💡 Why I am changing these emails
- John J D Munn
- Oct 24, 2023
- 4 min read
Since I began writing these emails I always make sure to read them when they go live just as though I was a subscriber, not the writer. I believe there are two main advantages to this - it helps me see my output with fresh eyes so I can better evaluate what is good and what needs work, and I get to be reminded of the lessons I share to stay sharp for my own (and my client’s) businesses. The second is particularly useful as I often ‘batch’ the writing of these emails, which saves time.
Recently, I started to find that the tone of my emails felt a little “preachy” to me. I also found that content seems to be expanding past my initial target of a 3 minute read and drifting away from the focus on being actionable.
I write this email for two main reasons:
To provide useful, actionable, advice in a bitesized chunk. I want you to actually implement the things I talk about, not just read about it and write it down as something to do “later”.
I want you to see the value I provide and get a feel for what it is like to work with me.
This email is relatively new and I am still finding the right tone and the right topics. I don’t believe I am a preachy coach or consultant, I aim to be pragmatic - realistic, data-driven, and action focused. In my view, this email hasn’t quite hit that mark just yet.
While my weekly open rate is steady at 60%+, which I am very happy with, I feel that my referral rate isn’t as high as predicted - it doesn’t get near my coaching referral rates. I believe this is due to the potential for quality improvements in this email to bring it up to the same standard as my core services.
I decided on making a change a few weeks ago but as I have been in Kazakhstan on holiday with my friends for the last 4 weeks I haven’t been able to make the adjustments to the email that I wanted, all emails have been on autopilot. However, now I am back and ready to make the updates.
So, what is going to change?
I am going to write these emails from a more personal perspective. I plan to write about my own experiences, and those of my clients, and to talk about what I see and understand to be the best practices. I will back this up with evidence, as always, but it will be more anecdotally driven. Expect me to switch from "how to" to “how I" and from "this is the best way" to "this is my favourite way" etc.
I am also considering reducing the number of points in the email and making it more action focused.
I currently have 2 information/action points + a quote in order to appeal to a broader audience, by including more I hope there is always something that is useful for you the reader. But as I often share with my clients, you don’t need a broad audience, you need an engaged audience.
As I mentioned earlier, I want you to implement the things I talk about. With my clients, we tend to focus on WOT - What One Thing can you do which will drive you forward most/make everything else easier/unnecessary. Some of my client’s jokingly refer to this a WWJD, What Would John Do. Potential blasphemy aside, I see them benefit from having such a clear question to help with decisions. Sometimes we queue tasks, but broadly we focus on one key thing at a time as it increases likelihood of successful implementation.
It doesn’t feel right to focus on one thing at a time with clients but to share two things at a time with you. I want you to implement and succeed, that is easier with focused effort.
I am considering to dropping to one action point, One Thing, you can do right now to improve your business in order to help you take real action. It might not always be applicable to everybody, but I would bet that the loss of breadth is more than accounted for by the extra value people will see by actually implementing the advice.
With all that in mind, what do you need to do?
A simple action point - let me know what you think right now. Not later, right now. This is a potential crossroads for Work Smart Wednesday, I would really appreciate your input. Work Smart Wednesday is made for you, help me make it better for you.
Do you prefer this more personal and first-person tone or how it was before?
Do you think I should stick to 3 points per email or reduce down to 1 focused point?
Reply to this email, answer the below poll, or leave a comment below.
I shared this in my Work Smart Wednesday newsletter. Want the full set of related insights? You can read them here: https://worksmartwednesday.substack.com/p/work-smart-wednesday-october-25-2023-222
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