Todayās email comes to you courtesy of ibuprofen, caffeine and lot of advent calendar chocolate.
Been bogged down with a nasty headache for the last day or so. I inherited a log of great things from my mum: her feistiness, loyalty, sense of justice, competitive spirit. But also migraines.
As sheās fond of saying though, āit is what it isā. But it does mean that todayās email is rather late.
As I dragged myself out of bed I did wonder whether Iād be better off writing emails days or even weeks in advance. And thatās a question I get asked quite often from people wondering whether itās best to pre-program your emails into automations or to write more spontaneously just before sending.
There are a lot of advantages to pre-programming your emails into sequences that subscribers get in turn after theyāve signed up.
It means everyone gets your best emails even if they signed up after you wrote them. And you can sequence them for maximum impact. If your schedule is often busy with client work it can be easier to block out time to write when you have it rather than aiming to write at specific times each week.
But thereās something magical about emailing spontaneously too. You get to talk about topics that are fresh - and often about things that are more personal to you - which helps to build a relationship. And if you have time-limited stuff to talk about (like an upcoming event or product launch) then itās much easier to link to them.
I used to do a hybrid which was pretty much best of both worlds: a long sequence of my best emails sent every Sunday, with āin the momentā emails sent during the week so as not to clash.
But at the end of the day, the best way to do it is the one that fits best for you.
I have many clients who pre-program all their emails, knowing that if they tried to write them just before sending them theyād never get any out.
These days I write just a little bit in advance. I enjoy the spontaneity. And hopefully I donāt get too many migraine-like incidents.
And the technology you use impacts this too. Iām enjoying using Substack. It works well to help people find me and itās quick and easy to use. But it just canāt do pre-programmed email sequences.
Itās not that I donāt plan in advance at all these days - Iād say about half my emails are planned as part of bigger themes. Iāll brainstorm those themes, rough out the main topics and think about how I might illustrate them. Itās just that Iāll then write the emails one-by-one just before sending rather than all in a batch.
That allows me to shape them according to current circumstances. Or to abandon them completely and write about my woes :)
Right - Iām off back to bed - but Iāll hopefully be back firing on at least one cylinder by Sunday.
- Ian