<Preens hair> hey you… how you doooin’? Notice anything different about this email compared to last time?
Of course you wouldn’t, I’m not delusional.
Let me explain:
Following 15 months of struggle, I’ve binned off TinyLetter as a newsletter management tool. You are instead receiving this email via Substack.
Before you fall asleep out of boredom here, I promise there’s point to all of this.
First though, we need to rewind a few weeks.
I’d just sent out the last instalment of the Email Teardown Club, and list member Alastair B got in touch to share some feedback on the format. It was useful feedback on more than one level. Firstly because it poked at a practical problem I've been mulling over for a while. Secondly because it poked at a philosophical problem that many of us face: figuring out what to do with feedback.
Alastair said that it’s hard to tell at a glance which text is from the original email and which text is my teardown commentary. Totally valid.
He’s the second person who’s flagged that the format isn’t working for him and suggested moving to a visual format as a solution, i.e. annotating a screenshot of the email rather than copy-pasting the text alone. Again, muchas gracias, thoughts always welcomed!
Although plenty of people on this list seem to get on fine with the format, I know there’s always scope for improvement. And that this scope may exist in the minds of a silent majority. And that confirmation bias is a cruel mistress…
But here’s the thing. I made a conscious decision when I started this list *not* to get dragged into the weeds of design. I would focus only on the messaging.
It's a principle I want to stand by. Design is so often a distraction from the messaging, even when the messaging itself is the root of all the problems. It’s easy to look at a font or a colour and say "I like it” or “I don't like it". Much easier than text. Sure, you can do that with a piece of text too, but the design tends to be the thing people notice first. And when the real issues are with your messaging, not the design, that leaves you unable to fix what you need to fix… because folks get hung up on the wrong thing.
For client work, I can't avoid getting embroiled in discussions about design.
For my own email list, however, I can! Mwahahaha! THE POWER. Seriously though, it's for your own benefit <wags finger obnoxiously>.
If you do any work that is vaguely creative, whether copy or design or otherwise, sooner or later you will butt up against a Very Difficult Question: what feedback to act on word for word, what feedback to act on indirectly, and what feedback to pass on because it doesn't reflect the sentiment of your majority audience who are happy as a clam?
How do you balance your principles against the feedback? When are the two in harmony? When is one side sabotaging the other? When should you make tough tradeoffs?
As the author Neil Gaiman put it, "When people tell you something isn't working, they're almost always right. When they tell you how to fix it, they're almost always wrong".
Now, maybe I’m the one who’s wrong in choosing to accept the feedback but opt for a different solution: sticking with words alone, but switching to Substack to improve the text formatting. I’m hoping that this solves the problem well enough that I won’t have to compromise on the principles behind this email list <crosses fingers till they cramp and wither and get gangrene> but if I am wrong, I want to know!
So I‘ve got a really quick favour to ask you. Yes, you there, with the opinions and stuff.
Below is a section from the last teardown, reformatted.
Do you have any strong feelings? Is it harder or easier to read? No difference really? Couldn’t care less? Hit reply and tell me!
Subject line: “ICANN Domain Expiry Courtesy Notice”
I cann...not understand this acronym. Huh. But reading on, I know what a domain is. Oh yes! I have one of those. Plz don’t expire on me, my precious! Better open the email hadn’t I?
“Hello -
This is an automated courtesy email that you have one or more domain names with renewal dates within 30 days:
Domain name corissanunn.com
Expiry date 2020-09-29”
An automated email that’s NOT pretending NOT to be an automated email? Perversely, I quite enjoy that. Have I been doing this job too long?
“About this email
You have been sent this email because you are the listed owner of a domain name. The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) requires that all domain registrants are reminded that they have domain names that are coming up for renewal.”
Well blow me down! Pennies from heaven! Is this… can(n) it be… a techy email that’s made an effort to explain what’s going on? Yes. Yes!
Cheerio,
Corissa
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