Newsletter survey 2025: What I am implementing (and what is difficult)

A few weeks ago, I asked my newsletter subscribers what they thought of the TYPO3 newsletter. 57 people took part and gave me honest feedback. Some of it was uncomfortable, but that's exactly what I need.

Important: This survey refers to the monthly TYPO3 newsletter with the subject "TYPO3 Newsletter 10/2025" etc.. It does not refer to other emails from me, such as event invitations, webinar announcements or product news. These are separate mailings to customers and prospects.

Here's what I've learned from this and what I'm changing now.

The three most important findings

1. the newsletter is too long

33% think the newsletter is too long. Only 63% say "just right". That's a clear signal.

2. the frequency is right

32% definitely want to stick to once a month. Only 16% would like shorter newsletters every two weeks. So: monthly remains monthly.

3. the content mix is largely right

89% find best practices valuable, 86% value tool recommendations, 74% want TYPO3 news. These are the three pillars I should focus on.

When asked "How likely are you to recommend the newsletter to others?" the average score is 8.4 out of 10. That's solid, but there's still room for improvement.

What I will implement

Shorten the newsletter

That's the clearest message from the survey. From the next issue:

• Fewer links per category - only the really relevant ones
• Shorten teaser texts to 2-3 sentences instead of whole paragraphs
• Clearer structure with visual separators between the categories

Goal: Focus instead of abundance.

Make TYPO3 news more compact

A reader wrote: "The official TYPO3 news is also distributed through 'This month in TYPO3'. Anyone who wants to read it already has it from other sources."

The problem: I don't know which of you have subscribed to the official newsletter. If I cut out the news completely, some of you will miss out on important information.

My compromise: I summarize the top 3 TYPO3 news in a compact bullet list and refer to "This month in TYPO3" for details. This keeps everyone up to date, but takes up less space.

Improve design

86% find the design at least acceptable. But "acceptable" also means: there's still room for improvement. I'm looking at how I can improve the readability and visual structure.

What is difficult to implement

Multilingualism

One reader wants "newsletter content in one language only, so either German OR English, not both."

The problem: Many important sources only exist in English, some only in German. If I only share links in German, important news and articles are missing.

What I can try: Mark the language before each link (🇩🇪 / 🇬🇧). But this is more cosmetic than a solution.

More content for editors

Two people want more content for TYPO3 editors instead of just developers and integrators.

My problem: I don't give training courses for editors. That's not my focus. And I can only share links that I find on the web. Apparently there is little high-quality content for TYPO3 editors. Or I just can't find it.

What I will do: Make it clearer on the newsletter landing page that the newsletter is aimed at TYPO3 integrators, site admins and developers. This creates clearer expectations even before signing up.

Where I am still unsure

Thematic index with search function

One reader wrote: "I find it increasingly difficult to find my way around all the content. I often know that I've read it before and then can't find the place anymore."

I absolutely understand that. The problem is that the newsletters in the archive are technically integrated as preview links from KlickTipp. A proper search function or thematic categorization would be technically complex.

I am considering whether I can manually maintain a simple thematic index. But that's an effort that I first have to weigh up against other priorities.

Extension of the month

Two people would like to see regular extension presentations. Sounds good, but: I don't use that many extensions myself. How can I make a well-founded assessment of extensions that I don't actually use?

That would mean: Installing, testing and understanding each extension first. That's easily 2-3 hours per month, or more. I have to think about whether that's realistic.

The community could help here: Anyone who has an extension in use and would like to recommend it can suggest it using the form on the newsletter page. With your experience, I would be able to write in a much more informed way.

About self-promotion

One person wrote: "I could live with it if your own offers were advertised a little less repetitively."

My perspective: The newsletter is free. I invest time in researching, compiling and writing it. I can advertise my video courses in the footer and occasionally point out webinars.

I think that some of you (certainly not all) can benefit from these offers. If you don't want to buy, you can ignore the footer.

But if I mention the same products too often in the newsletter body, I'll take another look.

What comes next

The next newsletter issue will be much shorter and more focused. I'll try out the changes and see how you react.

At some point, I'll do a follow-up survey. Then we'll see if the changes have worked.

Thanks to everyone who took part. Your feedback helps me to improve the newsletter.

By the way: I rely on the community for the content of the newsletter. Anyone who finds interesting links, extensions or tools can suggest them at any time using the form. You will find the link in every newsletter and on the landing page. The more you help, the better the newsletter will be for everyone.

Do you have any thoughts on the survey? Feel free to write to me here in the comments.