what to do with emails after they’re sent

A Long-Game Strategy Every Email Marketer (And Newsletter Operator ) Should Adopt

Read time: 2 minutes
Scan time: 12.93 seconds (proven by science)

I’m on the hook for 3 emails today, including this newsletter. So this one’s gonna be short.

When I need to write something quickly, I always go to the same place: my archives. (That’s a nice way of saying Google Drive but “archives” has a sort of “wine cellar” ring to it, don’t you think?)

A good long-game strategy every email marketer needs to adopt is building your email archive using very clear naming conventions. If everything’s searchable then it’s easy to find, meaning you can re-use it, and you should.

The Google doc I’m currently writing in gets created every month by my assistant using a template with this naming convention.

02 February 2024 | Newsletter Emails

Here’s what my newsletter archive looks like:

I also have 7 years worth of Google docs with this name:

Promo Emails | Email Stars | Month-Year

Technically you only need one document for promo emails since everything is available under “file” and “version history” but I often look at past years’ emails side-by-side. Plus I like working on a clean white document.

I’m wildly consistent with naming conventions.

A year ago I made a major stylistic change – I switched from “emails // program // date” to “emails | program | date.” Sandra and I never discussed it but I would be mad at me if I were her.

That is the end of today’s email.

Or as Jim Morrison would say, this is the end.

Another email calls.

Auf Wiedersehen, fair subscriber!

Tarzan

P.S.

For all of you sore losers missing out on my Email Stars promotion, I hope you ​read this one email​ ‘cuz I did something I would advise you to NEVER DO to your email list except as a gag. (h/t to ​Marcus Pork Sr​.)