The email that helps you start a business by keeping things simple.

This week:

Update: No voice note from me this week as I’ve woken up with no voice today! Those nursery/school bugs are hitting hard already this season so I’m at home mainlining lemsip & lemon & ginger tea. But despite trying to keep my talking to a minimum, I’m so excited to share this week’s email with you, all about one of my most-asked, most-requested, topics… email. It’s no secret that the magic for me is in email - 65-85% of my sales come from email each month and after 18 months, my emails run like a well-oiled machine.

So today I’m peeling back the curtain and sharing my quick wins you can implement right now to improve your email strategy. I’ve broken everything down to get you started in five simple, actionable, steps.

Question to ask yourself this week: Who am I serving and what do they want?

Book to add to your list: Building a Story Brand by Donald Miller. I harp on about this book all the time. In fact, it’s in my top ten essential reading for people in business or who want to make money. If you’ve not read it yet, this is your sign to start this week (or like me, re-read it!)

Podcast to listen to: How to Ask Better Questions and Find Life’s Most Productive Answers ft. Kat Cole on the Skinny Confidential Him & Her Podcast. My friend, & all round TikTok investor Queen, Maggie Sellers recommended this episode and I knew from the title it would be a goodie. One of the best pieces of advice I’ve ever been given is to ask better questions and this is how you do that in practice.

This week’s challenge: This is the week you take action on that list of things you’ve been meaning to work on for your email strategy!

5 Quick Wins to Boost your Open Rates

We all want better open rates, but let’s skip the complicated strategies and focus on five simple tweaks you can try right now:

1. Test Your Subject Lines: If you're always using the same style, switch it up. Ask a question, try something bold, or include numbers like “3 Things You Didn’t Know About [Topic].” For each email you send, start A/B testing your subject lines for variations in tone, humour and emojis and start analysing what is working and resonating best with your audience.

2. Personalise Whenever You Can: Adding the subscriber’s first name in the subject line is a small tweak that makes a big difference. “Sarah, Check This Out” feels much more personal than just “Check This Out.”

3. Use Pre-headers to Your Advantage: That little text preview next to your subject line? It’s prime real-estate in someone’s inbox so make it work for you! Instead of repeating the subject line or leaving this space blank, try adding extra info or complete the sentence from your subject line.

4. Send at the Right Time: You don’t need to overthink this, but try experimenting with sending emails in the early morning or late evening when your audience might be checking their inbox. I’ve tested out different sending times and days a lot recently and I was very surprised by the results (12pm Sundays & 6pm Tuesdays…)

5. Resend to Non-Openers: This is simple, but very effective. If half your list didn’t open the email, try tweaking the subject line and resending it to the non-openers a day or two later. You can set up an automatic resend to non-openers when you schedule the email.

How to Build a Simple Email List (Without Complicating Things)

Growing your email list doesn’t have to be this overwhelming, mammoth task you keep putting off 👀👀👀... Here is how you can get started with building your email list and creating an engaged community of potential customers.

1. Create a Freebie That’s Actually Useful: Think about what would help your ideal customer right now. It could be a guide, checklist, or a discount code. Just make sure it solves a real problem for them and is something that is going to get them one step closer to where they want to be.

2. Add Signup Forms Everywhere: Make it easy for people to join your list—on your website, blog posts, and social media. Keep the form simple—just a name and email. No one wants to fill out a survey just to get your emails. I use Stan Store on social and then Klaviyo forms everywhere else.

3. Ask for Signups Gently: You don’t need pop-ups screaming “SUBSCRIBE NOW!” Instead, try a subtle banner or scroll-triggered box that offers value. Example: “Want more tips like this? Grab our free guide and join the newsletter.” *Just because I said gently, that doesn’t mean don’t ask for subscribers - if you aren’t getting regular sign ups, ask yourself how often you are really “asking for the sale”.

4. Use Lead Magnets on Social Media: Share snippets of your freebie on Instagram, LinkedIn, or TikTok, and link back to a signup form. You’ll attract the right people without feeling like you’re selling.

5. Nurture Relationships First: Focus on building trust by delivering valuable content. When people know they’re getting something worthwhile, they are a lot more likely to join (and stay) on your email list.

Getting started with segmentation

I put a lot of my success selling digital products down to my high degree of email segmentation. Segmenting your email list might sound complicated, but it’s really just about sending the right message to the right people at the right time. Here’s how to do it without overthinking:

1. Start with Two Simple Groups: You don’t need a bunch of categories to begin with. Try dividing your list into two groups: people who’ve bought from you and people who haven’t yet. You can tailor your messages based on where they are in their journey.

2. Use Tags or Labels: Most email platforms let you tag or label your subscribers. Tag people who’ve signed up for a specific freebie, clicked a link, or showed interest in a certain topic. Then, send them emails that match what they care about.

3. Segment by Interest or Behaviour: If someone always opens your emails about time management, send them more content related to that. Tailoring your emails based on what they’ve shown interest in helps improve engagement.

4. Location-Based Segments: If you run events or offers tied to specific places, segment by location. This way, your London subscribers won’t be getting invites to your Edinburgh workshops.

5. Keep Testing and Simplifying: Start small, see what works, and gradually refine your segmentation by adding more in. Over time, you’ll notice who’s responding and who isn’t—and adjust accordingly.

It’s email week!

Want more insight, actionable tips & accountability? Join us inside the Keep It Simple Club for couch to £5k where this week we are honing in on conversions, sales and email! This is our first of many weeks and implementation sessions discussing email!

Here’s what‘s on the agenda:

• Setting up or improving an email funnel for conversions (so that you can predictably make money)

• Writing compelling copy that converts (there’s a formula for this that is easier than you think!)

• How to take someone from passive viewer to active customer

Plus I’m sharing all my email metrics, bench marks, templates and best-practice industry examples.

Have a great week ahead & remember to keep it simple.

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