Researching for Trends in Print and Email Newsletters

Research for Trends in Print and Email Newsletters

I thought it would be a good idea to do a super serious search into the number of searches performed on Google regarding print newsletters and email newsletters over a set period of time.  I wanted to determine how many people are looking for information regarding the creation and implementation of print and email newsletters around the world.  The number of results to this simple search was staggering.  Luckily I am a professional researcher so I set about to interpret my results.  I can honestly reveal that this entire process wasn’t a cursory 5 minute Google search.  I spent hours on this.  Hours!

The biggest trouble with my research was the translations of the word “newsletter.”  The words pamphlet, brochure, leaflet, booklet, annual, or periodical are used regularly in conjunction with the American English translation of newsletter.  However, the term “magazine” is by far the most common translation or used phrase, especially in English speaking countries outside of the U.S. 

Several difficulties arose around the interchangeability of the phrases “email newsletter”, “e-newsletter”, and “digital newsletter.”  The preferred phrase is specific to a county but in the case of countries such as the U.K., Canada, Australia, or the U.S. where English is the primary language; the three phrases in these countries are used interchangeably.  Sometimes the phrases are used interchangeably within a single article discussing email newsletters.  The flip-flopping is maddening.

I prefer the term email newsletter so throughout this article and, in fact, this entire blog I will use the term email newsletter to refer to all three.  Read my discussion about the definitions of print, email, and digital newsletters here:  https://teachforgood.blogspot.com/2019/01/newsletter-what-type-do-i-want.html

If you conduct a Trend Search on Google you will discover that Print Newsletters are very popular.  The trend line over the last five years is very strong with a line indicating a strong interest in print newsletters that are currently surpassing interest in e-newsletters.  A google search of print newsletters will return 462-million results that include print services and some template based newsletter construction opportunities as well as examples for building newsletters.  Google searches for email newsletters will net you almost a 590-million results, with a large portion of those from businesses wishing to help you build the perfect email newsletter to send to customers/members but also many (many, many, many) links to email newsletters to subscribe to as a customer/member.

The result differences between print and email newsletters are huge but the trend line for email newsletters over the last five years is almost identical to print newsletters.  The five year trend line image above shows a prevalence of searches for email newsletters five years ago than that of print newsletters.  However, if you follow the line the lines of email and print newsletters are matching up as we get closer to today.  In fact, the print newsletter begins to show greater strength as what I can only assume is the “newness” of email newsletters wears off.  This isn’t to imply that email newsletters are going out of vogue, but rather tech-savvy businesses are finally figuring out the differences between email and print newsletters and are using them appropriately.  Syndicated columnist and author Don Sadler wrote an article to explain the differences back in 2005 (https://www.smallbusinessadvocate.com/small-business-article/print-vs-e-newsletters-1405).  By the looks of the image above it took almost 10 years for newsletter writers to get with the program!

In a search from December of 2018, I found that worldwide interest in email newsletters is dominated by Italy, Australia, Canada, Germany, Brazil, UK, India and the U.S.  Data from other countries is inconclusive due to the statistically small numbers.  Also, countries other than Canada, Australia and the U.S. cycle in and out of the trend line with Canada, Australia, and the U.S. having the largest interest in newsletters in general.  This doesn’t mean countries other than these aren’t interested in newsletters but rather the Google searches regarding this topic is so small it is comparatively non-existent.  This makes sense in light of censorship in countries where Google is banned or tightly governed.  Information found on the World Economic Forum website shows the level to which Internet censorship is prevalent in a county.  In the following image the darker the color red the heavier that government censors Internet communications within that country.  I am fairly certain that this doesn’t come as a surprise to many of you.

 

Print newsletters, if Google Trends is to be believed are only measurable (in terms of Google searches) in the United States.  A knee-jerk reaction would assume that the rest of the world isn’t using print newsletters.  However, just as the Google data isn’t showing results in most of the world regarding print newsletters, it is unable to take into account the translations of “print newsletters” discussed above.   A Google search of print newsletters in Italy, Australia, Canada, Germany, Brazil, UK, and India finds results similar to a U.S. only search:

Country	# Searches
United States	300 million
United Kingdom	214 million
Italy	111 million
Brazil	56 million
Australia	162 million
Germany	114 million
India	175 million

It is interesting to note that all of the top email newsletter countries have a healthy number of Google results for print services and newsletter print templates available.  Translation was a bit tricky, but print newsletters (called so many different things) for government agencies, religious organizations, schools, and clubs are still very popular around the world.

The difference, I have found in the research, is that email newsletters have a global presence so that organizations can keep in touch with customers/members the world over and print newsletters tend to stay within a defined location inside a county/state/region.  Of course, there are always outliers and exceptions to this observation but this observation seems to hold true for email and print newsletters.

Take Away

The print newsletter and the email newsletter are two completely different entities and are meant to appeal to different demographics of people.  If you were to do a Google search for print and email newsletters, each camp would try to convince you that they are the best choice for your business/organization.  Worldwide print and email newsletters are used with equal frequency although they are typically referred to under other names such as leaflet, brochure, or magazine.

Try This

1. Go to www.Google.com/trends and do a few trend searches of your own.  This tool is useful for determining how several words/phrases/terms relate to each other.  Search anything.  It’s fascinating.
2. If you are dead-set on a print newsletter or an email newsletter try to convince yourself to switch camps by using trend line data in Google Trends. Does this data help you to change your mind or is your first choice still the best for your business/organization?
3. Lastly, send me an email (dr.daniel.robinson71@gmail.com) and let me know how the trend line has changed between print newsletters and email newsletters over a 12 month period.  Every time I check it the lines change.  Are they dramatically different from what I have presented here?  Why do you think that is?