Latest / The Newsletter Podcast with Fexingo: Substack, Beehiiv, and Email Newsletter Business / How Newsletters Use Personal Voice to Beat AI Content
Transcript
- Lucas: So there is this metric I have been tracking for the last few months, and I think it says something real about where the newsletter space is heading. Luna: OK, I am curious. What metric? Lucas: Open rates for newsletters that use a very generic, templated voice — like 'Welcome to this week's edition' — have been declining steadily since early 2025. But newsletters that lead with a distinct personal voice? Their open rates are actually up. Luna: So the robot-sounding newsletters are losing ground, and the ones that sound like a real person are winning. That makes intuitive sense. Lucas: Exactly. And I think the rise of generative AI is accelerating this. When anyone can pump out a passable newsletter in thirty seconds with ChatGPT, the only defensible differentiator is a voice that sounds unmistakably human. Luna: Right. The bar for 'good enough' content just dropped to zero. So the premium shifts to something AI cannot fake: genuine perspective. Lucas: Let me give you a concrete example. Byrne Hobart's 'The Diff' — a newsletter about financial niches and tech trends. He writes with a very specific, almost academic but conversational voice. He uses analogies that are weirdly specific, like comparing a company's strategy to a board game from the 1980s. Luna: I have read The Diff. His opening lines are often a single, provocative sentence that pulls you in. Not 'here is what happened this week.' Lucas: Yes. And he grew that newsletter to over fifty thousand subscribers without any paid ads, mostly through word of mouth and referrals. The reason people share his stuff is not just the insight — it is the way he says it. You cannot separate the information from the voice. Luna: So voice becomes a kind of intellectual property. It is not just style; it is the product. Lucas: Totally. And this is not just a Substack phenomenon. I have been looking at newsletters on Beehiiv that are using personal voice deliberately. One example is 'Money Stuff' by Matt Levine at Bloomberg — obviously a much bigger operation, but his voice is so distinctive that people read it even when they do not care about the specific deal he is covering. Luna: He writes like he is explaining something to a friend at a bar. Very conversational, lots of asides, jokes. It works because it feels like a conversation, not a broadcast. Lucas: So what are the specific tactics these writers use? I have been collecting them. First: they almost never start with a generic greeting. They start with a hook that is opinionated or surprising. Second: they use first-person pronouns freely — 'I think,' 'I noticed,' 'here is what I am watching.' Luna: That is interesting because a lot of traditional journalism training says avoid the first person. But newsletters are a different medium. The relationship is intimate — email is in your inbox, next to messages from your friends. Lucas: Exactly. And the third tactic is what I call 'strategic idiosyncrasy.' They include a reference or an analogy that only they would make. It signals that this is not a template. For example, one writer I follow always compares corporate earnings to scenes from 'The Office.' That is his thing. Luna: It becomes a signature. And signatures build loyalty. People look forward to the analogy as much as the analysis. Lucas: But there is a risk here, right? If you go too far into personality, you might alienate readers who just want the information. So there is a balance. The best newsletters layer the voice on top of solid reporting or analysis. The voice is the sugar, but the data is the medicine. Luna: Right. You cannot just be quirky. You have to deliver value. The voice is what makes the value go down easy. Lucas: I want to talk about how platforms are adapting to this trend. Substack has always been voice-friendly — their whole pitch is that writers own their relationship with readers. But Beehiiv, which started more as a growth platform, is now adding features that reward personal voice. Their algorithm for the 'Boost' recommendation system now weighs engagement signals like reply rates and time spent reading, not just clicks. Luna: So if a newsletter gets a lot of replies because people feel like they are talking to a person, that newsletter gets surfaced more. That is a structural incentive for voice. Lucas: Exactly. And there is data from Beehiiv's own blog showing that newsletters with high reply rates have significantly higher long-term retention. Because a reply is a signal of relationship, not just consumption. Luna: So what does this mean for someone starting a newsletter today? If they are trying to compete on pure information, they are going to lose to AI aggregators. But if they develop a voice, they have a moat. Lucas: I think the playbook is: find a niche you genuinely care about, develop a point of view, and then write like you are talking to one smart friend. Do not try to sound like a news organization. Sound like yourself. Luna: That sounds simple but it is actually hard. A lot of people struggle with writing in their own voice because they are afraid of sounding unprofessional. But the data shows that 'professional' is becoming a liability. Lucas: Right. And if this conversation has given you a new way to think about your own newsletter, or if it sparked an idea you might actually use, that is the whole point of this show. These episodes stay free and ad-free because of listener support. So if today was useful to you, consider buying me a coffee at buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. Luna: It is a small way to make sure we keep doing deep dives like this without any sponsor pressure. Lucas: Exactly. Now, I want to talk about one more tactic I have seen work really well: using a consistent sign-off that reinforces voice. Some writers end every newsletter with a quote or a random fact or a question to the reader. Luna: Oh, I love that. It creates a ritual. Readers start to expect that ending, and it becomes part of the experience. Lucas: Lenny Rachitsky, who writes 'Lenny's Newsletter' about product and growth, ends every issue with a section called 'Something fun.' It is often a meme or a random interesting link. It is pure personality. And his newsletter is one of the most successful on Substack. Luna: He also replies personally to a lot of reader emails. That is another layer — voice extends beyond the newsletter itself into the interaction. Lucas: So the takeaway is: in an age of ai generated content, your personal voice is your only sustainable competitive advantage. It cannot be replicated easily. And platforms are increasingly rewarding it. Luna: If you are a newsletter creator, the question is not 'what should I write about?' It is 'how can I write about this in a way that only I can?' Lucas: That is the question. And the answer is both harder and more rewarding than chasing algorithms. Thanks for listening, and we will see you next time.