What product strategies does the 19th News deploy to ensure more sign-ups?

June 26, 2024

Discover the answer in my review of 19th News.

Also in this issue:

💡 Meta's half-step into the Fediverse

💡 Substack adds monetization analytics for each post

💡 beehiiv has new monetization tools for newsletter creators

💡 Two product updates from Ghost

💡 WordPress 6.6 is (almost) here

Let’s dive in.

Meta's small step into the Fediverse

Threads now lets you share posts to Mastodon and other Fediverse platforms. The connection is one-way, though, and you can't post on Threads or other Meta platforms from your Mastodon profile. This could be a first step from Meta in joining the recent Fediverse trend, but it looks more like a half-step.

Substack adds monetization analytics for each post

Substack continues to update its product almost every week, and this time, it provides users with their "post stats." This lets newsletter creators check out how much the post has earned them, how many subscribers are paying for it, and so on. The design and UX are impressive.

beehiiv has new paywall tools for creators

beehiiv has released three new features, adding new ways to monetize your newsletters. The most vital feature in this product update is "Pay What You Want." It lets your readers pay whatever they think is fair as their subscription fee. This is the correct way if you're trying to avoid a hard paywall that some of your readers won't afford.

Two product updates from Ghost

Ghost has released two updates this week. The first lets you add alternative payment options for your subscribers. The other is a new editorial feature: internal links. You can now add links to your own content without hunting for its URL.

WordPress 6.6 is (almost) here

This week, the released the RC1 version of WordPress 6.6. The Release Candidate 1 is for testing, but the alpha version is coming in three weeks.

At Refact, we like to work with the latest WordPress features and other technologies, to create more value for our clients – I'm looking forward to seeing what we can create with this new version.

Media Company of the Week: the 19th News

The 19th is a nonprofit newsroom founded by Emily Ramshaw and Amanda Zamora. It focuses on gender, politics, and policy-making, hoping to empower women and LGBTQ+ people.

This week, I looked at the 19th News sign-up page, and the following points stood out.

Strong points

Consistent Branding: The page uses the brand's purple color scheme in different sections, reinforcing the 19th News brand.

Content Preview: Showing a snippet from a recent newsletter and how it looks in your phone's inbox lets potential subscribers know what they're signing up for.

Intuitive Typography: The large sans-serif font of the body makes the description more readable. The serif headings add a visual flair.

Areas for improvement

CTA: The subscribe button could be more noticeable. Making it bigger or using a brighter color might help it stand out.

Terms and Agreements Checkbox: The checkbox is too close to the text, which might lead to accidental clicks. Spacing it out could help.

What companies should I review next week?

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