Love this! This is great to send targeted emails for regional book signings/talks. Even more powerful, filter for 4 or 5 star fans in these regions to help promote an event.
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.
I love these kind of insights. Though I would like to keep the diversity in my content, knowing we can filter by geography (or anything else) for targeted email content for say marketing purposes is very useful. Thanks!
Great insights, Amanda! Do you have any insights on the best time of day/day of the week for US-based readers to receive newsletters/emails? As a long-time UK resident, I'm a little outside of the US frame of mind, though I'm trying to learn.
All I have is anecdotal feedback, which might be enough for you to start testing/observing your post views and engagement (comments/likes on posts) and see if they make a difference.
Monday and Friday mornings are a big hit to my inbox as an American. If I were you, I'd try publishing mid-day on any other day but those. (And make sure your headlines are specific enough to hook readers.) Do you mind sharing when you typically publish now and how your engagement is with those posts?
That’s really helpful - and thank you for your willingness to talk further! I currently publish 7am GMT on Tuesdays, Thursday and Saturdays (2 different newsletters) - I think that’s 2am EST (I didn’t realise!). I’m working hard on titles lately but they’ve never been my forte, so might not have been as successful as they could be. Engagement is variable and tends to depend on the type of post (I think): fiction gets less than interview, for example… I’ll definitely switch to midday US time (I’ll look at which states have big subscriber proportions too)!
Wow you've got your hands full! I would definitely consider the length of your posts, too, for when you publish. Shorter posts are easier to squeeze in during the weekday, mid-day. But longer posts sometimes benefit from testing an evening publishing time (think of when your readers typically have free time -- if you're writing to historians, I would definitely consider what you know about their daily schedules and rhythms as a general point of anecdotal data. How can you try to land in their inboxes when the majority of them are more ready to read what you have to share?)... This is all advice that's a bit more intuitive since we don't know much about time zones with Substack's data, but I do think it's worth a test, you know?
That's really helpful - again! I like the idea of giving readers something to enjoy in an evening when they're home from work/commuting... I've put some changes in place for 2025 after reading some of your posts - so reducing down to just one post per week for each newsletter, and making sure to vary the lengths (using your red/amber/green strategy). I'll have a play with the midday publishing time for the next month or so, and then maybe switch to an evening for January, and then reflect on the data. Thanks, Amanda!
Wow this is wonderful to hear! Would you mind sharing some of this in a Note and tagging me so I can reshare it? No rush of course! I just think this would be helpful for folks to know while they're preparing for 2025. ☀️
What’s fascinating about this is it’s something I think about all the time. I’m Australian and have a substantial following from there but I live in Finland. I have a growing number of UK subscribers and a significant number from the US.
How do I serve them? When do I schedule lives? When it’s winter solstice here I am fully aware it’s summer in Oz. It’s something I grapple with constantly and I’d live Substack to have more tools to enable us to easily engage with geographic locations.
You are such a genius with these insights, Amanda! You make me aspire to be better and do better, every time.
I totally agree
Love this! This is great to send targeted emails for regional book signings/talks. Even more powerful, filter for 4 or 5 star fans in these regions to help promote an event.
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.
I love these kind of insights. Though I would like to keep the diversity in my content, knowing we can filter by geography (or anything else) for targeted email content for say marketing purposes is very useful. Thanks!
Great insights, Amanda! Do you have any insights on the best time of day/day of the week for US-based readers to receive newsletters/emails? As a long-time UK resident, I'm a little outside of the US frame of mind, though I'm trying to learn.
All I have is anecdotal feedback, which might be enough for you to start testing/observing your post views and engagement (comments/likes on posts) and see if they make a difference.
Monday and Friday mornings are a big hit to my inbox as an American. If I were you, I'd try publishing mid-day on any other day but those. (And make sure your headlines are specific enough to hook readers.) Do you mind sharing when you typically publish now and how your engagement is with those posts?
That’s really helpful - and thank you for your willingness to talk further! I currently publish 7am GMT on Tuesdays, Thursday and Saturdays (2 different newsletters) - I think that’s 2am EST (I didn’t realise!). I’m working hard on titles lately but they’ve never been my forte, so might not have been as successful as they could be. Engagement is variable and tends to depend on the type of post (I think): fiction gets less than interview, for example… I’ll definitely switch to midday US time (I’ll look at which states have big subscriber proportions too)!
Wow you've got your hands full! I would definitely consider the length of your posts, too, for when you publish. Shorter posts are easier to squeeze in during the weekday, mid-day. But longer posts sometimes benefit from testing an evening publishing time (think of when your readers typically have free time -- if you're writing to historians, I would definitely consider what you know about their daily schedules and rhythms as a general point of anecdotal data. How can you try to land in their inboxes when the majority of them are more ready to read what you have to share?)... This is all advice that's a bit more intuitive since we don't know much about time zones with Substack's data, but I do think it's worth a test, you know?
That's really helpful - again! I like the idea of giving readers something to enjoy in an evening when they're home from work/commuting... I've put some changes in place for 2025 after reading some of your posts - so reducing down to just one post per week for each newsletter, and making sure to vary the lengths (using your red/amber/green strategy). I'll have a play with the midday publishing time for the next month or so, and then maybe switch to an evening for January, and then reflect on the data. Thanks, Amanda!
Wow this is wonderful to hear! Would you mind sharing some of this in a Note and tagging me so I can reshare it? No rush of course! I just think this would be helpful for folks to know while they're preparing for 2025. ☀️
For sure!
What’s fascinating about this is it’s something I think about all the time. I’m Australian and have a substantial following from there but I live in Finland. I have a growing number of UK subscribers and a significant number from the US.
How do I serve them? When do I schedule lives? When it’s winter solstice here I am fully aware it’s summer in Oz. It’s something I grapple with constantly and I’d live Substack to have more tools to enable us to easily engage with geographic locations.