How to start an email marketing campaign

An email marketing campaign is a planned set of emails with one goal, sent to people who have agreed to hear from you. To start one, you set a goal, build a list of subscribers and choose an email marketing tool. Then you write, test and send your email and look at the results. In the UK, you also need individuals' consent before you send them marketing emails, with an exception for existing customers and another for charities.

What is an email marketing campaign?

An email campaign is a group of emails that share one aim, so every email in it works towards the same result. That aim might be selling a new product, welcoming new subscribers or bringing back customers who haven't bought in a while.

Email marketing for small business owners is worth the effort because you reach people who already know you and asked for your emails. Make sure each campaign fits your target audience: what they bought, or what they want to hear about.

Types of email campaigns

Pick the type that matches your goal:

• Welcome emails go out right after someone subscribes or buys for the first time. They introduce your business and tell new subscribers what to expect from you.
• Promotional campaigns are emails about a sale, a discount, a seasonal offer or a new product. Use them when you want people to buy within a set time.
• Newsletters are regular emails with news, tips or useful content. They keep your business in mind between purchases.
• Re-engagement emails win back subscribers who have stopped opening your emails, often with a "We miss you" message or an exclusive offer. They're not the same as retargeting, which shows ads to people who visited your website.
• Transactional emails are triggered by something a customer does, such as an order confirmation, a shipping notification or a receipt. They're mainly informative, but you can add a few related products at the bottom.
• Drip campaigns are a series of emails that go out automatically. Each drip campaign email is triggered by an action, such as signing up, or by a set time.
• An email ad campaign is a sponsored placement in another brand's newsletter. It reaches people outside your own list, so it suits a business that wants new subscribers or customers.

Welcome sequences, onboarding emails and abandoned cart recovery are common drip campaigns. Automation tools make it easy to set up and run the sequence once you've written each drip campaign email.

If you're starting from nothing, try a welcome email first. Thank people for signing up, say what they'll get from you and how often, and give them one thing to do next.

The UK rules for marketing emails

In the UK, you can only send marketing emails to individuals who have told you they agree to receive them from you. The rule comes from regulation 22 of the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations (PECR).

There is an exception for existing customers, and charities have one of their own. You can send existing customers marketing email without that consent when all three of these apply:

• You got their details through a sale. They bought from you, or talked to you about buying, and gave you their email address then.
• You only market similar products, so the emails are about your own products or services like the ones they showed interest in.
• They can refuse easily. You gave them a simple way to say no, free apart from the cost of sending it, when you collected their details, and you give it again in every later email.

A bought list doesn't meet the rule unless the people on it agreed to receive emails from you as the sender. Your list also holds personal data, so UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018 apply to how you collect and store it.

How to run an email marketing campaign, step by step

Work through these four steps in order, but choose your email marketing tool before you make your sign-up form. Testing, sending and measuring follow in their own sections.

Set one goal for the campaign

Like any of your marketing campaigns, an email campaign starts with what it should achieve, so decide that before you write anything. Write the goal so you can measure it, for example "Fill all 20 places at your spring workshop" rather than "Get more engagement". It then shapes the rest of your email marketing strategy: the type of campaign, who gets it and what your email asks people to do.

Build a list of people who want your emails

Start with a sign-up form on your website. With Ubivox, the email marketing tool we recommend, you can create one yourself. Add a line that says what subscribers will get and how often. For most small businesses, a newsletter once or twice a month is a good start. Choose a rhythm you can keep up, for example a monthly newsletter. Then keep to that promise. You can also ask customers at checkout whether they want your emails, as long as the box isn't ticked for them.

A form alone fills a list slowly, so tell people where they already meet you. Mention the newsletter to your existing customers, and link to the sign-up form from your website's main pages and your social media profiles.

Once the list grows, split it into groups, for example by what people bought or where they signed up. A recent customer should get a different email from the one you send someone who only joined your newsletter.

Choose an email marketing tool and a sender address

Good email marketing tools keep your list and give you a sign-up form and templates. They also send your emails at the time you choose and show you how many people opened and clicked.

We recommend the Ubivox email marketing tool because it's built for beginners as well as advanced users. You design newsletters with drag and drop, without any coding. We offer it as an add-on with a monthly subscription, and the price depends on the number of contacts on your list. During the subscription, you can send as many newsletters as you like.

Design your newsletters with drag and drop, collect sign-ups on your website and see how many people open and click.

Send your campaigns from a professional business email that matches your domain, not a free webmail address, so subscribers recognise every message as yours.

Write and design the email

Write your subject lines first, short and close to what's inside. The email itself should carry one message and one action you want readers to take, shown as a clear button. That button is your call to action (CTA), so word it to say what happens next.

Short text and a simple, one-column layout read well on a phone. If your tool can add the subscriber's name or their last purchase, use it only when it makes the email more useful.

Checklist before you send your campaign

Run through these checks before you send:

• Send a test to yourself, and to a colleague if you can, and check the layout, images and personal details.
• Make sure the subject line and the preheader both match what the email says. The preheader is the short preview line next to the subject in the inbox.
• Check that the email goes to the group you planned it for.
• Click every link and button to make sure each one opens the right page.
• Open the email on a phone and check that the text is readable and the button easy to tap.
• Test the unsubscribe link. Every marketing email must give people a valid address to ask you to stop, so put a working unsubscribe link in each one.
• Once every check has passed, send when your subscribers usually read their email, and don't send them several emails at the same time, as that can look like spam. Our guide covers the best time to send marketing emails.

How to measure your email campaign

Your email tool shows how each campaign did. Compare each number with your own earlier campaigns, so you can see whether a change helped:

• The open rate is the share of recipients who opened the email, though privacy features such as Apple's Mail Privacy Protection can make it look higher than it is. If it falls, try a clearer subject line or another send time.
• The click rate counts clicks against everyone who received the email, while the click-through rate (CTR) counts them against those who opened it, so compare the same one each time. If people open but don't click, make the offer or the button clearer.
• Conversions are the people who did what your goal asked, such as buying or booking. Compare this number with the goal you set.
• Unsubscribes are the people who opted out after this email. A jump usually means the content or the frequency didn't suit them.
• Bounces are emails that couldn't be delivered. Remove addresses that keep bouncing to keep your list clean.

Change one thing at a time between campaigns, so you know what made the difference.

Once you've set your goal and built your list, send your first campaign with Ubivox and see how your subscribers respond.