Which Kind of Email Marketer Are You?
In my decade-plus of working with email marketing teams, I’ve noticed something fascinating: despite all the different industries, company sizes, and business models, most email marketing programs fall into one of two distinct patterns.
To illustrate this, let me tell you a story about two companies: ACME Inc. and EMCA Inc.
At first glance, they look similar. Both are successful businesses. Both have substantial email lists. Both send regular campaigns to their subscribers.
But that’s where the similarities end.
ACME Inc.: The Common Approach
Let’s peek inside ACME Inc.’s marketing department on a typical Monday morning.
Jessica, their email marketing manager, is in another emergency meeting. Their latest campaign didn’t hit its revenue targets, and the VP of Marketing wants answers. The solution? Send another campaign. And another. And another.
“We need to hit our Q2 numbers,” the VP insists. “Just send to more people. Get creative with the segments if you have to.”
Jessica knows this isn’t right. She’s seen their open rates steadily declining. Their unsubscribe rate is creeping up. But what choice does she have? The numbers need to hit somehow.
So she does what most email marketers do:
- Broadens the targeting to include more inactive subscribers.
- Uses more aggressive subject lines to boost opens.
- Increases sending frequency to “make up for” lower engagement.
- Tries every “growth hack” she can find online.
The results? A brief spike in revenue, followed by even worse performance. More emails start landing in spam folders. Engagement rates drop further. And the cycle continues.
This is ACME Inc.’s approach to email marketing. They:
- See their list as a resource to be exploited.
- Focus obsessively on short-term metrics.
- Chase “best practices” without understanding why.
- Have high subscriber churn and declining engagement.
- Treat email as just another marketing channel.
- View automation as a way to send more emails with less work.
Sound familiar? Don’t worry – you’re not alone. This is how most companies approach email marketing.
EMCA Inc.: The Sustainable Approach
Now, let’s look at EMCA Inc.
Their marketing team’s Monday morning looks very different. Mark, their email marketing lead, is reviewing last week’s automated campaigns. He’s not just looking at open rates and revenue – he’s analyzing patterns in user behavior.
“Interesting,” he notes. “People who engage with our onboarding sequence are twice as likely to open our promotional emails. Let’s dig into why.”
EMCA’s approach is fundamentally different:
- They see their list as a community to be nurtured
- Focus on long-term metrics like lifetime value
- Test to understand their audience, not just boost numbers
- Have low churn and steady engagement growth
- Treat email as a relationship-building tool
- Use automation to deliver more relevant experiences
The result? Their revenue from email is not just higher – it’s more predictable. Their deliverability is excellent. And most importantly, their subscribers actually look forward to their emails.
The Key Difference
The fundamental difference between ACME and EMCA isn’t their tools or techniques. It’s their mindset.
ACME asks: “How can we get more from our list?”
EMCA asks: “How can we provide more value to our subscribers?”
ACME sees email as a channel to be leveraged.
EMCA sees it as a relationship to be nurtured.
ACME focuses on what they want to say.
EMCA focuses on what their subscribers need to hear.
Which One Are You?
If you’re being honest with yourself, which company does your email program more closely resemble?
If you’re like most marketers I talk to, you probably see a lot of ACME in your current approach. Maybe not by choice – perhaps you’re constrained by time, resources, or pressure from above.
That’s okay. ACME isn’t “bad” – they’re just stuck in a common trap. A trap that’s particularly easy to fall into given how most people learn email marketing.
The good news? You can change your approach. EMCA’s way isn’t just more effective – in many ways, it’s actually easier once you understand the principles behind it.
But before I show you how to make that transition, we need to talk about the real challenges that keep most email marketing programs stuck in the ACME pattern.
Click here to discover the real roadblocks to email marketing success –>
Note: In the next section, we’ll explore why so many companies struggle to break out of ineffective email marketing patterns, and what it really takes to build a sustainable email program…