As a result, the pop-ups generate far higher rates of engagement than standard email products.

Succession Club, for instance, which reaches 23,000 subscribers, has an average open rate of 80% and clickthrough rate of 50%, according to Arya. Queries, a newsletter exploring copy editing and grammar, boasts an 80% open rate.

Across its broader newsletter portfolio, the publisher averages open rates of 39% for general readers and 64% for paying subscribers.

Although pop-ups like Succession Club reach only subscribers, the audiences still differ in makeup, according to Arya. 

For example, whereas 63% of Queries readers have been New York Magazine subscribers for more than two years, 43% of Succession Club readers subscribed only within the last three months.

As subscriber-only pop-ups, the newsletters naturally reach a far smaller audience than general market products, according to Dan Oshinsky, the founder of the newsletter consultancy Inbox Collective. 

But keeping subscribers engaged drastically reduces their likelihood to churn, making the investment worthwhile from a cost perspective. 

“A great newsletter should have a really specific audience in mind,” Oshinsky said. “And if that audience is paying, you know that by super-serving them, you keep them more engaged and therefore far more likely to stay subscribed.” 

Pop-ups introduce new use-cases, advertising opportunities for newsletters

The success of the subscriber-only pop-up newsletters, which include Succession Club, Queries, New York Helpline, The Holiday Edit and a product following the Sundance Film Festival, has also introduced new commercial and editorial opportunities, according to Haskell.

For example, after an editorial package in February exploring the new rules of post-pandemic etiquette sparked a web-wide discourse, the publisher transformed the concept into its New York Helpline newsletter. 

Now, when the magazine prepares new packages, the newsletter team takes into consideration how the subject might transform into a limited-run newsletter if it receives outsized interest. Likewise, the success of The Holiday Edit, a newsletter that helps New York Magazine subscribers navigate the holidays, has led the publisher to consider other seasonal offerings. 

Both tactics build off of a preexisting strategy, exemplified by its Court Appearances newsletter, in which the publisher dusts off—and later shelves—capsule products to capitalize on moments of heightened interest.

The tactic highlights another benefit of pop-up products, in that they provide a low-risk method for the publisher to test out new editorial concepts and formats, serving as a kind of minimum viable product, according to Madeleine White, the head of international at the subscription software firm Poool and co-editor in chief of The Audiencers.

“Pop-up newsletters can provide a testing ground for future, more-regular newsletters and content,” White said in an email. “If it attracts a large readership and, better still, readers who go on to bring value to your business (through subscribing or retaining for longer) then you consider developing this editorial focus beyond the short-run newsletter.”