📈 How we doubled our opens, tripled clicks, octupled revenue

Over the past 2 weeks we’ve managed to:

• Double our open rates from 25% to 50%

• Triple our click through rates from 4% to 12%

• 8X our ad revenue per email

Not only that but, because of our improved email deliverability, we’re getting more unique opens and clicks. So this isn’t just a case of manipulating percentages.

Via Negativa is the study of what not to do. It’s a Latin phrase that means “the way of negation” or “the negative way.” The concept is over a thousand years old and goes back to theology. But it got a lot more popular recently ‘cause Nassim Taleb talked about it in his book, Antifragile.

Doing something Via Negativa is to remove bad stuff until all that’s left is good stuff. And you can apply it in every area of life. For example, if you want to lose weight, don’t add counting macros, intermittent fasting and carb cycling to your lifestyle (addition.) Instead, stop drinking calories (subtraction.)

How did we Via Negativa this newsletter? We removed unengaged subscribers from our list. By doing this, we removed negative engagement signals to email services–that is, the people who weren’t opening or clicking our emails–and kept the positive. 

The result was that the email services showed our emails to more of our audience. Because more people saw our emails, more of them opened and clicked. Which makes email services like us more. Which increases the likelihood they’ll show our emails to people in the future. It’s a virtuous cycle.

Don’t get fixated on vanity metrics like the size of your email list. The people who matter are the ones who are reading and engaging with you. And, to some extent, even open rates and click-through rates are vanity metrics themselves. The only metric that matters in the end is cash in your pocket.

But trends in open and click-through rates are a good proxy for how much email money you’re gonna make. That’s because before they can buy from you, they have to first see your email. Poor email engagement leads to poor email deliverability, which leads to a poor you.

Finally, to make sure we never end up with a bloated, disinterested list, we’re being aggressive af with pruning using these 2 beehiiv email automations.

While we’re on the topic of Via Negativa, you might consider subtracting yourself from the sales function. “Wait… hold up… Are you telling me I’m bad stuff that needs to be removed?” Not at all. But you being the only source of revenue in your business is bad stuff. And you not having the time to work ON your business is bad stuff. And you avoiding work only you can do, to do work someone else can do, is bad stuff. Find out more →