Advice from Your Email Marketing Co-Pilot
A client came to me after a brutal meeting with her manager. The ask sounded simple: “How do we grow our newsletter subscribers?”
On paper, things looked fine. Their list had been holding steady at 20k for over a year. But only about a third of the audience was actually engaging.
She knew better than to just dump more names into the database. Adding everyone (and their dog) might boost the number, but it would hurt their IP reputation and long-term performance. When she tried to explain that, it didn’t land well.
So naturally, my brain went into overdrive:
Who is actually engaging?
Are you segmenting content, or blasting the same message to everyone?
Where are you promoting the newsletter outside of email?
But before any of that, my first piece of advice was simple: take a breath.
Start with what’s working
We began by analyzing the people who were already engaging.
We looked at patterns:
When they open
What they click
How long they’re reading
I recommended using a tool like Litmus to layer in deeper insights on the next send. If you’re not learning from your engaged audience, you’re flying blind.
Build smarter segments
Next, we looked at her data.
Did she have enough information to actually segment her audience in a meaningful way? Not just demographics, but behaviors, interests, and intent.
The goal wasn’t “more segments.” It was useful segments. Personas that could actually change the experience.
Make the email feel personal (without extra work)
Once we had those segments, we rebuilt parts of the newsletter using dynamic content.
Not a full overhaul. Just key sections:
Swapping headlines
Adjusting imagery
Tailoring articles based on audience interest
Same email. Different experience depending on who opened it.
Clean the house
Before scaling anything, we also tackled data quality.
We looked for:
Duplicate records
Unengaged but still valid emails
General list hygiene issues
Because growth on a messy foundation just creates bigger problems later.
Then focus on growth, but only after everything else is in place.
Once the foundation was solid, we layered in growth.
The plan was intentionally simple:
Gradually introduce more emailable contacts from their database
Add newsletter sign-up CTAs into high-volume campaigns already in flight
Give it three months to prove impact
We aligned on a clear talk track for leadership (always important), got buy-in, and got to work.
A real example
For a cardiology section, we created three variations:
Women’s heart health
Men’s heart health
General heart health
If gender data was available we defaulted to general content.
Each version had its own tailored messaging, imagery, and landing experience.
The results
In three months:
Newsletter audience grew by 20%
Engagement data became significantly more actionable
The team had clear direction on what content was actually resonating
From there, we set a simple rhythm: revisit and refine segments quarterly based on performance.
Because this isn’t a one-time fix. It’s a repeatable process.
The reality most teams face
Most organizations want to reach everyone with valuable content. And they want it done yesterday.
Yes, you can email everyone who’s opted in.
But the better question is: Should you?
The takeaway
Growing your audience starts with understanding your audience.
If this feels overwhelming, start small. Test one segment. Personalize one section. Clean one dataset.
Small tweaks compound quickly—and they’ll teach you more about your audience (and your content) than any list growth tactic ever will.
Christina Campo
Doret Consultant
SFMC Administrator,