What questions should a local newsletter ask new subscribers?

On one of my lists, 83 people out of 5,600 said they weren't interested in local deals. On an older brand it was 30 out of 2,500. Either way, about 99% of subscribers told me they want deals.

Every question on my survey has to pass one test: can I use the answer?

What's on my survey?

1. Where do you live? City or zip code, always first. I only list the cities in that newsletter's area, so people see right away this really is local, not some random thing.
2. Which local deals and giveaways interest you? A multi-select. We work with businesses on deals, so this sets that up.
3. Age.
4. Male or female.
5. Do you own or rent?
6. Do you have kids at home?
7. Do you have pets? I added this one later because nearly everyone has pets and spends money on them.
8. Do you own or run a local business? Usually 15% to 20% say yes.
9. Are you thinking about buying or selling a home in the next 12 months?
10. Household income.
11. Phone number, optional.
12. Write-ins, optional, at the end.

If you're starting from zero, copying 80% to 90% of this is fine. It works.

What do the answers usually look like?

Remarkably similar across my local brands, even in very different markets:

Question	Typical answer
Want local deals and giveaways	98% to 99.5%
Women	About 70% to 75%
Own their home	Over 50%, in one case 65%
Household income over $100K	About 45% to 50%
Own a business	About 15% to 19%
Give a phone number	About 20% to 25% of completers

That's mostly upper-middle-class women between about 35 and 70. Telling a lawn care company or roofer that more than half your readers own their homes and make six figures is a pitch on its own.

Why ask about deals?

Two reasons. First, it's a subtle sales pitch: you told us you want deals, so when we send deals you can't complain.

Second, it's psychological. The page before already mentioned deals, and now we're asking which ones you want. You start expecting something, and you get excited to finish the form. In my newer flow I also show a few example offer cards, clearly labeled as examples, like a golf simulator deal and a med spa deal, so people can see what's coming. I haven't A/B tested that, but it's why the question stays.

Which questions should you cut?

Anything you can't segment or sell on. I used to ask "what's your favorite local restaurant?" Lots of people filled it out. It's free-form, I couldn't segment on it and I wasn't going to read thousands of answers, so it's gone from my newer surveys.

I also ask "what do you care about most?" Spoiler: the answer is always events. Readers still care about everything else.

"The way I think about it is what can you use?"

What do the answers actually do?

• Deal interests become lists. On one newsletter, 265 people picked family-friendly kid activities. When a partner offers 50% off a kids' activity that week, I email just those 265 with a coupon code instead of the whole list.
• Business owners get segmented emails about advertising, digital marketing or coming on my podcast.
• Home buyers and sellers can be routed to a real estate partner. On one brand I launched with a real estate agent, a yes on buying or selling in the next 12 months surfaces the agent's card and sends the lead straight to them. My newer launches had about 30 real estate leads within days.
• Kids, pets, own or rent, age and gender decide which offers someone sees. A free Botox offer doesn't belong in an issue that goes to lots of men and young women. It belongs in an email to women over 40.
• Everything sets you up for more personalized newsletters later. You can't go back and collect it from people who already subscribed.

Take it far enough and you could run 10 different welcome sequences with 10 different offers for 10 types of readers. B2B newsletters already do this. As far as I know, almost nobody in local is.

For senior audiences, the questions get more pointed: are you considering downsizing in the next two years, thinking about senior living, wanting hearing aids. They answer at around 80%, and every one of those answers is a lead.

Should later questions change based on earlier answers?

Yes, if your form can do it. With conditional logic, the next question or offer depends on the last answer. Click "own" on the home question and a real estate offer card opens. Click "rent" and it never shows. Say yes to owning a business and an advertiser card drops down. I got the idea from an agency owner using a generic form tool, then built a version made for newsletters.

How did I write mine?

I described the brand and my goals to ChatGPT and asked it for the best 10 questions. Then I cut anything I couldn't use. Lately I ask Claude for 12 options ranked by value and pick the top six to eight. List every business you want to sell for and ask for questions that signal buying intent without being obnoxious. Something like this works:

I run a free local newsletter called [name] covering [area].
I make money from [local ads / deals / lead partners / donations].
Write the 10 best signup survey questions for new subscribers.
For each question, tell me how I'd segment or sell on the answer.
Put a location question first. Keep answer options to six or fewer.

Why does getting it right on day one matter?

You only get one crack at this. People fill the survey out once, right after they subscribe, and they won't fill it out again. I got it wrong on my first four newsletters and I can't get that data back.

Plan the questions carefully before you launch. In Beehiiv's built-in survey, you can't edit a survey after you create it, which is why my older brands are missing the business-owner question.