By “this” type of email, I really do mean this email.

List emails.

“3 reasons this type of email works”

“The top 3 reasons you're losing sales”

“7 simple strategies for winning more clients”

A bit old-fashioned, perhaps. Everyone's seen list emails time and time again.

But done right, they work.

Firstly, they're almost always focused on some kind of benefit or implied benefit like finding out why something failed.

And at the end of the day, the reason your readers signed up to your emails is to get value from them. Some kind of result. If your emails stop delivering benefits, your readers will eventually stop reading.

Second, the number in the subject line triggers curiosity.

It's like those “countdown” shows on TV. “The top 100 toys from the 80s”, “Britain's favourite rock band” or any one of million shows that counts down to the winner with the inevitable commentary from c-list celebs.

The reason there's a million of these shows is they work. We can't resist tuning in to find out what won the vote as the #1 toy of the 80s or whatever the category is.

Same with your emails.

That little bit of curiosity as to what the top 3 reasons for losing sales are, or the 7 simple strategies, or the 3 reasons this type of email works. It's enough to get more people reading than you might otherwise get.

The final reason is a very practical one: they're easy to write.

Everyone has at least half a dozen subjects where they could quickly rattle off a short list of best practices or problems or top tips.

And because they're easy to write – it means they get written.

No agonising over a blank screen for an hour, then eventually thinking “oh, I'll send an email next week instead, no one will notice”.

Tap, tap, tap, it's done.