Admin Q: What Should We Change About the Newsletter?

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Thinking cap, originally uploaded to Flickr by quinn.anyaFor those of you who don't know — Corporette has an e-mail newsletter! And we're curious what else you guys think we should be doing with it. Right now, it e-mails you once there have been six posts, and only contains the same content for the blog. What are your thoughts on it? We'd love to hear from everyone — those who get it, those who got it but unsubscribed, and those who knew we had it but decided not to get it. Specifically –
– what extra content (if any) should we put in the newsletter? I was thinking it might be good to highlight some of the conversations taking place in the comments, as well as the regular content, for example… Another idea was to send around some of the earlier content instead of/in addition to the “Previously” posts we run sometimes…
– what other newsletters do you get that you love?
– how do you usually read newsletters — i.e., sitting at your computer? on a Blackberry? or on a tablet or smart phone?

Many thanks, you guys!

(Pictured: Thinking cap, originally uploaded to Flickr by quinn.anya.)

(Psst: subscribe here!)

34 Comments

  1. Hi Kat,

    My 2 cents: I receive the newsletter but delete it after a quick glance as it always contains info I’ve already seen (I’m a regular on your site!). I think adding some stuff that isn’t on the site or adding it to the newsletter before it goes up on the site would make the newsletter more interesting. Additionally, wouldn’t mind seeing questions/thought pieces/interesting news that maybe you didn’t put in the Friday news post.

    Also, and maybe this is a stretch, recommendations for books/magazines/newspapers/blogs that helped you in your professional career either b/c of practice tips, general knowledge, ability to chat with male colleagues (and in my case, partners), inspirational stories, discounted business clothes, etc etc etc.

    1. agree totally, the current newsletter is really only useful if you’re not a regular site browser, and I also delete it almost immediately after a quick check on whether I missed anything during the week.

  2. To me it sounds like the newsletter is not worth the effort. I don’t follow you on twitter/facebook b/c I already spend too much “work time” on this site. I like to be able to go to one place to read everything and not be clicking all over. Keeping it all in one place also increases the number of click throughs to your advertisers too.

  3. Additional thought: you could do a spotlight every newsletter on a woman whose dress/style you admire. Just nice to see outfits put together either for work or for going out.

  4. I also don’t read the Corporette Newsletter because a) my mailbag is already overcrowded and b) I get too many newsletters, discount e-mails etc. The only non-news newsletter I read these days is DailyCandy because I sometimes like its suggestions for things to do on the weekends.

  5. Please don’t take the “Previously” posts off the blog- i love them! I have zero time to read newsletters and i only haven’t unsubscribed because it is easier to just delete.
    That said, the blog is amazing and I would hope you don’t change a thing in favor of newsletters because then how would i know how to dress appropriately!

    thanks for all the great work, kat!

  6. Personally, I hate when people put “exclusive” content in their newsletters, twitter feed, facebook page, or whatever – I like that everything is accessible from this one page (since I can see your facebook posts and twitter feed on the right-hand frame), and it would kind of annoy me if I had to subscribe to your newsletter and then dig through the re-tread content just to find the one new article.

    I imagine some people like the newsletter becuase they don’t want to come onto the site itself, or the site is blocked at work, or because they don’t like commenters – but I don’t know that I, who prefer the website, would also want a newsletter from you just because.

  7. I don’t think a newsletter adds any value. The content on your blog is great and you presumably have more visitors than you have subscribers to the newsletter (and presumably make more ad $ from the blog, too). Unless there’s some tangible benefit to you that makes it worthwhile, I don’t see a point to continuing a newsletter. Almost everyone wants less email, not more, and many people don’t even read emailed newsletters.

  8. Honestly, I share everyone’s thoughts — it’s why I haven’t done that much with the newsletter. Yet every advertiser I talk to tells me that’s where the real money is, and so from a business perspective it’s something I’m trying to get into — but I want to do it in a way that adds value to readers/subscribers lives, not just clutters up the inbox. (Trust me: the number of emails that I delete every day without even reading them far exceeds the numbers that I actually get.)

  9. I have been getting the newsletter for a while and I enjoy looking at it. If it’s a topic I’m interested in, I’ll click through to read the comments. After I subscribed to your newsletter, I set myself up on Google Reader and get the blog through there. I would swear that sometimes posts show up in the newsletter that never show up in Google Reader.

    Maybe my issue is with Google Reader?

    I like the “previous” posts, too.

    1. I agree. Ever since signing up with Google reader I only browse the web via RSS feeds. I rarely visit the actual sites/blogs anymore. The only disadvantage to this is that I dont get to see the comments…

  10. I didn’t even know you had a newsletter, but I will say that I think a summary of the comments section–or at least the top one or two discussions–would be the most helpful. I sometimes don’t feel like reading through all of the comments even though that is often where some of the most interesting stuff is on the blog. So, if I got a newsletter saying what people are commenting on generally, I could see if it is worth my time going to read it.

  11. Kat,
    I read the newsletter pretty religiously and only visit the blog if a discussion crops up that I want to follow and/or I want to find a previous posting. This works well for me as I am frequently on the road – reading from my laptop work computer or my blackberry. I figure leaving my yahoo account open and reading the newsletter is better than visiting a number of blogs during the workday — and am suprised that I seem to be the minority using the site/newsletter this way…

  12. I get the newsletter to my work email address, and I look at it from my laptop. My company strips out images in our email – so while I do receive the newsletter, it looks a bit “empty” without all the pics and I tend to take a glance and then move on.

    I honestly don’t read any other newsletters, as I can only receive text based emails from outside the company, most end up not displaying properly for me.

    It sounds sort of interesting to have the comments highlighted or summarized, but at the same time it freaks me out a bit! Seeing my screen name quoted in a newsletter might make me think a bit more about what I am posting…this is probably illogical, as I am already writing on a public blog, but, well, I don’t know – Anyone else feel this way?

  13. I view the fashion items as… instructional. What I really like Corporette
    for, though, are the other discussions on being a working woman.
    I think I’m in anpretty tiny minority

    1. It’s become the same for me honestly. I found Corporette and enjoyed the coupon codes and fashion / work advice, but now I really enjoy the commentary amongst all the wonderful women even more than the fashion pics!

  14. Hmm… my comment didn’t post earlier but

    I was wondering if there is a way to view a list of all previous posts, instead of using the previous button to scroll backwards.

    Also, have you considered having a forum or message board? With all the “threadjacks”, seems there is a lot to talk about!

  15. I was a newsletter subscriber and I unsubscribed because I found it just repeated what I was already reading on the website. I love Corporette and I’m a daily visitor, although like some of the commenters, above, I enjoy the community of working women just as much as the fashion advice. So if you were to find some way of incorporating highlight comments, I would love that. I like the comments now, but coming back on Monday morning to catch up on a weekend thread with hundreds of posts seems daunting.

    I would also welcome new original material in a newsletter, but: I am sympathetic to the effort v. revenue debate, having working in the magazine business and run newsletters before. Make sure it’s worth it to you. (I would not be a huge fan of ‘previously’ posts, but maybe that’s because it seems like I’ve read them all…I have been a fan for a long time.) Also, if the newsletter is auto-generated now, you could probably keep it for those who can’t access the site at work, which seems like a good point, and add a new one with custom content.

    Other daily newsletters I get: DailyWorth, which is a great email for working women about saving, spending, investing, etc. I love it. I get Writer’s Almanac (poetry) and some legal news, which are so-so. It’s a small inbox, but I’d make room for a revamped Corporette newsletter.

  16. I don’t subscribe to the newsletter, and I like that everything is on the website. Like the others, I get way too much stuff in my email already.

  17. I didn’t even know there was a newsletter. I’m not sure I would subscribe anyway. I like having this blog to come to once in the morning and once in the afternoon as a break. I already get too many emails and newsletters and I delete them without reading. Those advertisers are not making money off me!

  18. I don’t get the newsletter so I cannot comment on that.
    However, I wanted to suggest that maybe Corporette needs some better commenting method? If a particualr topic or threadjack is interesting, there are a lot of comments and replies to comments. The deleanation between the comemnts and replies is not that obvious and it gets tedious to figure out the comments you have already read and the unread comments. This gets especially annoying for the long weekend threads.

    Is there a commenting system where the new comments after your last visit show up in a different color?

    1. Even an option where you could flag something as off topic so every corresponding post would also be flagged/colored would be nice. Sometimes there’s a topic I’m not interested in that has a long threadjack and it can be frustrating to have to scroll through 20+ comments and not miss some that are a different topic.

  19. I’m not a subscriber, but I don’t think I would be anyway, regardless of what was put into it. I like having it in my GoogleReader feeds, to be reminded that a new post is up, read the post there, but do come to the site to check it out for the comments.

    Any newsletter that I (inadvertedly or on purpose) subscribe to, get a lot of attention for the first week or so, but then it just ends up deleted.

    What I’m missing is a recent comments section on the side or something that comes as an option for other WordPress blogs – then you will see if people start commenting on the older posts. Or if not a forum, then an A-Z index of topics so people who have specific requests can go back and look at/comment on similar posts.

  20. I love the newsletter! Please don’t change a thing. (I’m begging…..). I almost never read the blog, but I get a smile and a little jolt of excitement when the newsletter comes in my e-mail. I don’t have time to go to web sites every day, but I read the newsletter in its entirety, and like Heather A above, I know I can click through to the blog to read the comments (which I do about 20% of the time). I don’t need any “new” or “fresh” content in the newsletter-it’s perfect just the way it is. Reading summaries of comments would just make it cluttered and less interesting for me. Keep up the good work!

  21. I think that you are doing a great job. How about featuring some clothing styles for us woman who are a bit on the “zaftig” (heavier) side!?

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