You don't own email distribution until you do these 3 things

Email experts often say:

You own your email distribution channel. The list is yours. You can do whatever you want with it.

I say the same thing.

But here’s the problem - 99% of founders use email automation and newsletter platforms.

They depend on these platforms.

Recently I got temporarily blocked at one of the providers I used. And lost access to my contacts for almost a week. Don’t repeat my mistake.

1. Regularly export your list

Every single good email marketing platform has an option to export all your contacts.

Usually with all the tags and additional data to help you migrate somewhere else if required.

Problem is - if your account is blocked or you lost access for some reason - you probably can’t do anything.

That’s why you MUST do it in advance. And do it regularly.

If possible - set up an automation to constantly add and update contacts in a separate place (like Google Spreadsheets or dedicated CRM).

2. Have a backup copy of all your emails and designs

You don’t want to rewrite that perfect email again from scratch, right?

All these tests and tweaks are worth a ton of money and time.

So always keep up-to-date backups.

I prefer plain text emails. But if your brand requires crazy designs - probably a good idea to keep their backup too.

Sequence and segmentation logic - same thing. Especially if the flow is complicated. You wouldn’t want to rebuild and test all that again and again.

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3. Have a reserve email provider

You shouldn’t rely on 1 platform.

That’s why you’re building owned distribution with email, don’t you?

Well, the same rule applies to email platforms. If you’re using a single platform to send emails and it goes out - what are you going to do? Wait for it to become available again? That can mean losing lots of money and goodwill. You don’t want that.

So keep a reserve option ready to go.

At least with basic functionality.

Email is powerful if you do it right

Own the list. Own the word. Own the inbox.