There’s a lot of ways to approach marketing, and it can feel as though there’s always a new tool or technique to be used. But, that doesn’t mean email marketing is a thing of the past. Email marketing gives you direct access to your audience. There’s an algorithm, no fighting to be at the top of search engine results and no viral content to overcome. If someone subscribes to your email marketing list, you’ll make it into their inbox. But, are you using the right strategies to get the most out of your efforts?
It’s 2025, But Email Marketing Still Works
Email marketing boasts an impressive ROI, and it’s highly personalisable. You can segment audiences and tailor messaging based on behaviour, demographics and preferences. You don’t have to change things when algorithms change and once everything is set up, email flows can nurture leads and drive conversions on autopilot, with very little input from you. Plus, email marketing is trackable. You’ll know exactly who has opened, clicked and converted, giving you real data to optimise campaigns.
5 Email Marketing Strategies You Can Start Using Immediately
There are a lot of ways to tackle email marketing, and your approach can be tailored to your business, industry and target market. But, there are some strategies that work well for businesses of all sizes, in any sector.
Here are five email marketing techniques that you’re probably not using, but should be.
Sending Emails Based on Customer Behaviour Sending automated emails in response to specific actions a customer takes is a highly effective email marketing strategy. You could send an email because they visited a certain product page, or because they added items to their basket but didn’t go through with the purchase. This form of email marketing works well because the emails are timely, relevant and personal. You’re catching the user at a moment of intent or interest, which significantly increases engagement and conversion rates.
Re-Engagement Campaigns for Inactive Subscribers Re-engagement campaigns are, as the name suggests, aimed at re-engaging existing customers. They target people who haven’t opened or interacted with your emails in a while, hoping to grab their attention, reminding them of who you are and what you have to offer.
Every email list has inactive subscribers, but re-engagement campaigns help you re-engage valuable leads or clean up your list to improve deliverability.
Simple, Yet Personal Emails Sending a plain and simple text, one that looks like an email from a friend or colleague, can really grab someone’s attention. With no graphics, banners or over-the-top design elements, it stands out amongst other marketing emails. A well-written, personal text email can stand out in a cluttered inbox. It feels authentic, not promotional. It feels like a genuine connection, and not a sales tactic. This email marketing strategy works well for post-purchase thank you messages, remarketing campaigns and lead nurturing.
Sending Email Sequences Instead of sending a one-off email, you can create a series of informative or value-driven emails, sent over a few days or weeks. This builds engagement over time, rather than bombarding people with too much information at once. When someone signs up – for example, by signing up for a content series – they’re actively choosing to receive multiple emails from you. This increases engagement, boosts brand authority and helps you to warm up leads ready for conversion. You can even use email automation tools to schedule the sequence, so you can take a back seat, knowing that your email marketing campaign is running in the background.
Email List Segmentation Segmentation means dividing your email list into smaller groups based on specific criteria, such as purchase history, website activity, stage in the customer journey, product preferences and the content customers are most interested in. While most marketers segment by basics like age, gender, or location, email marketing segmentation can go deeper, more specific. People are more likely to respond to content that’s relevant to them. By sending tailored messages to smaller groups, you avoid sending irrelevant emails to everyone, which often leads to them unsubscribing.
Top Tips for Creating a High-Performing Email Campaign
Write Engaging Subject Lines It’s important to avoid clickbait subject lines, as these can frustrate recipients, but do make them intriguing. Test out urgency, personalisation or questions, and see what gets the best response.
Keep It Short People don’t want to sit and read long emails, they want to scan and skim read them. Use short paragraphs, headers, bullet points and clear CTAs.
Always Include a CTA You need to tell people what action you want them to take at the end of an email. Make sure every email has one primary, clear call to action. Don’t overwhelm recipients with too many options.
Respect the Inbox You don’t want to bombard your list. Focus on sending valuable and relevant content, not just promotions.
Optimise for Emails Mobile A lot of people access emails from smartphones and tablets, so make sure that yours are optimised. Use mobile-friendly templates and test on different devices.
A/B Test Everything It’s hard to know what’s going to work best, so embrace A/B testing. Trial various subject lines, send times, CTAs and email formats, and let the data guide you towards what works best.
Use Analytics to Improve There’s always room for improvement. Track open rates, click-through rates and conversions, and use data to identify what’s working and where improvements could be made.
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Optimise for Emails Mobile A lot of people access emails from smartphones and tablets, so make sure that yours are optimised. Use mobile-friendly templates and test on different devices.
A/B Test Everything It’s hard to know what’s going to work best, so embrace A/B testing. Trial various subject lines, send times, CTAs and email formats, and let the data guide you towards what works best.
Use Analytics to Improve There’s always room for improvement. Track open rates, click-through rates and conversions, and use data to identify what’s working and where improvements could be made.
Sign up to our newsletter to get the latest from Business Advice.
