Latest / The Newsletter Podcast with Fexingo: Substack, Beehiiv, and Email Newsletter Business / How Newsletters Use Audio Editions to Deepen Subscriber Loyalty
Transcript
- Lucas: There's a trend I've been watching in the newsletter world that doesn't get nearly as much attention as it should — audio editions. Luna: You mean like a robot reading the newsletter aloud? Because I've seen those, and honestly, they're kind of terrible. Lucas: No, not the robot voice. I mean a real human — often the writer themselves — recording a conversational version of the newsletter. It's not a word for word reading. It's more like a short podcast episode that hits the same key points but with a different energy. Luna: Okay, that's interesting. So it's essentially a companion audio track. Do we have any data on whether subscribers actually listen to these? Lucas: The Morning Brew — the daily business newsletter — started offering audio summaries a couple of years back. What they found was that subscribers who listened to at least one audio edition per week had a twelve percent higher time-spent metric than those who only read the text version. And more importantly, churn among audio listeners was about half the rate of text-only readers. Luna: Half the churn? That's a massive signal. So the audio edition is essentially a retention tool disguised as a convenience feature. Lucas: Exactly. And the thing is, the barrier to entry is surprisingly low. You don't need a studio or expensive equipment. A decent USB microphone — something like a Blue Yeti or a Shure MV7 — and free software like Audacity is enough to produce a clean recording. Luna: But what about hosting? Audio files are big. If you attach an MP3 to every email, you're going to hit deliverability issues and angry inbox providers. Lucas: Right, you never attach the audio file directly. You host it somewhere — either on a simple CDN like Cloudflare's R2 or Bunny.net, or you use a podcast hosting platform like Transistor or Buzzsprout that gives you an embeddable player. Then you just drop a link or a play button into the newsletter. Luna: So the email itself stays lightweight, and the listener clicks through to stream or download. That makes sense. What about the time cost? If you're a solo writer, this could eat into your schedule pretty badly. Lucas: That's the trade-off. From talking to writers who do this, the typical time commitment is about fifteen to twenty minutes per issue. That includes recording, a quick edit to cut out flubs and long pauses, and then exporting and uploading. For a daily newsletter, that's an extra hour and a half per week. For a weekly, it's barely noticeable. Luna: And I imagine the editing gets faster with practice. The first few recordings probably take longer. Lucas: Absolutely. Most writers say after about ten episodes they can record and edit in under fifteen minutes. The key is not to aim for perfection — leave in a little natural roughness, the occasional 'um', because that's what makes it feel like a conversation rather than an audiobook. Luna: That actually reminds me — I've noticed that some newsletters now include a short audio greeting from the writer at the top of the email, like a thirty-second personal note before the main content. That seems like a lighter lift. Lucas: It's a great entry point. Tim Ferriss does something similar with his '5-Bullet Friday' — he records a brief voice memo that accompanies the written post. It's not a full audio edition, but it adds that personal touch. And listeners often say it makes them feel more connected to the writer. Luna: So if someone is listening to this and thinking about trying audio for their own newsletter, what's the first step you'd recommend? Lucas: Start with a single test. Pick one issue — doesn't have to be your best — record a five-minute version of it using just your phone's voice memo app and a quiet room. Send it to a small segment of your list, like ten percent, and ask for feedback. See if open rates or click-through rates differ from the text-only group. Luna: That's smart — you get real data before investing in equipment. And if the response is positive, then you buy the microphone and set up the hosting. Lucas: Exactly. And this is the kind of thing where listener support really helps make these experiments possible. If these conversations have sparked something you've actually tried or want to try, consider buying us a coffee — it's at buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. That kind of support is what keeps the show ad-free and lets us dig into niche topics like this. Luna: Yeah, every little bit helps. And it's nice to know people find value in what we're doing. Lucas: Alright, back to audio. One thing I want to emphasize: audio editions work best for newsletters that have a strong voice. If your writing is very data-heavy or dense, a straight reading might not translate well. But if your newsletter has a recognizable personality — think something like 'The Hustle' or 'Morning Brew' — audio can amplify that. Luna: So it's not for everyone. But for the newsletters where the writer's voice is a big part of the appeal, it's almost a no-brainer. Lucas: Right. And there's also a growing expectation among subscribers. We're seeing more people listen to content while doing other things — commuting, exercising, cooking. If you're not offering an audio option, you might be missing a whole segment of your audience's time. Luna: Do you think this trend will become standard? Like, in two or three years, will every newsletter worth its salt have an audio edition? Lucas: I think it'll become common for newsletters above a certain size — say, fifty thousand subscribers or more. But for smaller writers, the ROI depends heavily on engagement. If your open rate is already high and your readers are loyal, audio can deepen that relationship. If you're still fighting for attention, the time might be better spent on improving the writing itself. Luna: Good point. So it's a retention tool, not an acquisition tool. Use it once you have a solid base. Lucas: Exactly. And one more thing — if you do launch audio, make sure you promote it within the newsletter for a few weeks. Don't just drop it and hope people find it. Tell them explicitly: 'Hey, you can now listen to this issue on your morning run.' Give them a reason to try it. Luna: And maybe even offer a small incentive for the first listen, like a bonus tip only mentioned in the audio? Lucas: That's a great idea. Create a little FOMO. 'In today's audio edition, I share a resource that's not in the written version.' That alone can bump your audio play rate significantly. Luna: I love that. So the key takeaway: audio editions are a low-cost, high-impact way to increase loyalty, but they work best when the writer's voice is part of the brand, and they should be tested before going all in. Lucas: That's the nutshell. And if you try it, let us know how it goes — we'd love to hear your results. Luna: Absolutely. We'll put some links in the show notes to the tools we mentioned, including Audacity and Transistor. Lucas: Perfect. That's it for today. We'll be back next week with another deep dive into the business of newsletters.