Thursday I hosted the Future of Newsletters, a virtual event with 662+ live attendees and 8 newsletter experts.
Here are a few of my favorite predictions.
From Daniel Bustamante:
Lead magnet swaps/collabs are the best growth strategy for 2026.
What it is: You promote somebody else’s lead magnet to your email list and they do the same.
Data point: I know a guy who’s used this single technique to build a list of 50k people without posting any social content
Example: I recently did a variation of this with a friend & we were able to get 500 email subs in 72 hours
Why I’m bullish on it: It removes the algorithm from the equation and puts you in control of your email list growth. Plus, you can build a process/systems around it
From Chris Miquel:
Gmail starts to auto-unsubscribe of your inactive subscribers.
Gmail already enforces one-click unsubscribe.
Gmail already tracks inactivity better than any ESP.
Gmail already wants less inbound volume.
The obvious next step?
Silent auto-unsubscribe of inactive users.
2026 is when list size stops being your metric.
Instead of list size or open rate, AI-verified human clicks should be the email engagement #1 metric you track. Aim for a 3-5% AI-verified human CTR.
From Marketing Max:
There will be more newsletter M&A in 2026.
Many people have started the newsletter and are burning out.
Building a real content business is hard, so they'll be looking to sell their newsletters.
BUT, they’ll have unrealstic expectations of what their newsletter is worth.
For just a newsletter without significant revenue, a strong brand, team, and scalable systems — it’s worth around $0.50 to $3 per subscriber.
Buying these newsletters the right way can be a good way to grow your audience through M&A.
To see all 15+ predictions and the full context, check out the video here »