(And Why Most Advice You’ll Find Online Won’t Help)
Let me guess – you’ve spent countless hours searching for real, actionable advice on how to improve your email marketing. How to get better deliverability, higher open rates, more clicks, more sales.
And what have you found? A sea of articles all saying the same things:
“Write better subject lines!”
“Segment your list!”
“A/B test everything!”
Sure, none of that advice is wrong. But it’s like telling someone who wants to learn boxing to “hit harder” and “don’t get hit.” Thanks, coach.
Here’s what nobody’s telling you: The email marketing industry is built on selling two things – information and technology. That’s why most of what you read online is deliberately shallow, designed to lure you into either a free trial or a sales call.
This isn’t another one of those articles.
Instead, I want to share something that’s been quietly working behind the scenes since 2013. Something that’s helped companies across dozens of industries build sustainable, profitable email programs without resorting to desperate “spray and pray” tactics.
I call it the 9 Steps of Email method.
But before I tell you what it is, let me tell you a story about two types of companies…
Meet ACME Inc. They’re probably a lot like your company right now. They know email marketing is important. They have goals, KPIs to hit, revenue targets to meet. They send regular newsletters, promotional campaigns, the occasional “we miss you” email to inactive subscribers.
Their marketing team is always busy, always sending more emails, always trying to squeeze just a bit more revenue from their list. When metrics start dropping, they send more emails. When that doesn’t work, they send even more.
Sound familiar?
Then there’s EMCA Inc. They look similar on the surface, but they operate very differently. Instead of asking “How can we get more from our list?” they ask “How can we provide more value to our subscribers?”
Every email they send has a purpose beyond just driving metrics. Their subscribers actually look forward to their emails. Their open rates are high, their spam complaints are low, and most importantly – their revenue is steady and growing.
The difference? EMCA understands something crucial that ACME doesn’t: Email isn’t just another marketing channel. It’s the most intimate digital space we have. Your email inbox is personal in a way that social media feeds and search results will never be.
That’s what the 9 Steps method is all about – building an email program that respects this truth while delivering real business results.
Now, I know what you’re thinking. “That sounds great, but I have targets to hit THIS quarter. I don’t have time to completely reinvent our email program.”
I hear you. That’s exactly why I developed this method. It’s not about spending months planning the perfect email strategy. It’s about having a framework that helps you make better decisions today while building toward something more sustainable.
Think of it like a toolbox. You don’t need to use every tool at once, but knowing you have the right tool for each job makes everything easier.
Over the next few sections, I’m going to share each step of the method with you. Some of it might challenge what you think you know about email marketing. Some of it might seem counterintuitive at first.
But I promise you this: If you stick with me, you’ll walk away with a deeper understanding of how email marketing really works in 2025 – beyond the surface-level advice you’ll find elsewhere online.
Ready to dive in?
Let’s start with the foundation of it all – understanding what you’re really trying to achieve with your email program, and who you’re trying to reach…
Let’s start with the foundation of it all – understanding what you’re really trying to achieve with your email program, and who you’re trying to reach…
