I accidentally broke email marketing [and it’s working]
I've been creating some seriously rogue email campaign approaches for clients lately.
What started as “let's just make this more relevant” has accidentally become something bigger—a completely different approach to email marketing that tosses what’s been done out the window.
The “Best Practices” Problem
Every email marketing “should” says:
Send on Tuesdays at 10am
Keep subject lines under 50 characters
Include one clear call-to-action
Maintain consistent branding
Follow the same template
Don’t swear
Don’t put too many images in
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Result? Your emails look and feel like everyone else's. They're performing, but they're not memorable. They're optimised, but they're not ... you. I’m as gulty as the next person having created and stuck to many of these rules, and even though they were still considered “successful”, I was yawning before I even began to write a single word. …..Cue change.
Going Rogue with Email
OF COURSE I went rogue.
With my own newsletter at first but soon enough with clients also. Tapping into their ebb and flow of happenings and insights. Exploring thought authority. Extending content to communities and competitors. And more.
For one, we ditched templates entirely. Some emails are pure visual storytelling. Others are handwritten notes photographed and sent as images. For another, we created “email seasons”—each month has a completely different visual and tonal approach that evolves with what’s going on. And another we have kept a schedule, but created different ways of communicating via email within the schedule.
The consequences? A looonnng-form email I wrote had THE most amount of replies ever. When clients started getting responses like “I actually look forward to your emails.” Ha! Who knew?
The Ebb and Flow
Expected email marketing assumes your audience wants consistency.
But what if they actually crave variety, moodiness and delight?
It's not chaos—it's strategic creative courage applied to email marketing.
What This Means for You
If your email marketing feels stale, formulaic, or just ... fine, there might be a different way.
One that lets your actual character, mood and ideas show up. One that makes people excited to see your name in their inbox. One that treats email as fun, not just conversion tool.