70% Content and 30% Sales = Never Get Mad

At AppSumo, we emailed nearly a million people every day.

But instead of getting flagged as spam…people loved opening the emails!

Here’s the framework I invented to make that happen:

70% content, 30% sales

Many daily email newsletters sell too hard, don’t provide enough value, they’re boring, and they get unsubscribed fast.

If every email is just a pitch, people tune out.

But if it TEACHES them something — even while selling — they actually look forward to opening it.

So what does “70% content” look like? Like this:

Let’s say we’re promoting a new tool, the email might include: • How people are using it • What industries it’s working for • How it helps people make money • Real examples + use cases

Then the final 30% is simple: “Here’s the deal. Click here to get it.”

By this point, they’ve already gotten value — even if they don’t buy.

So it doesn’t feel like a pitch. It feels like discovery.

This simple formula is how we sent a daily sales email to 1,000,000+ people without burning the list.

70% content. 30% sales.

​Share this concept​ with the writers in your life.