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Running Your Business

Activate Slow Thinking

Getting prepared for our next act at Hey Rebekah.

By Ambreen Dar

3 min read

It’s been almost two months since we launched Hey Rebekah. As most of you know, we decided to send the newsletter from our fancy new domain. This meant we’d have to warm up IP addresses and establish our sender reputation on the interwebs.

This is a process that takes months.

We figured we’d use this time to run experiments, gather data, and develop a content catalog. Then we’d introduce Hey Rebekah to our community of over 300,000 digital marketers and self-employed knowledge workers.

We didn’t anticipate the curiosity of many community members who may have noticed subtle changes to our social profiles. Or when Ambreen made 47 back-to-back edits filling up everyone’s feed.

A little sooner than expected

Our closed-loop test group has grown by over 50% with your referrals and organic sign-ups. We can’t thank you enough for your support.

We’ve also had an incredible amount of interest in our Partner Program. We’ve been reaching out to companies that make the tools we use, requesting a discount for our readers instead of an affiliate commission for us. Our efforts have been met with them all saying Yaaasssss!

It’s also been mind-blowing to receive interest from potential sponsors so early. We’ve had to put a pin in that interest because we’re not ready yet. The good news is, we will be.

OK, but now what

The two most essential experiments we’re conducting right now are related to sending time and spray and pray vs. personalization. Because of system limitations, optimizing the newsletter’s send time is on hold.

Our data indicate that readers engage with Hey Rebekah the most when it arrives while sipping their morning coffee. So we’re figuring out a solution for 24 global time zones while ensuring we can get some sleep.

For our next act

When we started writing, we were sure we’d need the ability to personalize content based on our readers’ preferences. Right now, that’s our highest priority before we open up the newsletter.

Over the next two weeks, we’ll be changing outfits backstage and getting organized to:

  1. Update our content catalog
  2. Invite readers to indicate their topic preferences
  3. Update systems to enable personalization

Wait, but…

Don’t worry! We’ll still glow up your inboxes daily during the transition. The format will be a little different, so we can focus on getting ready for the big public reveal.

In the meantime, if you’ve got any great ideas we can steal like an artist or have any questions, don’t hesitate and slide into our inbox.

Ambreen Dar

About Ambreen Dar

Ambreen designs for thrillseekers. She left the classroom behind to chase adventures in publishing, then dove into digital marketing's deep end. New tricks abound, but Ambreen's four furry fans still think she's top dog. Alongside Rebekah and Sam, Ambreen makes BRIL.LA's magic - and wouldn't have it any other way.