do this to make your emails impossible to ignore

True story:

Over the past month or so, I’ve been binge watching a show called The Last Kingdom.

It’s basically five seasons of medieval England...

Sword fights, castles, marauding Danes, and bloody battles with tons of extras.

And what’s blown me away is how consistently friggin' good it’s been.

We’re talking ~40 hour-long episodes.

That’s a LOT of runway for a story to lose steam.

But it never really does.

There’s always something in motion.

The main character Uhtred is trying to reclaim his birthright…

Someone is plotting against a king…

An alliance is about to snap…

A big battle is brewing…

And it all moves forward at a pretty fast clip…

Without feeling like a soap opera where everyone suddenly has an evil twin.

That forward motion is a big part of why I’ve binged the crap out of this show.

And the same principle applies to your emails:

Readers get hooked when they can see you moving toward something that matters.

A lot of emails feel easy to ignore because they arrive as an isolated lesson.

One you can just read and move on.

There’s no larger thread or sense of continuity keeping people hooked.

But when readers can peer over the fence and follow along as you’re building toward something...

Whether it’s a big launch you’re gearing up for…

An exciting trip you’re going on…

A high-stakes project you’ve taken on…

Or a new direction you’re pivoting the business into…

They become curious and invested in what happens next.

Now, that doesn’t mean you need to manufacture drama or turn your business into The Real Housewives of [Insert Niche Here]...

Instead, it means letting people see a genuine chapter while it’s still unfolding.

Imbuing your content with a sense of motion.

Because that motion is magnetic.

And the more you bring readers along for the ride, the more your emails become something they want to keep up with...

Rather than another thing sitting unread in their inbox.

That’s all I got for ya today, though :)

Jim Hamilton

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