In the unquenchable quest for greater interaction with readers, journalists have become nerds for newsletters. (We might be guilty of that.)

According to MailChimp, newsletters in the media and publishing industry have a 22 percent open rate, and the size of the company does not drastically affect the open rate — showing that publishers large and small can have a say in their subscribers’ media diet. News organizations have also found that strong relationships with newsletter subscribers can lead to greater paid subscriptions to the organization as well: As my colleague Ricardo Bilton recently reported, Condé Nast’s data science team found that the best indication of whether a NewYorker.com reader would become a paying subscriber is if they were a newsletter subscriber.

An aptly named Online News Association local event in New York last night reviewed best practices for A/B testing, actually landing in inboxes, and using email newsletters to build community. HuffPost newsletter editor Alexandra March, The New Yorker’s new director of newsletters (previously of BuzzFeed) Dan Oshinsky, The Flip Side founder Annafi Wahed, Vox Media newsletter growth lead Annemarie Dooling, and Eater newsletter editor Jenny Zhang shared their top tips for quality newslettering. Their full presentation slides are at this link, and highlights from ONA Twitter are below:

“Newsletters give people a direct link to your work and builds trust with them.” – @TravelingAnna #onanyc

— Day One Agency (@D1A) January 24, 2018

“We’ve recently moved away from the one sized fits all model — we create niche, emerging and responsive content to our readers.” – @ByAlexMarch of @HuffPost #ONANYC

— Day One Agency (@D1A) January 24, 2018

“Have a voice, tone, mission and audience in mind for every email you send.” – @ByAlexMarch of @HuffPost on top takeaways for your newsletter #ONANYC

— Day One Agency (@D1A) January 24, 2018

Stellar takeaways on how to create great newsletters from @ByAlexMarch #onanyc pic.twitter.com/w6OBDsWgMV

— Alex Hazlett (@ahazlett) January 24, 2018

“@Eater newsletters are large traffic drivers to the website, higher than Twitter” – @jennygzhang #onanyc

— Jessica Mendoza (@JessicaGMendoza) January 24, 2018

A/B testing can increase an open rate by a single percentage point from only 1 test, explains @jennygzhang of @Eater #ONANYC pic.twitter.com/TbS3SCt6Wj

— Media Adept (@media_adept) January 24, 2018

“Create a list of elements you want to test in an organized, systematic way from sender name to subject line length to tone/voice and even emojis.”- @jennygzhang, newsletter editor @eater on how to use A/B testing to optimize your newsletter

— Day One Agency (@D1A) January 24, 2018

On building team rapport, “my writers don’t just want to write… they want to be part of all of it, not just the piece they’re responsible for.” – @AnnafiWahed, founder of @KnowTheFlipSide

— Day One Agency (@D1A) January 24, 2018

Among the ways to build email lists per @danoshinsky of @newyorker: email pages, shareable sign-up pages, or in-line signup units, signup posts, homepage units. #ONANYC pic.twitter.com/pFNZGNNL0G

— Media Adept (@media_adept) January 24, 2018