The Golden Rule Of Email Marketing: The Only 8 Words You Need To Remember
Feb 27, 2026
There is a Golden Rule of email marketing that every business owner 100% needs to follow.
When I talk about this, a lot of business owners assume it’s something like:
Advanced segmentation
Robust email deliverability
Not being afraid to sell
Putting offers in front of the right people
Tight email copy
A full suite of email automations firing 24/7
Prioritizing email list growth
These things are all important. And if you want a profitable email list, they are certainly worth prioritizing.
But what I’m talking about?
It’s a single sentence (eight words) that effectively acts as an operating system.
Think about this system before you take any actions with your email list, and it will lead you to a more profitable email list that pays you.
Neglect it-
And you are more at risk of making the wrong decisions with your email list.
So-
Here Is The Golden Rule of Email Marketing
Treat each email subscriber like a real person.
That’s it.
If you want to build an email list that makes your life easier, your business more profitable, and positions you as somebody that people actually look forward to hearing from-
Treating each email subscriber like a real person is how you do it.
I’m sure you already have a good idea of what exactly that means in practice. But in case you don’t (and to give you some things you can actually act on create that kind of email list)-
Below I cover:
6 specific things you need to start doing
5 specific things you need to stop doing
Both of them are important to turning that golden rule into your email operating system.
The Golden Rule Of Email Marketing: 6 Things To Start Doing
1) Take an interest in them.
Obviously this is kind of vague, but this mindset leads to all the right actions. Treating each email subscriber like a real person isn’t treating them like a potential customer-
But rather just a normal person that has a problem that you can fix.
When you take an actual, genuine interest in that problem, you start creating an email system that serves them (rather than just gets them to buy something). Related to that:
2) Do audience research.
If you’re going to treat people like people, you need to understand them.
Too many of us (myself included) are guilty of making assumptions about their audience. Sure, we probably have a pretty good idea of who we are talking to. But the more specific the image in your head is when you sit down to write, the more you’re going to treat them like real, flawed, hopefully humans.
And deep (and consistent) audience research is how you get to that point.
3) Send emails when you actually have something to say.
Sure, most businesses would probably benefit from bumping up the frequency of their email send.
But this can certainly go a bit far.
For example, more and more with AI, it’s become kind of obvious that people are just using AI slop to send emails just for the sake of sending email.
Your email should be good. So if you don’t have anything to say-
Don’t email people.
4) Give value in the email itself.
I get it:
You want to send your email subscribers somewhere else. Maybe a video. Maybe a blog post. Maybe some podcast interview, or (obviously) a sales page.
In that case, your email is doing the job of “selling the click.”
But people get burnt out not getting any value up-front. That’s why, even if you are trying to get people to click on a link, it’s important to help them within the email itself.
5) Sell, but not relentlessly.
Before you get pissy:
Yes, the entire purpose of your business is to make you money. Don’t let anybody convince you otherwise. But if you want to sell stuff-
You can’t only sell stuff.
(Read that again.)
You need to entertain. You need to motivate. You need to educate. And when you include that in the way you treat people (instead of constant promotions)-
Selling becomes a heck of a lot easier.
6) Write the way you talk.
Emails that sound too formal?
Yeah-
No thanks.
That’s a surefire way to put up a big giant wall between you and your reader. So actually write the way you talk.
AKA-
Some jokes here and there, a couple stories, and some motha fucking cuss words, too.
People don’t want to buy from some faceless business. They want to buy from a person they trust-
And you get that trust by actually sounding like a person.
The Golden Rule Of Email Marketing: 5 Things To Stop Doing
1) Same email to every person.
There’s a bit of an “arc” that business owners go through:
Don’t really email because they’re too busy doing everything else
Start emailing and send the same email to their entire list
Start taking segmentation more seriously.
By the time you get to this third part-
You realize you get better results when your reader feels like you’re reading their mind in your emails. But that’s really hard to do when everybody gets the exact same email.
So that’s what I recommend: only send emails to people that you think are going to get value out of it. (And better segmentation is how you make that possible.)
2) Send promotions to everyone.
I went through Andre Chaperon’s Autoresponder Madness a few years ago. It was pretty cool.
One thing I learned from him: before you sell something, give people the chance to sign up to an interest list to hear about it.
And then when it’s time to sell-
Only send your sales emails to that interest list.
There are a few things at play here:
An interest list feels exclusive, so it’s almost like people are “thankful” to have the chance to buy (and are more likely to buy as a result)
It helps with your overall deliverability (emails to people that signed up to hear about them get better open and click rates, which are green flags for your email system)
You have a better idea of how many people are actually interested in your product, and can do the business math from there. (Nothing more frustrating than saying “this list is 5,000 sub’s so let’s assume 2% buy - and then it’s not even close to that). An interest list allows you to do more accurate math.
That’s not to say you can’t get everyone the chance to buy.
3) Avoid stories.
Yes, yes, yes, we get it:
VALUE.
The number of times I’ve heard something along the lines of “make sure to always give valueeeeeee” is…
Well, it’s a lot of times. So here’s what I will say:
There has never been more "value" out there. Information is everywhere. Everybody is an expert. AI can teach you whatever you want (literally) in five seconds.
But what people still want (and will always want)?
Your insight-
And an enjoyable way to process it.
You do that through stories. Not only are stories an effective way to pass on information-
But they are also a convenient way for your audience to get to know you a bit better.
And the more that happens-
The closer they start to feel-
And the more effective your emails become.
4) One lead magnet for everyone.
You need more than one way for people to join your list.
This isn’t an argument for complexity. I’m all for simplifying things:
One offer, for one ideal customer, at one price.
But if you are reliant on only one way for people to get on your list-
You are going to exclude too many people. Here’s the thing:
Different people that might buy from you have different reasons for doing so.
And it’s the same thing with your list.
So if you are going to have one offer (which is totally fine)-
At the very least give people multiple paths to get there.
5) Avoid offending anyone.
Too many business owners play it safe with their emails.
They’re afraid to take a stance on anything-
And their emails read like boring milk toast as a result.
But it’s nothing to worry about-
Because here is something that seems to play out:
Every time you piss somebody off, you delight someone else.
It’s like that old saying:
If you try to appeal to everyone-
You appeal to no one.
So don’t be afraid of pissing people off with your irreverent takes on things. Because if they really do get pissed off-
They probably weren't ever going to buy anyway.
The Big Takeaway
Your email list isn’t just one group of people; it’s a bunch of mini-groups put together.
Think about it like the most important people in your life. Even your most beloved family and friends-
You don’t talk to everyone in the exact same way.
I can tell you for a fact:
I love my mom, and I love my little brother. And I’m super close with both of them
But I do NOT talk to them both in the exact same way.
(And thank god for that haha.)
My point: your email list gets a lot more profitable (and more fun to talk to) when you take into account everybody’s unique situation.
Follow this Golden Rule of email marketing-
And your email marketing gets waaaaaaaay more profitable.
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