Last week, I did something dramatic.

I unsubscribed over 15% of email addresses from my list to remove any stagnant accounts that no longer engaged with The Hungry.

I did this to help improve the open rate of my emails, but the result was only a 2% gain in open rate, from 56.5% to 58.7%. So what happened?

Some people say that it’s bad to remove addresses from your list, but the reality is that sending messages to too many cold subscribers could affect your deliverability within Gmail.

Google has become increasingly more stringent with its deliverability rules this year, and the risk is getting your messages pushed into the promotions tab (where many people ignore emails) or the spam folder.

But why did my open rate not increase after removing my cold subscribers?

First, the number is a running average. That number above is based on what I sent in the past month, and I was on vacation for much of that time.

Second, last week’s email was more philosophical; sometimes, readers want more meat and less existentialism.

Don’t worry; I got you HOOKED UP this week!

This edition of The Hungry is in partnership with Adele Delivers!​

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She Sold Tens of Thousands of Enamel Pins. Here’s how.

Have you ever met someone so impressive that no matter how often you think about them, you’re still blown away by what they’ve accomplished?

That’s how I feel about Rubeena from The Gray Muse. Here’s why:

1. She started life as a social worker with almost no creative experience.
2. She went from hand-stamping art cards to growing one of the largest independent enamel pin and sticker companies I’ve seen in just a few years.
3. She never feared gaining knowledge about growing a business and now out sells probably anyone you know.
4. She also knows how to balance priorities and put family first above growth, which I know will make her even stronger in the future.

​Read More about The Gray Muse and her secret plans for world domination.​

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Poll Dancing

Do you prefer full-length articles in the email, even if they are long, or would you rather have links to the longer articles?

Which is better in the body of the email? Long Form Articles Snippets w/ Links to Long Form

This poll's results could significantly affect the scope of the newsletter, so answer honestly, please.

5 Ways to Drag Your Audience by the Eyeballs Off Social Media and Onto Your Shop and Email List

Last week, I wrote this on Threads…

People enjoyed that post, so I poured water on it and expanded the post to go into graphic detail about why social media sucks and why you may want to start moving your audience into the spaces that matter to you most.

Don’t believe me? You will after you dig into that article. [READ MORE]

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Small Bites

‼️ - This advice on what to do every time you send an email may just give you anxiety (like it did me), but that doesn’t make it bad advice.

🖌️ - Discover new contemporary artists each week with Adele Delivers! Hosted by former gallerist Adele Gilani, this free newsletter features Adele’s favorite artists and deepens your connection to the art world, one artist at a time. [Get Inspired Here](https://substack.com/redirect/5fdef54f-03ad-4999-91e0-7a7fae57be26?j=eyJ1IjoiaTEyczgifQ.hkTgYDwdJIfPS6qjrPMhD1NGwmxwRA53jaryqpuECVs)! - [Sponsor]

🏠 - If your home pages or landing pages don’t answer these five questions,you may be losing customers (I’m still trying to answer them for my own home page right now. Go on and look; it will probably change by the next time you see it.)

🐝 - Beehiiv, the internet’s email service darling, has consistently released new updates every few weeks since the beginning of the year. It’s remarkable, and I don’t know if I have a need for the latest update, but they are certainly playing 3D chess against many competitors.

👀 - Boost your email open rates by 18% with this simple rule. Hint: I used it in this email.

💡 - I’ve been using Notion a lot lately to organize my content (and some of my personal life). It’s not a perfect system, but I love the ability to keep all my writing and ideas in one place that I can access from any device, carry over from one section to another, reference different areas, and also create templates that I can share with others. I suck at it still, but Thomas Frank doesn’t, and you’ll learn things by watching him.

Dessert

This is what happens when you partner with your favorite creative newsletter ever! Sponsor The Hungry today!​