What happens when your newsletter takes social media seriously

Brands often use their newsletter as a digital folder, focussing on promotions which land in your inbox every week like clockwork. Swapfiets doesn’t use their newsletter that way, it is not a folder, it is a channel to connect with their members.

Where it started: A small CTA with a big hint

At the bottom of the newsletter was a small block with a quiet nudge to their socials. Nothing fancy, yet this small block was performing. Members were clicking, engaging, following. The team asked themselves the question, “What could a real collaboration between CRM and social actually result in?”

The shift: Borrowing from social, and making it your own

That question set off a collaboration, one that started with a conversation with Kim van der Velden, Swapfiets' social media manager. Kim was quick to point out how differently the two teams approached content.

Social at Swapfiets isn't polished or overly produced. It's authentic: honest images, real moments, content that feels like it comes from a person rather than a brand committee. The CRM team had commercial targets to hit. Kim's team had a community to nurture. Together, they found a way to do both.

The February newsletter is an example of how the teams collaborated. Instead of linking to a branded landing page, the referral program was wrapped in a Valentine's Day message rooted in Dutch cycling culture. One email, one cohesive story; commercial and brand working together instead of pulling against each other.

The impact went both ways. The newsletter became a traffic generator for social. Social gave the newsletter a new sense of direction. Both channels got better because they collaborated with each other.

The results: Better numbers, better content

The numbers followed the feeling:

• 20% increase in click-through rate across newsletter campaigns
• 2x social community growth driven by CRM traffic

But beyond the metrics, something less tangible also improved: the content itself got more interesting. The team found a creative rhythm that neither channel could have reached on its own.

The takeaway: Channels that learn from each other

The Swapfiets case is a reminder that multichannel marketing doesn't just mean being present in multiple places. It means learning from each other, sharing learnings, borrowing creative approaches, and building something coherent rather than a collection of disconnected touchpoints.

When CRM and social stopped operating in silos and started collaborating, both channels became more valuable. That's the real promise of multichannel: not just more reach, but better work.