Since today's the last day of the year, I just did something kinda nerdy.

I exported all my emails from Kit this year and started sniffing around for patterns.

(Fun fact: I sent 600 emails this year. You're reading lucky #601.)

Email matters to me a lot, and I practice what I preach.

Here's my ranking criteria:

• Went to most of my list (meaning it didn't just go to Customers)
• Was sent this year
• Sorted by open rate

We'll do this countdown style (and I linked the emails if you wanna read them):

Here they are:

10. "found this in the attic" had a 44.75% open rate and went to 11,704 people.
9. "I refuse to do this"; 45.20% open rate; 13,138 recipients.
8. "the Office Space question"; 45.34%; 13,753.
7. "362 days ago"; 46.31%; 12,421.
6. "Lifestyle fund"; 47.20%; 13,849.
5. "recurring nightmare"; 47.45%; 13,006.
4. "transformation complete"; 47.57%; 12,973.
3. "Not considering it"; 48.54%; 13,262.
2. "It didn't start this way"; 48.89%; 12,167
1. "Closing in < 3 hours"; 55.17%; 8,596

My usual open rate is closer to 33-35%, so anything above 40% really stands out to me.

A few other observations:

1. Curiosity beats clarity almost every time. The best subject lines weren't useful or descriptive. They were incomplete thoughts.
2. Emotion beats information. The top opens weren't tied to tactics. They hinted at fear, frustration, or a turning point.
3. Lowercase wins. I try to write an email like I'm writing to a friend.
4. Urgency still works (sporadically). The ol "closing in X hours" got a ton of opens.
5. Journal-style subject lines. None of the top opens sounded like marketing. They sounded like a text you weren't sure if you were supposed to see.

And, most of all...

The "best" emails weren't clever.

They were true.

And that's the backbone of my entire approach.

So as we head into the new year, I'm not trying to get you to "write better emails."

I want you to commit to showing up.

Thanks for opening, reading, and being part of my story this year.

See you next year,

~ Cody

P.S. If you need help being more consistent, this will help.

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