You send one email, three people unsubscribe, and you spiral into thinking your entire business is doomed. We've all been there!

In this episode, I sit down with Mrs. Shannon Vondy — email marketing queen, ADHD squirrel brain twin, and the only person who can make emails feel like “You’ve Got Mail.” We're going DEEP on all the technical email stuff you've been wondering about but were too afraid to ask. So deep in fact that this episode feels more like a whole ass masterclass than a podcast episode!

Shannon's been doing this for 15 years (10 of which she spent avoiding email like the plague, so she gets it), and she's here to tell you the truth: email works. Period. End of story. Stop giving it one chance and then deciding it's broken.

TOPICS & TANGENTS

— List cleaning 101: why keeping people who don't want to be there is actually hurting you

— Open rates, click rates, and why 20% isn't the failure you think it is

— The dating story that became a newsletter (featuring two hot girls in gray on computers)

— Domain verification and why you should reconsider an email address like [email protected]

— Why your subject lines don't need to be Shakespearean masterpieces

— The woman who replied "what is this, the streets?" to Sara's email

— Why chasing people down the street when they unsubscribe is not a business strategy

POINT OF THE STORY

Email marketing doesn’t have to be that complicated, and your open rates aren't a reflection of your worth as a human. Stop overthinking it, start being consistent, and remember — the people who unsubscribe weren't going to buy from you anyway.

GIVEAWAY

Want a free order of bean water on me? Tag me @btlcopy and Shannon @mrs.vondy on your Instagram story while you’re listening, and one lucky winner will get TWO caffeine fixes on me!

AND — count how many times we drop the F-bomb in this episode. DM me the number, and you could win a prize!

Love you, mean it. 🖤

SHANNON LINKS

— Follow Shannon on Instagram

— Check out her website

— Clean out your email list with The Email List Detox

— Join her membership, The Email Club

— Check out all her resources and offers here

— Shannon’s walkout song

BTL LINKS

— Use code "MILLIONAIRE" for $100 off my website copywriting course, Site Series Sprint.

— Join the Point of the Story community on Slack.

— Leave feedback or episode requests in our Suggestions Box.

— To stay up to date with all things Point of the Story, follow on Instagram and Substack.

— Follow me on Instagram, Threads, and Substack.

— Subscribe to my newsletters Tuesday Table of Contents for one marketing tip, once a week and Millionaire Moment for the insider tea on how I plan to make $1 mil in sales by my 31st birthday.

— Check out my website betweenthelinescopy.com.

OTHER LINKS

— Substack post: 19 Tiny Ways I Reduce Decision Fatigue

— The Taylor Swift song Sara was referring to

— Flodesk (code: “BTLCOPY” for 50% off your first year)

— Laura Belgray (mentioned by Shannon)

TIMESTAMPS

00:00 Intro

00:24 Meet Shannon, Email Marketing Queen (aka Mrs. Vondy)

02:19 Rapid-Fire Squirrel Brain Questions

20:46 Email Marketing Actually Works (Who Knew?)

23:02 The Best Email Platform Is...

26:09 Yes, You Have to Clean Your Email List

29:33 Are Open Rates Just a Vanity Metric?

35:12 Tips for Improving Email Deliverability

43:37 How to Get Those Coveted Email Replies

55:30 Let's Talk About Unsubscribes

01:03:56 Subject Line Do's and Don'ts

01:15:36 Segmentation for Beginners

01:27:30 Closing

This episode was edited by Adrienne Cruz.