Stop the Obituary: Email Marketing Isn’t Dead—You’re Just Doing It Wrong

Your Subject Lines Are Sleep Aids—Here’s the Cure

If your subject lines read like meeting minutes, they kill curiosity and earn snooze. Think of that first line as a tiny movie trailer: tease a benefit, hint at a surprise, and respect the reader's time. Swap slog for sparkle—one unexpected word or a clear outcome will lift opens. Drop fluff, front-load verbs and benefits, and use one crisp verb to mobilize action.

Here are four quick formulas you can steal: Curiosity + Specificity: 'Why 30 founders switched to X in 7 days'; Number + Result: '5 templates that cut writing time in half'; Personalization + Quick Tip: 'John, 2 lines to double your replies'; Urgency + Value: 'Ends tonight: grab a free audit worth $99'. Use emojis sparingly and only if your audience uses them; avoid clickbait or ALL CAPS.

Don't guess—test. Run A/B splits with those formulas, but only change one element at a time. Track open rate, then track downstream metrics like clicks and conversions. Use preview text to extend the tease, keep subject length under ~50 characters for mobile, and avoid spammy words. Try send-time optimization and segment by timezone; tools in your ESP can automate this. Repeat winners become templates; losers teach better questions.

Before you finish this article, pick three past emails with low opens and rewrite each subject using a different formula above. Send them to a small segment, compare, and keep the top performer. Little experiments now save entire campaigns from obituary status later. Do this weekly and you'll reanimate your list without turning into a newsletter zombie.

Segment or Spam: Send the Right Message to the Right Human

Think of your list like a dinner party: invite the right people, serve the right dish, and nobody leaves complaining. When you blast a one-size-fits-none email, you're inviting strangers to a potluck of irrelevant offers - it ends in awkward small talk and unsubscribes. Instead, slice your audience into tastebuds: behavior, purchase history, and intent.

Start with three practical segments: engaged vs lurkers, recent buyers vs repeat customers, and window shoppers who abandoned carts. Then map a crisp message to each. For example, nurture lurkers with educational content, entice repeat buyers with VIP perks, and retarget cart abandoners with a limited-time nudge. Need audience reach fast? Try buy tiktok followers cheap to simulate social proof while you refine targeting.

Keep subject lines personal and precise - test "Your toolkit is ready, Sam" versus "Checklist inside" - and use preview text as a second headline. Use dynamic tags sparingly, and lead with value in the first 50 pixels. Frequency matters: fewer, smarter emails beat daily noise.

Measure the right things: segment-level open and conversion rates, not vanity opens. Run quick A/Bs on message + CTA per segment, then scale winners. Treat segmentation like gardening: prune, feed, and recycle test results. Do that, and your emails will feel like invitations instead of billboards.

Design for Thumbs: Mobile-First Emails That Get Opened and Clicked

Stop designing emails as if recipients will unfold a desktop menu. Start with the thumb. Mobile inboxes demand single-column layouts, stacked modules, and a clear reading path from top to action. Think narrow viewports first: large headings, roomy line height, and generous margins so copy breathes. Side-by-side blocks are for desktops; if it cannot stack, it will break. A mobile-first template reduces scrolling friction and boosts both opens and clicks.

Make CTAs the size of snackable targets: at least 44px tall, with plenty of horizontal padding and hit area that does not require precision tapping. Place the primary CTA above the fold or immediately after a one-sentence value proposition so thumbs do not have to hunt. Use system fonts for speed, 16px body copy and 22–28px headlines for instant legibility, and bold contrast for clickable elements so users know exactly where to press.

Keep images lean and purposeful. Mobile users are impatient, so compress assets, prefer responsive srcset where supported, and always include alt text for moments when images are blocked. Replace heavy background graphics with solid color blocks and avoid complex CSS that breaks in popular apps. Inline critical styles, avoid external dependencies, and test renderings in Gmail, Apple Mail, and popular Android clients to catch quirks before the campaign goes live.

Polish the tiny signals that matter: preview text that complements the subject line, one clear offer per message, and accessible color contrast for quick scanning. A fast preflight check is simple: single column, tappable CTA, readable fonts, compressed images, and a real-device preview. Do this and email will stop being a relic. It will become a smooth, thumb-friendly channel that people actually want to interact with.

Stop Blasting, Start Conversing: Copy That Sounds Like a Person

Writing emails like broadcast commands is why nobody replies. Pick one real person in your audience and write the message they would DM to a friend. Use plain language, tiny anecdotes, and short sentences. Drop industry jargon and let your personality leak in — a little humor or a mild opinion beats bland professionalism every time.

Subject lines are tiny promises; the preview text is the handshake. Test curiosity, urgency, or usefulness and always follow through in the first two lines. If you want a quick way to test social credibility as part of a campaign, consider buy instagram followers cheap as an experiment — then write like a person so those eyeballs stay.

• 💬 Voice: Keep it human — write like a single friend, not a committee.
• 🤖 Automation: Use triggers to be timely, not to replace warmth.
• 🚀 CTA: One clear action. Remove all competing links and choices.

Measure replies and clicks, not just opens. Add one clear question and one clear action per email. Segment based on behavior, not guesswork, and use tiny loops: write, send to 100 people, learn, repeat. When your copy sounds like a conversation, your metrics stop being dead numbers and start becoming a roadmap.

Chase Revenue, Not Vanity: Flows and Metrics That Move the Needle

Stop scoring applause for open rates and start paying attention to receipts. Your email program becomes a revenue machine when you design flows that steer people into paying behavior, not just clicking behavior. Think cart rescue, post purchase expansion, winback and VIP ladders—each one a tiny conversion funnel.

Prioritize by revenue per recipient, not audience size. Run simple experiments: change the cart abandonment cadence, test discount versus urgency, swap a plain text order confirmation for an upsell. Track conversion rate, revenue per recipient and unsubscribe impact so you know which tweaks actually move dollars.

• 🆓 Acquisition: Welcome flow that moves new signups into a first purchase sequence with incentives and social proof.
• 🚀 Recovery: Cart abandonment layered with progressive incentives and SMS touch to reclaim lost sales.
• 💥 Expansion: Post purchase and VIP flows that raise AOV with cross sells, replenishment and limited time bundles.

Measure like a scientist: attribute revenue back to flows with windows that match buying cycles, track CLTV lift by cohort, and watch repeat purchase rate. Use revenue per email and incremental conversion as your north star. If a flow lifts revenue even a few percent, scale it. If it only increases opens, kill it or redesign it.

Practical next steps: audit your top five flows, assign a revenue KPI to each, and run a two week lift test with a control cohort. Document results, iterate quickly, and treat email as your best salesperson, not a newsletter. Small experiments that favor revenue compound into real profit.