Boring Emails Are

If email marketing were really dead, businesses wouldn’t still be making sales, booking calls, and filling calendars from a single send.

What is dead?
Emails that feel like chores.

And yet, email remains one of the few channels you actually own. Algorithms don’t control it. Social platforms can’t take it away. When someone gives you their email address, they’re giving you permission to stay connected.

That’s not a small thing.

So why do so many small businesses avoid newsletters — or send them once, then quietly stop?

Because they’re worried no one will open them.

First Things First: You Need the List

Before we talk about open rates, let’s address the foundation.

Every small business should have:

• A newsletter
• An email list
• A habit of adding every legitimate connection to that list

If you meet someone at a networking event, trade show, community gathering, or client meeting and they express interest in what you do, they should be on your email list (with permission).

Why?

Because people rarely buy the first time they meet you.
They buy after familiarity, consistency, and trust.

Email is how that happens.

Social media is noisy. Websites are passive. Email is direct.

But only if people open it.

Why Emails Don’t Get Opened

Here’s the hard truth most businesses don’t want to hear:

Low open rates usually have nothing to do with “email marketing” — and everything to do with how the email feels.

Common mistakes:

• Every email is a promotion
• Subject lines say nothing new
• Content sounds like a flyer, not a conversation
• There’s no clear value for the reader

If your emails feel like:

“Here’s what we do. Here’s what we offer. Here’s what we want.”

People stop opening them.

Not because email doesn’t work, but because they’ve already seen this before.

What People Actually Open

People open emails that feel:

• Personal
• Relevant
• Useful
• Human

They open emails that make them think:

“This looks like it’s for me.”

For small businesses, that means shifting your mindset.

Your newsletter is not:

• A press release
• A sales pitch
• A company update nobody asked for

It is:

• A touchpoint
• A reminder you exist
• A chance to be helpful, insightful, or relatable

The Real Purpose of a Newsletter

Your newsletter’s job is not to sell every time.

Its job is to:

• Stay top of mind
• Build familiarity
• Reinforce trust
• Make opening your emails feel worth it

When that happens, selling becomes easier — and often unnecessary.

Because when people are ready, they already know who to call.

How to Improve Open Rates (Without Tricks or Gimmicks)

Open rates improve when emails stop sounding like marketing and start sounding like someone worth hearing from.

A few practical shifts:

• Write subject lines like headlines, not labels
• Lead with insight, not announcements
• Focus on one idea per email
• Write the way you speak to real clients
• Be consistent — even when you feel repetitive

Most small businesses give up right before momentum starts.

Consistency builds recognition.
Recognition builds opens.
Opens build trust.

It’s Not Dead

Email marketing isn’t outdated.

It’s underused, rushed, and often misunderstood.

A strong newsletter isn’t about clever tricks , it’s about clarity, relevance, and showing up with something worth reading.

• Build the list.
• Send the email.
• Make it human.

That’s how email works — and still works extremely well — for small businesses willing to do it right.