Email is the only channel where the list belongs to you. Social platforms can change the algorithm, cut your reach or close your account; your customers' email addresses are yours. So if a small business can only sustain one channel, I always say make it this one.
Done badly, though, it's the fastest route to the spam folder and to being associated with noise. Here's the minimum for doing it properly.
You build a list, you don't buy one
Buying databases is effectively illegal under GDPR and, on top of that, it doesn't work: nobody asked you for anything, so nobody reads you. A list is built with a visible form on your site, a reason to subscribe (something useful, not "get our news") and recorded consent.
I'd take a hundred addresses from people who know you over five thousand bought ones. The first group opens; the second burns your domain.
Write something worth reading
The question before sending is always the same: does this help the person receiving it, or only me? What works:
- Answering real questions. The ones clients ask you on the phone are the best content plan there is.
- Telling them what you're working on. A project, a decision, something that went wrong and what you learnt.
- Specific offers with a reason. Not "10% off", but why, for whom and until when.
Write the way you'd write to a person. The emails that work best don't look like campaigns.
Cadence: whatever you can sustain
One a month for two years beats four a week for one month and then silence. Consistency matters more than volume, and long silences mean people forget you and mark you as spam when you reappear.
The details that decide whether it arrives
- Domain authentication (SPF, DKIM and DMARC). Without it, Gmail sends you to spam or rejects you outright. Half an hour of setup, and the difference between being read and not.
- A sender address that exists and can be replied to.
- One-click unsubscribe. Required, and it protects you: better someone leaves than marks you as spam.
- An honest subject line. Clickbait lifts opens once and lowers trust forever.
Which tool
- Mailchimp: the best known, free plan to start, integrates with almost everything. Gets expensive fast as the list grows.
- Brevo (formerly Sendinblue): cheaper by volume, with decent automation.
- What you already have. If you sell online, your shop already sends cart, confirmation and follow-up emails. Tidying those up usually makes more money than launching a newsletter.
Measure what matters
Open and click rates are fine for comparing sends against each other, but the real metric is different: how many replies, how many useful visits and how many sales. An email with a 20% open rate and three clients beats one with 60% and none.
Want to set it up properly from the start?
Write to [email protected]: we'll look at your case, the right tool, and the domain authentication almost nobody configures.