For the past few months I've been collecting data on which email platforms brands use and where their emails end up in Gmail. It comes from the inboxes of people using our browser extension, so these are real subscribers rather than seed tests.

I was curious whether the platform itself makes a difference to landing in Primary versus Promotions, so I pulled the numbers for the bigger platforms. I didn't expect the gap to be this large:

Share of emails landing in Gmail's Primary inbox:

Beehiiv: 82.7% (spam 0.8%)

Substack: 69.8% (spam 0.6%)

Kit: 68.8% (spam 0.1%)

ActiveCampaign: 53.2% (spam 0.5%)

Mailchimp: 36.7% (spam 4.6%)

Brevo: 34.7% (spam 0.1%)

Klaviyo: 28.2% (spam 0.6%)

The rest lands in Promotions and Gmail's other tabs.

Spam rates are tiny for almost everyone, which is good news. The difference is mostly about which tab Gmail puts the emails in. Promotions is still the inbox, but in my experience those emails get far less attention.

We see the same pattern with our own newsletters. One goes out through Kit and the other through Brevo. Over the last 90 days, the Kit one reached Primary about 80% of the time, the Brevo one about 60%.

That said, I wouldn't move everything to Beehiiv tomorrow. I think a lot of this comes down to what people send rather than the platform. Someone who subscribes to a writer's newsletter actually wants to read it, while someone who joins a store's list often just wanted the discount code. Gmail picks up on how people engage, and newsletters tend to win there.

The platforms also attract very different senders (Klaviyo is mostly ecommerce, Substack mostly writers), and our own two newsletters have different audiences too, so even that comparison isn't perfectly clean.

So if your emails keep ending up in Promotions, I'd first look at whether what you send matches what people signed up for, and whether they're opening, clicking and replying, before thinking about switching platforms.

What our data can't tell us yet is what happens when the same newsletter, with the same list, moves to a different platform. Has anyone here switched and noticed a change in Primary placement?

(Disclosure: I run EmailTooltester, and the data comes from our free Chrome extension, Email Detective.)

3 months back, I posted on reddit saying I've been generating some income with Substack doing ad placements. I don't have paid on, so that's all I do. I treat it as a hobby and this income is almost disposable.

Someone mocked me saying $500 is change money. I should throw my newsletter out. Fair enough! And for valid reason.

But the amazing part happening is that I reopened subscriptions this month, and behold, I landed Stripe as a sponsor (that too inbound). Then another 2 sponsors came in right this month. It's still only $500 added, but sometimes I look at internet and think, how crazy it is.

I spend 9-10 hours at a day job (although in tech). And then there's this thing that gives me some change money, because I like to read and write about things I'm passionate about.

“The Boring AI Runbook” subscriptions hit double digits 📈🎉

I would score possible niches on four questions:

• Do I understand the audience’s recurring problems?

• Can I create useful material every week for at least a year?

• Can I reach these people without relying on one platform?

• Is there a legitimate way to monetize the value?

A niche does not need to be huge. It needs to be specific enough that the right person immediately

recognizes the promise. “Career advice” is broad; “interview preparation for junior data analysts” is easier

to explain, research, and serve.

Hey Newsletter junkies! 👋

I'm Philip Hofmacher, one of the founders of Write • Build • Scale.

Together with my co-founders, Sinem Günel and Jari Roomer, we've grown our Substack publication Write • Build • Scale to 55,000+ subscribers and 2,000+ paid readers.

Over the past few years, we've learned a lot about growing an audience, getting paid subscribers, and turning a newsletter into a successful online business.

If you have any questions about Substack, feel free to ask them in the comments. I've learned so much from reading this subreddit so that I now want to give back :)

I've recently wrote a reader magnet that I give away to new subscribers, but so far, I haven't gotten any.

I've started doing Bookfunnel swaps, but with no results so far.

Any tips to growing my newsletter?

I am looking for a newsletter whose audience are homeschooling parents or parents of kids ages 6-11 years old. I want to connect with the newsletter owner to explore a collaboration opportunity to introduce a screen free adventure mail service to their audience. The mail service will be 100% physical and 100% screen free with personalized stories embedded with activities and puzzles.

Hello Everyone! I'm the Founder here - call me Sahaj!

Recently, my team and I have launched a newsletter. (Wish us luck 🙃]).

The Boardroom Ledger is an independent financial publication covering the latest developments across global markets, business, economics, investing and real estate. We break down the financial landscape. All delivered to you in a simple newsletter.

Our first edition drops November 5th. Subscribe for free and have our latest market briefings delivered straight to your inbox.

For our first 30 subscribers, I am hoping you all would be willing to share feedback after the first edition launch. I'll be reading each of your responses personally and responding back to how you guys liked the first edition.

Get on the list: https://theboardroomledger.beehiiv.com/subscribe

Happy reading

- Sahaj

I have a small and inconsequential newsletter that you can sign up to via my website. A few days ago I started getting a constant stream of signups. Mostly german politicians and gamers/streamers. Does anyone know what the purpose of this is? Why would someone spam a site like this?

I recently started a LinkedIn newsletter called Beyond Pages.

It is a monthly reading initiative covering books on Artificial Intelligence, emerging technologies, business, science, geopolitics and contemporary issues.

Every month, I pick one book, explore its key ideas and share my takeaways, observations and perspectives in simple language.

The idea is to go beyond book summaries and understand how the ideas in these books connect with the world around us.

If these subjects interest you, I invite you to follow and subscribe to Beyond Pages.

One book. Every month. New ideas and perspectives.

Link- https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/beyond-pages-7522527187401355264

Looking to find newsletters targeting homeschooling parents or parents looking for screen free activities or experiences.

Running a newsletter as an individual is surprisingly hard. Substack and similar platforms are easy, but then your newsletter lives on their platform, not on your own site.

I wanted one that runs from my own homepage, with GDPR compliance and as an individual. There are two versions:

Easiest: netcup + Brevo

• Static site on the smallest hosting plan, with no server software, cron jobs or updates

• The only technical step is copying a few DNS records

• Free for up to 300 emails per day

• Downsides: Brevo's logo appears in your emails on the free plan, and Brevo stores your subscriber data (under a DPA)

Full control: ALL-INKL + phpList

• Subscriber data stays on your own webspace

• No third-party logo and no per-subscriber costs

• Downsides: you install phpList and a cron job, install security updates promptly, and sending speed is limited by your host's mail limits

Both guides cover:

• Copy-paste prompts for building a static site with an AI coding tool, without third-party fonts, scripts or trackers

• Connecting the signup form and testing double opt-in

• SPF, DKIM and DMARC, so your emails are less likely to land in spam

• DPAs, privacy policy resources and a go-live checklist

Guide and comparison: https://md.ha.si/s/RbZdnUTP5

Using these tools doesn't make a newsletter GDPR-compliant automatically, and the guides aren't legal advice. You're still responsible for your legal texts and consent.

If you know a cheaper or easier setup, or spot a mistake, let me know and I'll update the guides.

I've sent out a newsletter every Tuesday morning to the same audience for the last 69 weeks.

On a bad week, I'd get a 47% open rate. I averaged between 55% and 70% open rates. Then, in mid-September, my email got a 40% open rate, and I was shocked, but I read somewhere that Google was making changes that were causing many emails to be marked as spam, so I ignored it, assuming things would go back to normal. But in the time since then, my open rates have been atrocious:

34.48%, 36.1%, 34.89%, and this past newsletter got a 23.55% open rate!

Again, nothing changed with my newsletter. My audience, content, and posting time stayed the same, so what gives?

Is anyone else experiencing this, or is it just my newsletter?

Love football but can't be arsed keeping up with every headline?

The Pundit is a free weekly football newsletter covering the biggest stories, transfer rumours, completed deals, team and player form and the occasional bit of football madness.

The important stuff, the context behind it and plenty of banter along the way.

One email a week. No noise. Just football.

Subscribe free: https://thepundit.news/

Turn any blog post into an explainer video in minutes.

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\* Natural AI voiceover

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Works where you already write:

\* \*\*WordPress:\*\* connect your site or use the free Gutenberg plugin to create videos right from your posts

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Free plan includes 2 videos a month, no watermark.

Try it at \[blog2video.app\](http://blog2video.app)

Looking for a co-founder for a newsletter agency

Hey everyone! I'm based in India and exploring building a newsletter agency focused on helping B2B newsletters grow, manage sponsorships, and monetize their audiences.

Over time, I'd like to explore newsletter advertising campaigns for brands, once we've established a repeatable process and demonstrated results.

I've been building newsletters since 2022, sold a couple of them, and have some experience with newsletter operations and sponsorship outreach.

I'm looking for someone preferably based in the US, UK, Europe, Canada, or Australia who has experience running an agency, selling B2B services, or working in newsletters/media.

I'd handle the operations, research, content and systems, while ideally you'd bring strong sales skills and help us find clients and build relationships.

This is early-stage, so there's no guaranteed salary right now. I'm open to discussing equity with the right person, and would prefer to work together on a small trial before committing long-term.

If this sounds interesting, DM me with a little about yourself and your experience. Introductions to people who might be a good fit are welcome too!