The Rule of Tens

In last Sunday's poll, over 50% of you said your newsletter has only 1-2 revenue streams.

That's not ideal.

According to data from 1'000+ operators who've used our free SLV calculator, newsletters with 3+ revenue streams earn 2.2x more per subscriber.

Why?

Because newsletters with multiple revenue streams do a better job of capturing value from subscribers based on their individual willingness to pay (WTP).

And you can too... by following the rule of tens.

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🎓 The Theory

Not all subscribers are created equal.

Sure, most subscribers will never hand you even a single cent... but (given the chance) some would happily pay you $10, $100 or even $tens-of-thousands.

Roughly speaking, this distribution of subscriber willingness to pay follows the rule of tens:

→ Every time you increase the price by 10x, you're reducing by 10x the number of subscribers in your audience who would pay that price

As a smart newsletter operator, your goal should be to have a product or revenue stream at each level of WTP.

If a subscriber is ready to pay you $thousands, there should be something for them to purchase that costs $thousands.

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🛠️ What To Do

Understanding the rule of tens is only useful if you use it to improve your newsletter.

For most newsletter operators, that means adding new revenue streams...

1. Make a copy of the WTP levels in the graphic above
2. For each level, write down the product (or revenue stream) you're currently pitching to that audience segment
3. If there are levels where you currently have no product at all, brainstorm 2-3 products that would be a good fit for that WTP-level
4. Test them one at a time, beginning with the easiest-to-implement products at the most-underserved WTP-levels

Let's take a look at some examples:

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📰 Broad-Appeal Daily Newsletter

"Ideal" revenue streams for each WTP-level of a mass-market newsletter might look something like this 👇

(note, the 100% refers to subscribers with a WTP of > $0, who are monetized indirectly via ads and Upscribe paid recommendations)

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💼 Niche or B2B Newsletter

For operators and creators with a niche audience they can monetize directly, the "perfect" mix of revenue streams might look something like this 👇

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🗽 Local Newsletter

Local newsletters have so many opportunities to create products and revenue streams that fit each level of your audience's WTP. Creativity is key! 👇

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🫵 Your turn

Adding in more revenue streams is nearly always a good idea. Especially if you only have 1-2 currently.

By mixing in 2-3 additional revenue streams like in the examples above, you can easily increase your subscriber lifetime value by 2x or more.

And that means more revenue, more profit to reinvest into subscriber acquisition, and a flywheel of momentum-building newsletter growth!

Get to it!