Hello there,

Happy New Year!

As we enter into the New Year, I wanted to share with you something super interesting.

My brother recently shifted to Japan and we had this long conversation on some of Japanese philosophies.

Soon after the Skype call, I did some more reading and I found some cool strategies that Japanese use to make their emails effective.

Here’s what they do:

Japanese techniques to transform your email strategy

1. Gemba Walk:

‘Gemba’ is a term that refers to ‘the actual place’. Applied in business, a ‘Gemba Walk’ involves getting firsthand insights from the actual site where work takes place. In this case, analyze your email campaign performance by getting direct insights and feedback from your recipients or target audience. Understanding your campaign from your audience’s perspective can provide you with invaluable data to make better decisions in your future email strategies. For example: Let’s take this newsletter itself. Since most of my readers are keen to improve their email engagement, I chose a topic which will benefit them.

2. Kanban Method:

Originating from Toyota’s Japanese factories in the late 1940s, the Kanban system deeply embodies Japanese work philosophy. By visually organizing your tasks for email campaigns just like a Kanban board, you can keep track of progress easily, recognize bottlenecks, prioritize effectively, and foster team collaboration. Picture this: your email campaign tasks laid out on a virtual board, each one moving smoothly from “To-Do” to “Doing” to “Done.” It’s like a game of strategy, keeping you on your toes and your campaign on track.

3. Ikigai Alignment:

In Japanese culture, “Ikigai” is a term that combines two Japanese words—’iki’ (life) and ‘gai’ (value or worth). It essentially translates to ‘life’s worth’ or ‘reason to live’. Akin to this philosophy, imagine your emails as a mirror, reflecting your brand’s heart and soul. Forge a connection between your brand’s core values, audience interests, and your campaign’s purpose.

Warby Parker has done an incredible job of branding and creating a personalized experience from the beginning, making their emails deeply resonant. Offering customers the opportunity to try five frames at home for free is an effective way to attract and stay true to your brand’s purpose.

4. Kaizen Philosophy:

The Kaizen philosophy suggests a continuous, incremental improvement in all aspects of life, including work. Think of your email campaign as a block of marble, and you’re the sculptor. With each little chip and polish based on feedback and analytics, you’re creating a masterpiece of engagement. Action you can take: Evaluate the last 5 emails that you sent. Check which emails had a higher response rate. Check what type of content your subscriber responded to. Those are the things you should include more in your emails.

5. Hansei Reflection:

After the confetti settles, take a moment to ponder. What worked? What fizzled? Reflecting on your campaign is like looking into a crystal ball, helping you see what tweaks can turn the next one into a blockbuster.

For example, Actions you can take: Suppose you sent out an email with an emoji in the subject line and it saw more open rates compared to the others without an emoji. This tells you emojis in the subject line work. And you can use this technique in your future emails.

Now you will only uncover such hacks if you ponder over the results of your email campaigns. So do try this technique after every email sending.

So those were some Japanese email hacks.

Which ones did you find interesting?

Moreover, which ones would you be trying out?

I’m eager to hear your experience. Do try them out and reply to this email.

Let’s get better one email at a time!

Warm regards,