Update:Â I got bored with The Skimm and unsubscribed.
Disclaimer: The following post contains an affiliate link, although I’m not clear on what actually happens when people click it. Do I get money? Wouldn’t that be awesome? There was talk of a tote bag if ten people sign up through my link, but beyond that I don’t know the specifics. A tote bag! The glory of it!
Recently I subscribed to an email news service called The Skimm, because it was mentioned in a series of interviews by Melody Joy Kramer, in which people who don’t work in news comment on the news (to echo Kramer’s phrasing). One of the respondees recommended The Skimm. I was curious; I clicked; I conquered. (Assuming that your definition of “conquered” is extremely broad.)
Here is how The Skimm’s founders describe their venture: “News is not only our career, it’s our passion. Because of this, we have always been the go-to source for friends seeking the scoop on current events or breaking news. We soon realized three things: Reading the news is time consuming; Wanting to read the news is a hobby; lastly, not everyone has the time or interest.”
The Skimm team overviews current events, then summarizes the highlights into a humorous, easily digestible email. Lighthearted intros can feel awkward when the subject is human rights tragedies, but for the most part The Skimm is a great way to get a quick daily dose of information.
From a marketing perspective, The Skimm’s setup is really smart. There is a downside to serializing what is basically a blog as an email newsletter: old posts won’t continue to gather pageviews and improve your “Google juice”. However, the huge upside is that you don’t depend on anything outside of yourself for traffic.
Okay, it’s not quite that simple. Outside forces do influence how many new people sign up, but your main core of readers has already committed to you and provided valuable personal information. Furthermore, when gathering sponsors/advertisers, you can point out that email has really good stats.
Go ahead and check out the website if you’re interested—The Skimm has an open archive so you can look at recent emails and see if they are something you want in your inbox.