Why? Well, it's a bit of a disaster, really. You'll end up with rubbish engagement and loads of unsubscribes, and you might even get flagged as spam. Not ideal, is it? Your emails will just blend in with all the other marketing guff people get every day.

Here's what else might happen:

• Your open rates will tank

• You'll lose subscribers left, right and centre

• Your emails might not even make it to inboxes

• You'll miss out on connecting with your audience

• Your ROI? Don't even ask

I made this mistake myself, thinking templates would save me time.

When I started out, I thought I was being clever. Just swap a few words, send it off, job done. Oh, how wrong I was. My open rates were dismal, click-throughs were a joke, and I was getting more unsubscribes than actual responses. My boss wasn't impressed, I can tell you.

Which is why I'm telling you this now.

Instead, you want to create personalised, valuable content for different audience groups.

Get to know your audience. What do they want? What do they need? Segment your list, test different approaches. Make your emails something people actually want to read, not just another thing cluttering up their inbox.

If you do this right, you'll see:

• Open rates that'll make you smile

• People actually clicking on your stuff

• Fewer unsubscribes, more loyal readers

• Better deliverability (hooray!)

• Higher conversion rates and ROI

I'm sharing this because I've seen how brilliant email marketing can be when it's done right. It's not just about flogging stuff - it's about building relationships, driving sales, growing your business. Get it right, and you'll see your carefully crafted messages actually making a difference.

Trust me, it's worth the effort.