In the beginning, don't get lost in the weeds of perfect analytics and UTM parameters to track every subscriber source. It's a form of procrastination. For attribution, just add a simple question to your welcome email: "Where did you find the newsletter?" This is all the data you need early on.
Related Insights
Applying a single attribution model, like last-touch, to all channels is a mistake. It undervalues top-of-funnel activities and can lead to budget cuts that starve the pipeline. Instead, measure each channel based on its intended outcome and funnel stage.
Mailtrap made a multi-step survey a required part of signup. Counterintuitively, this added friction had no negative impact on conversion rates. The collected data on user intent, role, and marketing attribution proved invaluable for segmenting users and focusing on high-value cohorts, informing both product and marketing strategy.
A welcome email is more than a confirmation; it's a prime opportunity. Capitalize on the user's peak engagement by immediately including a call to action. For e-commerce, this should be a direct prompt to start shopping, as that is likely why they subscribed.
Social platforms like Meta have powerful segmentation data, but that data does not transfer to your email list when a user subscribes. This is their 'moat.' You receive a name and email, but no context, making it crucial to start your own segmentation process immediately to understand your new subscribers.
Standard attribution often credits Google due to last-click bias. To find true sources of influence, mandate that the sales team asks every new customer: "How did you *truly* hear about us?" and "Who or what influenced you to sign up *now*?". This reveals the real people and channels driving decisions.
Beyond marketing metrics, actively soliciting replies on non-business topics (e.g., "What's your favorite hobby?") uncovers valuable first-party data about your audience's interests. This enables more relatable and personalized content that resonates on a human level.
Don't abandon attribution; evolve it. The old model of single-touch software attribution is outdated. A modern approach triangulates data from software (GA4), self-reported forms ("How did you hear about us?"), and conversational intelligence tools, using AI to identify common buying journey patterns.
Don't build elaborate welcome sequences before you have subscribers. The priority is validating your idea and growing your list. This avoids building features for a non-existent audience. A simple three-sentence welcome email is sufficient for early stages.
Newsletters can be powerful list-builders, but only if promoted like a product. Instead of a simple 'join my newsletter' prompt, create a dedicated page that details the value, explains what subscribers will get, and even offers a preview of a past issue.
Relying on UTM link clicks for B2B influencer campaigns is a failing strategy, as social platforms penalize external links and users rarely convert directly. Instead, use a combination of time-series analysis (correlating campaigns to signup spikes) and self-reported attribution on forms to get a more accurate picture of an influencer's impact.
