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Hi, {{first_name|friend}}. 👋
Welcome to Issue #212 of All About Email!
Last week, we took a look at a very welcome new feature from Yahoo: the “Insights” dashboard, which brings transparency to compliance.
This week, it’s about creating a highly-engaged audience. Whilst this might be harder for some to implement, the rewards can be massive.
Let’s go! 👇
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A Brief Note on the AWS Outage
Depending on your time zone, it’s been quite the start to the day and the week with AWS going down (at the time of writing, the issue was identified, and a slow resolution is taking place).
It’s too early to write about what “the AWS outage can teach us about email marketing” (also, I wouldn’t do that). 😂
However, it has been on my mind as it has impacted some of my colleagues here in the UK quite significantly this morning. For some, their day is on hold, and for others, it’s ruined as they play catch-up. 🫠
The incident has reminded me of “email horror shows” and one of my favourite emails from a couple of years ago (I’ll be asking a question about that link later). 😉
Gif by pudgypenguins on Giphy
Curating a Highly Engaged Audience
If you’ve been reading my newsletter long enough, or followed me online, you’ll know I don’t want a huge newsletter (yes, that can be beneficial)…I want the most engaged audience for my newsletter. ✅
In Issue 210, we discussed how “asking questions” is a great way to have an engaged audience, for both clicks and replies.
As a newsletter operator, you’ve got to ask yourself questions:
Are you seeing a pattern above, {{first_name|friend}}? Email marketing can often feel like a detective’s investigation.
🤔 You need to be constantly evaluating your content, analysing shifting subscriber behaviour and adjusting accordingly.
Your newsletter isn’t a stagnant piece of copy, {{first_name|friend}}; it’s a conversation that someone has opted into having with you, and sometimes they no longer want to talk with you…and that’s OK (more on that later).
Curating a highly engaged audience is a key factor in deliverability. If you can’t get into the inbox, it doesn’t matter what you have to say or what you are selling.
Creating Engaged Segments
🫠 Never mind Apple MPP, with changes over the last 18 months to Yahoo, Google, and Microsoft deliverability guidelines and their reporting tools, it has never been more important to segment your audience and focus on engagement.
🚨 Before we continue, you need to be aware of and reflect on:
Your industry (e.g. eCommerce, hospitality, professional services, etc.)
Your newsletter/campaign(s) purpose/goal/KPIs.
Your ESP and any potential limitations.
Your current list hygiene and practices.
In part response to the recent changes to Google Postmaster Tools, Alison Gootee said:
Sending to your full list every time is no longer sustainable. Gmail’s filters increasingly evaluate engagement at a granular level. If a segment is disengaged, continuing to mail them only hurts your reputation with engaged recipients.
🧠 If you want to dig further into segmentation, Mailgun have an excellent article on segmentation best practices (and in this week’s “News & Tips” section, there’s an article from Email Advice In Your Inbox worth reading).
If you aren’t segmenting your newsletter, it’s time. 👇
How Do I Segment?
About a month ago, I removed 121 people (18.36%) from my newsletter who no longer engaged, as they were hurting my deliverability, and I was cluttering up their inboxes.
✅ “Engaged” contacts in my newsletter don’t have a designated tag; instead, I have segments based on:
Opens (these are still important to an extent).
Clicks - this is a biggy for me.
My expertise (because no one knows my community like I do).
With the criteria above, I then divide my audience into three segments
30 days - for my own awareness.
90 days - entered into an automated sunset segment.
150 days - no longer used (this was part of an A/B test alongside the 90-day segment). **
☀️ My automated sunset flow then offers three chances for a contact to stay on my list until they are automatically removed.
Since removing those 121 people (and more since), it has worked out pretty well and has continued to do so!
** (Yes, I love a good test, and it’s so important you run tests in your own email campaigns/newsletters.)
That’s it for this week. 👋
Curiosity Corner
Welcome to Curiosity Corner! Each week I throw one question your way…not always about email marketing, but always worth a reply.
This week’s question (remember to check out my Halloween-themed email). 👇
Email House of Horror
In last week’s poll, I asked if you used Yahoo Sender Insights, and here are the results. 👇
Were you aware of Yahoo Sender Insights?
🟨🟨🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️ Yes - I'm already good to go! (2) 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 No - this is all new to me. (4) 🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ Meh... (1) 7 Votes
All About Email - Playlist 🎧
Want to know what I'm listening to while I write?
Every week, when the newsletter drops, I'll share the track of the moment, creating an unbelievably eclectic playlist just for your inbox.
Marketing ideas for marketers who hate boring
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Sponsorship Opportunities
🚨 If you’re interested in sponsoring the “All About Email” newsletter, you can find all the details in this Google Doc.
Email Marketing News & Tips
This week's excellent and insightful email news & tips:
B2B Spam - Strapi, Unstructured and Reo. (Word To The Wise)
Email Security - MTA-STS policy missing? Here’s how to fix it. (Valimail)
Clickable Features - The Best 118 Interactive Elements Email Examples & Designs in 2025. (Really Good Emails)
Real-life Client Examples - 5 Winning Black Friday Promotions You Need To Try. (Peyton Fox)
Stories of the Week - This newsletter sold for 9-figures—and why that matters. (Growth In Reverse)
Email Segmentation - What is your “Why”? (Email Advice In Your Inbox)
Seasonal Moments - The best Halloween emails are strategic. (Email Love)
Inbox Nightmares - Tales from the spam side. (Mailgun)
Al Iverson - Rapid-fire email questions. (Inbox Monster)
Structured Data and Schema – A Way to Highlight Discount Coupons in Emails. (EmailLabs)
Email Client Accessibility - Proton Mail rises up the accessibility rankings. (Email Markup Consortium)
Hard-won Lessons - What I Wish I’d Known Before Spending $5,000 Promoting Newsletters Through Meta. (Inbox Collective)
SaaS Brands - 15+ Cancellation Email Examples for SaaS: How to Get Feedback & Stay Friends. (Userlist)
DMARC Tags - The only 3 tags you really need (rua, p, and v). (Valimail)
Which Are You? - Unsubscribes done right. (Email Love)
If you have any questions about this email or email marketing, please reply, and I will answer you as soon as possible.
I hope you have a great week! 👋
