How to start an email marketing campaign

Email marketing is one of the most powerful and cost-effective digital marketing tools available. With an email marketing campaign, you can connect with people who want to hear from your business, whether that’s subscribers, leads, or customers who’ve opted in to receive updates, promotions, or other helpful content.  

In this article, we’ll break down exactly what an email marketing campaign is, why it matters, and how to create and manage effective campaigns that engage your audience and drive more traffic and sales.  

What is email marketing?  

Email marketing is a digital marketing strategy that uses email to communicate directly with a target audience.  

A well-crafted email marketing campaign can: 

• Increase brand awareness through consistent communication 
• Drive traffic to websites, product and landing pages, or events 
• Promote sales, discounts, and special offers 
• Support customer onboarding and retention 

Automation tools make it easier than ever to manage email marketing campaigns. They help businesses correctly segment their audience, schedule campaigns, and personalise emails easily.  

When done well, email marketing campaigns become a communications channel that will help you boost customer engagement, promote your products, and build loyalty. 

Why email marketing campaigns matter 

Despite the rise of social media, email remains one of the most effective channels for marketing as its wide reach, accessibility, and familiarity. Here are a few reasons email marketing campaigns are great for marketing.  

Direct, personal communication 

With segmentation and personalisation, each message can be tailored to a subscriber’s preferences, purchase history, and behaviour. This personal approach helps build trust  in your brand and increases engagement rates. 

Measurable results 

Every email campaign tool provides detailed insights. You can track open rates, click-through rates, conversions, and revenue generated. These metrics let you optimise and improve.  

Cost-effective at scale  

Whether you’re a small business or a large brand, automation tools make it easy to send thousands of personalised messages with just a few clicks and for less money than paid ads or offline advertisements. 

Nurture long-term relationships  

Email campaigns help you stay ‘top of mind’ with your audience. Whether it’s through regular newsletters or sharing the latest offers, consistent communication helps your audience remember you and encourages repeat purchases. 

Types of email campaigns  

Email marketing comes in various forms tailored to meet different objectives. Getting familiar with the main types of marketing campaigns will help you select the right strategy for your goals. 

Welcome emails   

These emails introduce your brand to new subscribers or customers. With welcome emails, you can boost engagement with your product and set up a foundation for customer loyalty.  

Promotional campaigns  

Promotional emails focus on driving sales or conversions. They highlight discounts, special offers, seasonal sales, or new products. 

Email ad campaigns  

Email ad campaigns involve sponsored placements or collaborations with other brands’ newsletters. These campaigns extend your reach beyond your own subscriber list, helping you to attract new audiences. 

Newsletters 

Newsletters deliver ongoing value through curated content, updates, or tips. They are designed to build trust and keep your audience engaged over time, instead of pushing for sales directly. 

Remarketing campaigns  

Remarketing or retargeting emails target inactive subscribers, encouraging them to interact with your brand again. Common examples include “We miss you” messages or exclusive offers that aim to bring lapsed customers back. 

Transactional emails  

These are triggered by a subscriber’s action, such as order confirmations, shipping notifications, or receipts. These are often just informative, but you can use them for subtle upselling, for example by showing and linking to related items.  

Drip campaigns  

Drip campaigns are automated email sequences triggered by user actions or timing. Examples of drip campaigns include welcome sequences, onboarding flows, and abandoned cart recovery emails.  

Automation tools make setting up drip campaigns a straightforward process. Once set up and activated, they can run in the background, making drip campaigns a good way to save time while ensuring consistent communication with your customers.  

Planning your email marketing campaign strategy 

Effective email marketing campaigns begin with thorough planning that ensures your messages are on point and targeted towards the right audience. Here’s a step-by-step guide to creating an excellent email marketing campaign strategy:  

Define your goal  

You should start with a clear objective. Are you looking to increase conversions, or simply drive in more traffic to your website? Do you have a new product you need to promote, or a special offer on existing items? Define your goal clearly and develop your campaign around it. It will help you shape your content, design, and calls-to-action (CTAs). 

Understand your audience  

Begin with good audience segmentation, which is grouping contacts based on demographics, interests, or purchase behaviour. By segmenting your email list, you can better address the interests of different groups, leading to higher engagement and conversion rates.  

Choose the right type of campaign  

Select a campaign type that matches the goal you’re working towards. For example:

• Welcome emails for onboarding new subscribers 
• Promotional campaigns for sales and special offers 
• Drip campaigns for nurturing leads 
• Newsletters for ongoing engagement 

Write engaging content 

Your emails should provide value to your audience, whether that’s through excellent offers or useful information. Key elements to consider include:   

• Attention-grabbing subject lines 
• Clear and concise messaging 
• Personalised greetings or content blocks 
• Strong calls-to-action that guide readers to take the next step. 

Design your email for readability 

A visually appealing email is easier to read and more likely to drive action from readers. Keep mobile optimisation in mind, use a clean layout, and highlight CTAs with buttons or clear links.  

Choose the right platform 

Choose an email automation tool that supports your business needs. Tools like Mailchimp, Klaviyo, or HubSpot can make your campaigns smoother and provide valuable insights. 

Checklist before sending out your email marketing campaign  

Once your email campaign is planned and designed, it’s time to launch it. Before you do so, however, there are a few steps you should take to make sure it’s ready to go. Use this pre-launch checklist to make sure your campaign is in tip-top shape:

Test your emails: Send test emails to yourself and at least one other team member to check that formatting, links, images, and personalisation are all working properly. 

☑️ Check subject lines and preheaders: Make sure your subject lines are engaging and correctly reflect the email’s content. 

☑️ Look over your email list: Confirm your audience segmentation is accurate and matches the campaign goal. 

☑️ Verify links and CTAs: Make sure buttons, links, and forms work correctly. 

☑️ Optimise for mobile: Confirm that your emails look good on all devices. 

☑️ Review timing and frequency: Schedule emails for when your audience is most likely to open them. Avoid scheduling in a way that the recipient gets several emails at the same time as they could be perceived as spam.  

☑️ Ensure compliance: Confirm unsubscribe links and privacy policies are present. 

Measuring and optimising performance 

Once your email campaign is live, it’s important to follow up and check key metrics to make sure you’re getting the results you want. Here are some fundamental key metrics you can check:  

• Open rate: how many subscribers opened your email. 
• Click-through rate (CTR): how many clicked your links or calls-to-action. 
• Conversions: actions taken, like purchases, sign-ups, or downloads. 
• Unsubscribes: indicates if content or frequency may need adjustment. 

Use the insights you get from these metrics to optimise your future campaigns. Even small adjustments to subject lines, content, timing, or segmentation can significantly improve results over time. 

Compliance in email marketing is essential 

Email marketing must comply with legal standards to maintain trust and avoid your emails becoming spam. Make sure you’re compliant with regulations like GDPR by offering easy unsubscribe options.   

Build long-term success with email marketing campaign 

Email marketing remains one of the most effective ways to grow and engage an audience. When done right, it builds lasting relationships, keeps your brand top of mind, and turns subscribers into loyal customers. We hope that this article has given you the tools you need to create marketing campaigns that will boost your business. Happy emailing!