In this edition:

→ The things missing from your email strategy

→ Two very good email examples (scroll to video verdicts)

→ The 3 deliverability metrics you should be tracking (scroll)

→ Redo your definition of disengagement (scroll)

Hello hello,

I’m gonna run a couple of free webinars soon… but I’m stuck.

So instead of overthinking it, I’m asking you.

What do you want? (reply with your vote)

1️⃣ Ask me anything
2️⃣ Email strategy session
3️⃣ Email design principles 
4️⃣ Something else (hit reply and tell me)

6 concepts missing from your email strategy

Plus the audit you need to do

There are six concepts I rarely see properly defined in email strategies:

• Collision – when messages clash in meaning or timing

   

• Friction – when interacting feels effortful, confusing, or broken

   

• Guardrails – rules that stop technically-correct triggers from being humanly wrong

   

• Exit logic – removing someone from journeys when context changes

   

• Exclusions – preventing messages landing at the wrong moment

   

• Hierarchy – defining what overrides what across your ecosystem

If you’ve ever said:

“Our welcome flow isn’t working.”
“People are ignoring our emails.”
“We’re seeing engagement drop.”

“Automation feels messy.”

There’s a strong chance the issue isn’t creative; it's structural 

I wrote a full, long-form audit framework breaking down how to map your entire external comms ecosystem properly - not just what marketing sends, but what your audience actually experiences.

From the Vault

A blog a day keeps the spam filter away 

⌚ 4 min read:

→ SIO: Search Inbox Optimisation

⌚ 8 min read:

→ Intent Over Personalisation: What “Personal” Actually Means in Email (and How to Build It)

⌚ 6 min read:

→ How to Run an Email Re-engagement Campaign

Deliverability masterclasses

Attend live or get it on demand

B2B

5th March

⏱️ 2 hours (90 mins + Q&A)

🎟️ £48 (inc VAT) 

🎓 CPD-accredited

B2C/D2C

19th March

⏱️ 2 hours (90 mins + Q&A)

🎟️ £48 (inc VAT) 

🎓 CPD-accredited

Use code 'NEWSLETTER' for 10% off

From the Queen’s Court

Voiceover video verdicts 

The subject line that made me open & why

Example of amazing email design with clear hierarchy 

The Inbox Drop

The 3 deliverability metrics you should be tracking

You may think you're measuring deliverability, but:

• “Delivered” in your ESP does not mean inboxed

   

• Open rate or click rate does not prove that you're not landing inspam 

   

• And a one off inbox placement test tells you almost nothing

If you want to understand your real deliverability health, there are three core metrics you need to measure consistently.

1) Inbox Placement Rate (IPR)

This is the percentage of emails that land in the inbox (you can count promo and other too here but you don't have to). 

This is the metric that tells you whether people are actually seeing your emails (not landing in spam)

How to measure it:
You cannot see inbox placement rate inside your ESP, you need deliverability testing tools with seeded inboxes across multiple mailbox providers (Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo, corporate boxes etc.), monitored over time.

2) Spam Placement Rate (SPR)

This is the percentage of emails that land in spam folders.

Inbox placement rate and spam placement rate move together.

As your negative signals increase or there is a big change , your spam placement rate rises

As your spam placement rises, your inbox placement falls

Again, you cannot measure this properly without deliverability testing across seed accounts and providers

3) Spam Complaint Counts (SCC)

This is where most online advice gets dangerous.

You’ll often see guidance like: “Keep your spam complaint rate under 0.1%.”

But percentages without context are misleading!

What actually matters is: How many spam complaints are you generating per send, and over what time period?

Mailbox providers don’t look at a percentage in isolation. They look at patterns and count of spam reports. 

Important Deliverability Facts:

• Unsubscribes do not damage your deliverability. They protect it.

   

• High volumes of hard bounces signal poor list hygiene and can make you go to spam 

   

• Doing a re-engagement campaign can cause spam placement issues 

   

• Deliverability changes daily. You can be inboxing today and in spam tomorrow

Quick win for you

Redo your definition of disengagement

“Don’t email anyone who hasn’t opened or clicked in X days.”

Um no - don't listen to that please

Let me give you the birthday cake example:

• Imagine someone buys a birthday cake from you every single year
• They don’t open your emails all year long
• But the week before the birthday?
• They search for you in the inbox/they saw a recent email at the right time
• They click an email or go search you
• They buy

In lots of marketing teams this person would be classed as disengaged 

That’s why opens and clicks alone are not enough to define disengagement.

Instead, define your meaningful actions:

A meaningful action is any behaviour that increases the likelihood someone will engage with your next email

B2B examples:

• Webinar registration

• Pricing page visit

• Event sign up 
• Content download 

• Demo enquiry

• Proposal download

B2C examples:

• Product page clusters

• Basket activity

• Loyalty login

• Store locator visits

So go and list your meaningful actions (outside email) and add a reasonable timeframe

Exclude those people from your “disengaged” suppression segment

The goal is: Email the right people, based on real signals.

Plug of the week 

Get an email audit or session with me

Send with intent,

The inbox has a memory

Beth ✌️

I have ADHD (IFYKYK) so please excuse any typos and spelling errors in this email.

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