A note from the editors

Open Letter began in the spring of 2021 as a weekly email to a few dozen friends who ran small businesses. They kept asking the same questions. What should I write about? Why does nobody open my emails? How often is too often?

Most of the advice we found was about tools and settings. That matters, but it is only half the job. The other half is what you actually say: the subject line that earns the open, the first sentence that keeps someone reading and the one clear thing you want them to do next.

So we started writing it down. Every essay here takes one idea and explains it plainly, with real examples you can borrow. We revise older essays when our thinking changes, and we note the date when we do.

Thank you for reading. If something here helps, we would love to hear about it.

— The editors, Open Letter