Improving Messages to Your Email List

Foundation

Are your technical deliverability signals set up?

Before worrying about open rates and subject lines, make sure your emails can actually reach inboxes. Set up SPF, DKIM, and DMARC records for your sending domain. Most email providers have step-by-step instructions. Without these, you're competing against spam filters on every send.

Do you have a plain text version of your emails?

Most ESPs generate one automatically, but check that it reads well. Some subscribers prefer plain text. More importantly, spam filters look for a plain text version as a signal of legitimacy.

Do your emails reflect your brand?

If your brand is direct and conversational, your emails should be too. Avoid defaulting to whatever your ESP's template looks like out of the box. Tone, layout, and personality all matter.

Have you thought about who the email appears to be from?

Give real consideration to the "from" name. A brand name? A person? A person at a brand? If someone replies, what happens? "No-reply" as a from address is a missed opportunity and a mild spam signal. A real person's name builds more trust.

Writing & Voice

Does each message have one clear theme and one call to action?

Before writing, write down separately the single takeaway and the one action you want subscribers to take. If your email has three CTAs, it has none. Make sure your intent doesn't get buried as you write.

Are you writing for one specific person on your list?

Instead of writing to your list as a whole, picture one person you know well who is on it. Write the email to that person. Focusing on a real individual instead of a vague group makes the message feel personal. Because it is.

Does your email sound like you wrote it?

If you're using AI to draft emails, read it out loud before sending. AI-generated email tends toward formal transitions, vague encouragement, and bullet lists that sound like a LinkedIn post. If it doesn't sound like something you'd actually say, rewrite it. Your subscribers followed you, not a language model.

TIP: Stuck and nothing sounds right? Leave yourself a voice memo explaining what you want to say. Transcribe it and edit from there. The "beep" of a recording app has a way of getting you started. AI can help clean up the transcription.

Do you send the same type of email every time?

Mix it up. Experiment with length, format, and content type. A long personal story one week, a tight resource list the next. If every email looks the same, subscribers stop reading them closely.

Does the quality of your messages vary?

If a message isn't ready, don't send it. If something is urgent but not polished, send a short plain text email instead of a half-finished formatted one. Quality inconsistency reflects on your brand more than a skipped week does.

Format & Design

Is your email designed for mobile?

The majority of emails are read on phones. Look at your analytics and design accordingly. Test on a real device before sending.

Have you written preview text?

The 40–90 character snippet that appears in inboxes after the subject line is prime real estate most senders waste. Write it intentionally. It's a second subject line.

Do images have text descriptions?

For subscribers who block images or use screen readers, alt text makes your emails accessible and ensures your message still lands.

Sending & Timing

Are you consistent with your send schedule?

Subscribers expect consistency. If you commit to weekly, send weekly. Irregular cadence trains people to ignore you. A content calendar helps. Even a simple one.

Have you tested when you send?

Send time can affect open rates. Most ESPs now have send-time optimization built in. If yours does, use it. If not, test two groups at different times on the same message.

Are you asking subscribers to take one small action that keeps you out of spam?

Ask readers to add your address to their contacts. For Gmail users, ask them to move your emails out of the Promotions tab. A short, direct request in your welcome email goes a long way.

List Health

Do you segment your list?

Not every message is for every subscriber. Segmenting by interest, behavior, or join source and sending targeted messages usually outperforms blasting your whole list.

Do you know your subscribers?

Use surveys and polls to understand what they actually want to hear about. The more you know, the better your content gets.

Do you resend to non-openers?

After a few days, resend to subscribers who didn't open, with a revised subject line. It's one of the highest-ROI actions in email marketing and takes five minutes.

Are you monitoring consistent non-openers?

Stop sending your regular emails to people who haven't opened anything in 6+ months. Send them to a separate re-engagement sequence instead. Large volumes of non-openers hurt your deliverability and give you misleading open rate data.

For subscribers who haven't opened after a re-engagement attempt, remove them. Especially if you're paying per subscriber. A smaller engaged list is worth more than a large unresponsive one.

Metrics & Testing

Are you reviewing your metrics regularly?

Open rate, click rate, unsubscribes, and spam complaints. Look for trends, not just individual send performance. A spike in unsubscribes after a particular message is telling you something.

Are you testing subject lines?

Most ESPs have A/B testing for subject lines built in. If yours does, use it. Test one variable at a time (subject line, send time, or CTA) and send to identical groups to isolate the difference.

Are you tracking whether subscribers are taking action?

Link tracking and conversion tracking tell you whether emails are driving the behavior you care about. Open rates measure curiosity. Click and conversion rates measure impact.

In the Age of AI

Are you using AI as a drafting tool, not a ghostwriter?

AI can generate a first draft in seconds, which is genuinely useful for overcoming blank-page paralysis. The risk is publishing that draft unchanged. Your subscribers can feel the difference between content that sounds like you and content that sounds like everyone else using the same tools. Use AI to start, then make it yours.

Are you testing AI-generated subject line variations?

This is one of the highest-leverage uses of AI in email marketing. Generate 10 subject line options, pick the best two, run an A/B test. Faster than brainstorming manually and often surfaces angles you wouldn't have considered.

Does your welcome sequence still reflect your current voice and offer?

Welcome sequences often get set up once and forgotten. If you've been using AI tools or updating your positioning, re-read your welcome sequence. It's the highest-traffic email you send and the one most likely to have drifted out of sync with how you currently talk.