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- The Founder's Guide to Writing Emails
Hey ,
Welcome back to The Intelligent Marketer, where over 12,260 growth-minded founders, agency owners, and marketers go to learn modern marketing strategies.
Most founders either overthink their email strategy, or barely think about it at all.
Some get stuck trying to use their list only to sell to.
Others just wing it and hope for the best.
Either way, the result is the same:
Low engagement.
High unsubscribes.
And an audience that stops paying attention.
If you want your emails to cut through the noise, here’s the simple truth:
📬 The best emails build trust.
Here’s how I think about structure, tone, and pacing when writing emails that actually work, whether you’re sending to 500 or 50,000.
1. Start with a real subject line
Just something clear, honest, and relevant.
A few principles:
Make it sound like a 1:1 message, not a blast
Hint at the takeaway, don’t spoil it
Be specific, not clever (you’re not writing for BuzzFeed)
✅ Bad: “You won’t believe this.”
✅ Better: “The $30 mistake I made with our onboarding email.”
2. Your intro matters more than your CTA
Once they open the email, the first 2 lines determine whether they read the rest.
Keep it simple. Keep it human.
“Quick story for you…”
“This one stung a little, but it taught me something important.”
“Most founders overlook this, and it costs them.”
Talk like a person, not a campaign.
3. Give them a reason to care
Don’t just share updates. Share insight.
Ask:
What’s in this for them?
If you’re not teaching, helping, or challenging something they believe, you’re wasting a send.
The best marketing content is useful even if they don’t buy.
4. Make it skimmable
Short paragraphs.
Plenty of white space.
And ideally, one main idea per email.
If it reads like a wall of text, it’s getting archived.
5. End strong, but don’t oversell
You don’t need 3 PS lines, 2 CTAs, and a countdown timer.
If the content is valuable, the offer can be simple:
“If this resonated, I talk more about it here.”
“Need help with this? Let’s talk.”
“I’m building something for founders like you. Stay tuned.”
Don’t force them to take an action, earn it.
Talk soon,
Eric
P.S.
If your brand is creating more content but seeing less impact, we can help.
At Legacy Builder, we’ve helped 200+ founders, operators, and teams turn scattered messaging into strategic content that builds authority and drives results.
If you want to drive leads and opportunities from social media, click the link below: