A quick case study on HARO reporter requests
Each weekday, HARO publishes 3 emails with requests from journalists and content creators from numerous publications. For those of us that are looking to be sources for these reporters, we wait with anticipation for these editions (this is how they label them) that go out every morning, afternoon and evening.
Over the last year, I was curious just how many requests were generated and so I took on the task of going through and counting them. Below I have pulled together some very basic numbers for you to see just how many opportunities were available for sources to respond.
I went back through my emails from July 1, 2022 to June 30, 2022, one full year. Within these “editions”, HARO numbers these requests. While this made it easier, it still was not fun considering I had received 686 total messages.
First thing to note is that these emails do not go out on weekends and major holidays. Of course this makes sense, but I wanted it stipulated with relationship to the results.
Also worth mentioning is that there are not always 3 emails a day. I realized that there were even a few days where I received only one email.
Why did I not get an email in the afternoon?
Over twelve months in fact, there were a total of 75 times that I did not receive an email when it would have been expected.
I did ask them about this via Twitter Messages, but did not get a response addressing the issue. Rather, it was just a standard reply. So don’t be surprised if you do not get one in your inbox.
By the numbers
Here are the basics and what I thought to be interesting data from this simple analysis.
There were 4 requests in the smallest email
The volume in each email varied and there were no discernible patterns over the course of the year.
75 Times I did not receive an email on a day when they were being sent
If you are still waiting on an email that is an hour late, just wait for the next one. I have not found a reason why it skips sometimes.
On average, I received about 85 requests per email
This shows the true value of HARO and the opportunities that are available.
There were 284 requests in the largest email
The one thing I did notice was on some holidays, there can be more in a single message. This one was from New Years Eve. Maybe all of those reporters are trying to get their last minute requests in.
Total editions sent in a year 686
This would have been higher but for the 75 that were skipped. But still a strong number.
Total requests 58,218 in a year from HARO
For those who do not see the value in the platform, I think this makes a strong use case.
Criteria Used
This platform allows you to receive industry specific source requests. While there are those who would rather receive focused, smaller emails. I always have my settings for the all of them to be sent so i have more opportunities to choose from. That is why I select the “Master HARO” option. This includes all active categories.
Platform Categories
- High Tech
- General
- Travel
- Business and Finance
- Lifestyle and Fitness
- Giftbag
- UK
As you can see there are other grayed out options. Once they release these new features, the emails will be broken down into more specialties.
