Issue #213 All About Email

Hi, {{first_name|friend}}. 👋

Welcome to Issue #213 of All About Email!

Last week was about building a highly engaged audience. Whilst this might be harder for some to implement, the rewards can be massive.

This week, it’s about “The House of Dynamite.” Spoiler alert: if you haven’t watched it, you might not want to read on.

Let’s go! 👇

There was a lot in last week’s email, and I’m fortunate to have an engaged audience. 😉

Thank you to Des, Natalia, and Sonal for letting me know that my email was clipped last week.

To make matters worse, last week’s email in my testing did clip and I had fixed it, but then I broke it again. 🤦‍♂️

Anyway, maybe I should go back and read Issue 186, which is all about Gmail Clipping, as this week also clips. 🫠

On to this week’s topic. 👇

This week is inspired by Alison Gootee (link in the “News & Tips” section) and her storytelling of a recent concert experience.

If you haven’t seen Netflix’s “The House Of Dynamite”, there are spoilers ahead!

I finally got around to watching the movie last night and loved it until the end. I didn’t hate the ending; it was clever, but many will not like it.

So what can “The House of Dynamite” teach us about email marketing? 👇

In the movie, there’s an 18-minute “impact window.” Miss that, and well...

In email, the window is smaller…a few seconds (8.97) in someone’s inbox.

Try this (and be aware of the impact of Apple MPP):

🧠 Think of your send time like launch coordinates. Get it wrong, and it’s just noise.

In the movie, every layer, Radar, Command, and the President adds delay and confusion.

In email marketing, the same happens when teams aren’t clear on:

✅ Create an internal checklist: “Who approves what before it leaves the silo?”

😮‍💨 That’s how you avoid friendly fire (e.g. sending the wrong offer to the wrong list).

(If you’re a freelancer like me, this checklist is excellent! 😉)

The film’s tension hinges on one mystery: who launched the missile?

In email, you don’t want that mystery. Your subscriber should instantly know:

🔍 Use a familiar From Name and friendly preview text (Bonus BIMI points).

If your reader has to scroll to figure out “who is this?”, you’ve already lost them.

The film’s title says it all: the world is living in a “house of dynamite.” One spark, one miscommunication, and it’s chaos (my word is it tense)!

So is your email reputation. Deliverability depends on trust built across many moving parts:

🔥 Keep your house stable by:

🚨 (I cover all of the above in my “Email Beast” mini-series.)

When subscribers trust your next message, you can afford to take creative risks.

Without that trust, every send is a potential miss.

🤔 The movie ends without showing the explosion, leaving us thinking.

You can do the same. Not every email has to sell.

Instead of “Buy Now!” or some other CTA, some emails are about conversation.

💬 Invite replies (we spoke about this last week).

That’s how conversations (and community) start.

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. 👇

In last week’s poll, I asked if you had ever created a Halloween-themed email. And here are the results, an even split! 👇

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 to create an unbelievably eclectic playlist just for your inbox.

🚨 If you’re interested in sponsoring the “All About Email” newsletter, you can find all the details in this Google Doc.

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

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! 👋