Newsletter advertising is great. But it’s important to avoid common mistakes and pitfalls so you don’t end up wasting budget.
Many people are put off by bad experiences, and it’s because purchasing ads in newsletters isn’t a uniform experience.
There’s no overarching algorithm or standardized procedure. Accordingly, this means you’ll run into people who don’t have your best interests at heart.
It’s tricky to know what to avoid if you’re new.
So here’s our advice:
Table of Contents
Watch out for open rate statistics
Most newsletters will advertise their open rate as a primary selling point.
But get the specifics on how they’re calculating this rate.
You want to learn a newsletter’s unique open rate:
Unique open rate % = percentage of individuals who opened the email
Unfortunately, some newsletters (and even one of the big ones, in our experience) will advertise their total open rate. This includes repeat opens.
For example, if you have an audience of 10 people and one of them opens your email 10 times, your total open rate would be 100%.
It’s a common trick people use to inflate numbers.
And since Apple Mail Privacy is rolling out, open rates are even less relevant.
Be skeptical of sky-high prices
Yes, newsletters can give you access to high-quality audiences. But everything has a price and that doesn’t mean you should pay more than it’s worth.
Here’s a general rule on newsletter pricing
Ask for the average number of clicks per sponsored placement.
Divide the price by this number to get your CPC.
For B2B, a number around $5 CPC is not bad. For B2C, you certainly want something lower than that.
Each business has its own numbers and you should stick with having a healthy margin.
Be cautious if you get pushback when asking for numbers
Great newsletters won’t hesitate to give you relevant numbers like:
- unique open rate
- average clicks on sponsored placements, and
- newsletter CTR
If they do hesitate… you should be careful.
Finding Newsletters to Advertise In
Excellent growth can be had from newsletter ads if you find the right ones.
Here’s how to plan things out if you’re looking to buy newsletter ads.
1. Create a spreadsheet with the following columns
Newsletter name, subscribers, unique opens, average unique clicks per sponsored post, price per sponsored post, estimated CPC, and contact information.
2. Explore newsletter marketplaces such as Swapstack and Paved…
…for newsletters that could be a good fit for you. Add all the information you find in your spreadsheet.
3. Get in touch with those that show the most promising numbers
If you already run social ads, don’t be scared of 2x-3x CPC on newsletter ads.
Engaging newsletters with a relevant audience will be worth it.
Explain what you’re looking to promote, and ask for information about the numbers mentioned above.
Then update your spreadsheet.
4. Choose at least 4 of the most promising newsletters that fit your budget
You shouldn’t spend your whole budget on one newsletter because there’s always a difference between theoretical and actual numbers.
5. In the same or a new sheet, note the actual CPC you paid, the conversions you got, and the final CPA
Based on that, you can now decide what newsletters to continue running more ads on, and which ones aren’t a fit.
