Are email newsletters still worth it? As we step into 2025, this topic has indie makers divide over who is right and who is wrong. Does it make sense to build a newsletter in this day and age with everyone and their mother creating one now? The short awnser is yes! Lets take some time to dive into the reasons why you might want to take time out of your week to create a opportunity that could possibly generate some serious money for your indie product.
Despite the rise of social media and other digital platforms, email newsletters have shown remarkable resilience. We still as humnans like to read what others have to say. We like to learn and grow from others as long as it makes sense. Some newsletters for myself personally are not worth my time so I unsubscribe and move on. I also dont want to read a novel so its important to have a good mix of topic with a dash of get to the freaken point already!
The Power of Ownership
One of the key advantages of email newsletters is ownership. Unlike social media followers, your email list is yours to keep and nurture.
"You don't truly possess the information about your social media followers; you're essentially leasing that space from Mark Zuckerberg."
You create a sense of personality sharing your voice online. It gives your persona new depth and character. Be careful what you publish. Depending on your audience you can harm your image so its important to keep a good idea who your key targets are and write for that group or niche.My goal with my newsletter is to target small indie makers who struggle with marketing their product and getting eyeballs to their product. I'm using my newsletter and experice drumming up eyeballs to Indie Parrot as an experiment. Time will only tell where this will go.
Real-World Success Stories
Some makers showed the effectiveness of creating an email newsletter. Running a modest newsletter with about 4,000 subscribers they've seen significant sales and revenue. They earned several thousand dollars from sponsorships in 2024 alone, with open rates consistently hovering around 40%. That's not a normal open rate. Usually its like 5-10% at best and a conversion rate of 1% is hopeful but not always likely. Looking at 4,000 readers with a 40% open rate and 1% conversion you can expect to turn about 16 people into paying customers. Depending on your price point that can be pretty good profit.
A newsletter's main goal shouldn't be for sales but for validating yourself or your product. Its to validate and keep your online community in your loop and not just on social media but also in your eco system as well.
Tips for Success
- Keep it simple: Dont write a novel, keep your newsletter a 5-10 minute read at most
- Stick to 1 topic: Each newsletter needs to have only 1 topic
- Quality Content: Providing valuable information beyond sales pitches, Never sell but it doesn't hurt promoting your product
- Consistency: Distribute the newsletter on a consistent schedule
Start before you decide to give up
If your curious about creating a newsletter just start. Take your newsletter editions and turn them into blog posts and than even short tweets. Use every bit of your article to share your opinion or the news your want to share. Dont worry about how you sound just make it!
"Success will increasingly depend on delivering content that surpasses what's available on social media."