Is Your Newsletter Lost In the Mail?
The power of location-based insights for deeper engagement
As someone who’s always exploring ways to deepen audience engagement, I want to share an approach that’s been quietly evolving in my work. It started earlier this year during a moment of reflection and data analysis: Is there a way, using standard Substack tools, to engage readers where they are located?
Audience segmenting isn’t really a sweet spot for Substack. And I’ll be the first to caution against trying to put readers into really specific groups — and then send them an email. (The filtering capabilities on Substack really do need some work!) But I have found that filtering your list by country is pretty reliable (just note the blanks in your list if you imported from another service). And the more I’ve tested the ways I can segment, the more I began to prioritize country representation in my data audits.
Why should geography matter to you? Well, for starters, right now Substack is disproportionally filled with American readers. And that can have a real impact on who is engaging with (and deciding whether or not to upgrade to) your newsletter. Considering readers in context of where they live feels deceptively simple but is incredibly powerful.
What I’ve discovered has led to a few experiments I’m excited to share with you. Geography, as it turns out, could be a pretty important piece in how we think about engaging readers. Let me walk you through how I’ve been using this insight and how it could help you create deeper connections with your readers, too.
Here’s the experiment:
Biggest fanbase check: Start with your largest audience by country. What’s happening there right now? Holiday prep? Sweater weather? The end of daylight savings throwing everyone off? Bring that into your next email and see if it hits closer to home.
Zoom out: Now, peek at your second or third largest groups. What’s their season, their mood? They might be in a completely different headspace—are they just starting summer while your main audience is gearing up for winter hibernation? A few personalized tweaks can make your message feel like it was meant for them (because, well, it kind of was).
Cultural context: Think about the subtle cultural moments that might resonate. A little mention of what’s going on in their neck of the woods could make them feel seen, and not just like a number in your subscriber list.
Why does this matter?
It’s easy to forget that while we’re sitting here, sipping our coffee (or reheating it for the third time), our readers are scattered across different landscapes, living in different cultural moments. By acknowledging that in our essays and nurturing emails, we can create a connection that feels a little more human — and a lot less like mass communication.
So, try it out. Take a little stroll through your geographic data, and let it guide your next re-engagement email. This screenshare below will show you how to find and filter by subscriber country in Substack. I find it easiest to segment by US and non-US readers if I’m sending a specific one-time email to readers. (The video also shows how to do this.)
Once you decide how you want to nurture readers by geography inside your newsletter — and this is important — track the results. You might just find that a sense of place is exactly what your audience needed to re-engage.
I’m curious to see how it goes for you.
If you’re intrigued by experiments like this and want more insights, strategies and hands-on guidance landing right in your inbox, here’s your chance. In 2025, I’ll be sharing even more of these experiments, one core newsletter theme at a time. They’ll be designed to give actionable ideas to help bring some intentionality to your newsletter engagement.
Become a paid member, and get ahead of the curve in 2025. As a subscriber, you’ll receive:
Fresh experiments you can test with your audience, just like the one above.
Insights on what’s working and what to tweak, helping you personalize your messages and connect more deeply with your readers.
Upgrade now and join me on this journey. Let’s explore what happens when we go beyond the basics and add a more human touch.
Thank you, Amanda. It's hard for for those of us living outside the US to ignore the fact that a majority of subscribers are from there. But it's great to be reminded that we might want to add some nuance to our writing that reflects where our readers are.
This is a great idea. Even if I don't put something directly into my post I might try to be more geographically sensitive in my email header and see how that works.