Three things I wish newsletter writers would stop

--> and yes, I've done 'em all

Look, these are just personal preferences. As I said last time, Your weird is OK.

But there are a handful of things that would improve my enjoyment of quite a few of the newsletters I read - and I believe make them more effective.

1. Stop Being So Serious

   Obviously one reason for writing a newsletter is to establish your authority and expertise. But that doesn’t mean you have to write in deadly serious professorial tone all the time.
   
   You’ve got to remember most of your readers, most of the time, will be reading your stuff as a bit of light relief. They don’t want it to be hard work. A little bit of humour and a lighter touch makes it a lot more likely they’ll keep opening and reading your emails.
   
   And unless they’re opening and reading your emails you won’t be establishing any kind of authority or expertise.
   
   And, frankly, writing in a professorial tone can come across as a bit condescending. No one wants that in their inbox. Much better to be the friendly colleague sharing experiences and ideas without trying to come across as better or smarter.
   
   Most of my early emails hit that professorial tone. And most of my best results came when I lightened up and started writing to people as equals, not students.
   

2. Stop Being So Angry

   I get it. You want to change the world. You know a better way and the staus quo is just so wrong. And there are so many charlatans out there teaching and implementing bad ideas.
   
   But again, you’ve got to think of your readers. Most of us don’t want angry shouty emails in our inbox. And most of us don’t want to work with angry shouty people.
   
   We want a bit of positivity. A bit of hope. Anger is just so…well…so tiring.
   
   It’s OK to rail against bad practices every now and then. But focus more on the positive. The beacons of good practice. Great new ideas. People doing things the right way.
   
   Inspire us, don’t just berate us.
   

3. Stop Being So Confident. So Sure of Yourself. So Black & White.

   This is a very personal one. And one I’m ironically not so confident in.
   
   We know from studies that people who talk with absolute confidence and certainty tend to be believed more than those who mention doubts and shades of grey.

   
   But I’ve found over the years that the most experienced people with the most expertise are the ones who can see the alternatives. The different scenarios. The shades of grey.
   
   Someone who tells you with absolute certainty that something will work has probably only tried it 3 or 4 times and it happens to have worked every time. Survivorship bias is a powerful thing.
   
   Someone who’s done something 20 or 30 times will have seen the exceptions. The pitfalls. The watch-outs.
   
   They’re the people I want on my side.
   
   Maybe mentioning the caveats and the shades of grey hurts you when it comes to selling to the newbies and the naïve. But for me at least, it helps when selling to people who’ve been around the block a bit.
   
   And those more experienced clients - I believe - tend to be the best ones.

It probably won’t have escaped your attention by now that I’ve fallen into all these bad habits over the years. I’m sure you will too every now and then.

But thinking about who I want to be in my emails helps me avoid them. It certainly isn’t someone who’s arrogant, angry and cocksure.

So just reading back my emails before I send them and thinking “is this me?” helps.

It might help you too.

- Ian