I hate getting email I did not ask for, so writing follow ups made me nervous. The trick, according to a piece I read on Prospect Horizon, is to treat email as something you were invited to send. That reframing did most of the work for me.

Permission first. Every form on our site says clearly that we will send something, and what. People tick a box or they do not. If they do not, I do not email them, even if I think they would love what we do. That one rule kills most of the spam feeling before it starts.

Then the welcome message has to deliver the thing. If someone downloads the guide, the first email contains the guide, in the first paragraph, with no story about our founding values above it. Anything else feels like a bait and switch, and people unsubscribe on the spot.

I write like a person. Short sentences. No stock phrases about being thrilled, no bullet points pretending to be a letter. I mention the thing they read, add one idea that might help, and sign off with my own name.

The spacing matters more than I expected. Someone who just met us does not want a message every day. I send the first follow up after a few days, then leave more room, then more. If nothing happens after a couple of tries, I stop. Silence is a real answer.

And there is an unsubscribe link in every single message, easy to find, no small grey type buried at the bottom. Some people use it. That is fine, because the list I am left with is people who actually want to hear from me, and they open what I send.

Nobody has ever told me my follow ups felt pushy. A few said they were useful, which is a better compliment than it sounds.