Ronn Torossian
Ronn Torossian

Twitter’s January announcement that it acquired Revue added yet another competitor to the ongoing struggle for mainstream email services. The difference about this news, however, added a valuable arrow to Twitter’s quiver and one that may attract a lot of marketers. Revue, unlike most providers, was created to make sending email newsletters as “simple and enjoyable as tweeting.”

Brands that have found success marketing on Twitter will likely be even more interested in Revue because of the yin and yang opportunity created by the two platforms. Where Twitter focuses on short, succinct form, Revue allows for longer content ideal for brand newsletters and allowing freelance writers and publishers to earn money with their own brand. Other advantages of Revue include the ability to embed Tweets, import email lists and analyze reader engagement. There are two options for viewing newsletters on Revue: a free viewer and a platform for paid subscriptions. Once set up, the landing page will display past uses so that potential subscribers can get a glimpse of the type of content being published. That can be changed by going into the profile section and selecting the “show only sign up” form.

Once someone signs up for a subscription, they’ll receive an automatic welcome message that invites them to follow the brand’s profile page and follow it on Facebook and Twitter. Revue employs no other autoresponders. Revue’s account setting page allows Brands to set their notifications. Some options include displaying the number of subscribers on the profile page, receiving an email each time a new subscriber signs up, setting a language for all of these, and even setting campaign parameters under Google Analytics.

Customization of newsletters is currently limited to selecting themes and headers, with the option to add more colors under the Design tab. The paid subscription option is one of the features of Revue. Some industries, like arts and crafts, education, etc. may benefit from having one tier of free information and education and another that delivers deeper and more intensive detail for a fee. By integrating the newsletter with a payment platform like Stripe, brands have options. They can either send subscribers to the full curriculum or limit it only to those paid subscribers.

Like other email platforms, Revue also permits personalization by inserting subscriber names in placeholders. But in case a subscriber hasn’t yet disclosed their name, Revue allows the entry of a fallback value of choice in place of a first or last name.

Unlike many other email platforms, Revue allows customization of email preheaders. This is the 100 characters or less preview text that readers see in their mailboxes and notifications before opening their email. Many platforms automatically use the first several characters of the email as default preheaders.

Here are even more benefits. Revue permits the addition of elements from other channels to add and save for future publications. These are available through Chrome, Mozilla Firefox and Microsoft Edge. And besides its browser extension, Revue has 18 other integrations that permit connection of newsletters to the brand’s other social channels and website. In addition to subscribers receiving the newsletter on Revue, they can also be shared on any of the brand’s connected channels. There’s also an option to post and publish at a later date.

Analytics matter on all marketing matters and Revue sends a report out 24 hours after publication of each newsletter. By visiting and clicking on Issues, marketers can also view and see insights and analytics of every published issue whenever they wish.

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Ronn Torossian is CEO of 5WPR, a leading NY PR firm.