You know what is frustrating about the newsletter world? The endless stream of hot takes:
“Lead magnets are dead!”
“Double opt-in is a best practice!”
“You have to grow with ads!”
Seriously, spend 10 minutes on YouTube/Reddit/wherever and you’ll find completely opposite advice from people who all claim to know the “one true way” to grow a newsletter.
Here’s the thing though – most of these strategies can work really well. They just need the right context and timing….and the right implementation.
You can also watch this full episode and hear me and Dylan debate some of these:
1. Lead Magnets (Or Not) 🧲
If you search “Are lead magnets good” and “are lead magnets bad” you’d think you’re living in alternate realities.
But I think people just have different experiences and then prescribe those onto others.
And they also might be selling you something else where it benefits them to “poo poo” on a different strategy.
LinkedIn coaches will tell you Instagram is dead, people teaching you how to sell courses will tell you communities are dead, etc.
Getting Them Right
Then I saw how Justin Moore approaches them – instead of random templates or checklists, he gives away detailed sponsorship data. I’m talking email addresses of people on the brand partners team that you can reach out to.
You know, the exact thing his audience of creators is desperately looking for.
But in the early days he tried giving away generic finance checklists that had nothing to do with his core content.
Guess which approach worked better? (Hint: It’s not the random finance tips.)
When you’re looking at daily news-style newsletters (think Morning Brew or 1440), lead magnets might not make much sense.
But for most other newsletter types, they can work incredibly well if you:
- Actually help your ideal readers
- Connect naturally to your newsletter content
- Give people a real taste of your value
- Make it specific to your niche (no more generic productivity templates!)
So I think there is absolutely a world in which lead magnets can be a great idea for a newsletter. But they need to be done well, and that might requires some experimentation.
2. Double Opt-in (Or Not)
Here’s a stat that’ll make you cringe: traditional double opt-in systems can lose you 20-40% of potential subscribers. Ouch.
That’s because they get a “click this button to subscribe” email, and if they don’t click it, or don’t even open that email, they never actually get added to your email list.
But don’t panic – you don’t have to choose between list quality and growth.
They’re just sitting in “double opt-in purgatory” – unable to get your content, and you can’t do anything about it.
Instead of relying on your ESP’s double opt-in system, build your own verification flow into your welcome sequence by setting up an automation that checks if they click that link, and if not you can send them more emails to verify they want to get added to the list.
With standard double opt-in you only get one email to try and convert them. With your own double opt-in automation, you can reach out a few times and make sure.
This way you:
- Keep control of the whole experience
- Get multiple chances to connect with new subscribers
- Actually understand how people engage with your content
- Can reach out multiple times if needed
Just remember – if you’re in Germany or some other countries, you might be legally required to use traditional double opt-in. Always check your local rules!
3. Sponsorships (Or Not)
There are a lot of newsletters who wait until they have 5k, 10k or even more subscribers before they even think about running sponsorships.
But they’re leaving a lot of money on the table. You might never hit that milestone you’re waiting for to start running ads.
Here’s what usually holds people back: they think subscribers will run away screaming at the first sight of an ad.
But in reality, if you’re providing value and choose your sponsors wisely, most people totally get it.
I took the Josh Spector approach to running ads.
He was nervous about adding sponsors, so he surveyed his audience. Turns out, most readers were totally fine with it. Some were even excited to see the sponsors he’d get. I found the same thing.
You can also start small with affiliate partnerships for products you actually use. And while you’re “waiting to hit that magical number” before you run ads, you should build brand relationships before you need them.
4. Paid Growth (or Not)
Let me get spicy for a minute: most newsletters shouldn’t touch paid advertising until they’ve really figured out their fundamentals.
There are a ton of great ways to get subscribers for $2-4 each, but that doesn’t mean you should.
Before you even think about spending money on ads, make sure you have:
- Clear data on what each subscriber is worth to you
- A solid plan for making money (if you spend $500 on ads, how will you earn that back?)
- A really smooth experience for new subscribers
- The entire funnel optimized (landing page, welcome emails, everything!)
If you’re already making some revenue, like $100 a month, you might be tempted to reinvest it in ads. But unless you’ve really nailed your content-audience fit and know exactly how much a subscriber is worth to you, you’re probably better off investing that money elsewhere.
The only exception? If you’ve got unlimited budget from other ventures or you’re already a known entity in your space.
Otherwise, focus on organic growth first until you’re more clear on the strategy.
5. Using Referral Programs (Or Not)
Remember when everyone was copying Morning Brew’s mug giveaway? Those days are pretty much over.
Modern referral programs need to be smarter, especially since you probably can’t afford to ship hundreds of mugs anyway.
What actually works:
- Making that first referral ridiculously easy (think 1-2 referrals, not 5-10)
- Offering rewards your audience actually cares about
- Creating quick wins to build momentum
- Making sharing feel natural, not forced
- Using digital rewards that scale easily
Think about offering something like exclusive content or early access for just one or two referrals, rather than making people wait until they’ve referred 10 friends to get any benefit.
Or you can go the direction of The Dink and offer the exact type of “merch” your people would pay for anyway but can get for free by sharing your newsletter.
6. Cleaning Your Email List (Or Not)
Let’s talk about something that makes every newsletter creator nervous: cleaning their list.
But here’s the thing – it doesn’t have to be this dramatic “delete half your list” situation.
I often see creators proudly announce “I just cut my list in half!” like it’s some badge of honor.
But when I dig deeper, I usually discover they didn’t even try to re-engage these subscribers first. That’s like deleting a friends phone number because they haven’t called you lately.
Here’s a real-world example: some readers use services like hey.com that hide tracking pixels. If you blindly delete “inactive” subscribers, you might be losing some of your most engaged readers!
Some other approaches:
- Set up an automated re-engagement sequence (not just one “are you still interested” email)
- Send them some of your best content (and subject lines) and see if those entice some engagement
- Pause sending them emails for 30 days and then try again (some people are super busy in certain seasons of the year)
- Give people options besides “stay subscribed” or “goodbye forever”
The Seasonal Subscriber Strategy
Take a page from The GIST newsletter – they keep sports fans segmented during off-seasons instead of kicking them off the list.
Because guess what? NFL fans might not care about football content in April, but they’ll definitely be back in September!
This isn’t just for sports either. Think about:
- Swimming pool maintenance (less relevant in winter)
- Financial advice (super relevant in Q1, quieter rest of year)
- Holiday cooking content (peaks around major holidays)
- School-related content (follows academic calendar)
This might not apply for you, but it’s definitely an option for many.
Experiment and Test 🧪
Here’s what I’ve learned after talking to countless newsletter creators: context is everything.
What works for your newsletter depends on a million things:
- How your specific audience behaves
- Your content style and schedule
- Your goals for making money
- The time and resources you actually have
- Whether you’re B2B or B2C (this makes a huge difference!)
Some things that work for other people aren’t going to work for your newsletter.
And even better? Some things that don’t work for other people might work extremely well for your newsletter.
In the end, you have to test everything. Sure, take some best practices you’ve learned along the way, but don’t get so overly confident that things are one way just because someone else said so.
Because if that were the case, “email is dead” would have stopped us all a long time ago.
And clearly it’s still a thriving channel.
The most successful newsletter creators aren’t the ones following every trend – they’re the ones who test things carefully and stick with what works for their specific situation.
