We send a lot of email nobody opens, and then we send more. On this week’s Keynote, Kristin Hanson, filling in for me this week, sat down with Dayana Kibilds, co-author of Mailed It! with Ashley Budd, who argues the fix starts with no longer treating the most personal channel we own like a billboard.
Day makes the case that email is the closest thing to a one-to-one conversation advancement has, and that relevance, not fancier segmentation, is what earns a place in someone’s inbox. Tie what you send to what people are actually living through, lead with value instead of news about yourself, and keep AI in the back office rather than in the relationship.
Watch the full-length version on YouTube (47 mins)
My favorite part is her answer to anyone who says change is too risky: the magic word is always pilot. Test it with 500 people, prove it beats what you’ve always done, then scale. It’s a disarming way to move a nervous institution, and a good reminder that the point of being in the inbox is to be useful, not just present.
Big Themes This Week
Email is the most personal, most owned channel we have, and treating it like a billboard is why it fails.
Relevance beats segmentation. Tie content to what people are actually living through, and lead with value, not news about yourself.
The magic word is always pilot. Test a change with a small group, prove it works, then scale.
Team Discussion Questions
Is our email talking about us, or being useful to the people receiving it?
Where could we replace attribute-based segmentation with content that’s actually relevant to someone’s life right now?
What’s one change we could pilot with 500 people before rolling it out to everyone?
Kristin Simonetti Hanson is an award-winning editorial content strategist, writer, and editor based in Baltimore, Md.
For nearly 20 years, she’s served higher ed and nonprofit organizations with her distinctive, creative voice and sharp, strategic insight, turning complex priorities into clear, compelling narratives. In 2021—after working in-house for Johns Hopkins University, the University of North Carolina Wilmington, The Washington Center for Internships and Academic Seminars, and Elon University—she went out on her own, founding Kristin Hanson Writes, LLC.
Kristin’s work spans advancement communications, campaign storytelling, and alumni engagement. She’s also regularly contributed to Johns Hopkins Magazine, Johns Hopkins Medicine Magazine, The Stevens Indicator, Weill Cornell Impact, Currents, and Trusteeship, among other publications. And in 2025, Kristin added a new type of writing to her repertoire, publishing her first children’s book, Mortimer the Terrier’s Second Chance.
