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You started your business because you had something worth selling, not because you wanted to spend your weekends figuring out how to stitch together a website, a payment processor, a shipping system and an analytics dashboard and hope that they can all talk to each other. That is exactly what Shopify solves, and it's why I recommend it to every entrepreneur I know who is ready to start selling or scale what they've already built. with Shopify you can build a beautiful online store with ready-to-use templates so that your brand looks polished from day one use built-in email and social campaigns to get your products in front of the right people and once orders start coming in Shopify manages the back end of your shop too I'm talking inventory payments shipping returns analytics all of it in one place everything you need to run and grow your business without the scramble of figuring it all out on your own. Start your business today with the industry's best business partner, Shopify, and start hearing sign up for your $1 per month trial today at Shopify.com slash gold digger.

Go to Shopify.com slash gold digger. That's Shopify.com slash gold digger. Picture this. The year is 2030. Instagram has changed its algorithm probably 17 more times. TikTok might not even exist. Some AI powered hologram platform is the new shiny object, but you know what hasn't changed? Your email list. That direct line to your people who actually want to hear from you. Today, I'm giving you everything I know about email marketing, the timeless principles that have built my business, plus the emerging trends that will keep you ahead through 2026 and beyond. This is the episode I'm creating to outlast the rest. So grab your notebook and let's dive in. I'm Jenna Kutcher and I help you trade hustle for purpose and build a business that gives you the life you actually want to live. From a $300 Craigslist camera to a seven-figure business I run from home, I've learned that success isn't just about what you do.

It's about how you live. Here, you'll get strategies that work, systems that give you your time back, and steps that turn your effort into results and impact. If you're ready for clarity, confidence, and a business that feels as good as it looks, you're in the right place. This is the Goal Digger Podcast. So today we're talking about email marketing. And I know, I know, I have talked about email marketing a lot. I'm talking about going all the way back to episode 12 of this very podcast. I talk about email a lot because it's a backbone of kind of everything I've built. But here's the thing. I've never done this type of episode. I'm considering this like a true masterclass, a soup to nuts, start to finish guide covering why email is still working, how to actually start and grow your list.

and what I am sensing are the emerging trends that are going to change everything. I'm also talking about the exact strategies you need to stay ahead. So consider this episode your comprehensive email marketing roadmap because while I've touched on email in dozens of episodes, I've talked about subject lines here and segmentation there and maybe a welcome sequence over there, I've never actually put all the pieces together in one place until today. So whether you are at zero subscribers wondering if you should and where should you start, or if you've got an email list but it feels stale and you're not really sure what to do with it, or maybe you're doing well but you want to level up for what's coming, this is your episode. And fair warning, this might be a little bit longer of an episode because we're going deep. So if you have a notebook, grab it, maybe your favorite coffee. Let's dive into everything you need to know about email marketing right now. And if you want to see how this actually applies specifically for your business type, like the exact steps based on your industry, your audience and your goals, I have a free masterclass called from zero subscribers to an engaged email list of buyers.

You can save your free seat at grow an email list dot com. That's grow an email list dot com. But for now, let's get into it. Let's first just kick off. And I want to share my own email awakening because maybe that's what you truly need. So I will never forget where I was when I first learned about email lists. I was standing right by my kitchen island. And I remember this feeling of deflation because I was a girl who had worked so hard to grow her Instagram to 10,000 followers. I mean, I felt like I had made it and I had hired my first business coach ever and got on the phone and this was my first phone call with him. and I was ready to blow his socks off and tell him about all my followers that I had grown. And I remember when he asked me the question, he said, how big is your list? And I sincerely thought he was talking about my to-do list, which was crazy long, right? I was running a photography

business. I was starting to enter this digital space and turns out he wasn't talking about a to-do list. He was talking about my email list, which didn't exist because I didn't know why I would need one, how it would work for me, what I would send to them. I mean, I had all of the questions that you might be having. And that day was when the reality hit that I had zero way to actually reach my people, right? Like Instagram could change the algorithm tomorrow. If you're on Instagram, you know, it changes literally daily. And I could go from feeling like I had this massive audience to the reality that I can't control if and how people will see my posts. Like if my account gets hacked or shut down, I would lose everything. I was basically building my business in rented space. And so that day I listened to a podcast about email list building and I committed to get serious about my email list and it changed everything because email gave me something

social media could never, which is ownership. My email list was an asset that I was growing and I was starting to dive into this world with confidence of like, wow, I actually own this. I can control it. I can control the experience that people are going to get and I can control when and how I'm going to touch base with them. So let me just share the truth about email that still hold today and will hold 10 years from now because these are the things I didn't understand until that day. So first, it is your asset. It's not a rental. So if you consider social media to be, let's say like a cocktail party, it is noisy. It is crowded. You are competing for attention in a room that you cannot control. If you picture social media that way, consider email as like a coffee date. It is intimate. It's invited. It's one-on-one. It's this interaction. Now, for someone like me, I value rest over hustle. Having a marketing channel that doesn't require me to show up daily or even show my face

looks a heck of a lot like freedom. The second thing that I really had to understand is something that I talk about all the time, which is my return on investment, your ROI. And when it comes to email, the ROI is straight up unmatched. It has been said in the marketing world that for email, email can deliver between $36 to $43 for every dollar spent. That amount of ROI is literally unmatched. A single email can easily, easily, easily outperform weeks of social media posts. And I can tell you story after story of simple Tuesday newsletters that drove more revenue than elaborate Instagram campaigns. Like that is straight up leverage. And as someone who looks at ROI not only through the lens of money, but also time and energy, for me, email, the ROI is unmatched. Third, your customers actually prefer it. So 90% of people say they'd rather get brand updates via email than through social media.

So think about that. email sits in the same place that someone is reading messages from their friends and their family. So when you earn that inbox space, you have earned trust. And here's the cool thing. Email marketing is built on this idea of reciprocity. So when you are emailing someone, they have opted in, they have raised their hand and said, I want this. I want to learn more from you. I want to hear from you. That is very different than trying to like scream loud on social media and catch somebody's attention and then not only catch their attention, but convert them. And so I just love that like your audience is saying, I want this. They're preferring it. And then you're landing in a place with far more intimacy. Fourth, you can have personalization at scale. So you can't customize your Instagram feed for every single follower. That would be crazy, right? But with email, you can do things like you can segment, you can tailor, you can make people feel seen, you can use their name. And that is everything. Like 90% of marketers say even basic,

Like super, super basic segmentation can boost your performance because, again, you're treating people as individuals. You're not just trying to scream to a mass audience. And then lastly, one of my favorite things is that email marketing is timeless. So email has been around for 40 years. Platforms rise and fall. Like remember MySpace. Does anyone remember Vine, the little six-second video clips? But email remains. It is a foundation that so much is built upon. And if I had to choose one marketing channel for the next decade, it would be my email list. Like if somebody said you can choose your Instagram following or your email list, even though my email list is about one third of the size of my Instagram following, I would choose it every single time because it is the thing that drives actual results and creates real connection. It is a direct line of communication to the people that I want to speak to. And here's what gets me really excited is that email isn't just surviving right now as everything is changing in the space that we're in thanks to AI and just the evolution we're in.

It is evolving with the changing times. It's evolving in ways that are going to make it way more powerful for us to build real connection. And that's what we're going to dive into next. So what am I seeing as the future of email? That's what we're diving into next. So let's talk about where email is headed. Okay, I'm talking about like trends that are shaping right now and beyond that I think you need to know about. And I think they're going to excite you when it comes to email. So trend number one is this hyper personalization. So gone are the days where you would just be like, hey, everybody or dear customer. The future of email is that every email can and will feel custom written for the readers. So I'm going to give you a scenario here. And I just want you to picture this. So let's say there are two people on my list. So Sarah signs up for Pinterest tips and Jessica wants help with a podcast. You send one newsletter, but Sarah sees content about

Pinterest strategy while Jessica sees podcasting advice. It could be the same email, different experience, but both people feel seen. Now, the cool thing is, is that maybe you're thinking, oh my gosh, this is so much work. It doesn't have to be more work for you. It's actually more relevance and relevant emails not only get opened, but they get acted on. And so what's exciting about hyper personalization and the trend that we're seeing happen in email is that you can start super simple. So let's just say you have two segments based on how people join your email list. And then you occasionally customize one section of your email for each group. That small little change can make people feel like you actually understand them. And that's where inbox intimacy really soars. And it's really, really easy to do. So trend number one, hyper personalization. Another trend is AI, right? Let's talk about it. AI and automation. It is the elephant in the room.

And maybe some of you just tensed up thinking that I am abandoning authenticity and leaning on robots. Here's the truth. AI is a tool just like your email platform. It is not replacing your voice It is giving you back your time to be more present to be more human Picture Sunday night your kids are asleep you are exhausted and you already thinking about how you need to write Tuesday newsletter The old way maybe would have left you staring at a blank screen for two hours or just like giving up entirely thinking I have nothing to say With AI, you could spend 10 minutes brainstorming with ChatGPT to get different angles and to create an outline. Maybe you spend a few minutes adding in your stories and your voice and your heart, like the type of stuff that only you can add. You just bought yourself 90 minutes to rest and be with your family. Like it is amazing when you can co-create with the tools that are at our fingertips. AI can also do things like brainstorm subject lines, create drafts for you, proofread

your work, analyze your performance. But here's what it can't do. It can't tell your specific stories. It can't understand your audience's deepest needs and where they come from. And it also can't build genuine trust. That is where you as the human come in. This summer, we're planting a Dahlia garden and my girls are running their first farm stand. And I told them that they get to keep every dollar they earn, which honestly got me thinking about how early the money conversations start and how much I wish more of us had learned sooner that knowing where your money is and where it is going is not stressful if you have the right tool. That's where Monarch comes in. Monarch is the personal finance app that tracks everything, accounts, investments, saving goals, and spending. You can get your first year of Monarch Core for half off just $50 with the promo code Goal Digger. Now, here's what I love about it. Monarch gives you one clear place to see your money, your goals, your spending, and what's coming up. So instead of guessing if something's going to

fit in your budget, you can actually see where you stand. And the AI Weekly Recap flags spending spikes, net worth shifts, and upcoming expenses before they become a surprise. It honestly feels like having a financial advisor in your pocket. Use the code gold digger at monarch.com to get your first year of Monarch core for half off at just $50. That's 50% off your first year at monarch.com with the code gold digger. You started your business because you had something worth selling, not because you wanted to spend your weekends figuring out how to stitch together a website, a payment processor, a shipping system, and an analytics dashboard and hope that they can all talk to each other. That is exactly what Shopify solves and it's why I recommend it to every entrepreneur I know who is ready to start selling or scale what they've already built. With Shopify, you can build a beautiful online store with ready-to-use templates so that your brand looks polished from day one. Use built-in email and social campaigns to get your products

in front of the right people. And once orders start coming in, Shopify manages the back end of your shop too. I'm talking inventory, payments, shipping, returns, analytics, all of it in one place. Everything you need to run and grow your business without the scramble of figuring it all out on your own. Start your business today with the industry's best business partner, Shopify, and start hearing... Sign up for your $1 per month trial today at shopify.com slash golddigger. Go to shopify.com slash gold digger. That's shopify.com slash gold digger. Beyond just using AI as a co-creator for your content, there's also automation. So we're talking about like email sequences that can nurture relationships on autopilot. Think through things like welcome sequences that can introduce new subscribers to your world, birthday emails, re-engagement campaigns. These aren't set and forget. They're set up with care once,

And then they are helping you to continue to maintain and build relationships forever. So again, so many people think, well, email is going to add more time and more work to my plate. But what would it look like if you could create one email thoughtfully and then let that email do work for you? So we have different sequences that are constantly running in my business. For example, we have a welcome sequence. I used to have the most elaborate welcome sequence on planet Earth. It was so complex. I couldn't even touch it because I was scared I would break it within our system. but we crazily simplified my email sequence so that it's about six emails and it's running. And what we do is oftentimes once a quarter, I'll look at it and I'll tweak it. The tweaks take very little time. It is usually just one hour dedicated to tweaking it and then it is running. This sequence has reached hundreds of thousands of people. And the cool thing is, is that I am still getting heartfelt replies from people who are joining yesterday. That is automation with heart. that is setting up something once intentionally

and letting it work for you. And so one thing to consider maybe trying is like how could you use ChatGPT to brainstorm 10 subject lines for your next email? You don't have to use them, but just see what happens. Get curious about how AI can help you co-create content that serves at a higher level. Trend number three that I'm excited about is interactive emails. I've been seeing a lot more of this and I think we're only going to see more to come. So email isn't just static anymore. It's really becoming this experience, which is really exciting to me. We're seeing polls, quizzes, clickable carousels, even shopping without really leaving the email. And so imagine, let's say you're a health coach. Instead of just telling people about your breakfast ideas, your email has a poll. And it could say, like, what morning type are you? And it could be, you know, fun little answers. Early bird Eddie, slow start Sally, or snooze button Sam. People could click their answer right there, instantly get a personalized recommendation and feel seen, like feel like this is tailored just for them.

Interactive emails boost engagement because they're super fun, but they also invite participation and they also invite participation. And the cool thing is, is for you, one great interactive email can generate more connection than dozens of just plain text regular ones. So if we're looking at quality over quantity, I'm really excited about different interactive features that will allow this to, again, feel like a more customized experience and also give you insight and data into who's on your list. So if you want to start super simple, one of the things that we love to do is just adding a GIF to make your email dynamic. It can be super fun. It can be funny. It can be something that already exists or it can be something that you create. or if you're looking to really create that interaction, consider like what is a one question poll that you are sending and you can use clickable links in your email. And again, you get to see all that insight and that data. Or finally, maybe if you want to use say your PS space,

you could have a prompt that says reply with A if you wanna learn about topic number one or B if you wanna learn about topic number two and then you actually read and field those responses. So there are some really fun ways to add some more interaction to your emails. And I think what I love about it most is it takes away this idea that you are, again, shouting to the masses and instead invites in individuality and this opportunity to actually connect with the humans that you are emailing. Trend number four is a little less sexy, but still really important. And I think that the trend that we're seeing is more privacy and permission. in. So I want to highlight a few things under this trend that aren't, again, super sexy or fun, but I think they're super relevant and important. So first, only email people who have opted in. There are laws about this. You want to make sure that you are a rule follower. And you also just want to make sure that your emails are reaching the people who have said, I want this. I'm signing up for that. You also want to make unsubscribing super easy. I know, I know it's fun to try to make

it covert and hard to do, but you want to build trust. Let people know they can opt out. You also don't want to be paying to send emails to people who don't want them. Be transparent about what you'll send. So set expectations. I think it is so helpful when you say, you know, I'm going to be dropping into your inbox once a week or twice a week. Here's what you can expect. And if you are noticing that people aren't engaging, consider sending them an email that says like, hey, do you still want to hear from me? And if there's no response, let them go with love. You don't want to be emailing people who don't want to receive your emails. Not only does it tank your metrics, but it also just doesn't add any value. And I think that my audience, you are amazing and you want to make more of an impact and add more value. I know that watching things like your numbers go down can feel really scary, but if your numbers are going down because people are opting out and you're giving them that opportunity to do that, that also means the flip side of it is that your

engagement rates are going up, right? And so you want to make sure that you are sending your emails to people who want them, that your emails are landing in inboxes instead of spam or promotion folders, and that the people who stay are your real people. Like we want to go deep and not wide. This really aligns with just how I think about business in general is it's not about being the biggest. It's about being the most meaningful. It's about having the depth and not the width. I don't want a massive list of strangers. I want a true community of people who genuinely find value and who want to be there. And so just note that a smaller engaged list will beat a huge indifferent one every single time. And I will be here to remind you of that if you ever forget it. Trend number five is what I'm pointing, the newsletter renaissance, and I love it. This is like one of my favorite things about what's happening in the email marketing space is that newsletters, I'm talking about like personal, handwritten newsletters are having a massive comeback and I am here for it. I think social

media has never been more exhausting than it currently is. And there's just so much happening. It's like the algorithms are changing. There's a lot of performance. Like you feel like you have to be on. And so in that, I feel like email is this place where people go when they're craving deeper connection and where creators go when they are wanting to add more context to what they're sharing. Think of like an email newsletter, almost like a quiet corner of the internet where you have actual, real, heartfelt, intentional conversations. This is where you go deep instead of just trying to stop somebody's scroll. And what I love is that nearly half of marketers are now including newsletters in their strategies, and the data is showing that readers love them. So I, earlier this year, started taking back all of the writing that goes out to my email list. Now, I have had a brilliant copywriter on my team for many, many years. And I absolutely adore her. But I started finding myself craving that connection and being the creator behind it. My newsletter every single

week is something that I love to send out. It is where I go so much deeper than Instagram. It's where I'm sharing behind the scenes. It's where I'm unpacking different stats. It's where I'm sharing my heart. And it's where I'm testing ideas and also just like inviting in two way conversation. Like I'm talking about building real relationships. Some weeks I'm doing really long and just personal emails that have no links. There is no goal or objective beyond just straight up serving and connecting. Some weeks I'm doing like curated links. Like I'm saying, here are the recent podcast episodes that dropped. Check out which one strikes your fancy the most. But the thing that I love about it is it's really just leaning on consistency and connection and not perfection. It's letting go of a lot of the past strategies that we were taught about how to write emails that convert and just getting back to the heart of writing content that people actually want to read. And so think of your newsletter

almost as a product you're delivering, not just a piece of content that you're sending. And that will help you to make it super valuable. It'll help you to stay more consistent with it. It'll help invite you to be more personal and conversational. Again, it's a two-way street. Now, if you don't have a personal newsletter, my challenge for you would be to start one this month. Have it be a super simple structure, a personal opening, a valuable piece or a story, and an invitation to engage further. You don't have to overthink it, but just start the conversation. And I can tell you, writing my newsletter is like one of my all-time favorite things. Every time I write one, I make my entire team read it because I just get so excited about sending it. And it just feels like a breath of fresh air in this world and environment that we in where we trying to be the loudest or catch people attention It just feels like a full conversation with context And I love it Okay, the final trend that I am seeing is this omni-channel integration. So email is amazing, but it doesn't have to work alone anymore. And so if you think of your marketing almost like a wheel,

I always picture email as the hub. So all of my efforts from the podcast to the blog to Instagram to my masterclasses to YouTube, everything else is just a spoke extending out. And my main goal and objective of all of my efforts on the internet are to grow and serve my email list. So let's say someone subscribes via Pinterest. My email system can know this so that the welcome email references maybe how they found us. If they don't open it, maybe they see a retargeting ad on Instagram. So thinking through all the different touch points of how somebody can find you and get onto your list. And then also how can we continue to meet those people where they first found us? So let's say maybe they clicked on something, but they didn't buy. Then we could trigger a specific email sequence or maybe a retargeting ad. If they do buy something, maybe you can automatically tag them

as a customer and then they get a different set of emails, right? Now, you can get really complex and fancy and maybe this sounds super complex, but most platforms offer super simple integrations. So my advice here is to start with one, maybe connect your shop to your email list so that purchasers trigger specific delivery emails or link your webinar platform to your registrants so that they're automatically getting reminders. Just look and think through how you can integrate and pick an integration that can save you time or can create a better experience for your email subscribers. The cool thing is, is a lot of these things, you just set it up once and then you can marvel at how it's working for you. Now, again, these trends are not at all about abandoning what makes email great. I think they're about enhancing personalization, trust, and value. And the brands that win are going to pair all of these new insights and ideas and trends and pair the high tech world that we're in with high heart and high value content using

these powerful tools to create way more connection, not less. And so I think that it's actually giving us just more access, more opportunity and more connection points. And that really, really excites me. Here's one thing I wish someone had told me sooner. The moment you hire your first person, payroll, onboarding, benefits, and HR become real parts of running your business. Not someday things like right now things. And they're so much easier when you have the right tool handling them. That's why I want to tell you about what we actually use for my own small team, which is Gusto. Honestly, it is one of those tools that has made me wonder how the heck did we ever manage before it. Gusto is online payroll and benefits software built for small businesses. It is all-in-one, remote-friendly, and incredibly easy to use so that you can pay, hire, onboard, and support your team from anywhere.

With Gusto, you run unlimited payroll for one flat monthly price. There's no hidden fees or surprises. And if you're already using something else, switching is super simple. You just bring your existing data over and you are up and running super fast. You don't have to pay a thing until you run your first payroll. As a special offer to my listeners, try Gusto today at gusto.com forward slash gold digger and get three months for free when you run your first payroll. That's three months of free payroll at gusto.com slash gold digger. One more time, it's gusto.com slash gold digger. So let's make this actionable. I want to share six practical strategies that you can literally get started on this week. And they don't require 40 hours. They don't require a big team. They don't require a massive budget. They just require your attention and your intention. So strategy number one, I am leaning on something that I personally love, which is my garden, and I'm calling it tending your garden. So think of your email list almost like a garden.

You need to plant a few new seeds and you need to weed out what's not growing. And so if you've already been building, my advice here is to keep building with intention. So think about like what are the opt-ins or the lead magnets that are working that are attracting your ideal audience. And you want to make sure that anything you're creating to grow your list is linked up to or is thought out to help lead to a greater result. You don't want to just attract just anyone. You want to think through what sort of free resource would my audience find valuable that they would opt in for? And then how can that free resource connect to the next step, whatever that looks like. And so simple works best for this. I don't think that people want a 25 page guidebook or handbook. So think through what are super specific opt-ins you can create. It could be a checklist. It could be a template. It could be a quick tutorial. Whatever solves a specific immediate problem quickly. And then along with tending your

garden, you want to clean regularly. I'm talking about picking out the weeds. And so maybe it's once a month. I recommend every quarter identify subscribers who haven't engaged in a specific amount of time. So it could be 90 days. It could be six months before you opt them out. Send them a re-engagement email saying something like, hey, I've noticed we haven't connected. My inbox is sacred and I don't want to clutter yours. If you want to stay on my list to receive X, Y, or Z, hit reply and tell me what you'd like to learn. If you're ready to part ways, no hard feelings. Now, if there's no response there, you can remove them. But if they respond, you've just re-engaged a subscriber. This keeps your deliverability really strong. And it also ensures that you're only talking to people who want to hear from you. So strategy number one, tend your garden, plant new seeds and weed out what is not growing. Strategy number two, think of how you can get more personal using segmentation. So you do not need to be a data scientist. Good news for all of us.

You just want to start with segmenting smart. A lot of times for people that looks like starting with just two groups. So looking at how are people joining your list. I always, always, always recommend having two different opt-ins so that you can start to collect data. Like everything is an experiment. It's not a success or a failure. It is information that guides you forward. I often tell this story of before my husband, Drew, became a stay-at-home dad, he had a health coaching business. And before we even had named his company or created any sort of offer, we created two different opt-ins to start growing his email list. I knew how powerful email marketing was, and that was step number one. It wasn't to design a logo or have a brand name or even a website. It was to start growing his list. And at the very beginning, his entire business was going to be about at home workouts that people could do from home, no equipment required. And so we created an opt in of like five, 10 minute workouts you can do at home, no equipment required.

Then we created a second freebie, a second opt in available for his audience. And it was our grocery shopping list and our food prep strategies for the week. And we put both of those opt ins out. It changed the entire way that we created his business because the grocery shopping list outperformed the at-home workouts 10 to 1. I mean, it was insane. We got so much data and insight. It changed the way we created his offers. It changed the way we talked about them. It changed the way that we presented them. It changed the way we showed up on his website. And so you want to have two different offers to start split testing. There's so much power in that. You also can use those two separate offers to create segments. So let's just say for my business, we have a segment where people are opting in for podcasting interest, people opting in for Pinterest interest. Now, again, you can do things like liquid coding, which is pretty intense and maybe later on in the strategy where you can only include specific information based on what somebody

opted in. But also you can send emails out to those people that opted in for this specific freebie and make it customized to them and where they're likely at in their journey, serving them their next resource or inviting them into an offer that makes sense for them. So this week, your goal would be to identify your two most obvious segments or your two most traffic segments. And then next email, consider, could I customize just one thing for each? And I promise you when you do this, your engagement is gonna improve on your email list and it takes just a little strategy and little effort. Strategy number three is automating with heart. I love automation. Like if I could kiss its face, if automation had a face and I could kiss it, I would. If you have a list and you do just one thing after listening to this episode, my advice is to set up a welcome sequence. So if you want a very simple three email framework,

here's what it could be. So email number one, you send it immediately after someone opts in. They are most excited to receive an email and they are most likely to open it. And in that email, share your story. Tell them who you are, how you got there, what you believe, what sets you apart. I oftentimes share my origin story, the $300 Craigslist camera story, and talking about building this business up. People follow people, not businesses. And so this is an amazing way to humanize who you are and to connect on a personal level. Email number two, you could send this out maybe a day or two days later. Highlight something that is maybe a core belief or something you wish people knew about what you did or what you offer. Show what you stand for and what differentiates you. There is a good chance there are many people that do what you do out there on planet Earth. What makes you different? Why should somebody engage with you and stay following you? And then lastly, email number three, a few days later, give them a quick win. Like deliver immediate value.

Show them that your emails are worth opening. Maybe it's a tip that they could use today. Maybe you end with an invitation to reply like, what is your biggest struggle? Hit reply. I literally read every email. You can set this welcome sequence up once and it can run for you forever. My welcome sequence has been working for me for years. We've changed it and tailored it over time. But what I love is that you can have leverage without losing your humanity. A lot of people don't realize that with email marketing, you can set and automate things so that even if somebody's opting in at 2 a.m., you are landing in their inbox with ease and grace and intention. It takes far less time for you to sit down and write one intentional email with a strategy in mind than to consider all the emails you are sending one-to-one. One-to-many is the name of the game and automation will become your best friend. Strategy number four is to not be afraid of AI, but to befriend it. This week, I have one simple experiment for you.

Use chat GBT to brainstorm something, whether it is email content or subject lines, start to invite it in as an assistant for you. So maybe let's say you're using it to generate awesome subject lines that your ideal audience is going to be so excited to open. So first, tell it about your email. I could say, I'm writing to women entrepreneurs about overcoming imposter syndrome. This email is encouraging and it's coming from a personal tone. can you generate 10 subject line options for me? Then take a look at what it gives you. Like maybe you like one of them. Maybe you tweak them to sound more like you. Maybe you hate them. At least you got your creativity flowing and you're starting to think in a different way. A lot of times I will create my first draft. I'll let it be sloppy. I'll let it be messy. Then I bring it into AI and I say, where am I unclear here? How can I be more clear? Where can I inject more of my personality or my personal stories? And then I work with it in terms of outlining and proofreading I never ever ever copy and paste the first result that AI will give me I always love to use it to refine and to inject more understanding more heart more opportunity to serve And again the goal is not to sound like a robot It

actually the opposite of that. The goal is to get back your time so that you can rest, live more, think strategically, be present with your family. That is literally like the anti-hustle dream. And so see how you can bring in AI to help you do your best work faster. All right, strategy number five is design. So let's talk about how can you design for everyone. You want to make sure your emails work everywhere and for everyone. Brands with well-designed emails can see up to 200% more conversions. My favorite, favorite place for my listeners to create emails is using a platform called Flowdesk. I think Flowdesk is amazing. It is female founded. It is designed with

intention. It is beautiful. It is super easy to use. If you want to check out Flowdesk, go to jennacutcher.com forward slash F-L-O-D-E-S-K. Flowdesk is what I hands down recommend, but you want to make sure that the strategy you're leaning on is how are you designing these emails? More than half of emails open on mobile. And so maybe you haven't even considered this yet, but pull up the last email you sent on your phone right now. Can you read it easily? Are the buttons big enough to tap? If you're struggling with this, your subscribers are probably struggling too. And so consider the design of your email and make sure that it is friendly in every format. You want to keep your email is super simple. You want to have single column layouts. You want to make sure your font size is at least 16. You want your buttons super tappable. You want short paragraphs. Don't be afraid of having white space. And beyond mobile, think about accessibility. Think of high contrast

colors. Think of alt text for images, clear readable fonts. This isn't just inclusive. It's effective for everyone. And so before your next send, make sure that you are sending out a test. You're checking it on all the different devices and making sure that the design is created with everyone in mind. Now, my last strategy here that I want for you to implement is just stay human. My favorite metric isn't actually open rates. It's replies. I love when real humans hit reply and talk to me. I love it. And I recognized a few years ago, like I'm not even asking for that. And so we now incorporate it super consistently of like, hit reply. I am a real human on this side of the screen. And I want to know what is working for you. What is your biggest takeaway? What do you love? I want to really shift the approach of email feeling like you're emailing the masses to getting back to almost feeling like it is one to one.

We used to send really highly formatted, beautiful emails, but there were lots of images. There were lots of buttons. Like we were using a lot of headline text and underline and all these different things. And they looked great. But here's what we discovered. Like they don't feel like they're coming from a human. They feel like they're coming from a business. And so over the last year, we have gone way down to more just plain text. A lot of times my emails are just black text on a white background. Maybe one image. A lot of times not really. And if we do include an image, a lot of times they're coming just from my iPhone. But what's amazing about it is that our engagement went up when we did this, because it again, it feels like I'm actually writing to you, not just shouting or broadcasting at you. And so every email that is being sent out, it is coming directly from me. I'm writing them. I am telling the stories. I am thinking through what I want to say. Why is it important? And then I've also started just asking for more replies.

Almost every email ends with like a genuine question or some sort of invite to respond. And we actually read them and we reply to them. Not all of them. That would be impossible, but enough that people know. Hi, I am not just asking you this as a rhetorical question. I genuinely want to know because I'm extra. I just want to share one extra shift that I want for you to consider is make sure that if you have a list, you are using your email to serve and not just sell. Yes, email is amazing to promote things. Yes, it is an amazing way to drive sales. But most of the emails that I am sending out are just pure value. I'm teaching something. I'm sharing a resource. I'm telling a story. The selling happens naturally when you've built that trust and when you've shown up consistently. And so just consider and look through maybe the past 10 emails you've sent and look at the volume between how much you are serving and how much you are selling. And it's like the jab, jab, jab, right hook method

of like serve, serve, serve, and then sell through an invitation that makes sense for someone who is subscribed. And so just make sure that you are looking at that volume. The more that you invite in that engagement, that correspondence, that real relationship, the more that you will not only avoid landing in spam filters, but you'll actually build up a true community and beautiful, beautiful communication through it. Let's say you have that PS hit reply. Not everyone's gonna respond, but even if two to 5% of your subscribers respond, that could be dozens or hundreds of real conversations that they are engaging with. And these conversations can give you insight, they create sincere loyalty, and they can often lead to extra things like testimonials or opportunities. They also, at the end of the day, just make you feel connected to your work and to your audience. And for me, that is so invaluable as a creator. And so really just consider

how can I send out emails that serve and how can I invite in real engagement? I think as email gets more sophisticated with AI and automation, the brands that are gonna win are going to be pairing high tech with high heart. The ones who remember that there is a real person behind every email address and the people who remember that we can use tools, but we wanna use them to create more connection and not less. Okay, I have talked a lot today and I've covered a lot about why email matters, where I think it's headed and exactly how to stay ahead. But before we wrap, I wanna zoom out for a really quick second. After nearly a decade of doing this work, of building this business and this podcast, of having these conversations with you, I keep coming back to one question And that is what actually lasts in this ever changing world in these crazy landscapes that are always evolving. What actually lasts? What lasts in this world of online business?

You know, your Instagram posts, they disappear in hours. TikTok vanished even faster than that. Even podcast episodes, they can get buried in people's libraries. But the connections that I built, those are forever. And my most meaningful connections that I make, those live in the inbox. every single week for years upon years, I've shown up in the inboxes of the people I care about the most. I've shared my wins and my losses. I have celebrated with you. I have cried with you. I've watched your businesses grow through the emails you've sent back. To me, that is not marketing. That is real relationship. And that is honestly why I am so passionate about this because your email list, it's not just a marketing tactic. It is a direct line to your people, the people who are raising their hand and saying, I want more. I want to learn more. I want to do more. I want to be with you more. And the ability to show up and serve and build something meaningful that you actually own, it is one that is so often overlooked, but it shouldn't be because it drives the biggest ROI

that I've ever seen in the online marketing space. Your inbox isn't just where we're sending messages. It's where you build trust. It's where you create community. And it is where you prove email after email, that you are seeing people as people, not just leads, not just numbers, not just a dashboard. And so when you show up with email marketing and you are showing up authentically and you are adding value and you're speaking from your heart, you're not interrupting someone's day. You do not need to be apologetic. You are literally improving their life. And so as you think about your email strategy for next year and beyond, remember, you're not just building a list, you're building a legacy. Every email is a brick in the foundation that you're building. The tools are going to change. AI will continue to advance. New platforms will emerge. But authentic connection, that is timeless. You don't have to do everything I talked about today. Here's what I want to encourage you to do. Pick one thing. Maybe it's getting started. I hope maybe it is setting up a welcome sequence. Maybe it's cleaning your email list or ending your next

email with a question that invites replies. Do that one thing and then see what happens. Circle back to this episode, then do the next and the one after that. And if you want specific step-by-step guidance on how to implement this for your exact business type, if you want to learn how to start and grow your email list, whether you're a coach or a product-based business, a service provider, whatever, just come join me for my free masterclass from zero subscribers to an engaged email list of buyers, go to growanemailist.com, save your seat. I walk you through the exact system I use. I show you how to customize it based on what you do. I walk you through the what and the why of email marketing. And I will show you that progress will always trump perfection, that consistency will always win over intensity, and that connection will always lead to conversion. Always. And so if you don't have an email list yet, or you've been neglecting yours, hear me. It is not too late.

The best time to start was five years ago. I'm gonna be honest, the second best time is today. Thank you so much for being here, for building businesses that matter, for showing up even when it's hard. Thank you for believing that there is a different way, one that honors rest and connection instead of constant hustle. You are creating that future of your business one email at a time. And I am so excited to support you on that journey. Now you've got work to do. You've got people waiting to hear from you right now. So before you get to work, because I know you're excited, here's what I want you to do. Close your laptop for a minute or shut down your phone, make your screen go black. And I want for you to think about your people. Like picture each subscriber, picture just one of them and think about what are they genuinely struggling with? What do they not know? What do they need to hear today? And now go write an email to that one person, not a sales email, not a perfect email, not an overly polished one. And just write to that one person, just like you're writing to a friend.

Tell them something true. Give them something valuable. Invite them to respond. Let them know that you really are there and be there. And hit send because that, my friends, is inbox intimacy. That is the future of email marketing and it starts right now. It starts with us. So go send that email. Your people are waiting. Thank you so much for listening to this episode of the Gold Digger Podcast. save your seat for my free masterclass and learn more about email marketing at grow and email list.com. I can't wait to serve you over there. And of course, until next time, gold diggers, keep on digging your biggest goals. And thank you so much for listening to this episode of the gold digger podcast. Thanks for listening to the gold digger podcast. I hope today left you inspired and equipped with something you can put into action as you build a business that truly supports your life. If this episode resonated with you, here's how you can help the show reach even more entrepreneurs. Hit follow, share it with a friend who's building something meaningful.

And if you're feeling generous, leave us a review. Those reviews help other listeners discover these conversations when they need them the most. This show has become so much more than I ever imagined. And it's because of listeners like you who show up and share. You are helping build something that will inspire entrepreneurs for years to come. For show notes, links and resources, head to golddiggerpodcast.com. Keep digging your biggest goals. The world needs what you're building.