In partnership with
🚨 Early bird: Join waitlist now, lock in $1,794 discount
HeyNews AI Agent launches in January. Get 50% off your first year ($149/mo instead of $299). Saves 40+ hours weekly. Agent writes in YOUR voice. Don't you want to grow your newsletter? Of course, you do.
{{rh_onboarding_line}}
👋 Hey!
2025 is wrapping up, but the newsletter game keeps evolving. This week: Substack expands live video, Kit adds one-tap payments, and we're breaking down how to turn your newsletter into a 6-figure course funnel.
Ready to boost your revenue and grow? Let's dive in! 👇
This newsletter you couldn’t wait to open? It runs on beehiiv — the absolute best platform for email newsletters.
Our editor makes your content look like Picasso in the inbox. Your website? Beautiful and ready to capture subscribers on day one.
And when it’s time to monetize, you don’t need to duct-tape a dozen tools together. Paid subscriptions, referrals, and a (super easy-to-use) global ad network — it’s all built in.
beehiiv isn’t just the best choice. It’s the only choice that makes sense.
🔥 This Week's Hot Takes
Substack expands live video with auto-thumbnails and clip publishing. Turn streams into discoverable, reusable clips, auto-publish to YouTube/LinkedIn to boost reach and monetization.
Kit adds Apple Pay, Google Pay, Link & Amazon Pay. One-tap, trusted checkouts for digital products mean higher conversions (up to 20%) and fewer abandoned carts on mobile.
Buttondown reflects on 2025 and explores what’s next. They shipped Easier customizable archives and simpler automations, reducing setup friction and speeding onboarding, which is good for retention and growth.
Use a personal domain to improve deliverability. Sending from your own domain gives you sole reputation control; shared domains tie your fate to others' mistakes. Authenticate with DKIM/SPF/DMARC.
Newsletters become the retention workhorse for 2026. 58% of marketers now use newsletters for customer retention (up from 46% in 2024); they're the heart of email strategy, not just a broadcast tool.
Unsubscribe rates doubled in 2025, but that's actually good news. MailerLite's data shows 0.22% unsub rate vs 0.08% last year, but open and click rates rose too. Easier unsubscribe options leave you with more engaged subscribers.
💡 Growth Hack of the Week
Turn Your Newsletter Into a 6-Figure Mini-Course Funnel
How:
1) Poll your top 10% most engaged readers to pick one painful, urgent topic.
2) Build a tight 4-module mini-course (videos + worksheets) in 1–2 weeks.
3) Price it $49–$199 with an early-bird discount exclusive to subscribers.
4) Run a 5-email launch inside your newsletter: teaser, free lesson, social proof, FAQ, cart close.
5) Use Gumroad/Podia/Stripe for checkout and embed links in emails.
Why: You're selling to a pre-sold audience that already trusts your voice. Short, affordable courses remove friction. Scarcity plus subscriber-only pricing raises urgency.
Expected Result: 1–3% conversion of engaged subscribers. On 5,000 engaged readers, that's 50–150 sales; at $99 avg price, that's ~$5K–$15K per launch.
The Future of AI in Marketing. Your Shortcut to Smarter, Faster Marketing.
This guide distills 10 AI strategies from industry leaders that are transforming marketing.
Learn how HubSpot's engineering team achieved 15-20% productivity gains with AI
Learn how AI-driven emails achieved 94% higher conversion rates
Discover 7 ways to enhance your marketing strategy with AI.
Spotlight: Growth in Reverse
What Works:
Niche-within-a-niche positioning: Reverse-engineers how top creators grew to 50K+ subscribers. No one else does deep dives with this level of research depth.
Research as distribution: Featuring successful creators gets them to share the deep dive with their audience, creating built-in word-of-mouth.
Monetize early, keep the content free: Get sponsors for your niche while making your content available for your target audience at all times.
Creator Quote: "The thing that's gonna set you apart is what you really need to double down on. I spend 20+ hours per edition—because depth wins."
🛠️ Tool of the Week
Disposables.app - Free disposable email domain checker
Why You'll Love It: Flags disposable and problematic domains at signup using Buttondown's spam data: block abuse early, cut moderation time, and improve list quality.
Best For: Newsletter signups, SaaS registration flows, no-code forms, and any validation pipeline that needs a lightweight, open-source domain blacklist.
Grab the full list at disposables.app/api.json and integrate in minutes.
🧪 A/B Test of the Week
Subject line length: Ultra-short (≤20 chars) vs. standard length (20-124 chars)
Result: Ultra-short subject lines (≤20 characters) achieved 29.9% open rate vs. 17.3% for standard-length ones, a 73% relative improvement.
Takeaway: Brevity cuts through inbox clutter. Keep subject lines punchy and under 20 characters when possible. Save details for your preview text.
Don't keep us a secret: Share HeyNews with a fellow newsletter nerd.
😂 Meme of the Week
Newsletter creator checking analytics on December 31st: "I'll just look at this year's performance real quick."
Also, newsletter creator at 3 AM: "Why did I open every single post's click-through data since January?"
🔗 Quick Links
Questions? Just write a comment below. I read all the comments and respond to them.
Thanks for reading,
Eren Daskesen
BEFORE YOU GO
📢 Want to automate your newsletter and reclaim your time?
See how HeyNews Automation can help you boost efficiency and engagement; risk-free!
If you have something important to share, you are a writer. If you are a writer, you need HeyNews to create unique and engaging content easily.
No technical background is needed. All you need to do is book a meeting, and you’re all set!
So what are you waiting for? Don’t you want to grow your newsletter? Of course, you do.