I used to be obsessed with email marketing best practices.
Send emails on Tuesday at 10 AM. Keep subject lines under 50 characters. Follow the 80/20 rule for content vs. promotional emails. Always include a clear call-to-action.
I followed every “proven” tactic and optimization tip I could find.
And you know what? My emails performed… fine. Industry average open rates. Decent click-through rates. Nothing spectacular.
Then I started paying attention to the emails that actually made me stop and respond.
The Emails That Actually Work
The highest-performing marketing emails I receive break every rule in the book.
Morning Brew sends emails at 6 AM with subject lines like “Tesla’s having a rough week” – completely ignoring optimal timing and subject line formulas.
Seth Godin sends daily emails with no images, no fancy formatting, and often no clear CTA. Just thoughts. His open rates are reportedly among the highest in marketing.
The founders I follow send emails when they have something to say, not when their editorial calendar says they should.
What these emails have in common isn’t perfect execution of best practices. It’s authentic voice and genuine value.
The Problem with “Best Practices”
Here’s what I’ve observed after 15+ years of B2B marketing:
Best practices are averages. They tell you what works for most people, most of the time, in most situations.
But your customers aren’t average. Your business isn’t average. Your challenges aren’t average.
When you follow best practices, you get best practice results: average.
The companies that see exceptional email results don’t follow best practices. They follow what works for their specific customers in their specific situations.
What Actually Drives Email Performance
The reality is that industry and audience matter more than any “best practice”:
Send time optimization: The difference between “best” and “worst” send times is typically less than 2% in open rates.
Subject line length: Emails with subject lines over 60 characters often outperform shorter ones when they provide specific, relevant context.
Personalization: Simply adding a first name to the subject line has minimal impact, but referencing specific behaviors or interests can improve click rates by 50%+.
Call-to-action optimization: Multiple CTAs can outperform single CTAs when they serve different reader intents.
What I Do Instead of Following Best Practices
I write emails that sound like conversations.
The best marketing emails feel like hearing from a colleague, not receiving a newsletter. They acknowledge the recipient’s world, reference current events, and admit uncertainty.
I prioritize relevance over optimization.
A timely email about something your audience is actually dealing with will outperform a perfectly optimized email about a generic topic every time.
I test my assumptions, not best practices.
Instead of testing “optimal send times,” I test whether my Tuesday emails perform differently than my Thursday emails. Instead of testing subject line length, I test whether questions or statements work better for my specific audience.
The Email Principles That Actually Matter
After years of testing and observing high-performing email marketers, I’ve identified three principles that consistently drive better results than tactical best practices:
1. Relevance Beats Perfection
The most engaging emails address something your specific audience is thinking about right now.
ConvertKit’s Nathan Barry often sends emails responding to current events in the creator economy. These emails consistently get higher engagement than his educational content because they feel immediate and relevant.
2. Conversation Beats Broadcasting
The highest-engaging emails feel like personal communication, even when sent to thousands.
Ann Handley from MarketingProfs writes her newsletter like she’s writing to one person. She uses “you” consistently, asks genuine questions, and shares personal observations alongside professional insights.
3. Consistency Beats Perfection
Regular, imperfect communication builds stronger relationships than sporadic, polished messages.
James Clear sends his 3-2-1 newsletter every Thursday for years. The format is simple, the content isn’t always groundbreaking, but the consistency has built one of the most engaged audiences in productivity and self-improvement.
The Research That Changed My Perspective
Studies show that personalized campaigns based on behavior and preferences perform 6x better than demographic-based segmentation.
But here’s the key insight: the “personalization” that worked wasn’t adding first names or company names. It was sending different content based on what people had actually done or shown interest in.
The most effective “personalization” is relevance.
What This Means for Your Email Strategy
I’m not suggesting you ignore everything you know about email marketing.
Testing is important. Mobile optimization matters. Deliverability is crucial.
But maybe the obsession with best practices is keeping you from discovering what actually works for your specific audience.
Maybe the best practice is to stop following best practices and start following what genuinely serves your readers.
The Problem with “Best Practices”
Here’s what I’ve observed after 15+ years of B2B marketing:
Best practices are averages. They tell you what works for most people, most of the time, in most situations.
But your customers aren’t average. Your business isn’t average. Your challenges aren’t average.
When you follow best practices, you get best practice results: average.
The companies I work with that see exceptional email results don’t follow best practices. They follow what works for their specific customers in their specific situations.
What I Do Instead of Following Best Practices
I break the “value in every email” rule.
Sometimes I send emails that are just observations or questions. No tips. No frameworks. No clear value proposition.
These emails consistently get the highest engagement because people feel like they’re joining a conversation, not consuming content.
I ignore optimal send times.
I send emails when I’m thinking about the topic, not when the data says I should.
Tuesday at 2 PM might be “optimal,” but if I’m excited about an idea on Saturday morning, that excitement comes through in the email. Authentic enthusiasm beats optimal timing every time.
The Three Email Principles That Actually Matter
After years of testing, I’ve found three principles that consistently drive better results than any tactical best practice:
1. Relevance Beats Perfection
Bad: Perfectly crafted email about a general topic Good: Imperfect email about something your specific customers are struggling with right now
I once sent an email with a typo in the subject line. Instead of fixing it, I mentioned the typo in the first sentence and made a joke about it.
That email got 12 responses from people sharing their own funny typo stories. Sometimes authenticity matters more than polish.
2. Conversation Beats Broadcasting
Bad: “Here are 5 tips for better marketing” Good: “I’ve been thinking about this problem you mentioned…”
The highest-engaging emails I send feel like I’m writing to one specific person about one specific thing they care about.
Even when I’m sending to thousands of people, I write like I’m writing to one.
3. Questions Beat Answers
Bad: “Here’s how to solve your marketing attribution problem” Good: “Do you ever feel like your attribution reports are lying to you?”
Questions invite engagement. Answers invite consumption and deletion.
I’ve started ending more emails with genuine questions I’m curious about, not rhetorical questions designed to drive clicks.
What This Means for Your Email Strategy
I’m not suggesting you ignore everything you know about email marketing.
Testing is important. Subject lines matter. Mobile optimization is crucial.
But maybe, just maybe, following your curiosity and speaking like a human matters more than following best practices.
Maybe the best practice is to stop following best practices and start following what genuinely interests you and your specific customers.
My New Email Approach
These days, I send emails when I have something worth saying, not when the calendar says I should.
I write about things I’m genuinely curious about, not topics that “perform well.”
I ask questions I actually want answers to, not questions designed to drive engagement.
And you know what? My email performance has never been better.
Not because I found better tactics, but because I stopped trying to be perfect and started trying to be helpful.
What would your emails look like if you stopped following best practices and started following your curiosity?
The future of email marketing isn’t better sequences—it’s smarter triggers that respond to what prospects actually do.
Marissa Homere 