Flows vs. Blasts: Why Your Newsletter Feels Like a Chore

If you're a consultant or coach who's "doing email," you're probably sending a newsletter when you remember, blasting your list when you have something to promote, and feeling vaguely guilty the rest of the time.

That's why email isn't doing much for you. Broadcasts treat email like a megaphone. The businesses getting results treat it like a conversation.

The blast problem

A blast is "I wrote an email, I'm sending it to everyone." Sometimes that's fine—announcements, launches, a genuine "here's what I learned" piece. But it's one-size-fits-all. The person who downloaded your guide yesterday gets the same email as someone who signed up two years ago and hasn't opened anything since.

Flows are different

A flow runs because of behavior. Someone joins your list, they get a welcome sequence. Someone downloads a lead magnet, they get follow-up matching that topic. Someone clicks "work with me," they get a nudge toward booking. Someone goes quiet, they get re-engagement.

Flows feel more personal while requiring less ongoing effort.

Timing beats frequency

Broadcasts make you obsess over "how often should I email?" Flows ask a more useful question: what would someone want to hear right after they subscribe to your list?

Someone who just opted in is at peak curiosity. They're literally telling you they're interested. A welcome blast sent three weeks later is too slow. A welcome flow, on the other hand, arrives while they still remember why they signed up.

Compounding

Broadcasts are like tweets—stop and you lose momentum. Flows are like blog posts. You build it once, and it keeps working.

This matters more for businesses because prospects often need multiple touchpoints, reassurance, a sense of fit, the right moment in their life. Flows handle the "interested but not ready" phase automatically.

What flows can do that blasts can't

Someone checks your pricing page—a blast can't address that without spamming everyone. A flow can send them a case study and a booking link, timed to the moment they're already thinking about it.

Someone goes cold—a flow can re-open the loop with "still working on X?" instead of a desperate-sounding mass email.

Someone downloads something and disappears—that's usually not a bad lead, you just didn't follow up. A flow does what you'd do if you had infinite time: deliver the resource, explain how to use it, show what success looks like, offer the next step.

Broadcasts still have a place

They're great for announcements, launches, personal updates, timely offers, "I wrote something useful" emails. Let flows handle the baseline—welcoming, nurturing, booking nudges, re-engagement—and broadcasts become fun again.

The key idea

Treat your email list like a room full of individuals. Broadcasts talk to the room. Flows talk to the person. The person is the one who books.