Email is one of the best ways to reach your ideal customers. To get on your email list they’ve raised their hands and said they want to buy from you (or they already have!) So, now you’ve got to prove your credibility and encourage them to open your emails.

Here’s our small business owner’s guide to email marketing (so they never unsubscribe!)

Benefits of Good Email Marketing

Have you ever gotten an email at the perfect time? Better yet, an email personalized and perfectly targeted to you? When done well, email marketing can make a big impact, and lead your prospects to make a purchase.

Just look at a few benefits of doing good email marketing:

Big, Bad ROI. Email marketing comes with enormous returns on your effort and investment. $36 for every dollar spent, in fact, according to HubSpot. That’s more than most other marketing channels. It comes with low overhead costs, so with such a high rate of return it’s a cost-effective form of marketing for small business owners.
Analytics on email are great. It’s easy to tell when your emails are working. When they’re not, you can use data to tweak your approach and do better next time.
Reach prospects at precise touchpoints. To the average person, an email may seem to have arrived at the right moment, magically. Big Bad Marketers (and now you!) know that a perfectly timed email was no coincidence— it was a well-planned tactic to keep your people engaged!

How to Do Emails, Like Good Good

Set Goals

Like setting a personal or business resolution, you must start with the end in mind. What are you trying to achieve? Do you want to sell products or services, announce events, launch new products, drive traffic to your site, ask for donations, or send someone to your physical location? There are tons of things emails can encourage people to do. (And if done poorly, unsubscribing from your list is one of them!)

Before writing subject lines or developing an email campaign, think about the action(s) you want readers to take after reading your message.

Build Your Email List

Begin collecting email addresses from previous customers, visitors to your website, prospects who might one day be interested in buying, and just about anyone else who will read your email. Gather email addresses by offering an exchange for a freebie, like a special template or download, or through landing pages. Plus, provide people a place to sign up for your newsletter. Like this:

Write Good Subject Lines

You’ve got six to ten words to spark enough excitement or curiosity to open the email. Avoid spammy-sounding content, or robotic, boring messaging. Keep it light, conversational, and catchy.

Examples:

✅ Your Small Biz Deserves Better Emails – Here’s Why

✅ Think Your Emails Aren’t Working? Let’s Fix That

🚫 Email Strategies for Your Business

🚫 Good morning [NAME] how are you today? Do you want to talk about email marketing ?

Personalize Emails (But Not Too Much!)

When crafting an email for your customers, capturing a few personal details can build connection with your readers. But, too much comes across as creepy. Ask them to rate a product they bought, or make recommendations based on past purchases. Give users the sense that you know what they care about, but not that you’re watching their every move.

Well-Timed Emails Win

The easiest way to slip into the email graveyard is sending too many emails, too fast. Be strategic with your email cadence. Quality over quantity, always. Develop a drip campaign or an email series that mirror’s your buyer’s journey timeline and voilà! Users will get what they need, when they need it.

Provide Value

Solve your people’s problems. This is the crux of all marketing and if you can do it well, you’ll always win. Just like with your business blog, offer tips, industry insights, free resources, and actionable steps that address your audience’s pain points. They’ll start believing (even more!) that you know what you’re talking about. Then, when it’s time to buy, they’ll come knocking.

Include a Call-to-Action

Never send an email without a clear call-to-action (CTA.) Sure, your customers probably love you and they’re excited to see your valuable tips, but if you don’t give them a push to do something, they won’t.

Pick one thing. Just one. Then tell your readers to do it. ‘Leave a review for product X!’ or ‘Buy this item that’s 20% off’ or ‘Come to the store and see our new X.’

"Don't ever, for any reason, do anything, to anyone, for any reason, ever, no matter what, no matter where, or who, or who you are with, or where you are going, or where you've been, ever, for any reason whatsoever."
Michael Scott, Dunder Mifflin

How to Do BIG BAD Emails for Your Small Business

You’ve nailed the basics. You’ve got your emails timed right, slightly personalized (but not creepy) and your CTA’s are working. Awesome.

You’re a Big Bad Entrepreneur and you’re ready to take your small biz email marketing to the next level. Here’s how to level up your email marketing game:

Make Emails Mobile-Friendly

It’s arguable that this isn’t a big, bad, move. It’s actually rather basic. BUT, we’ve seen soooo many non-mobile optimized emails that it’s become a way to set yourself apart.

Check with your email marketing platform for mobile-friendly options, view the draft, and send yourself a sample to check before distributing it to the masses. Most people are reading emails from their phones and tablets, so make sure yours is readable.

A/B Test Emails

Send out two different versions of an email to two separate groups and see which one performs better. Test out features like subject lines and CTAs, then track the results. Did one subject line have a higher open rate? Did one CTA have more clicks? Use this info to refine your strategy going forward.

Segment Your Audience

Once you’ve got a large enough email list, you can divide your list into small groups based on shared characteristics. Emails are more relevant and targeted, increasing engagement and clicks.

Divide groups based on demographics, behavior, or purchase history. Or, group people based on how engaged they are in your content and emails. If some users have fallen off for a while, bring them back with a re-engagement email.

Automate Whenever Possible

Once groups are segmented, automation kicks it up a notch. Send welcome messages to new members. Follow-up with site visitors who abandoned carts. Align drip campaign emails to drop in time with the buyer’s journey. Send targeted emails automatically. This eliminates manual effort on your part and boosts ROI.

Use Some Tools

Sending out well-crafted, timely, segmented, automated, emails doesn’t have to fall on you. Leverage the platforms you’re already using to making sending out emails easy. If you use Mailchimp, Convertkit, Squarespace, or similar platforms, chances are you have email marketing tools at your fingertips.

Measure KPIs

Check yourself. Review metrics like open rates, click-through rates, conversions, and unsubscribes. Track the performance indicators that are important to your business then adjust your strategy accordingly.

What NOT to Do for Small Business Email Marketing

🚫 Over email Don’t bombard your people, it’s annoying. Plus, it’s one of the main reasons people unsubscribe. There’s no definite right amount of emails, but if it feels like too many, it probably is.

🚫 Dysfunctional or bad designs Clunky and messy formats, or hard-to-read copy are killers to email success. Simple is better than cluttered and confusing.

🚫 Useless content Hyper-salesy promos, or just saying hi aren’t great reasons to email your prospects. Provide value, special offers, and a clear CTA.

🚫 A bad list An outdated, unmanaged email list leads to a high bounce rate. Remove (or reengage) inactive subscribers. Keep your list clean.

Start Email Marketing for Your Small Business

Great emails can keep your customers engaged and coming back for more. Even better if your email marketing plan is part of a larger marketing strategy.

While there’s no perfect formula for the best small biz email marketing, if you follow these best practices to get your message out and provide authentic value, you’ll see real results.

Need a push to get started? Partner with the Big Bad team on email marketing for your small business.

Let's do this!

How to Do Small Business Email Marketing Right