What Makes a Good Newsletter Platform?

Insight: Of platform features, choices, decision fatigue, and conversion.

Photo by Scentll Co on Unsplash

If you're like most online content creators, you probably already have a favorite newsletter platform that you prefer to use, or you might be facing a wide and bewildering array of choices.

Each platform or tool you encounter is designed to solve a unique set of problems, yet often introduces new challenges of its own.

Software as a Service (SaaS) platforms arose to eliminate the frustrations, time delays, costs, and inconveniences associated with purchasing physical software, installing it on appropriately spec’ed devices, and managing infrequent upgrades—challenges that were exacerbated by the widespread issue of software piracy.

As internet speeds and protocols evolved, the concept of 'cloud computing' emerged as a viable solution, enabling software applications to leverage remote servers and services over the internet. This shift to cloud-based technologies has facilitated the development of software with enhanced features and problem-solving capabilities, making it instantly available online. It also accelerated the decline of physical software mediums.

A benefit? It democratized software development worldwide and paved the way for the expansion of the digital economy leading to an explosion of software as a service offers.

Note: This overly simplifies the complex software evolution paths but should suffice to illustrate the broader narrative.

The Software Choice Paradox

But do we need so many software applications? The consumer gets a choice, but also the overwhelming feeling that comes from having to choose from so many different options.

The more choices presented, the harder it becomes to make a decision. How do we know this?

From different research studies - the most interesting and often cited is the so-called ‘jam study,’ conducted in the United States in 2000.

My variation of it that applies better to our context is:

• Offer customers 2 different flavors of product, they are likely to purchase one.

• Offer them 10 different choices of the same product, and then they are less likely to purchase any. Their decision-making ability drops and their conversion to buy is significantly lowered.¹

This behavior of a consumer was defined in another research study, and I find the term they coined—'decision fatigue'²—extremely apt.

Decision fatigue highlights the offer conundrum: too many choices significantly reduce conversion rates!³

Fun fact: “The Digital Content Creation Market size is estimated to grow from USD 27.3 Billion in 2023 at a CAGR of 13.3% during the forecast period from 2023 to 2030.”

Why should this matter⁴ to you?

Given the expected growth in the content creator economy, software platforms and companies are intensely focused on attracting, retaining, and growing their base of content creators (aka writers on this platform.)

This means you now face more choices than ever before.

Over the past several months, I have read of writers leaving the platform for various reasons, and their subsequent dilemmas in choosing alternate platforms. Others have recently expressed in posts that they are considering leaving as well.

How would you make this decision if it were you?

When I previously summarized the poor user experience on Substack in a comprehensive post that received overwhelming support in this community (thank you!), I committed to writing about its strengths as well to offer a balanced view.

So, I began this exercise more broadly than I initially intended—first, by establishing criteria for essential and advanced features of a good newsletter platform, and second, by evaluating key players in the market against these criteria.

Rather than focusing solely on comparing existing platforms, I chose a customer-focused approach. By defining a set of criteria that encapsulate customer problems and needs, we can evaluate if solutions are tailored to the customer, irrespective of their level of expertise or audience size.

Drawing from my experience in product management and software development, I applied best practices to this definition. I also simplified the process by grouping attributes under larger factors for evaluation.

Note: In the business world, these criteria typically undergo several rounds of in-depth analysis, detailed feature outlining, and consideration of weighted customer and business priorities before being finalized for inclusion in a product roadmap.

Newsletter Evaluation Criteria

I am considering the following as an essential set of categories. Each may be further sub-divided but I am limiting this to macro needs.

1. Data Ownership: To what degree does a user own their customer data, including emails and payment methods? This criterion checks if platforms offer free access to data or charge a fee, based on their business models. It also measures how easily you can download, export, and transfer your data when moving to another platform. How straightforward is the migration process?

2. Ease of use: How easy and intuitive is the platform's interface for writing, managing customers, getting paid, and selling products? These elements are essential. Poor user experience can quickly result in product failure when a competitor that better addresses these needs enters the market. For example, Google Chrome, despite launching years after Microsoft Explorer, captured the largest market share of browsers, primarily due to its ease of use and speed.

3. Discovery: How easily can content be found on the platform? Does the platform provide tools or features that help content reach a wider audience? How does it support content in being found organically through online searches? Consider whether it offers SEO tools, social media integrations, or partnerships that increase visibility beyond the platform itself.

4. Pricing Flexibility: Does the platform support flexible pricing? Is the pricing structure customizable to fit different business models or audience demographics? What about international pricing support? What constraints prevent its scaling? For example, ConvertKit is free up to the first 1000 subscribers.

5. Analytics, Audience Segmentation, and Engagement: How easily can creators segment, manage, and maintain their readers? How extensive and accurate are the platform's tools for analytics? How effectively can you gather, analyze, and utilize data about your audience to organize them into distinct groups based on their preferences or behaviors? Do these insights help creators tailor their content and marketing efforts to better engage their audience

6. Automation: How well does the platform facilitate growth through automation? Effective automation should streamline operations, such as sending automated emails based on subscriber actions. Additionally, assess the platform’s capabilities for migrating data seamlessly, crucial for established and growing publications. The ability to automate complex workflows and maintain data integrity during transitions significantly improves operational efficiency and allows creators to focus more on content and less on administrative tasks.

7. Business Model, Support, and Communication: Evaluate the business model in play. It also checks for any fees associated with signups, growth, storage, or hosting, and whether the platform offers a plug-and-play setup. I grouped all platform factors as the business model (freemium or paid only) decides the level of support and communication.

8. Customization: To what degree can you customize? Platforms like WordPress offer an ecosystem of theme developers for expanding customization. Custom style sheets are also essential for differentiating your site’s look and feel, as most websites operate today.

9. Reader and Writer Communities: Building a community where readers can easily find and engage with your content is crucial. This criterion evaluates whether platforms offer features that support community engagement, such as easily accessible social forums and active outreach efforts. How effectively do these platforms help you attract the type of readers you need? Do writer communities have support forums and opportunities for social interaction with peers? Does it attract quality talent?

10. Extensibility and Roadmaps: This criterion evaluates how easy it is to scale operations on the platform. Are there any constraints to prevent easy scaling of subscribers? Is payment only supported in one form? What about custom domain sites? Does the platform handle multiple types of content, such as videos, podcasts, and embedded forms of content? Does the platform need other third-party tools to offer a complete solution? If so, does it offer seamless integration with them? I also added future product roadmaps. Is the platform growing?

Are there other criteria you think I should be considering? Please leave a comment!

My next step, once I have this standard set of criteria, is to assess the key market players and evaluate how they measure up against this list.

For this comparison, I have identified the following platforms⁵ based on factors such as growth, subscribers, popularity, and alternatives to traditional content management systems.

1. Medium

2. WordPress

3. BeeHiiv

4. GhostPro

5. Substack

6. Tumblr

7. GumRoad

8. ConvertKit

9. Custom Domain Website

10. ?

Do you have others I should consider?

I shall use a simple comparison matrix based on the above attributes to show you how these platforms stack up against each other. Using best practices as a guide, I will conclude the results for you so you don’t need to get into the gory details!

Why not upgrade? By doing so, you'll gain access to hours of research packed into easy-to-read and clear guides, execution strategies, and how-to videos along with the upcoming expert comparison matrix of newsletter platforms. Also, you can join in the Ask Me Anything on biztech chat threads open to paid subscribers.

As a thank-you for reading and subscribing, please enjoy a 30% lifetime discount on monthly and annual subscriptions, now just $7 per month or $70 per year.

Thanks for reading! I would appreciate your comments and feedback on these criteria and your experiences with any of the above platforms.

p.s. Have you checked my cheat sheets on content creation, monetization, sales, and marketing?

1. The study used 6 and 24 flavors.

2. The term "decision fatigue" is closely associated with the work of social psychologist Roy F. Baumeister. One of the foundational studies on this concept is detailed in his book titled "Willpower: Rediscovering the Greatest Human Strength", co-authored with John Tierney and published in 2011. In this book, Baumeister discusses various experiments and psychological studies that explain how and why making decisions depletes the same resource used for self-control and active responding.

3. The study showed that it reduced by two-thirds.

4. Another reason it matters: on a Substack post, if you bundle ‘Subscribe,’ ‘Leave a comment,’ and ‘Share’ buttons, the conversion for any one of those choices will likely drop compared to if you only had one of those buttons as a call to action at the end of the post. So, choose the one action that you most want readers to take.

5. While some platforms, like ConvertKit, may lean more towards email marketing, they market themselves as newsletter creation platforms, hence their inclusion. However, I have excluded traditional email marketing platforms like MailChimp which are primarily known for other features but may be adding newsletter capabilities. ConvertKit adequately covers this category and positions itself as an alternative to Substack on its site.