Why Email Is Still the Original Killer App
The media business is built around the fact that your attention is worth money. TV news and other forms of media are incentivized to capture and hold your attention. Whether through scrolling, watching talking heads, perusing clickbait articles or something else, their content is designed to keep you locked in.
And yet, these tactics don’t seem to always be working that well. Left and right, media empires are laying off, filing for bankruptcy or shuttering doors completely. We’re so used to doomscrolling today that most media companies have forgotten the channel that still continues to perform — email.
It might sound counterintuitive, but media companies may fare better by rejecting the attention economy and focusing on delivering high-quality newsletters to grow their audiences. In 2023, newsletters are reporting revenue and advertiser growth despite the shake-ups at traditional media companies.
Here’s why email is still the original killer app.
Trust
Once someone subscribes to your newsletter, they are granting you access to their inbox. There is a level of trust already established when inviting you into their inbox. They’re already bought in. They have confirmed their interest in your content and have prioritized receiving it. Digital ads don’t have that opt-in feature and are quickly scrolled past in social media.
Now, once you have that trust, you have to deliver on your promise. Focus on delivering a high-quality product every single day and stick to your brand values. For our own newsletter, we made the decision to only feature two hand-selected advertisements per issue to ensure the products and services in our newsletter align with our mission and don’t distract from the content our readers came for.
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Specificity
I’m a newsletter junkie. Part of that is my personal curiosity and thirst for learning, but part of that is there is a newsletter for any topic. Social media algorithms don’t always get my interests right. Newsletters, on the other hand, are specific to every interest under the sun and written by experts in those topics.
When I look at my inbox on Saturday, I know I’ve curated my own scroll, complete with the delivery of various perspectives, topics and knowledge. For example, I subscribe to no fewer than 100 newsletters, ranging from sneakers to local Chicago restaurants to parenting to data infographics.
Newsletters allow your business to reach a highly targeted audience with the most relevant messages to them.
Dedicated Attention
With newsletters, brands can communicate directly with their audience and don’t need to rely on the whims of social media CEOs or traditional publishers.
Email is ready to be consumed on my own timeline. I can read newsletters when I’m in the right headspace or have time to dig in. It doesn’t disappear from a newsfeed and I don’t have to search for it later. For example, critical work-related topics for my industry like investing/funding or marketing trends are scheduled to snooze until Tuesday. Newsletters on topics like a new subject I’m learning about, local events, travel and more are all snoozed until Saturday when my favorite morning routine is to relax with a cup of coffee and spend dedicated time reading through my newsletter subscriptions.
In the age where media companies are fighting for an infinite amount of attention, but failing to grow sustainable businesses, newsletters are the unsung heroes building trust and loyal fanbase among consumers.