Did you know that words can make newsletters effective or ineffective?

Of course you do. You write words for a living.

(Side note: I've never met a group of business owners more poised to make newsletters work than authors, but at the same time I've never met a group of business owners less interested in using that talent to sell more of their books. It's always so intriguing to me!)

Well Reader, that's about to change. 2025 is changing how we write emails and the name of the game is Eyeball Monkeybars.

You know, the skim reader who swings around an email with their eyeballs, sits for half a second, then swings over to something else until they decide to dismount.

This is a term I heard from one of my favourite copywriter teachers, Ashlyn Carter. 10/10 recommend her YouTube channel and I am adopting it for 2025!

Eyeball Monkeybar readers are real and when you learn what they want from their newsletters, your CTR (Click Through Rate) will start to climb.

Over the next year we'll be exploring how to use words and structure to gain more clicks inside your newsletters and today, we're starting gently.

The Eyeball Monkeybarring actually starts in your inbox. This week, to get started with our copywriting journey, you're going to take 5 minutes and scroll through your inbox. Preferably a Gmail, Hotmail, Outlook or Yahoo inbox if you can 'swing' it. This will give you a more accurate depiction of what's happening inside your reader's inbox.

And you're going to screenshot or take note of what's going on. What have you opened? What was the subject line for that open? Who sent it? Friend or brand?

What emails are still there and aren't open? Why?

Dig into all three folders. Inbox. Promotional tab. And the dreaded spam folder.

Then pop into my Facebook Group to share your findings and discuss.

Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to learn what stops the scroll for you and apply your findings to your own subject lines.

And then next week, we're going completely bonkers with your subject lines. I can't wait!!

Holly

PS Have you noticed all the tools I've used inside this email for your own eyeball monkeybarring? Love to know what you think they are!

​Have you seen my new website?​