Die New York Times hat bereits vor einigen Jahren damit begonnen, das eigene Newsletter-Portfolio systematisch auszubauen. Die Newsletter dienen dabei nicht nur als Trafficlieferant für die eigene Website, sondern werden als eigenständige journalistische Produkte begriffen (mehr dazu: Mehr Reichweite und Öffnungsraten über 100%: So nutzt die New York Times Pop-Up Newsletter).
Jetzt bietet das NYT Open Team (“Sharing our stories of making digital products at The New York Times”) spannende Einblicke hinter die Kulissen: Wie läuft ein Newsletter-Relaunch bei der New York Times ab?
Die wichtigsten Aspekte im Überblick:
- We quickly realized that the Morning Briefing is now one of the most-read touch-points for The Times. And so we started thinking about how we can match its ambition, its scale and general excellence as a product to the huge new audience.
- The redesign is about hierarchy: which is the most important story that we want the reader to understand when they first wake up? What are the other condensed and concise things they need to know, and how can they have a rich Times experience?
- One other thing that’s been remarkable about the product process: […] We’ve had daily meetings that have a really broad array of people in them. It’s super cross-functional, including engineering, project management, data insights, audience insights and everyone on the product team, plus David and Adam. And those have just been unlike anything that I’ve done cross-functionally at The Times, in terms of the amount of openness to feedback from other disciplines.
- The other aspect that has been wonderful to see: the growth of people’s understanding of the constraints of email. We can’t do much with this medium. At first, the group’s suggestions were quite pie in the sky and we couldn’t possibly build what was being asked. Now the group is pretty grounded and realistic. We can make small changes with big impact.
- We began the prototype process back in the fall. Adam and his editors would create a Google Doc, and it would design and delineate the big story, five smaller stories and the list of delightful items that would follow. Working with Jeff Glendenning [creative director for the Brand Identity team], we would take the Google Doc and set type. We’d print the prototypes out and tape them to the wall where Adam, Sam Dolnick [an assistant masthead editor] and others could come and read and give comments. We did this week over week.
- I want something that people look forward to opening every morning. Because it gives them the feeling that they are well informed about what’s going on in the broader world. And that by inviting us into their inbox every morning, we can hold up our end of the bargain by never wasting their time, by always telling them an accurate story about what’s going on in the world, and that they create a lifelong relationship with The Times.
Medium.com: A New Look for ‘The Morning’ Newsletter
