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This Is Why Players Are NOT Signing Up To Your Game's Newsletter -- And What To Do About It

So you've heard that having an email newsletter is a great way to build a community for your game. But you set one up, and all you get is spam bots -- and not players...

I'm about to show you a technique for getting atleast twice as many players to sign up for your game's newsletter.

A newsletter is great because you can drive traffic to your Steam store page. And newsletters can help you increase wishlists. And the bigger your list is -- the more fans you have -- the more successful your game will be at launch.

But... if you're not sure how to attract players to sign up for your newsletter, then you won't build a community for your game. And if you don't have a fanbase leading up to your game's launch, then your launch may be a financial failure.

So if you want players to sign up for your game's newsletter so that you build a community and drive traffic to your Steam store page, then here's how it works...

The Real Purpose Of A Newsletter Is This...

If you understand the REAL purpose of a newsletter, then this will help you get at least twice as many sign ups.

But most game devs don't understand the real purpose of a newsletter.

The purpose of a newsletter is NOT chatting with players. It's NOT about sending players updates. Its NOT about telling them about your launch date. It's NOT about trying to "sell" your game. And it's not about getting them to wishlist your game.

The real purpose of a newsletter to build TRUST and get them to come back.

Let me explain... once you get this you'll know why players are not signing up. And you'll get a step by step action plan showing you what to do about it.

Here's what you need to know...

Most Players Don't Buy Or Wishlist On The First Visit

You see, when a player lands on your Steam page, or watches your trailer, or sees a post you put up on Twitter -- they are NOT going to wishlist or buy your game after their first exposure to you and your game.

A player needs to be exposed to your game at least 4 to 6 times before they decide to take a simple action like wishlisting your game. And they'll need MORE to buy your game.

So what do most game devs do?

You guessed it!!!

They hope.

They hope a player will see their Tweets, watch their trailer, hear about their game from word-of-mouth, watch a YouTuber talk about their game.

Most game devs hope that OTHER platforms will help them expose their game to players -- many many times.

But this is NOT a good strategy for success.

You can't just HOPE that a player will be exposed to your game more than once.

You need a different mindset. Let me explain...

New Perspective: Your Newsletter Is A Trust Builder

In a moment I'll show you how to double your subscribers for your game's newsletter using a simple technique.

But first you must know this crucial insight:

You can't rely on Twitter, Steam, YouTubers, PR, word-of-mouth, etc. to deliver content for you.

Yes, you still need those to help you market your game. But most people will see your content on other platforms only once. And they never come back.

To get them to come back you need to be less casual, and more deliberate about how people get exposed to your game.

Instead of you relying on other platforms, you have to deliberately setup a system where YOU control the trust-building. And you have to control the flow of content the player gets.

Again, you're doing this because players will not wishlist or buy your game on their first exposure to you. It's after the 4th or so exposure, that they will most likely take an action -- like wishlist your game.

And your newsletter is the best way to build that exposure, and build that trust.

So don't rely on other platforms to deliver content for you. Don't rely on other platforms to build trust for you.

Here's what to do instead...

Why Nobody Is Signing Up...

Now that you know that players need to see your game at least 4 to 6 times to make a simple action like wishlist your game... and now that you know that YOU have to control the delivery of content to players and not rely on other platforms... then here's what you need change in your newsletter form to get them to sign up...

So... if your current email newsletter is not attracting players to sign up, then you have to offer a player something more valuable.

"Sign up for our newsletter" is NOT enough motivation for a player to want to sign up for your newsletter. You have to "sweeten the pot".

THIS is the reason your newsletter is NOT getting players to sign up. It's because your offer is not valuable to a player.

Let me show you how to make your newsletter more valuable...

If you want them to give you their email, you need something more valuable than just game updates, or release dates, or behind-the-scenes game development articles.

You have to give them something so valuable that "they can't refuse".

So what IS valuable to players?

What will get them excited to sign up to your newsletter... and read every follow-up?

How can you build that trust... so that the player will like you and like your game so much that they wishlist your game... and buy your game at launch?

Here's the answer...

Double Your Newsletter Subscribers By Doing This Simple Technique

You're not a game dev anymore. You're a player. Think like a player for one moment. What do PLAYERS find valuable?

Being up-to-date is very valuable to players. This is why they spend hundreds of hours on YouTube watching their favorite influencer talking about what's new in their favorite genre.

And that's the key here: what's NEW in a players favorite genre is very valuable to them.

For example, Old World. As you probably know, Old World was made by Soren Johnson -- the lead dev for Civ IV.

Old World is a 4x strategy game that set out to fix some issues in that genre.

And if you ever played 4x, some of the biggest problems players faced in this genre is...

So Old World set out to fix these problems in their genre. They fixed problems with these NEW things...

And the studio, Mohawk Games, talked about these issues during development. They blogged about these issue. They had a podcast talking about these issues in their genre.

Ok, you may be asking... "How will knowing this double my newsletter subscribers? I'm not a big dev like Sorn Johnson. What do I do?!".

Well...

What are you trying to improve in your genre? What are some of the pain points in your genre that you know players hate, and you're trying to fix?

How is your game offering old experiences in your genre in NEW ways?

So instead of telling a player to sign up to your newsletter to get game updates... here's a better formula you can use:

Formula 1 for email newsletter for a game

Learn How [Your Game Here] Is Fixing Problems In [Your Genre]

Signup to our newsletter and get insights on how we're trying to improve the [Your Genre]

For example, we've looked at [biggest problem in your genre] and replaced it with [your new feature that fixes the problem


By using this simple technique where you help solve a players problem, then this will help you at least double your subscribers.

This works because players are self-interested. If they don't know you yet, they only want to know what's in it for them. And by talking about your game and only your game, they won't be interested in signing up. But if you talk about how your game is improving THEIR favorite genre they love so much, then you'll get more subscribers.

So here's what to do right now...

3 Step Action Plan To Improve Your Game's Email Newsletter So You Double The Subscribers

Now that you know your newsletter's only purpose it to help you build trust with players, it will be a lot easier for you to make your email newsletter more valuable.

So to help you achieve this, here's 3 action steps you can do right now...

Step #1: List at least 3 problems in your genre. The more you find the better. But start with 3. To help you, answer me this: what are the biggest frustrations or pain-points that you notice in your genre?

Step #2: List 3 (or more) features in your game that are designed to FIX those problems in your genre.

Step #3: Rewrite your email newsletter form using this formula:

Formula 2 for email newsletter for a game


Learn How [Your Game] Is Fixing [Biggest Problem In Your Genre]

By subscribing you'll get one email per week with the most interesting news about [Your Genre] and how our team is setting out to make this genre better.


As you can see, this is a lot more interesting than just "Signup and Keep In Touch". And if you do this simple thing where you add value to your email newsletter, you will probably atleast double your subscribers.

Still stuck? Contact me below, and I'll be glad to help you the best I can. No cost. No expectations. Helping you helps me come up with content ideas for this blog.

Below is where you can contact me...

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Dariusz Konrad
Email: dariusz at mainquestmarketing dot com
Discord Username: dariuszkonrad
LinkedIn: My entrepreneurial successes
Work: Game devs I've helped so far