Item — HN Reader

By "works", I think you mean "brings in more revenue than it costs" aka is profitable.

But I think the author brings up a point that it may be hurting the brand unknowingly. just because you can put someone on an email campaign for years because it is super cheap, doesn't mean you are conveying your message well or building a loyal customer.

And don't get me started on list sharing.

2 comments

> By "works", I think you mean "brings in more revenue than it costs" aka is profitable.

Yep.

I assume that a monthly or semi-annual newsletter for something that doesn't have a million professional readers is not expensive to build or distribute. If someone in advertising devotes a day or two a month to it, you basically have it covered.

I've always assumed everyone has a newsletter because, well, why not?

It's like spam. Some people can lose face by abusing e-mail, but most people know they won't. It doesn't hurt or cost them anything to stick another e-mail in your inbox, so why not try?

Even in terms of conversion rates. Talk to anyone with a good, optimized email marketing campaign. You'll hear that email out performs every other type of traffic. Yeah, maybe some of these companies aren't doing it right, but it seems like the author was just pissed she couldn't unsubscribe.