Storytelling in Email: How to Write Messages That Actually Connect
Your welcome sequence made the first impression.
Here’s how to keep your subscribers coming back with stories that don’t require big life moments (or trauma dumps).
Visual created with MidJourney — because my writing desk doesn’t always look this dreamy, but the stories are just as real.
Let’s Be Honest: You’re Not a Memoirist, You’re a Marketer
After that carefully crafted welcome sequence (👏 good job, by the way), the pressure sets in: “Now what do I send?”
Then, “How do I keep this vibe going without writing the whole thing every week?”
Then, at midnight, after trying to craft the best email novella of all time, “Do I need to have a spiritual awakening in a Target parking lot to justify hitting send?”
Whew. I’ve been there. And to answer the question, no. There’s no need to have a breakdown or an existential crisis to have a good story.
If you’ve ever stared at a blank Google Doc feeling like you have “nothing to say,” you’re likely just stuck in the belief that email stories need to be big. (They don’t.)
In fact, your audience doesn’t need your origin story every Tuesday. They need to feel something. To see themselves. Honestly, they need to trust you enough to keep opening.
And that is where micro-moment storytelling comes in.
What Counts as a “Story” in Email Marketing?
Spoiler: It’s not just the time you quit your job, hit a launch goal, or fell apart on a therapy couch.
A “story” in email marketing is any moment that creates an emotional spark. This is the moment your reader recognizes themselves in the story.
It can be:
The client who surprised you by doing the opposite of your advice — and succeeding anyway.
The thing your toddler blurted out that low-key proved your positioning strategy works.
That time you scheduled a sales email… and sent it to your ex by accident.
These are tiny truths. And in email, they’re gold. (You're about to see me drop one of these in this next section…)
But Wait… Why Tell Stories in the First Place?
You already have value to share. Tips, strategies, ideas. Why not just teach?
I get it. I was a middle school literature educator before I transitioned to writing as a full-time career. Middle school kids are a tough audience, especially when you're trying to entice them into reading the classics. But here’s what I learned teaching literature to middle schoolers that converts into a marketing truth:
Stories unlock permission. Stories make people feel safe. Seen. On board.
When I was teaching literature, it meant reading a cliffhanger section aloud to my class as I introduced a new novel. I'd read right up to the jumping off point, and the bell would ring with the perfect amount of dramatic flair.
Side note about my office bookshelf
Makes me look well-read, right? But here’s a truth I’ll never keep secret: if you look close, you’ll see the shelves aren’t lined with marketing manuals or productivity hacks. They’re filled with the same picture books I used to teach my kids when they were young.
I leaned on story because it worked. It made abstract ideas feel tangible. Emotional truths, visual. Concepts, memorable. Which is the exact same thing your emails can do. And you don’t need a big story arc or “main character energy” to do it — you need a moment that feels true.
And when that emotional foundation is in place, your insights land more effectively. Your offers feel more relevant, and your open rates go up, meaning so does your conversion.
Stories in your emails build:
Trust (especially when they’re not perfect)
Memory (people remember stories, not facts)
Momentum (you never run out of things to say when you’re paying attention to life)
Think of Storytelling as a Continuation of Your Welcome Sequence
If your welcome sequence introduces who you are and why your reader should care, then your ongoing emails are about deepening that connection.
But most people finish the welcome sequence and freeze.
They’ve already told the story of why they started their business. They’ve already shared that one client win they always lead with. They’ve used all their good stories… right?
Wrong. The best emails aren’t written from memory. They’re written from right now.
How to Use Micro-Stories in Your Emails
Here’s a simple structure that works whether you’re writing 300 words or 1,000. This is how I help clients go from “What do I even say?” to “That actually felt good to send.”
1. Start with a Tiny Moment
You don’t need a dramatic moment or a perfect arc. You just need to start where you are. Like this:
The other day I sat down to write a client email…
…and somehow ended up Googling:
“Is it rude to use ellipses in professional communication?”
Fifteen tabs later, I had:
A heated opinion about AI’s obsession with em dashes
Three new questions about colons versus commas
And a full-blown spiral that went something like:
Should I use them? Should I not? Who’s going to read this? Do they think I know grammar? Should I start over? Did I mess it up? I DID write this. I’m not a robot. Then why is the grammar checker acting like I did it wrong? Is this sentence weird? Am I weird?
And this, friends, is how I lost 47 minutes and still hadn’t written the dang email.
Why this story works: It’s not just a funny spiral — it’s a snapshot of real-life overthinking. And that’s the kind of moment your audience feels.
Even a 47-minute grammar crisis can become meaningful fodder for an email, when you let it lead into something deeper.
2. Reveal What It Represents
That tiny meltdown? It’s what happens when a scattered brain and a perfectionist heart try to share an inbox. The truth is, I care how things come across and how they feel on the other side. But sometimes, that care tips into overthinking.
That’s when I forget that I already know how to connect. And spoiler alert, I’ve written an email before. And most importantly, I know that if it sounds too “perfect,” it probably won’t feel like me.
(And if you’re still reading this? I’m guessing the same might be true for you.)
3. Bridge to the Bigger Idea
So if you’re writing your emails while second-guessing every word, every dash, every “just” — I get it.
You're not doing it wrong, but you are trying a little too hard to be “right”. With all the changes online with AI, what people really want is real.
That’s why every email I write — mine and my clients’ — blends story, structure, and permission to be a person.
Not Sure What to Write About? Try One of These
Here are 5 simple prompts to help you find email stories in the everyday:
Something that annoyed you this week (and what it taught you)
A weird client comment that stuck with you
A moment of self-doubt you don’t normally admit
A time you broke your own rule… and learned something
Something you’re still figuring out (this one builds trust like nothing else)
Remember: no one’s looking for your polished TED Talk moment. They want the unfiltered DM that says, “Hey, this just happened, and I had to tell you.”
Still Not Feeling “Story-Driven Enough”? Here’s a Hack.
Most people overthink their email stories because they’re trying to prove a point from the start. Try flipping that. Write the moment down before you know what it means.
You’d be surprised how many of your throwaway stories lead to precisely what your reader needs to hear.
For example:
Forgetting to schedule your own launch email? → Talk about automation guilt.
Explaining your job to your aunt again? → Great lead-in to positioning clarity.
Realizing you’ve written more Instagram captions than actual sales content? → Time to talk about nurturing vs visibility.
TL;DR: You Don’t Need to Be a Storyteller. You Just Need to Be Paying Attention.
If your welcome sequence was the handshake, your story-driven emails are the casual weekly coffee chats.
The kind where:
You don’t need a perfect outline
You don’t need a “big” point
You just need to show up like a real human
Do that consistently, and you’ll build an audience that actually wants to hear from you and buy from you.
Wanna See This in Action?
I turned myself into a case study so you could steal what works.
Hop on my list and you’ll:
See the welcome sequence I send to every new subscriber
Watch how I move from “intro” to “nurture” without it feeling robotic
Experience real story-driven emails (in real time, so get ready for stories about the turkeys that are arriving at the farm in August)
No vague “do this” advice — just a live walkthrough of exactly how I do it.
👉 Join the list here and start snooping.
