Issue #200 All About Email

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Hi, friend. 👋

Welcome to Issue #200 of All About Email!

Last week, my third guest author (Emily Ryan) of the summer smashed the topic of buttons in emails and how to use them effectively.

This week marks a significant milestone as I celebrate 200 issues of this newsletter, and I’ve got an update on Campfire Email.

Let’s go! 👇

Celebrating 200 newsletters! 🎉

I love to celebrate and elevate others, but I hate talking about myself, friend.

It's safe to say I’ve deleted and rewritten this email enough times that it would drive the most patient person insane. 🫠

However, one thing that I haven’t changed in this email, despite hating the camera (almost as much as it hates me), is the photo below.

I rarely have a good photo of myself, and I realised that some of you might not know what I look like, so here you go. 👇

📸 Shout out to the excellent Jess Lowe for this shot.

200 newsletters is a massive milestone, one I couldn’t ignore, and to be honest, this number was never on my radar when I started this journey.

😮‍💨 Writing one newsletter a week is over four years of writing every week (allowing for a break each year over the Christmas period).

But three name changes and two ESPs later, here we are. 🎉

Intentional Slow Growth

🤔 Could my audience be bigger? Absolutely!

But, here’s the thing:

• I don’t use paid advertising to grow my list.

• I don’t purchase subscribers.

• I don’t automatically opt in users without permission.

• I use double opt-in (and I’m not going to change that).

✅ I regularly re-engage my subscribers and remove anyone who indicates they no longer wish to receive my newsletters.

I don’t obsess over audience size, but I do obsess over the quality and happiness of my audience.

🚨 Don’t get me wrong, if my audience doesn’t grow at all for a sustained period, I won’t ignore it (that’s a signal of potential engagement issues); however, I’d rather have a small, engaged audience than a huge audience that never engages.

🧟‍♂️ Zombie Subscribers on your mailing list doesn’t help anyone, especially the zombies, they don’t want your brain (what you have to say) anymore… 🧟‍♀️

What Have I Learned?

So what words of wisdom do I have after 200 newsletters, friend?

🧠 The biggest lesson is that I am always learning, never sitting still and constantly testing.

Why? That’s easy; I want to build a community, not just a list.

👂 To do that, I want to listen and engage with my audience in a way that is most relevant to them. (I went into this in more detail in Issue 198).

✨ I know you will want some practical tips, so here we go with all the hot takes, and in no particular order:

• Pick a topic/area you are passionate about and niche down if you can (it makes writing so much easier).

• Brand your newsletter from the start and give it a dedicated domain.

• Choose your ESP wisely, but don’t be afraid to change.

• Authenticate your domain from the beginning (there are no excuses these days).

• Start segmenting your subscribers from the outset to monitor engagement, and perform regular list cleaning and health checks to maintain a healthy list.

• Make mistakes! (But learn from them.)

• You don’t need a large list to monetise your newsletter (I started with sponsorships using fewer than 350 subscribers, and I still have fewer than 700 subscribers). **

• Saying goodbye can hurt, but it doesn’t have to. Don’t hold on to zombie subscribers.

• Having a newsletter gives you a voice and a way of reaching your subscribers in a much more personal and intimate way than social media ever could.

• Don’t abuse your subscribers’ trust with shitty tactics, but be transparent and authentic.

• Opportunities will arise for you and your brand as your newsletter grows (even if that’s not your primary goal).

• If you want to grow quickly, you will need to use paid advertising (but don’t buy lists).

• Guest authors are a great way to elevate them and to bring a fresh voice/perspective to your audience (it can also be a great way to grow your newsletter)

• Utilise organic social media to consistently promote your newsletter (LinkedIn is one of my most significant drivers for growth).

• ✅ Be yourself! Don’t try to be like someone else; there are plenty of voices out there, but none like yours (especially in an AI world), and there are plenty of people who want to hear what you have to say.

Mnetisation is not for everyone, and for a long time, it gave me the ick, . However,f you can at least cover your ESP costs, it makes writing newsletters easier.

💡 A lot of the above I’ve talked about in previous newsletters; some of it is new, but it’s nice to have it all in one place for the first time.

❤️ If you already have a newsletter, awesome!! If you don’t, stop procrastinating and start that newsletter! It’s a wild ride and you’ll love it!

🪵 🔥 Early Access - Campfire Email

Last week, I mentioned I would be opening early access to my new email community, “Campfire Email”.

If you don’t know what Campfire Email is friend, you can read up in my announcement post in Issue 187.

After some good early momentum with another update at the bottom of Issue 189, a massive client project took precedent, and Campfire Email isn’t quite ready for launch yet.

✅ Since my last update, the community is not where I want it to be, but I have:

• Finalised my typography (I was down to the last couple of choices in my previous update).

• Finalised my colour palette. 🎨

• Almost finalised the launch version of the logo and icons.

• Built the bare bones of the website, and the community portal is being fleshed out (it’s very similar to Circle). ⚒️

• The free version of Postmark was initially set up for transactional emails, and I’ve been testing those (more on that in another issue).

• I have a lot of testing to complete…(but I am getting there) 🫠

🚨 I haven’t forgotten about all your lovely people who signed up for an early access discount in Issue 187. I’ll have more information on that once I’ve finished with the beta testers.

All About Email - Playlist 🎧

I listen to lots of music, particularly when I’m writing newsletters.

Each week, when I hit the publish button, I’ll share the track I am currently listening to and create the most eclectic email playlist you’ve probably ever heard.

Sponsorship Opportunities

🚨 If you’re interested in sponsoring the “All About Email” newsletter, you can find all the details in this Google Doc. I currently have “Classified” slots and a Main Sponsor slot available.

That’s It For This Week 👋

Next week, my fourth guest author of the summer will be guiding us through the “most overlooked barrier to the inbox.” 👀

It’s been a pleasure editing next week’s newsletter, and I’m both nervous and excited!

See you next week!

Email Marketing News & Tips

This week's excellent and insightful email news & tips:

• Engagement Boost - How to Get Your Logo Into the Inbox. (Inbox Collective)

• 😎 So Cool!! - Connect your AI agents to Postmark. (Postmark)

• Email Boutique - How to Recognize When a Project Isn’t the Right Fit—And Why That’s Okay. (Annett Forcier)

• Industry Voices - Jay Schwedelson on What Really Drives Clicks — And the Real Reason Your Email Flopped. (ZeroBounce)

• Bad for Creator/Publishers? - In email, first impressions matter. Substack is bad for media and bad for the world. Moving forward, I am no longer supporting new Substack publishers. (Lex Roman)

• Summerween - The horror begins in your logs, where fully authenticated email is being rejected by Microsoft. 😱 (Alison Gootee)

• Asking to Share - The underrated growth strategy every newsletter should be using. (Growth In Reverse)

• 🎉 Massive Congratulations - Action Rocket’s Jay Oram Honoured with 2025 David Baker Lifetime Achievement Award. (Jay Oram)

• Email Advice in Your Inbox - Hidden Easter eggs in your emails. (Des Brown)

• F2F Spam - From Antiquity to Modern Times. (Spam Resource)

• Newsletter Killer? - Substack Just Raised $100M. Now What? (Grow My Newsletter)

• Best Practices - What Is BIMI, and Should I Set It Up for My Brand? Here’s What You Need to Know. (Inbox Collective)

If you’ve any questions about this email or email marketing, reply to this email, and I’ll answer you as soon as possible.

Have a great week! 👋