To kick things off, we want you to think about the last time you started a seriously good series on Netflix.

You didn't finish episode one and simply wait until tomorrow for episode two now, did you? That's why there’s a "next episode in 5..." countdown that pops up, just after the last episode left you on a cliffhanger.

Now think about how most email courses or series work.

Day 1 lands, your reader's hooked, just done the task, and they’re invested... and then they sit on their hands for 24 hours, because that's how the automation was set up.

But that 24-hour wait is a default setting. No one actually ever made it a rule, guys.

We’re taking a quick detour here, because if you're still handing out a PDF as your lead magnet, you might want to think about approaching it a little differently.

Remember that person from Vol. 79? The one who grabbed your lead magnet in 2024, forgot who you are, and suddenly got four emails from you in five days?

A PDF is how that generally happens. They get downloaded, forgotten, and the next time you show up in their inbox, you're still a stranger.

A course does the opposite. And there are a few things we like about them:

1. They build the habit from day one. A new subscriber opens your emails on day one, day two, day three... Mailbox providers notice that, and so do your readers.

2. Small tasks actually get done. One five-minute job to do daily beats a 30-page guide that lives forever in that forgotten downloads folder (we all have one).

3. The last lesson sells without selling. And by the final email, your reader has learnt something, done the work and (if done well) seen some results. An offer at that point often feels like the obvious next step.

We’ve gone on about why the first few emails matter most back in Vol. 66. A course is basically a welcome sequence that teaches.

Now, what got us here is that we've just launched a free 7-day course of our own called the Zombie Newsletter Revival Kit (for anyone whose newsletter has gone a little... dead 🧟). Essentially, a short daily teaching with one practical task each, and by Day 7 your list hears from you again.

But while building it, we kept coming back to two thoughts.

First, if you've written a killer series and someone's keen to read it, why on earth would you stop them?

Second (and this is the commercial brain kicking in), most courses end with an offer. And those offers land far better while someone is excited and learning than three days after they've lost the thread.

So we wanted a button at the bottom of every lesson to give readers the chance to get the next email immediately, but we had one small problem…our Beehiiv tier can't send an email when someone clicks a link.

Click-triggered automations live on the higher plans, and upgrading for one feature didn't add up for us.

So we built a workaround instead (yep, we went down the rabbit hole so you don't have to).

Without getting too deep into the weeds (that's what the playbook is for, so keep reading), here's the gist:

And the most important design decision of the lot? Nobody has to skip. Most people will happily take one lesson a day. The button is there for the excited ones.

Now, we’re big on not paying for stuff we don’t have to. Netlify and Make didn’t cost us a thing, so the skip-ahead bit was free (Beehiiv is the only paid part).

And to show how it flows: lesson button → "on its way" page → Make → Beehiiv sends the next lesson.

The course itself needs a platform with automations, and on many platforms (Beehiiv included) that means a specific paid tier. If your plan already has click-triggered automations, you don't need any of this. But give readers the option if it makes sense!

Oh, and if you’re on a different platform? The same idea works on Kit, Buttondown, Mailchimp and Brevo (amongst many others). "Skip ahead" just means putting a subscriber into the next lesson's trigger, and most platforms have a way to do that.

It's early days (we only switched it on last week), so take this as a first glance rather than a case study.

So far, almost two-thirds of people chose to skip ahead at least once. That's a lot of "nah, give it to me now" energy.

And we've only had three early exits. None of them had skipped ahead, and all three left on the same email.

That last sentence is the part we'd encourage you to steal. A course shows you a fair bit about where people lose interest, because they tend to leave through the same door. We've since reworked that email. A PDF would never have told us that.

Okay, this is a brain-fart, but here’s an email series idea for you to try: What about an advent calendar email series?

Picture 24 short emails, one a day from 1 December. A tip, a template, a discount, a peek behind the scenes; practically whatever suits your audience.

A daily reason to open, in the month when inboxes are at their loudest, could just stand out, so use it (or don’t).

Now add a skip-ahead button to some of them as a bonus.

Yes, we know that goes against the entire spirit of an advent calendar. But let's be honest, we all pried open a few doors early as kids (and the chocolate tasted better for it, now, didn’t it?).

Set it up in the next few weeks, and you've got a ready-made engagement streak running straight through the busiest month of the year.

Oh, and if you're going to give it a go, mail us if you need a hand setting it up. We'd love to see what you build.

What have you got sitting in a PDF (or a blog post, or a slide deck) that would work better as five emails?

Once you've got your answer, the hard part's done.

But we’ve made something to go exclusively with this email: A full step-by-step setup guide called the Skip-Ahead Course Playbook.

Find out which path you're on, what you'll need, the prompt we used to plan the course, and how to test it all before going live. Made with love, for you!

And if you'd rather feel the button for yourself first, take the Zombie Newsletter Revival Kit and try skipping ahead (we won't tell anyone you cheated).

Let the excited ones run, friends.

What have we found to expand your email knowledge today?

Here are a few of our favourite links from across the email and business world, carefully curated just for you:

Find of the week ⭐

Last volume, we told you to cancel a send (and we stand by it). But we also promised you a plan for the weeks between now and the madness, and our friends at Bouncer have gone and put one together for you.

Their High Season Email Checklist is a free prep pack for Black Friday, Cyber Monday and the rest of the holiday rush.

Inside, you'll find:

Remember, Bouncer lives and breathes list hygiene, and that's exactly the part most senders skip until it's too late (except you, because you’re reading this).

So, make sure that list is squeaky clean before BFCM!

Five weeks to Black Friday. That's plenty of time, if you start now.

Grab Bouncer's free High Season Checklist 👈

We're also constantly on the lookout for new resources, news, tools and links, so hit us up if you've got something valuable to feature!

Another week. Another jab at poor ol’ Outlook

Sorry, not sorry 🙃