How Quartz uses newsletters to get paying members

Simon Owens spoke with Quartz chief executive officer Zach Seward about its future strategy.

Owens writes, “It probably won’t surprise you that newsletters are Quartz’s best conversion channel for new members. For years, the publisher has invested heavily in both its daily and weekly newsletter products; in fact, its homepage is a modified version of its Daily Brief newsletter. A newsletter will often convert in one of two ways. ‘They might see something they particularly want to read and hit a paywall,’ said Frick. This includes the metered stories and the field guides, which are heavily promoted within the newsletters. ‘Or they see a message touting a membership offer that’s tied to a discount, and they decide today is the day to subscribe.’

“Frick’s team also developed a member-only newsletter that packages each week’s field guide in a more easily digestible format. ‘We want to save members time,’ he said. ‘We know that they want to understand these topics, but they don’t want to take the time to read every word of every package, so what they get is this email that boils it down to key data points and overviews.’

“During the pandemic, Quartz ramped up its virtual events offerings and used them as a lead magnet, requiring attendees to turn over their email addresses as the price for admission. ‘The live event is available to anyone with an email signup,’ said Frick. ‘But the recordings and summaries of those events are just for members.'”

Read more here.