Our popular digest newsletter tool, Curated, now has a new owner: Simple Focus. Litmus CEO Paul Farnell and Curated Founder Dave Verwer give you the inside scoop on the transition…
Why separate Curated from Litmus?
Paul: At Litmus, we see big opportunities around content and the curation of content for emails. We’re dedicated to helping marketers throughout the entire email production process—from content creation and email design, all the way to testing, analyzing, and optimizing their messages.
But, Litmus doesn’t send email. We work alongside hundreds of email service provider partners—like MailChimp, Pardot, and Campaign Monitor—who are true experts in getting messages into subscribers’ inboxes. So, while we’re committed to helping marketers and content authors create powerful email, the process of sending is not something we focus on.
To keep Curated available as a standalone tool with all its features, we decided someone else should take over the service.
Who’s the new owner?
Dave: Curated’s new owner is Simple Focus, run by JD Graffam. They have a portfolio of apps that help owners of small businesses, agencies, and consultants with tasks like time tracking, invoicing, cash flow management, and surveys. Now, with Curated, email marketing becomes part of this toolkit, too.
Why do you think Simple Focus and Curated are a good fit?
Paul: We spoke to a lot of people who were interested in taking over Curated. What was most important to us was finding someone who values outstanding customer support and great design as much as we do—someone who is truly committed to building valuable tools. With JD and Simple Focus, we’ve found a partner who is committed to all of the above.
JD also runs his very own Curated publication, Upstream. We’re confident that Curated and its customers are in good hands.
I’m an active user of Curated right now, what’s going to change for me?
Dave: Very little will change. We wanted to make the transition as smooth as possible, so you may not notice any differences at all. The service won’t be interrupted, the app and your data will stay the same. As you talk with the support team, you’ll notice some new names and faces, but they’re dedicated to helping you out just as much as we were. Everything else remains the same.
Will Litmus Email Analytics still be part of Curated going forward?
Paul: Yes! Litmus has powered Curated’s email analytics since 2015. We’re delighted to remain a partner, and we’ll continue to provide Curated’s customers with detailed open and engagement stats for their emails.
Dave, we know that your popular iOS Dev Weekly newsletter is sent via Curated. What’s going to happen with it now?
Dave: I’ll continue to use Curated to publish the newsletter every week as a customer! iOS Dev Weekly has always been powered by Curated, and I’m happy to say it will continue that way going forward. I know that our infrastructure team will continue to publish their Curated newsletter as well.
So, what’s next for Curated?
Paul: Curated now has an even larger team that is excited to continue to expand the service, listen to the customers, and improve the customer experience. You can read more about Simple Focus’ plans for Curated on their blog.
Paul Farnell is a Litmus co-founder
