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RE:markable is the weekly email about emails. Dropping the latest email marketing news, updates, insights, free resources, upcoming masterclasses, webinars, and of course, a little inbox mischief.

If you’re here, you’ve probably asked (or been asked) one of the following:

• “Should we change the subject line?”
• “Is the design the problem?”
• “Should we try a different CTA?”
• “Maybe it’s the time of day we’re sending?”
• “How do we get more people to open and click our emails?”

These questions make sense on the surface, they’re the questions marketers have been conditioned to ask.
But they’re also the wrong questions, because engagement doesn’t happen inside the email! 

It isn’t a reaction you can manufacture with a button colour or a clever emoji. It doesn’t magically improve when you write a better headline or switch to a different layout.

Engagement isn’t an action, engagement is a condition.
And unless you improve the conditions, your emails will never perform.

The right question, the one that you be asking is this:

“How do we improve the conditions that make engagement possible?”

This is the mindset shift that separates teams who endlessly tinker with campaigns from teams who build email ecosystems that work.

Let’s break it down properly.

1. You’re trying to fix the wrong problem

Most marketers don’t have an “engagement” problem, they have a systems and conditions problem.

You inherited email! You inherited the idea that email is: pull a list → write an email → hit send → hope.
And now engagement feels like something you chase, instead of something you design for.

The issue isn’t your subject line (you don't need to split test it this time), it’s not your send time. and it’s rarely the design.

It’s everything surrounding the email: the foundations, expectations, data, trust, cadence, deliverability, and the overall environment in which your email appears.

Until you fix those, engagement will stay flat or drop.

2. The real reasons engagement is low 

There are many reasons engagement suffers, but here are the real drivers — the ones that matter far more than creative tweaks.

3. Why people actually stop opening your emails

There are three categories here: your fault, the inbox environment’s fault, and no one’s fault. Each requires a different response.

A) When it is your fault (and it’s usually subtle)

Disengagement is rarely caused by one big catastrophic email. It’s usually micro-friction moments:

• They received an irrelevant email they weren’t expecting
• The tone felt off
• The message felt pushy
• They purchased something and then immediately received a discount
• They signed up for one thing but received something entirely different
• The cadence suddenly increased
• An automation fired incorrectly or duplicated another message

These moments seem tiny, but they damage trust quickly. And once trust dips, engagement follows. I always say the small details matter the most! 

B) When it’s the inbox environment (everyone else’s fault)

Your engagement suffers because:

• the inbox is saturated
• competitors are emailing more aggressively
• seasonal noise is overwhelming (hello Black Friday)
• people are drowning in admin
• inbox fatigue is real

Your audience is battling dozens of brands at the same time, your email is judged alongside all of them.

Sometimes engagement drops not because you did anything wrong, but because the inbox is loud and chaotic.

C) When it’s simply their behaviour (no one’s fault)

Some people “engage” without opening and some people just won't open again - and that's FINE. 

Some people:

• They see your name in the inbox.
• They clock your subject line.
• They mentally note your presence.
• Then they directly visit your website or take the next action somewhere else.

Email works even when open rates say it didn’t! 

This is why you must track:

• website visits
• content consumption
• account activity
• brand or business searches
• purchase or enquiry or engagement behaviour

No-open does not equal no-value. Read more about this here.

4. Some people were never going to open again 

Not everyone signs up with the intention to engage.

Some wanted:

• a code
• a download
• a webinar
• a free resource
• a one-off insight

You are expecting long-term engagement from short-term behaviour! That’s not a performance issue, that’s a misalignment of expectations.

And it absolutely must be factored into reporting.

5. How to rebuild the conditions for engagement

Now we move from diagnosis to prescription. Here’s how you create an environment where engagement becomes natural.

6. The mindset shift

The biggest shift you can make is this:

Stop trying to fix the email!!! Start fixing the environment the email lives in.

Engagement isn’t created inside the campaign editor. It’s created in the foundations, expectations, behaviours and experiences you build around your email programme.

When you improve the conditions, engagement becomes the natural outcome, not the prize you’re chasing.

If your email engagement is flat - let me help you

If this blog has hit a nerve, it’s because you know your engagement problem isn’t really about subject lines.
It’s about structure, strategy, trust, data and deliverability.

This is exactly the work I do every day with B2B and B2C teams.

Here’s how I can help you:

✔ Deliverability Audit — find out where your emails are actually landing and why
✔ Email Ecosystem Audit — evaluate your strategy, systems, data, journeys and segmentation
✔ PPPP™ Email Framework Masterclasses — learn how to build a high-performing email ecosystem
✔ 1:1 strategic support  or consultancy— ongoing guidance to rebuild your email conditions properly
✔ Custom warmup, segmentation and data strategies tailored to your business

👉 Book a free consultation with me

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RE:markable is the weekly email about emails. Dropping the latest email marketing news, updates, insights, free resources, upcoming masterclasses, webinars, and of course, a little inbox mischief.