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June 23, 2009
A daily e-newsletter? No, thanks
I subscribe to Fast Company magazine, which I once thought was the best publication ever and now am lukewarm about. (Maybe because what used to be fresh is now mundane? Hmmm. A lesson for employee newsletters?)
But I digress. Recently Fast Company changed its e-mail bulletin from weekly (I think) to a five-times-a-week digest called “Now Daily.” Naturally, the editors were very excited about this change, and their ability to provide me with “new insights every day.”
My reaction? Every day is way too often. It’s appropriate that The New York Times sends me a daily news digest update—there’s real news happening all the time—but nothing in Fast Company is that timely, that immediate or, quite frankly, that compelling.
If the editors had asked me, I would have said, “How about once a week at most?” but they didn’t ask me. (That was their first mistake; however, I suspect this was an advertising-driven decision, not a reader-centric move.)
So now I have the pleasure of deleting the e-mail. Every day. Usually without reading it. (I know, I could unsubscribe, but about once a week I do read the newsletter—and occasionally it contains something of value.)
If you’re thinking about increasing or decreasing the frequency of your newsletter, do yourself a favor: Start by determining how often your audience wants to receive what you send. (BTW, focus groups are a great way to gather this information.)
I’ve got to go delete stuff now. Bye.
Posted by Alison Davis at June 23, 2009 10:57 AM
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Comments
How funny. I come across this blog for the first time shortly after deleting my daily Fast Company e-mail! Like you, I won't unsubscribe because it does occasionally contain some real interesting articles and I still like the magazine, but it is annoying to get this every day. I've noticed this seems to be a trend and not just isolated to Fast Company, likely a reflection of the economy and companies look to increase advertising. Even another well-respected communications consulting company has started bombarding me with e-mails over the last 3 months or so (about 3/day at least!). You would think a company like that should know better. This only serves to cheapen their brand (and annoy valuable customers), and while it might help them in the short run through the increased advertising, it is going to hurt them in the long run when we come out of the current economic downturn.
Posted by: Rob at June 29, 2009 02:18 PM