You can’t transform your email strategy overnight. Like getting fit, sustainable change happens by building good habits and staying consistent. You start small, like drinking more water, then upping your daily step goal, then adding more protein (seriously, so much talk about protein), and continue building from there.

Apply the same approach to your email marketing. Here are five healthy habits to prioritize in 2026 to keep your email program strong.

Don’t Skip Leg Day: Authentication and Trust is the Foundation

Deliverability is a core strength of your email program. If this foundation is weak, your strategy will collapse.

• Never skip the warm-up: It might not be the fun part, but it will prevent injury (to your sender reputation). Monitor your send volume for changes and maintain list hygiene to keep a healthy standing with ISPs.
• Strong technical form: ISPs are constantly changing the rules, which directly impacts your inbox placement. Make sure your SPF, DKIM, DMARC, and options like BIMI are set up correctly to improve deliverability and reach the inbox.
• Consistency is key: Build trust by sending valuable messages at the right time and by addressing or, better yet, anticipating your audience’s needs. Strong and consistent engagement helps keep your ISP reputation healthy.

Tough love reality check: If your message isn’t appropriately timed, behaviorally targeted, or genuinely valuable, it will be increasingly filtered out or flat-out ignored.

On top of that, AI is already rewriting your emails. This means offers buried, promos clipped, and opens that don’t convert. SH/FT can help you identify risks, opportunities, and fixes to keep your offers visible and the clicks flowing

Complimentary AI Summary Readiness Mini-Audit → Claim your offer now!

Make Every Rep Count: Prioritize Engagement Over Volume

Focus your energy where it counts the most. Busting out 40 consecutive reps just for the sake of volume isn’t helpful, and you’re just going to hurt yourself (and your sender reputation). If your only move is inserting a subscriber’s first name, you aren’t really training; you’re just going through the motions.

• Ditch the “all or nothing” mindset: It doesn’t matter how many emails you send if they aren’t landing in the inbox. High volume with low engagement is essentially “junk”.
• Ditch the scale: Unsubscribes are not a bad thing. It’s okay, just let them go. A leaner list of engaged subscribers is better for deliverability. Put your energy into keeping your current subscribers interested.
• Dig deeper: Commit to an actionable data strategy for deep personalization to connect with customers based on their real needs. Using the right data helps you offer relevant solutions and encourages quick action.

Muscle Weighs More Than Fat: Measuring Success

Just as a scale can’t distinguish between lean muscle and body fat, vanity metrics often mask the true health of your strategy. 

• Fuel the engine: Data is the best fuel for your email engine. To drive real performance, look past surface-level numbers and focus on high-impact data points that actually move the scale.
• Track progress against your goals: If you are training for a marathon, you aren’t going to focus on pull-ups. Open rates aren’t telling you the whole story. Measure conversion events (clicks, form fills, registrations, sales) and optimize for the movements that directly impact your revenue.
• Check your equipment: Do you have the right tools to be successful? You need tools for advanced segmentation, dynamic content, and AI optimizations to ensure your fuel (data) is put to valuable use.

Well-Rounded Cross Training: The Big Picture, Omni-Channel Journey

If your email program operates in a silo, you’re missing out on total-body results.

• The whole circuit counts: Map out your customer journey(s) across all channels. Put yourself in your customer’s shoes: Are they moving seamlessly from email to web to social? Identify the areas of resistance and optimize for a frictionless experience.
• Switch up the routine: Are your subscribers being inundated with messages, or are there gaps in consistent communication? Are they engaging with the content, or are conversions failing? Avoid the plateau by continuously measuring, testing, and learning. 

Form Over Flair: Accessible Beautiful Designs

Ultimately, good old-fashioned squats, pushups, and curls get the job done. It doesn’t need to be complicated. 

• Everyone is welcome: Accessible by default is the new mantra. Digital equity is not only a standard but also a competitive advantage, with features such as screen reader support.
• Clean and lean: A cluttered email, like a cluttered gym, makes it hard for people to know what to do and how to do it efficiently. Prioritize clarity in your design, layout, content, and code so readers can easily take action.

Bonus Exercise: AI as Your Workout Buddy

A trainer or workout buddy keeps you on track and pushes you further. You know your customers best and are the brains behind fresh, creative ideas, but AI can assist you with the heavy lifting from predictive sending to content optimization to spotting churn.

It’s a Race but Not a Sprint

Commit to the long game for sustainability. Let’s talk about how SH/FT can elevate your email strategy to boost engagement, conversions, and lasting customer relationships all year long. Keep testing, pivoting, and staying consistent. Your subscribers (and your ROI) will appreciate the extra effort.