There's a lot you can do in emails to enhance your relationship with your subscribers.

Honesty and openness is a good “trick”.

Telling stories that share a bit of your life and personality. Actually having an opinion about stuff. Admitting to your mistakes. Showing empathy for their challenges.

But the very best thing for building relationships is something you'll rarely see advised.

It's simply to write emails that get replies. Either because you ask for them, or because you write on topics that people are interested in replying to.

Most email marketing works on the principle of trying to reduce human interaction. That way you can reach thousands of people efficiently.

And that works for Amazon, or online marketers pitching products where people are buying the thing, rather than the person behind the thing.

But when we're marketing high-value services, the relationship is vital.

And relationships aren't about efficiency. Relationships come from human beings interacting with each other.

So the thing to do in your emails isn't to try to automate the heck out of everything. It's to use your automated emails to trigger more personal interaction.

An email reply from a subscriber turns into a personal reply from you and then an email conversation. Maybe even a call.

And then that person feels much more like they have a relationship with you. Because they do.

They'll find it much easier in future to shoot you an email or give you a call if they're looking for help. You're no longer a distant information provider. You're a responsive connection. A friend even.

And really, it's not all that inefficient to do this.

If you have a few thousand email subscribers, only a handful will email you back each time. It's perfectly manageable.

But each email you get back is a new or enhanced relationship