This Week’s Fix: The “Flex” Section
Using a consistent newsletter template delivers a better reader experience for several reasons:
It makes your newsletters easier to read because subscribers spend less mental energy figuring out how to navigate your layout
It builds trust and brand recognition because people see the same logo placement, fonts, and colors every time they open your email
It speeds up your own internal process because you don’t have to reinvent the wheel for every newsletter
But it’s also nice to have some variety—a way to surprise your readers and test new content ideas without disrupting the experience they expect.
A great way to do this is to designate one section in your newsletter as a “flex” section. This is where you can experiment, have fun, and explore potential evolutions to your content strategy.
How You Can Apply This Today
Build one “flex” section into your newsletter template that you can swap out based on how readers interact with the content.
The key here is making sure there’s something clickable in your flex section so that you have data to make a good go/no-go decision.
If readers love it, consider adding the flex content as a permanent section in your template. If they don’t, swap it out and try something else.
Here’s a quick guide on how to implement this:
If you send a daily newsletter, change your flex section every 1-2 weeks.
If you send a weekly newsletter, change it every 4-6 weeks.
If you send a biweekly or monthly newsletter, change it every quarter.
How often you change the content in the flex section matters less than taking the time to study engagement and make adjustments. This shows readers there are real people behind the scenes making choices about what goes out the door.
Who Does This Well?
Check out the All Healthy newsletter. Kudos to Co-founder Sean Devlin for giving language to this strategy at the 2026 New Media Summit conference in Austin.
All Healthy implements “structured variety” to test potential future offerings. If a lot of people engage with a certain type of content, they consider building specific products, or even spinning off new brands, to serve that interest.
If you have another great example, reply and let me know. I’m always on the lookout for excellent newsletters, and I’ll send the first person who replies the following postcard (in the mail, of course).
This Week’s Postcard
The original British Mini
Something from IRL
My wife introduced me to the show Survivor during COVID. I was instantly hooked and have been applying ever since. If these newsletters suddenly stop going out for two-three months in spring/early summer, I may be stranded on an island somewhere in Fiji…
See You Next Week
That’s it for this edition of Priority Mail. Next up, one simple fix under the Production & Operations category.
Until then, if you’re struggling to send a consistent, high-quality newsletter that keeps you top of mind with clients, I’d love to help.
Book time with me here.
We can take a look at your ESP setup, review a recent newsletter, or talk through your biggest pain points; whatever is most helpful.
Chris
GM at Future Forest
