72. Hot Seat: How to make your email automations feel personal with Rachel Smith

<p>What if your email automations could do the heavy lifting of personalisation... without you writing a separate email for every type of subscriber?</p><p><br></p><p>That's exactly what we dig into in this hot seat episode with Rachel Smith, freelance journalist, copywriter, and the founder of Rachel's List, a thriving jobs board and membership community for writers of all kinds. Rachel is a Retention Lab member, and came to me with a real headache around her email marketing, and we worked through it together live on the show.</p><p><br></p><p><strong style="background-color: transparent; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">What we cover:</strong></p><ul><li>Why personalisation isn't really about first names (and what to do instead)</li><li>How to use application form data to create conditional content that feels bespoke</li><li>Trigger links and what they can tell you about hot leads sitting in your sequence</li><li>The case for re-engagement flows at the three and six month mark</li><li>How to incentivise feedback so people actually complete your surveys</li><li>Milestone tagging inside your email platform and why it matters for retention</li><li>Activity scoring to spot disengaged members before they quietly cancel</li></ul><p><br></p><p><strong style="background-color: transparent; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Connect with Rachel Smith:</strong></p><p><br></p><p><a href="https://rachelslist.com.au/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(22, 110, 225);">https://rachelslist.com.au/</a></p><p><a href="https://rachelsmith.com.au/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(22, 110, 225);">https://rachelsmith.com.au/</a></p><p><a href="https://www.instagram.com/rachelslist/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(22, 110, 225);">https://www.instagram.com/rachelslist/</a></p><p><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/rachelsmithsydney/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(22, 110, 225);">https://www.linkedin.com/in/rachelsmithsydney/</a></p><p><a href="https://rachelslist.com.au/portfolio/the-pay-rates-report/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(22, 110, 225);">https://rachelslist.com.au/portfolio/the-pay-rates-report/</a><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent;">&nbsp;</span></p><p><br></p><p><strong style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent;">View the episode transcript </strong><a href="https://link.candocontent.com/72" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(17, 85, 204); background-color: transparent;"><strong>here</strong></a><strong style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent;">.</strong></p><p></p><p><strong style="background-color: transparent; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Where to from here?</strong></p><p><br></p><p>Grab the 2026 State of the Customer Report FREE <a href="https://candocontent.com/state-of-the-customer-report" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">right here</a>.</p><p>Generate 10 tailored-to-you survey questions FREE <a href="https://candocontent.com/survey-questions" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">right here</a>.</p><p><br></p><p><strong style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent;">Join Retention Lab</strong><strong>🧪</strong><strong style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent;">, </strong><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent;">the community to help you b</span>uild a signature customer experience that keeps people coming back, gets them talking and grows your business without you having to start from scratch every single month<span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent;">.&nbsp;</span><a href="https://link.candocontent.com/community" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(17, 85, 204);">Join here!</a></p><p><br></p><p><span style="background-color: transparent; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Find out how you can get my strategic customer experienc