell them they need to lead people down the funnel,” she said. “People are throwing money at newsletters and expecting miraculous results outside the realm of everything we know about marketing.”

There’s also the issue of brand-author alignment on Substack. Sundberg, whose newsletter has tens of thousands of subscribers, is careful to only work with brands she’s already mentioned or actually uses. “I’ve said no to most of them,” she said.

Likewise, Melanie Masarin, who started a Substack fashion newsletter called “Night Shade” last fall, says she’s discerning about which brands she wants to work with. “I’m obviously interested in getting more work, but only to the extent that it allows me to have a tougher filter on who I work with,” Masarin, the founder of aperitif brand Ghia, explained.

Masarin ran her first sponsored post with the luxury resale platform Vestiaire Collective in April. She had long plugged Vestiaire in her newsletter and got to know the company’s executives better when attending an event. The company told her it was interested in doing more to break into the U.S. market, she said, and the two decided to work on a Substack post together. “It kind of came to me very organically, which is how I like to do Substack,” Masarin said. Masarin gave readers a code for 10% off at Vestiaire Collective.

Medik8, which ran its partnership with “Feed Me” earlier this year, is eager to work with Sundberg again, as well as try out other Substack partnerships. It’s also open to using whatever ad tools Substack develops, Amanda Beckwith, director of public relations at Medik8, told Modern Retail. “I think [a Substack ad program] would be easy to scale,” she said. “We’re seeing a lot of success with Substack, but as a brand, it’s like, ‘How do we accelerate on this?’”

What Beckwith likes most about Substack is that it gives brands a chance to work with built-in audiences. “It’s tough to build your own brand community,” she said. “So I think leveraging an existing community that aligns and has parallels to your existing brand community is really important.”

“Medik8, having a lower brand awareness, we do take risks,” Beckwith said. “I think just seeing that ROAS percentage [on Substack] is really healthy for a brand of our size. I definitely am looking to accelerate within the space.”

By Julia Waldow

Sourced from ModernRetail

editor

Examples & Strategies To Keep Customers Coming Back With Email

Table of Contents

TL;DR

The Importance of Customer Retention

Why Customer Retention Matters

1. Greater Customer Lifetime Value

2. Make More Money Per Sale

3. Get More Time Back

How You Measure Customer Lifetime Value

How To Calculate Customer Retention

The Role of Email in Customer Retention

Why Email Matters in Customer Retention

1. Email keeps your marketing budget in check.

2. Email fuels branding through attention.

3. Email turns one-time customers into repeat buyers.

How To Craft Effective Customer Retention Emails

What Is a Customer Retention Email?

What To Include in a Retention Email

5 Customer Retention Email Examples

1. Welcome Email

2. Thank You Email

3. New Product Announcement Email

4. Product Giveaway Email

5. Win-Back Email

3 Customer Retention Email Templates

1. Thank You Email

2. Customer-Only Offer/Discount Email

3. Rewarding Loyalty

How beehiiv Keeps Your Customers Coming Back

By Brandon Storey

Sourced from Beehiiv Blog

The Gist

The Evolution of Personalized Marketing in Ecommerce

Immersive Technologies Revolutionizing Ecommerce

The U.S. Department of Justice has filed a lawsuit against Adobe alleging that the company deceives consumers by hiding the early-termination fee and making it difficult for people to cancel their subscriptions.

By Aisha Malik

Sourced from TechCrunch

Brewdog founder James Watt is set to launch a new business called Social Tip, a platform that allows users to become ‘influencers’ and earn money for promoting brands.

By Jess Jones

Sourced from CITY A.M.

Mail manager components definition:

Customer background and use case

Use case 1: Nutrition.co to the world

Use case 2: World to Nutrition.co

Archiving inbound emails

Testing

Conclusion & Next steps

By Pavlos Ioannou Katidis

Alexey Kiselev

Sourced from AWS

By Andrew Hutchinson

Sourced from Social Media Today

Why These 11 Websites Offer the Best in Class Newsletter Services

Why Newsletters Are Essential for Business?

11 Best Websites For Newsletter

beehiiv: Monetization, Usability, and Customization

How to Start Using beehiiv

ConvertKit

Mailchimp

Substack

AWeber

Campaign Monitor

Ghost

Why Trust Me

Mailmodo

Flodesk

GetResponse

Omnisend

How to Choose the Right Website for Newsletters?

Customization

Monetization

User Authentication

Custom Domains

Final Thoughts

Best Website For Newsletters: Frequently Asked Questions

What Makes a Website the Best Choice for Newsletters?

Are There Any Free Website Options for Newsletters?

How Easy is it to Migrate My Existing Newsletter to a New Platform?

What Kind of Support Can I Expect From the Best Newsletter Websites?