The 1 Reason Most Newsletter Opt-Ins Are Low (And How To Double It This Weekend)

Newsletters are highly effective and an essential asset for every Maker creator or business.

Newsletters bypass social media algorithms and get your message directly to your audience. Plus, they are fantastic for increasing sales—as long as a majority of the emails are about value, not pitching. But most newsletters have terrible opt-in rates that are less than 1% of website viewers.

The fewer people who opt-in, the less your message spreads, so it's worth focusing on why most rates are so low.

The Reason: No One Wants "News & Updates"

The "value" offer is to hear more about the company or creator, which no one wants.

Most websites have an annoying popup that immediately gets closed or a generic form buried at the bottom that no one sees. Even IF a viewer sees it, "news and updates" doesn't mean anything and who knows what they are inviting into their inbox. Our inboxes are already cluttered with junk as-is, so why intentionally ask for more?

Some companies try to help by offering 10% off someone's first purchase, but that just invites low-price hunters who won't ever pay full-price.

So What Do People Want Instead?

People want something that will help them in exchange for their valuable email address.

If, instead, a website offered 5 days of highly valuable information that would help the reader consistently, subscribers would flood in. When someone is offered a free course, it feels like a free product they are getting (and most people would pay for). By focusing on the reader's problems—not what you want to sell them, you build goodwill and trust with the reader without asking for anything in return (other than their email address).

People buy from others they trust, so it's worth intentionally building it—especially as trust has eroded on social media over the last year.