Heya Reader,

When I was in sixth grade and five elementary schools merged into one middle school, I became fast friends with a girl from a different elementary school named Becky.

We hung out frequently after school and on the weekends, attended each others’ birthday parties, and she invited me to attend a Halloween party at her horseback riding school.

Though we had different friend groups, for two years I considered Becky a very close friend.

In 8th grade, something shifted.

When I called Becky to hang out, she was almost always busy. Months later it dawned on me that our relationship was very one-sided as I was the only one calling.

Soon we stopped hanging out altogether.

While it took my awkward 13-year-old self several months to realize, Becky’s lack of engagement was a sign that our friendship had fizzled.

When it comes to email marketing, your relationship with your community is a bit like middle school relationships.

(Though hopefully with way less drama.)

➡️ There’s your core group, the ones who you know are there for you, like my childhood best friend, Liz.

They’re the subscribers who are opening your emails, checking out what you have to share by clicking on your links, and calling - er, writing - you back.

➡️ There were the friends who sat at your lunch table and you hung out with in large groups after school, like my friend Jenny.

Those show up as the subscribers who open most emails, and occasionally click on and/or respond. Overall it’s a steady relationship.

➡️ There were the kids you were forced to do a group project with but then you stopped talking to each other once it was complete.

These are the folks who engage with your emails for some time, and then eventually unsubscribe.

➡️ There were the kids who maybe talked to you once to ask to copy your notes and then never gave you the light of day again.

Those are the subscribers who sign up for your email list and then never open a single email from you.

➡️ There's the group that you have lots of classes with - like this girl Hilary to was my pseudo-academic rival - but you're more acquaintances. You're polite to each other and chat in class, but that's about the extent of your interactions.

These are the subscribers who want to stay on your list and see what you have to say, but are less likely to open your emails and even less so open or click on them.

➡️ And then you’ve got Becky's: a relationship that’s strong at the beginning, but over time they’re showing you that they’re just not interested in maintaining that relationship.

In the case of email marketing, it shows up as them not opening your emails. The relationship has gone cold.

How these relationships impact our approach to email marketing

We want our email list to be full of Liz’s, Jenny’s, and Hilary's. Folks who are signaling to us that they’re interested in maintaining that relationship by opening, clicking on, and responding to our emails.

We should release the ones who are flat-out ignoring us as soon as possible because they'll just continue to act like we don't exist.

(And with the upcoming Google & Yahoo changes, this will be even more important - more about that in next week's email.)

As for the Becky’s...

...as difficult as it might be, and as much as you might hope that one day that relationship will be rekindled...

...over time you have to let it go.

Take it one step at a time,

Bev

P.S. Even though our friendship ever rekindled, Becky was kind to me and we're connected on social media. And about a decade ago - when I had my jewelry business - she commissioned me to make some custom bracelets for her bridesmaids.

P.P.S. My new branding is finally up on my website! Now I just have to update it everywhere else.

---

Some of the links below are affiliate links, meaning if you click on a link I might earn a commission at no extra cost to you. Read my full disclosure here.​

📆 Upcoming events

January 9: Welcome Sequence Workshop (Liz Wilcox is hosting this today at 12:00pm EST today. I attended last year and it was very helpful!)

January 11: Monthly email marketing co-working (note: this month we're meeting an hour earlier, from 12:00noon - 1:00pm EST)

January 22-26: Blogger Breakthrough Summit (I'm presenting on Day 1 - my topic is "From Chaos To Clarity: Reclaiming Control Over Your Hot Mess Email Automations".)

---

📖 What I’m currently reading

​Yellowface by R.F. Kuang

​The Storyteller by Dave Grohl (still slowly making my way on audiobook)