Dorka Peter
2025. February 27.
Hi there! I'm Dorka, Marketing & Social Media Manager at Mindclash Games. One of my key roles is crafting our newsletters, and today, I want to pull back the curtain on our email marketing journey. Since 2019, we've grown an engaged community of over 11,000+ subscribers and along the way, we've learned a lot about what works and what doesn't, so you can hopefully walk away from this article with practical knowledge! :)
Why We Use Email (And Why It’s Not Just Another Sales Tool)
Social media is unpredictable, algorithms change, posts get buried, and sometimes the people who would love to see our updates just… don’t. That’s why email is still one of our favorite ways to connect. It’s direct, it’s reliable, and it doesn’t rely on luck to land in your inbox.
That said, email marketing sometimes gets a bad rep - and for good reason. No one likes spammy follow-ups, endless sales emails, or inboxes full of unnecessary info. But for us, email is not just about sales. It’s about keeping the conversation going with the people who genuinely care about what we do.
That’s why our emails aren’t just about promotions (though we’ll talk about those, too). We use them to share behind-the-scenes insights, big announcements, localization updates, award wins, and event highlights from Essen Spiel to Gen Con. We also love celebrating team moments - whether it’s a wedding, a team-building day, or the board games we’re playing together. If you’re reading our emails, it’s because you’re part of our journey, and we want you to feel connected.
How We Build Our Community Through Email
Growing your subscriber list organically takes time, but prioritizing genuine engagement over gimmicks (like pop-ups promising discounts in exchange for an email) leads to a community that actually wants to hear from you. Why do we take this approach? First, because we’re not just a webshop, and second, because we want people to stick around - not just grab a one-time discount and disappear.
Instead of transactional sign-ups, we offer real value: exclusive content like designer diaries, early access to big announcements (and sales), and behind-the-scenes updates that go beyond what we share elsewhere. These aren’t just appreciated by our audience they’re also highly shareable, and we often see our subscribers passing along our news within the board game community! That is always a win!
If you’re trying to grow an audience that doesn’t know you well yet, consider offering something valuable for free - not just a discount code, but something meaningful: access to a private Facebook group, a free PDF, an exclusive video series, a giveaway, or other content that speaks to your audience’s interests. The key is making your email list feel like a VIP space, not just another marketing channel.
The Emails We Send
We keep our email strategy simple and intentional. You’ll typically see three kinds of emails from us (and plus we have a B2B newsletter for our retailer and distributor partners, where we inform them about restock news and upcoming titles):
1. Monthly Newsletters
Once a month, we send an update covering everything happening at Mindclash Games. This includes game development progress, sneak peeks at upcoming projects, localization news, and community highlights. We also talk about upcoming conventions, awards, and anything else that’s shaping our journey.
We aim to keep our structure clean and organized (with a table of contents at the top of the email) and prioritize the most important updates first, so if you only have a few seconds to skim the email, you’ll still walk away with the key news. We also track open rates and heatmaps to see which topics were the most interesting, which links people clicked on, and what we can do better next time.
This is also where you can keep track of all our projects that are under development:
2. Special Issue Emails
These emails come when there’s something major happening, like a new game reveal, the launch of a crowdfunding campaign, a big sale, or an exciting milestone. These aren’t frequent, but when they do land in your inbox, it’s because we have something really important to share, like the Revenant launch date announcement last Fall. We want to make sure that you can take action after the special issue newsletters, like following our upcoming campaign or even pledge it if it’s live.
3. Webshop emails (Automations)
Webshop emails are necessary to ensure a smooth shopping experience. While they help us with sales, they’re also about making sure you have all the information you need - whether that’s tracking your order or knowing when something you’ve been waiting for is back in stock. We want them to be helpful, not intrusive.
Our webshop automations:
- A cart abandonment reminder if you started checkout but didn’t finish.
- A post-purchase email with shipping updates
- Back-in-stock notification if you’ve signed up for an email about a specific product
Some companies take this a step further with follow-ups like discounts if you come back or reminders if you’ve browsed but haven’t made a purchase. We’re still figuring out what feels right for us without flooding your inbox with unnecessary emails. Speaking of…
How Often Do We Send Emails?
We know inbox space is valuable. Here’s how we keep things balanced:
- Monthly newsletters – Once a month (usually at the end of the month) a broad update on what’s happening with us.
- Special announcements – Only when there’s something big going on.
- Sales emails – Occasionally, for things like Black Friday or special promotions.
- Automated emails – Cart reminders and post-purchase follow-ups.
If You’re Also Trying to Build an Email List…
We know a lot of creators and publishers are trying to figure out email marketing for themselves, so here’s what we’ve learned:
- Make sure people actually want your emails. A small, engaged audience is better than a big list of people who never open your messages (our more popular newsletters have an open rate of 60%)
- Give people a reason to sign up. Exclusive content, early access, or interesting updates work better than a generic “Subscribe for news!” Besides, your email list is your most important asset.
- Make it easy to sign up. If people have to hunt for your sign-up form, they won’t bother. Put it where they’re already engaging with you—on your website, in your crowdfunding campaign, in your email signature, or even inside your games.
- Test what works and tweak as needed. Track open rates, experiment with subject lines, and adjust based on what your audience actually enjoys reading.
- Keeping It Ethical: Take privacy and GDPR seriously, never sell your list, and only send emails to people who opted in. You are the guardian of your subscribers' privacy, which is a serious responsibility.
Final Thoughts: Why We Do This
Email is one of the best ways to stay in touch with the people who care about what we’re doing. Whether we’re sharing behind-the-scenes updates, announcing a new game, or talking about what’s happening in the board game world, we want our emails to be useful, interesting, and worth your time.
And if there’s something you’d love to see in our emails, let us know. We’re always open to making them better!
Thanks for reading,
Dorka & The Mindclash Games Team