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Email marketing for small businesses remains a crucial channel among the top digital leaders—and the data speaks for itself.
According to the 2022 Gartner CMO Spend and Strategy Survey, 44% of CMOs say email marketing is essential to their digital marketing strategy. They allocate nearly 8% of their entire digital marketing budget to this channel.[1]
Email marketing can be particularly effective for small businesses. As Josh Herbert, stylist and founder at Captain Creps, said, "It's a channel that you can use to directly send updates to your customers or audience that doesn't rely on a third-party platform in the same way as social media." You own your email marketing list—which isn't the case for social media marketing. Using this list, you can ensure consistent contact with your core target audience to help solidify your brand voice, build trust, and encourage small business growth.
If you're wondering how to get started with email marketing, the benefits of email marketing for small businesses, and how to get the most out of this channel, this guide tells all.
Ready to hire an email marketing agency for your business needs? Browse our list of companies in the following areas:
Why email marketing is important for small businesses
The benefits of email marketing for small businesses are many, but ultimately, this channel is about building relationships and effectively managing resources—something small businesses need to ensure sustainable growth.
Email is a simple, cost-effective way to reach your target audience. The process can be automated, offering a high ROI potential—as high as 36:1.[2] Those who achieve a high ROI implement A/B testing, stick to a consistent schedule, use a double opt-in, and other techniques.
With email marketing, you can easily target varying segments of your audience based on the objective or stage in the buyer's journey. This advantage works best when paired with personalization strategies.
Since email marketing is easy to automate, this channel can help small businesses maximize two of their most critical resources—time and money. While you must stay on top of campaigns and data, email is a relatively hands-off strategy. Also, compared to other channels, like paid advertising, it is fairly inexpensive—especially once you find your groove.
Once someone joins your email list, you're presented with an opportunity to build strong relationships that can transform into loyal customers. When sending emails, focus on how you can provide the recipients with value. Sales, discounts, and special offers are great, but you're not limited to sales-related content. Sending information your audience will find useful or interesting is a great way to position your brand as an authoritative leader.
What's the issue?
There is no denying the power of email marketing—and while marketers are sending more email campaigns than ever, many struggle to maximize the effectiveness of this channel. Choosing technology can also be challenging as the number of available vendors climbs.
Not all campaigns are created equal, and that's the key here. Gartner analyzed the email performance of 1,227 B2B and B2C brands and found that while more emails are being sent over time, many experience dwindling open rates.
Despite that, some brands are nailing email campaigns, reaping this channel's vast benefits. These successful brands have pivoted, adjusting their marketing strategy to deliver tailored help, personalized content, and best-in-class customer value.[3]
Consider these tried-and-true email marketing tips for small businesses to ensure the perfect recipe for success.
Tip 1: Craft a strong welcome email
When someone new subscribes to your list, the most crucial email is often the first—an opportunity to welcome them to your community. Since these behavior-triggered emails often achieve the highest open rates for businesses, ensure they are personalized, valuable, and representative of your brand.
This email gives your small business an opportunity to say, this is who we are, and this is why you should care. To improve subscription and engagement rates, articulate the value customers can expect from your emails at the sign-up phase. Allow customers to select topic preferences and the frequency of emails they receive for a unique, personalized experience.
Tip 2: Build your email list, then segment it
Email marketing is special because once you build your subscriber list, you own it. In contrast, when using social media platforms, you can lose your followers and campaign data if you unintentionally violate the social network's rules. Some of the best ways to build your email marketing list include creating valuable gated content in exchange for an email address or strategically including an email sign-up form on your website's most visited pages.
Once you start collecting emails, you can begin to segment your list. This personalization helps ensure subscribers are sent appropriate content they're happy to receive.
There are varying approaches to segmentation, including:
Demographic segmentation (age, income, gender, education, etc.)
Geographic segmentation (based on area or location—such as city, country, urban vs. rural, etc.)
Behavioral segmentation (position in the customer journey, buying patterns, etc.)
Psychographic segmentation (personality traits, beliefs, values, lifestyles, interests, etc.)
To create your messages, use curated first-party data. This data will help you deliver tailored help through emails that support purchase decisions and contextualize business offerings.
Additional tip: Create a segment for loyal customers, rewarding the most engaged or highest-spending customers. It's well-known that it costs much more to generate new customers than retain existing ones, so be sure to celebrate those influencing your small business growth.
Tip 3: Be consistent with your scheduling
The success of email marketing for small businesses relies on consistent scheduling. Over time, this consistency builds relationships, trust, and a consistent brand identity. Plus, when someone joins your list, they want to hear from you. If you regularly send them helpful, interesting content, they will begin to look forward to your emails.
"I think that newsletter consistency is the big one for small businesses, especially if you're operating in an ever-changing industry where your audience wants to hear advice or opinions from sources that they trust. This level of consistency also helps to solidify your brand as an authority in the sector for its target audience." — Josh Herbert[6]
Since email marketing is a process, not a single event, an email marketing calendar can help ensure well-planned and executed campaigns. Research shows that midweek—Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday—are the best days to send emails.[7] However, you must conduct your own research based on your industry and audience.
Additional tip: Do some research to find out the best time to send your marketing emails. Some companies suggest that 10 a.m. is the best time of day, followed by 8 p.m. Other times that work well include 2 p.m. and 6 a.m. Leverage these insights to guide your testing efforts.[8]
Tip 4: Invest in email marketing software
Email marketing for small businesses can be daunting when aiming to save money. When you're trying to grow a business, every dollar counts. However, skipping out on professional email marketing software could be costly.
Platforms can provide you with the tools and support needed to improve communications. These solutions can also help you send automated emails, ensuring you're always responding promptly and appropriately.
Additional tip: Lean on pre-built templates, selecting options for certain purposes and audiences.
Getting started
If you're wondering how to get started with email marketing, explore the available software options. Email marketing for small businesses doesn't need to be complicated, especially when leaning on the top tools and support.
Wondering what is the best email marketing service for small businesses? These resources can help you navigate email marketing software as a small business: