#Bloggiesta: I NEED help with my Email Subscription

  • Monday, March 21, 2016

How's your Bloggiesta coming along? 

For those who have email subscriptions or email newsletters, I need your two (or more) cents. Here's my little conundrum: I have a hard time growing my email list.

As a sidenote, I personally have trimmed down my own email subscriptions because of the sheer volume of emails that make it into my email box. So I definitely know what it's like to be on the receiving end of email lists!

I'm contemplating a few things and I'm wondering if I should take the leap, since setting everything up takes so much time!

Here's where I'm at:
  • I have an RSS-driven Email subscription, in other words, when a new post goes up, an email automatically goes out.
  • I use MailChimp.
  • It's integrated on my blog in the right sidebar, at the end of the post, and as a pop-up (which I turn off sometimes to be less annoying!)

Give me some advice on my "big" questions about my email subscription option:
  1. What do you personally prefer - a daily email or a weekly email?
  2. Should I just do away with the RSS subscription and focus on putting together a weekly newsletter picking out only the best of my best content? I know this is going to be a lot more work, but hey, I'd prefer to be read rather than be lazy.
  3. What makes you stay subscribed on someone's email list? Do regular freebies, giveaways, promo codes appeal to you? What other type of content makes you stay?
  4. Any tips, suggestions or good reads related to email subscriptions? The more I read, the better! 
I'd love to hear from you so I can start ship-shaping up my email subscription changes.  Thanks in advance :)

Ask for help, or dispense some advice.
JOIN IN HERE!

22 comments

  1. Emma @ Words And PeaceMarch 22, 2016 at 12:00 AM

    what makes me keep a subscription is high quality reviews of the genre of books I like to read, nothing else. I'll not subscribe to a blog focusing let's say on horror, which I never read, or who talk too much about personal stuff, their cat, their hair, makeup, or whatnot, because I focus only on books. That's my 2 cents

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  2. The main thing that keeps me on a list is a discussion (review, preview, background research etc) of books that appeal to me. But I also like to feel some of the personality of the blogger so that (s)he is a blogger rather than just a faceless blog. Giveaways are always nice, but not necessary.

    As for frequency: daily, weekly, it doesn't matter; but I don't care for summary or highlights posts. I like to get each post as you put it up, regardless of the frequency (well, not more than once per day)

    I hope this helps.

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  3. I'm going to echo the first two comments and say that quality reviews, and discussions is what keeps me subscribing. As for frequency, I have unsubscribed from blogs who send emails every day as it starts to feel like junk mail. I would say if a person blogs seven days a week, maybe a weekly blast would be better, but that is just me.



    I hope this helps!

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  4. Wow, that is one awesome edition of The Silmarillion! Thanks for sharing this :)

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  5. I tend not to subscribe to e-mail lists. It all sounds so good, but when they start coming in on regular intervall, it gets too much for me. I prefer to follow my favourite blogs - of which yours is one - by reading and subscribing them on Feedly.

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  6. Chelsea @ Books For ThoughtMarch 22, 2016 at 5:27 PM

    Hey there!

    I'm starting with your side note because I found a wonderful website not too long ago. It's called Unroll me and it catches certain emails based on what emails you pick and it rolls them up into one big email. My explanation doesn't do it justice so check it out here.

    I've been looking to start an email newsletter as well so I'm not sure how much help I can be. I do know that personally I'd rather get an email once a week instead of every day. Even once every 2 weeks is great for me because life can get pretty busy. Pretty graphics and lots of fun posts, freebies, giveaways, and anything else that catches my attention will keep me subscribed to an email list.

    Hope this helped!!

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    Replies
    1. Thanks for coming by, Chelsea. I've already used Unroll me (I promoted it in the Inbox Zero mini challenge last Bloggiesta) and it really showed me that I had a lot of mindless adds to the email subscriptions. It always seems like a great idea at the time .... but of course I forget that I've got a gazillion others!

      What I am getting out of everyone's advice is that people want options ... and lots to ponder about :)

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  7. I think I kind of gasped when I saw this ;) You're welcome -- I know you're a fan ;)

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  8. Thanks for your more than two cents, Emma! Definitely, high quality content is of prime importance on any book blog. Email subscriptions are such a tricky thing because readers can be quite particular - I recognize that there will be people who come for just the review but then others come for other things. I guess I need to figure out my readership a little better :)

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  9. Thanks so much Debbie! I happen to agree with everything you say! I remember I started out pretty faceless (I have a bit of a paranoid streak in me) but have relaxed a little since honestly it's hard not to share a little bit more than just books.

    I noticed too a drop in followers when I didn't offer as many giveaways - I figure that that is just icing on the cake - at least that's how I see it when I visit a blog I enjoy.

    I am thinking of adding in an option for a daily or weekly subscription. It's tough to cater to everyone as it's all a matter of personal preference. I too dislike summary posts with a VENGEANCE, at least as RSS posts go. It's just too much work to have to click yet once more to read everything!

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  10. Hi Whiitney, Precisely the reason I was contemplating a weekly send-out! Although it seems that I may just provide it as an option and have both a daily and weekly option available. More to think about for me :) Thanks so much for taking the time to give your 2 cents. Happy Bloggiesta!

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  11. I don't usually subscribe to blogs by email. I prefer subscribing in a reader (I use Bloglovin') because I can see them all in one place rather than clicking through so many individual emails. A newsletter with additional content might be more attractive -- I think weekly or even monthly would be plenty for that. Something to consider!

    Can I ask how your formatted your email subscription box with HTML and text options? I use MailChimp too and I wouldn't know how to put options in there (e.g. if I wanted to offer a choice between daily or weekly emails).

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  12. That sounds like a great option!

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  13. I don't subscribe via e-mail - on principle. I prefer using "readers" like feedly, inoreaders and the likes. They get the feeds automatically so I don't miss any posts without having a full mailbox that just makes me frown. Have a nice day!

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  14. I'm leaning towards giving a daily and weekly option. I think a monthly newsletter is looking much more attractive to me. Thanks for the suggestion, Lory.

    Under the forms section when you're designing it, there is an option to add HTML and text. I need to figure out how to set up the daily/weekly option but I have seen quite a number of tutorials about this.

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  15. This is something I've been struggling with for months! I signed up for a mail chimp class to figure out how to create newsletters and split emails and really utilize all the stuff that mail chimp will allow. I have only gotten as far as adding the signup form at end of posts and in the sidebar. It's really something that I hope to work on within our new mastermind group - accountability to actually get it set up! Sooooo, my advice would be to do exactly what you've stated - giving the daily and weekly option while working on a monthly newsletter. You've been given some fabulous comments here and it's so interesting to me to see the breakdown of those who prefer emails as opposed to feed readers like bloglovin'. Good luck!

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    Replies
    1. Hi Stacy! I think we're at the same point, as you can see. Aha ... and we're both in the same Mastermind Group :) We can both keep each other accountable then. So glad I asked the question, even if this is a random sampling. I think I may do a survey to dig a little deeper.

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  16. I'm not sure I'm the best to answer your questions. I actually don't like mailing lists because I hate having my email inbox cluttered with them. I'd rather receive personal emails than just a list of things. I prefer to keep up with blogs using Feedly. That way my email isn't cluttered, but I'm still notified when someone posts something new. Sorry if this is no help at all.

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    1. You are definitely a huge help, Jenni Elyse! Thanks for your two cents I realize that people like doing things different ways. I too dislike a cluttered email inbox (I'm been at Inbox Zero for over 6 months now and I'd like to keep it that way!)

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  17. I tend to subscribe in Feedly for blogs. But I do subscribe to a few email subscriptions, and those are for sites that I can't get in Feedly for some reason - or are specifically promoting certain content via email. I don't read the same blog in both Feedly and via email. I'd suggest keep the "RSS" email subscription - but if you want to do something weekly or monthly - do that - but offer something else, and promote it as such.

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    1. I'm horrible at using Feedly and Bloglovin but am leaning towards using them better because my old "system" (the blogroll in the sidebar) is definitely not any help. Thanks for your input - my leaning is towards giving a daily/weekly option for the RSS email, and the monthly one, still thinking about it ;)

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