392. What 14 Billion Emails Reveal About Your Email Marketing Strategy

Flodesk recently released its 2026 Email Marketing Trends Report, analyzing more than 3 million campaigns and 14 billion email deliveries. And while some of the findings reinforce long-standing email advice, others challenge the “best practices” we’ve all heard for years.

In this episode, I’m breaking down the data through an eCommerce lens and digging into:

Whether image-heavy emails actually hurt deliverability

What segmentation really means for product-based businesses

The subject line tactics that may, or may not, matter

Which “spam words” are actually worth worrying about

What the data says about the best days and times to send

Why some list-growth and automation findings are a little misleading

The email metrics I think matter more than opens and clicks

You’ll also hear why some of the tiny email optimizations people obsess over probably matter a lot less than you think, and what I’d prioritize instead if your goal is actually making more sales from email.

If you’ve ever wondered whether you’re sending at the wrong time, using too many images, overthinking your subject lines, or following outdated email marketing advice, this episode will give you a much better framework for deciding what’s worth testing in your business.

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