The Secret Strategy to Ramp Up Your Reply Rate

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Give me three minutes, and I’ll reveal how to radically increase your reply rate.

The secret strategy has been passed down from editor to editor at Denmark’s leading communications blog through the 2010s. When I became co-editor in 2017, I was let in on the secret — and it revolutionized not only my approach to criticism but also the popularity of my articles and newsletters.

Today, I’ll share it with you. But I’ll warn you in advance: This tactic requires a bit of a thick skin.

Ready for it? Come closer, let me whisper it in your ear:

“Leave a flank open.”

The leave-a-flank-open strategy has one purpose, and one purpose only: to get your readers responding to your work.

Why?

So you drive greater engagement and boost your deliverability score — yes, reader replies do actually help with deliverability, and they’re one of the best ways to prove that your content is being read and resonating with your audience. The higher the engagement, the more your content can snowball out into the internet for all to gawp at.

The strategy is simple, but not easy.

The leave-a-flank-open strategy, explained 

Leaving a flank open means deliberately exposing yourself to attack. You’re leaving a space for readers to read your content and write back to say, “Did you think about this?” or “I think you’re wrong on this topic!”

But hear me out: This isn’t shit-posting. This isn’t click-baiting. It’s much more sophisticated than that. And done right, it’ll give you the chance to start a lot of useful conversations with your readers. (More on that in a moment.)

How to start

Ask yourself:

What are the three most obvious things people could criticize in my newsletter?

Can’t think of anything? Then you’re probably not leaving a flank open. So it’s time to go through your draft and remove those rebuttals!

“Wait, what are rebuttals?”

Rebuttals are the art of spotting weaknesses in your own argument and addressing them before others do. We do it all the time to avoid criticism, and to strengthen our credibility.

Because we hate being put on blast — and there is no way to take back a published newsletter.

Ten rebuttal red flags

Look through your recent newsletters. Did you include any phrases like: 

• “Some might say…”
• “I know it seems like…”
• “You might think that…”
• “There is no universal answer…”
• “It depends on the situation…”
• “Maybe not in all cases…”
• “But it’s all about context…”
• “It might not apply to B2B, but…”
• “It’s not a one-size-fits-all strategy…”

Those are all rebuttals — meaning: you’re closing any loopholes in your argument to keep a reader from writing back.

But replies matter with newsletters. So instead of keeping those rebuttals in, you should find them and destroy them. 

Then kick back and wait for your readers to write back, armed with CAPS LOCK and exclamation marks, ready to point out a few things you’ve forgotten or overlooked.

Or, if you are bold, you could even ask for feedback, contributions, or criticism — invite readers to share ideas you might have missed! 

I do this often in my own newsletter, which is published in Danish and all about copywriting. Here’s a screenshot from my inbox after a recent edition of the newsletter, all about ChatGPT tips. All of these readers wrote back to my newsletter, and I wrote back to each of them. Some conversations ended there — several turned into longer threads.

How to take those replies and turn them into conversations 

I know that many of you are reading this and asking yourself, “But what if I get called out? Or publicly shamed for my omissions?”

I get that.

But here’s the genius part: If you do this right, these replies should be the gateway to starting great 1-1 conversations with readers.

Remember, as you start writing your newsletter, ask yourself: What are the three most obvious things people could criticize in this text? Then go ahead and pre-write the initial replies. Prepare a few links or ideas you’ll want to share with readers who do write back.

Be thoughtful in your replies, and you’ll find that you may just start some powerful conversations with your readers who may become among your most loyal — they’re the ones who’ll share your content and become ambassadors or paying clients down the road.

Let’s see the strategy in action

Let’s get a little bit meta now — here’s how I used the strategy for writing this piece.

I found myself writing these three rebuttals in my first draft:

1. “It might take more time to write back, but…”
2. “Also, this strategy works well on social media…”
3. “By the way, you could use the leave-an-open-flank-strategy for public speaking, too…”

But I deleted them.

Instead, I’m leaving room for you (and the other clever readers of Inbox Collective) to point them out in an email reply.

And if you do happen to write back to this email, here’s what I might say:

1. Yes, replying will take up some more of your time, but it’s totally worth it. Because the readers you engage with may become among your most loyal. What you could do to save time is pre-writing the initial replies. Then you can quickly copy-and-paste your way through most of them and add a personal touch.
   
2. You should see the amount of great comments I get on my LinkedIn because I always leave a flank open.

3. I totally agree with you. I find that this strategy is actually a great way to prepare for a public speaking gig, because your nerves will be more calm knowing that you have answers ready for difficult questions or potential criticism.

Like I said earlier: The goal isn’t to say things to deliberately provoke an angry reply. Instead, you’re leaving an opening to start a conversation — and then let things proceed from there.

The eight steps of leave-a-flank-open strategy

To recap, let me break down the strategy into eight steps:

1. Write something clever for your newsletter. (If the content isn’t any good, the rest of the strategy won’t work!)
2. Identify the three most obvious points of criticism.
3. Avoid mentioning these points. (Meaning: no rebuttals!)
4. Prepare strong responses to potential feedback from readers.
5. Send out the newsletter. If you’re feeling bold: Invite readers directly to reply with feedback.
6. Bring out the popcorn and wait for the replies to flood in.
7. Reply with your prepared comebacks.
8. Be willing to engage with wherever the conversation goes from there.

Okay, let’s end it here for today. Unless, of course, there’s something totally obvious I’ve overlooked.

Thanks to our sponsor

The stories you’re reading on inboxcollective.com are made possible thanks to the generous support of our summer sponsor, GetResponse. They’re an email marketing and automation platform with comprehensive, affordable, and easy-to-use tools to grow, engage, and convert your audience. If you’re looking for a platform with powerful automation and monetization tools, give GetResponse a try — and if you’re a non-profit, get a 50% discount on any of their plans.