🤖 Robots to Build Relationships Across Time

Email marketing largely fits into two general tactics - Campaigns and Automations.

1. Campaigns. Sometimes called blasts. These are one time (often time sensitive and specific to a certain time period) sends. You have something you want to say, and you send it to everyone on your list.

For example, you had a baby. And you call or text 50 people to tell them the news. That’s a campaign.

2. Automations. Sometimes called flows. These are an email or emails set up in advance so that when someone does something, they receive this automation.

For example, you had a baby. Every morning that baby wakes up to a diaper that you have to change. That’s a flow.

Let’s discuss the second one, automations.

Marketers love automations because they are largely set it and forget it.

Create automations for different customers taking different actions, and you can grow your business automatically for months or years on end without lifting a finger. Which is magical.

For example, if a customer buys product X on your website, you can create an automation to send them 10 emails about product Y over the next 10 weeks. That’ll greatly increase your chances of getting another sale versus doing nothing.

I saw this interesting article from MailJet about 8 email marketing automation best practices which got me thinking about this topic.

The primary reason business owners don’t set up automations is because they can take some time to brainstorm. (Now with AI Tools, this should be much easier!)

Not only that, but in order to think about which automations to make, you have to get out of your head and into the head of the person on the other side of the email.

The article is good. It lays out a formula, which works. However it’s missing a crucial insight that I think unlocks the perspective to have when thinking of automations.

What is it? Connection across time.

For example, your parents spoke differently do you when you were 2 years old, 5 years old, 10 years old, 18 years old, and 30 years old.

A business should also speak differently to it customers depending on the relationship they have with them, which can be based on time, experience, knowledge, history, etc.

The high level idea to take away here is that a successful email automation meets a person where they are in their relationship to you.

So, where are they? Now from there you can plug them into the 8 best practices from the article linked above.

💡 The Main Idea - Trust Above All

Came across two 2025 email marketing guides.

One is a complete guide. One is a comprehensive guide.

Both are long and intense. Both have good information. Both are probably great for SEO. Just read these and then you’re an email expert, right? Maybe.

A strong belief I have about email is that it’s simple (but not necessarily easy!)

If your Father emails you, the chances of you opening and reading that email are close to 100%.

Why?

Because he’s your Father! You trust him!

Simple!

On the other end of the spectrum. Take the airline of your choice. If you have zero plans to travel in the near future, you’re never going to open those monthly emails they send you about your status, or points, or “deals” they have coming up.

Why?

Because it’s irrelevant to you right now and you might (like me) dislike all the airline companies at the moment.

So, going back to these email marketing guides. They contain good information. But they leave out the importance of step 0, and just mention it as a side note, which is building trust.

I saw this article on how trust is the most powerful and valuable asset a company has.

This is true. And for an email marketer, someone will open your emails if they trust you.

So what is trust?

• Consistency in service or product delivery

• Integrity and honesty in communication and practices

• Fulfilling commitments and promises

• Authenticity to the past, present, and future

Starbucks stores look the same all over the country. Their drinks are the same. Their bathrooms are always clean. You trust them.

Your favorite social media influencers too? You feel like you know them because you trust them. In general, we hate hypocrisy. We like our world to be orderly and predictable!

So before you tackle your emails. Think about your trustworthiness.

Should you be A/B testing your email subject lines? Sure thing. But the real key to email marketing is not the subject line, it’s the sender.