Yesterday, I opened a newsletter I typically wouldn’t have.It was from Grammarly.These are usually instant-delete emails, in my books, but this one caught my attention.Within the email, I found a few stats that I’d always been curious about:

• I’ve typed 5.3 million words since October 2019
• Last week alone, I typed more than 111,000 words

Beyond that, it also gave me a few other interesting insights:

• In my writing, I used more unique words than 99% of other users
• I was more accurate in my writing than 84% of users (which, in fairness, is because I don’t always write in ultra-formal English, which often causes “errors”)
• I wrote 97% more than other users

What was it about this particular newsletter that suddenly caught my attention? There were a few factors:

• The subject line was attention-grabbing: it said “Your unique word use has been 👍.” and the preview text read “That’s more than 99% of users” (typically these are much more sales-oriented)
• As a person who makes their living from writing, this kind of information was right on the mark for my interests
• The content was delivered in a “you-focused” manner--it talked all about me and my interests before ever mentioning Grammarly or trying to sell the upgraded service (whereas most of its emails are quite salesy)

As someone who’s extremely picky about the newsletters I open, here are a few lessons I take away from this that can be applied to most (if not all) newsletters, including yours:

• Your headlines and preview text are vital tools for driving clicks, so take your time with them
• With this email, Grammarly knew exactly what they were sending, to whom, and why (i.e. insightful writing content to a writer)
• Content that’s primarily about providing value to the reader is much more effective than content that’s solely about the business and its products and services
• Since most of Grammarly’s emails are super promotional and not rooted in providing me with value, I’ll probably still rarely open them which demonstrates the value of being consistent in taking a value-driven approach

So, when you start thinking about how to structure email marketing for your coworking space, try to look at it from this same lens for your existing and prospective members.