New email publishing platforms like Substack and MailerLite have launched in recent years. They did not appear out of nowhere. They appeared because more people are adopting newsletter publishing as their primary communication tool.
Mailchimp, one of the oldest newsletter platforms, is a good example. In 2025 alone, people were sending close to 600 million emails every day through its systems. In some earlier years, the platform handled more than 203 billion emails in a single year. That is not a dying channel. That is a channel being used quietly, at scale.
This is important for small businesses.
Every few years, someone announces that newsletters are finished. Social media is faster. Video is louder. Algorithms feel smarter. Email feels old. And yet, businesses keep coming back to newsletters.
Not because newsletters are exciting but because they are reliable. They keep giving back.
When you publish on social media, you borrow attention. When you publish a newsletter, you own it. The mailing list that you build over years belongs to you. Nobody can take it away from you. Nobody owns your content.
That difference matters more today than it did ten years ago.
Inbox behaviour has changed, yes. People skim. They ignore. They unsubscribe when content feels useless. But they still open emails that help them think, decide, or solve a problem. And they do it regularly.
Before getting into why newsletters still make sense for small businesses, it helps to look at the numbers.
Newsletters are not disappearing. They are settling into their real role.
You may also want to read: Publishing an email newsletter: the indisputable benefits
Table of contents
- What the numbers say in 2025-2026
- Why newsletters still work for small businesses
- How newsletters help real small businesses
- Common newsletter mistakes small businesses make
- How to publish a newsletter in 2026
- So, should you publish a newsletter?
What the numbers say in 2025-2026
Let’s get the data out in the open. No hype. Just what’s actually happening.
Here are the key newsletter and email numbers that matter right now.
Open rates and engagement
- Average newsletter open rates are between 35% and 38%
- Some reports show averages touching 40% to 43% across industries
- Weekly newsletters perform best, with open rates going up to 48% when sent once a week
- Click-through rates for newsletters average around 3.8%, which is higher than many one-off promotional emails
These are not vanity numbers.
These are people opening, reading, and clicking.
Email is still massive in scale
- There are over 4.6 billion email users worldwide
- That number is expected to cross 4.8 billion in the next two years
- More than 360 billion emails are sent every single day
- Email remains the default channel for business updates, invoices, alerts, and content
This matters because habits don’t change easily. People may scroll social feeds for fun, but they still check email with intent.
How often newsletters are sent
- 54% of newsletters are sent weekly
- 19% are sent daily
- Only 7% rely on monthly publishing
This tells you something simple. Consistency beats frequency. Weekly works because it builds a rhythm without becoming noise.
Free vs paid newsletters
- 91% of newsletters are completely free
- 8% offer paid upgrades
- Only 2% are fully paid
- 77% of newsletter creators prefer sponsorships or ads over subscriptions
For small businesses, this is good news.
It means your newsletter does not need to be a product. It can be a relationship tool.
How businesses actually use email
- 78% of marketers actively use email for content marketing
- 58% say newsletters and promotional emails are a priority
- 63% of emails sent by companies focus on engagement, not direct selling
- Mobile accounts for 60%+ of all email opens
- Mobile-friendly design increases clicks by around 15%
And one quiet number that says a lot:
- Average unsubscribe rates stay close to 0.22%
People don’t hate newsletters. They hate useless ones.
What this data really means?
Newsletters are not exploding. But they are not collapsing either.
They are doing something more important: they are becoming stable.
For a small business, stability matters more than virality. You don’t need millions of views. You need a few hundred people who remember you.
That’s where newsletters still earn their place.
Why newsletters still work for small businesses
The numbers above explain what is happening. The more useful question for a small business is why newsletters continue to work, even when newer channels grab more attention.
The answer is not complicated. Small businesses don’t need scale, they need continuity.
A newsletter helps you stay in touch with the same set of people over a long period of time, without depending on platforms you don’t control and without having to sell something every single week.
You stop depending on rented platforms
Social media platforms are useful, but they are rented space. Reach changes, rules haphazardly change, and sometimes accounts disappear arbitrarily due to ideological conflicts. When that happens, years of effort can vanish overnight.
A newsletter works differently. Once someone subscribes, you can reach them directly. You decide when to write, how often to send, and what the message looks like. There is no algorithm deciding whether your update deserves attention.
For a small business, this control brings stability, which is often more valuable than short bursts of visibility.
You stay visible without pushing sales
Most people who follow your business are not ready to buy right now. They may need months before they act, especially in B2B or high-value services.
A newsletter lets you stay present during that waiting period. You can share insights, updates, short explanations, or lessons from your work without turning every email into a sales pitch. Over time, readers begin to associate your name with clarity and usefulness, which makes the eventual decision easier.
Trust builds through repetition, not persuasion
Trust rarely comes from one impressive message. It builds slowly, through consistency, email by email.
When someone sees your newsletter arrive every week, written in the same voice and focused on the same problems, it creates familiarity. Even if they don’t read every issue in full, your name becomes known. Known feels safer than unknown, especially when money is involved.
This effect is subtle, but it shows up later in replies that begin with, “I’ve been reading your emails for a while.”
You turn unknown visitors into real leads
Website traffic is anonymous. Newsletter subscribers are not.
Once someone joins your list, you start learning what they care about through what they open and click. This allows you to adjust your messaging and send more relevant content over time instead of guessing what might work.
For a small business, this is practical. It saves effort and reduces wasted communication.
You get strong returns without constant output
Email marketing continues to deliver some of the highest returns among digital channels, largely because one message can do many jobs at once. For example, it is a well-known statistic that email marketing returns about $36-$44 for every $1 spent on it.
A single newsletter can bring readers back to your site, revive older content, remind past customers that you exist, and quietly support upcoming offers. It does this without the pressure of daily posting or constant reinvention.
You write once, send once, and let the message work over several days.
You build an asset that grows with time
A social post has a short life. A newsletter list grows in value as it grows in size.
Each new subscriber adds to a pool of people you can reach whenever you need to announce something important. Over time, this list becomes a testing ground for ideas, a source of repeat business, and a fallback when other channels slow down.
This is why many business owners wish they had started earlier. Not because newsletters are difficult, but because they take time to mature.
You don’t need perfection to start
Newsletters work best when they sound human.
They don’t need design-heavy layouts or perfect writing. Clear thinking and regular publishing matter more. Short notes work. Longer explanations work too. What matters is that the reader feels the email was written for them, not for a campaign.
For small businesses, this lowers the barrier. You don’t need a team. You need a habit.
How newsletters help real small businesses
Up to this point, the case for newsletters may sound reasonable but still a bit theoretical. So let’s look at how this plays out in real, everyday business situations.
These are not extreme success stories. They are steady, realistic outcomes that come from publishing a newsletter consistently.
Example 1: A small accounting firm sending weekly newsletter
Imagine a small accounting firm with 500 newsletter subscribers. Most are existing clients, former clients, and referrals who signed up after reading a blog post or downloading a tax checklist.
The firm sends a weekly newsletter. Each issue takes about an hour to write. The content is practical: tax deadlines, common filing mistakes, short explanations of regulation changes, and reminders about planning ahead.
Open rates average 42% (according to beehive, average newsletter open rate is 37.7%), which means around 210 people read each email.
Once every quarter, the firm includes a short note about a paid service, such as tax planning or year-end reviews. There is no pressure. Just a clear mention.
If 2% of those readers respond, that’s about 4 enquiries. If 2 convert into clients at $2,000 per engagement, the newsletter brings in $4,000 per quarter.
Over a year, that becomes $16,000, generated from one email a week and a list of just 500 people.
Example 2: A luxury goods business
Now consider a small luxury goods brand, such as handcrafted jewelry or leather accessories, with 2,000 subscribers. Most joined after making a purchase, visiting a trade show, or signing up through Instagram.
The business sends a weekly newsletter focused on craftsmanship, materials, care tips, and previews of new designs.
Open rates average 35%, giving roughly 700 readers per issue.
Once a month, the brand announces a limited release. No discounts. Just availability and a deadline.
If 1% of those readers place an order, that’s 7 purchases. With an average order value of $250, one newsletter can generate $1,750.
If this happens six times a year, the newsletter supports over $10,000 in revenue, while also strengthening repeat buying behaviour.
Example 3: A coaching service
Now look at a solo coach offering leadership or business coaching.
The coach has 300 subscribers, mostly people who attended a webinar, downloaded a guide, or followed the coach for a while before subscribing.
The newsletter goes out weekly and includes reflections, short client lessons, and one practical idea readers can apply immediately.
Open rates are high, around 50%, which means 150 readers per issue.
Once every two months, the coach invites readers to book a discovery call. If 3 people book a call and 1 converts into a $5,000 coaching package, the newsletter directly generates $5,000.
Across a year, even 4 conversions bring in $20,000 from a list many would consider small.
The pattern behind these examples
Different businesses. Different price points. Same underlying pattern.
- Consistent publishing
- Useful, focused content
- Soft selling at the right time
- Clear reminders that services exist
None of these newsletters rely on hype or high volume. They rely on familiarity.
That is the real strength of newsletters for small businesses. They don’t create sudden spikes. They create predictable momentum.
But I don’t want to build a castle in the clouds. Building a mailing list takes time. You need to publish consistently. Your conversion rate depends on the quality of your subscribers. What I’m saying is, it is an ongoing process. It’s not like to set up a newsletter and suddenly it starts making money for you.
Common newsletter mistakes small businesses make
Newsletters work, but as I just mentioned above, not by accident. Most failures don’t come from the channel itself. They come from small, avoidable mistakes that slowly drain momentum.
Here are the ones I see most often with small businesses.
Treating the newsletter like an ad
This is the fastest way to lose readers.
When every email pushes an offer, people stop opening. Not because the offer is bad, but because there is no reason to pay attention unless they are ready to buy.
A newsletter should earn attention first. Selling comes later.
If your readers learn something useful most weeks, they won’t mind the occasional promotion. If every email sells, even good offers feel noisy.
Publishing only when there is news
Many businesses send newsletters only when they have something to announce. A new service. A sale. A product launch.
The problem is simple. Long gaps break the habit.
When emails arrive randomly, readers forget why they subscribed. Open rates drop. Trust weakens. Restarting becomes harder each time.
A quiet week is not a reason to skip. Short updates are enough.
Writing for yourself instead of the reader
Another common mistake is using the newsletter as a personal journal or company update log.
Readers don’t care about internal changes unless those changes affect them. They care about clarity, answers, and insight that helps them make better decisions.
Before hitting send, it helps to ask one question: what does the reader get from this?
If the answer is not clear, the email probably needs work.
Overthinking design and tools
Many small businesses delay newsletters because they feel underprepared. They want better templates, better automation, or better software.
In reality, plain emails often perform better. Clear subject lines matter more than layout. Useful content matters more than polish.
You can start with basic tools and improve later. Waiting for the perfect setup usually means never starting.
Inconsistent voice and tone
If one email sounds formal and the next sounds casual, readers feel distance. Consistency builds familiarity.
This doesn’t mean writing perfectly. It means writing like the same person every time.
When readers recognise your voice, they stay longer.
Expecting quick results
Newsletters are not a short-term tactic. They compound slowly.
The first few months often feel quiet. Opens are modest. Replies are rare. This is normal.
The value appears later, when someone replies after six months and says they’ve been reading for a while. That is when newsletters start paying off.
How to publish a newsletter in 2026
At this point, the question is not whether newsletters still work. It is how to publish one consistently without letting it become another unfinished marketing task.
Newsletter publishing works best when it is treated as an ongoing activity, as a marketing system, and not a burst of motivation.
Shift from planning to execution fast
Many small businesses spend weeks planning a newsletter and never send the first email.
Publishing matters more than preparation.
You don’t need a perfect content calendar or a year’s worth of ideas. You need one email sent on time. Then another. Over time, clarity improves naturally because feedback and data start guiding you.
Momentum matters in newsletter publishing.
Choose a publishing rhythm you can sustain
Weekly publishing works well for most businesses because it keeps you visible without becoming noise. That said, consistency matters more than frequency.
If you commit to weekly, publish weekly.
If you commit to twice a month, publish twice a month.
Readers notice broken promises, even silent ones. A steady rhythm builds trust faster than ambitious schedules that collapse.
Keep each issue focused on one idea
A strong newsletter issue usually answers one question or explains one idea clearly. Trying to cover too much in a single email creates confusion. Clear thinking is easier to follow, easier to remember, and easier to act on.
One issue. One point. One reason to keep reading next time.
Why working with a professional content writer helps
This is where many small businesses get stuck. They understand their work, but they struggle to turn that understanding into clear, regular writing. This is where a professional content writer adds real value, not polish.
Here are practical ways a content writer helps with newsletter publishing.
1. Turning raw knowledge into readable content
You may have years of experience, but that experience often lives in your head. A content writer helps extract it, structure it, and explain it in a way readers can actually understand.
What feels obvious to you often needs translation for your audience.
2. Maintaining consistency when you are busy
Publishing breaks usually happen during busy periods. A content writer keeps the newsletter moving even when client work takes priority.
This consistency protects the relationship you’ve built with readers.
3. Writing in a voice your audience trusts
Good writers don’t just write well. They write emotively.
A professional content writer adapts tone and language so your newsletter sounds human, clear, and steady, not salesy or stiff. Over time, this voice becomes familiar to readers.
4. Improving clarity without changing your message
Most newsletters fail because great ideas are poorly explained.
A content writer improves structure, flow, and readability without changing what you want to say. The message stays yours. The delivery gets sharper.
5. Using data and feedback to improve over time
Open rates, clicks, and replies tell a story that a content writer knows how to read and act on. This makes the newsletter better month by month instead of repeating the same mistakes.
Publishing becomes easier when you are not doing it alone
When writing is shared with someone who understands content and audience psychology, newsletter publishing stops feeling heavy.
- You stay focused on your business.
- The newsletter stays consistent.
- The relationship with your audience keeps growing.
That is how newsletters quietly deliver value year after year, without burning out the person behind them.
So, should you publish a newsletter?
At this point, the answer is not complicated.
Yes. Not as a growth hack. Not as a marketing trend. As a simple, dependable way to stay connected with people who already care about what you do.
Email has not disappeared. Despite the deluge of new communication tools such as instant messaging apps, social media platforms, and tools like Slack, email remains the primary mode of communication. There is a good chance that by now, you have already checked your email a couple of times, even if you did not actively think about it.
That habit matters.
People may scroll social media for entertainment, but they open email with intent. They expect updates, reminders, explanations, and decisions to live there. This is why newsletters still work, even when other channels feel louder and faster.
For small businesses, a newsletter offers stability there is not available on other platforms.
It gives you a direct way to reach people without depending on changing algorithms or paid visibility. It lets you stay present without asking for attention every day. Over time, it builds familiarity, and familiarity reduces hesitation when someone needs your product or service.
The businesses that benefit most from newsletters are not chasing spikes. They are building rhythm. Same voice. Same schedule. Same focus on usefulness.
This is also where professional support makes a difference. Publishing regularly sounds easy until client work, deadlines, and daily decisions take over. A content writer helps you keep the newsletter consistent, clear, and reader-focused, even when your attention is pulled elsewhere.
You do not need thousands of subscribers for a newsletter to work. A few hundred people who trust you and remember you are often enough to make a measurable difference to your business.
If you already publish a newsletter, the message is simple. Keep going. Improve slowly. Stay consistent.
If you have been delaying it, waiting for the right time or the perfect setup, this is the reminder. Newsletters reward continuity, not perfection.
They do not win by being loud. They win by being present. For small businesses, an ongoing presence can make a big difference.