The secrets of successful newsletters

From subject lines to welcome campaigns, these are the most important things to get right

We’re in the golden age of the email newsletter, and, as hundreds of writers and reporters have discovered over the past few months, launching one is easy. But growing a newsletter, building an audience, and possibly turning the whole enterprise into a successful business, is unquestionably harder.

In researching this column on what constitutes newsletter best practices for newsrooms and journalists, I found they’re actually much harder to pin down than you might think. Even basic tips, like having a regular cadence and send time, don’t apply universally.

Still, if there’s a first rule of newsletters, it’s Have Good Content. Be sure what you’re sending out is unique, and potentially crucial, for the audience you’re targeting. The size of the audience doesn’t matter — even newsletters with just a few…