Hey readers,
Something I’m deeply exhausted by is when newsletter writers or producers don’t take into account the user experience. Sure, you might have great ~content~, but if it’s presented in a clunky way, or is devoid of personality, why on earth would someone open your newsletter when there are dozens of others competing for seconds of attention?
A good newsletter is like a little treat — you know, like the croissant you buy with your iced oat latte every Friday because you “so deserve this.” A newsletter worth your time is one that makes you anticipate for the next one.
To get there, you need a strong editorial and design vision, consistent cadence, and an accessible-yet-authoritative voice. At Vox, I was one of the masterminds refining the relationship between our newsletter offerings and our audience.
The Future Perfect Cinematic Universe
When I first joined Future Perfect, newsletters weren’t a primary part of Vox’s editorial strategy (luckily, they are now!). Knowing social media platforms are fickle and that owning our audience's inbox is the best way to stay relevant, I set out to refresh our Future Perfect’s offerings. Here’s what I did:
- Sharpened the Future Perfect newsletter: In three years, I boosted open sends from 66k to 96k through integrating extended author bios, redesigning the newsletter to be more mobile-friendly, and moving the publish time to be earlier on Tuesdays and Fridays. I also regularly write quarterly reports that analyze high performing subject lines, link opens, and general audience engagement to help inform future editorial decisions. While I produce every newsletter, each essay is written from a different FP staff member; so I instituted a flexible calendar system to streamline the ideation and editing process.
- Revamped Meat/Less, Kenny Torrella’s guide to eating less meat: While Meat/Less performed really well when it first went live, I noticed in 2023 that the newsletter course wasn’t getting as much consistent engagement. I worked with Kenny to update some of the formatting to be more mobile-friendly, rearranged the order of newsletters, changed the cadence from daily to weekly on Sundays. It was my idea to publish a hot take about protein intake on the site to serve as a subscription driver. (That story went viral and was one of Vox’s top stories of the year.)
- Dreamed up More to Meditation, Future Perfect’s second newsletter course: We wanted to further connect with readers who were really engaged with Oshan Jarrow’s incredible reporting on the future of the mind. This is a triggered daily send, with five sends in a week. I worked on the editorial strategy and format, as well as edited each newsletter. I opted to post two of the five sends online with Day 1 being January 2025’s top news story, even more so than any inauguration content. Anyone who subscribes to More to Meditation is then funneled into the Future Perfect list, helping to boost that newsletter’s sends and opens.
A newsletter envy list in no particular order, just because I can:
You know what they say, if you’re not reading regularly, you’re not going to get better at writing. The same is true for producing and designing newsletters. I’m currently obsessed with:
Newsletter pet peeves of mine include: bad design, snoozy subject lines, and aggregation without new input. These newsletters avoid those traps. Bonus points if you can tell me which one of these bad boys is my favorite.
Want more of Izz in your inbox? Sign up for Training Arc, my Substack documenting the behind-the-scenes journey of becoming a founder of a media publication that’s also an app (lol). Paid subscribers get an early sneak peek!
