Notification & CTA-Only Newsletters Are Dead

Most people fundamentally don't like email newsletters.

Our email inboxes are already crammed full of bills, orders delayed in shipping, the 3 themed days for our kid's school this week, and updated terms and conditions for some streaming platform. Why would we consciously add even more things to sift through till we get to the emails we actually care about? And that's just our personal inboxes.

But say you are interested in hearing more from a creator or brand and sign up for "news and updates."

We already have notification overload.

Every app on your phone has some "reason" you should turn on notifications so they can ping you whenever they want.

Chances are, you fall into one of two categories. Either you have all your notifications on for every app and have so many dings that you unconsciously started ignoring 99% of them, or you have everything off except the 1% of chimes you absolutely must see. Unfortunately, email usually all gets lumped into 1 setting for notification unless you pay to have an email client that splits your inbox for you.

With all those notifications you either ignore or turn off, why would you want yet another email coming through that only asks you to read "the latest article" or "watch the new YouTube video"?

We don't like being told what to do.

Then there's the massive volume of online store emails.

Every online store has opt-ins for 3% off or free shipping now, but it's primarily so they can then bombard you with "want to buy this too?" requests. They even come a few hours after you already made a purchase for something else you could buy. If you're like me, you immediately opt-out (if you even opted-in at all).

The 1 area I'm okay with is when you can opt-in to be notified when something is back in stock and they kindly ONLY send you the 1 email you asked for letting you know.

The irony is not lost on me that I am writing this days before Black Friday sales start, which will have an avalanche of "buy this now before the deal is over" emails.

So...are newsletters dead? No.

The problem I have with notification and CTA-only emails is that they only ever ask you to do something for them.

The hero of a newsletter should not be the sender, but the reader. Some creators provides a ton of value in their emails, then subtly add "if you want to see XYZ in action, you can check out the full video." Or brands will show you how to build a really cool jig that helps you in the workshop and kindly add just the 1 link to a product needed to make it.

The subtle change shifts it from asking for something to just trying to be helpful, which makes all the difference.

Don't believe me? Gary Vaynerchuck called this back in 2013 when he released his book, Jab Jab Jab Right Hook.

Or said another way, you have to give, give, give, then maybe ask. The key is to give value away—for free—several times over before even thinking about asking for something in return.