Despite being one of the oldest forms of digital marketing, email marketing remains one of the strongest ways to reach and engage with your target audience.
It’s also one of the best places for beginner marketers to start, as it’s easy to set up and doesn’t require a big budget to achieve results.
What’s more, you don’t have to be super tech-savvy to create an effective email campaign either. With the right CRM software, it’s easy to design professional-looking emails, segment your audience, and automate follow-ups without needing coding skills or advanced marketing experience.
In this article, we’ll guide you through how to create your first email marketing campaign step-by-step to help you grow your audience and start seeing real results from your marketing efforts.
💡Key takeaways
- Email marketing is a series of targeted emails sent to customers with a specific goal, such as product/service promotion, company updates, or driving website traffic.
- There are different types of email marketing, including email blasts, automated campaigns, and drip sequences.
- Effective email content includes a strong subject line, engaging body text, good-quality visuals, a prominent call to action (CTA), and personalisation.
- When marketing through email, you must comply with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and allow recipients to unsubscribe at any time.
- There are several email and CRM software you can use, including MailChimp, HubSpot, Zoho Campaigns, and Freshsales.
- The key metrics to analyse campaign performance are open rate, click-through rate (CTR), conversion rate, and unsubscribe rate.
What is an email marketing campaign?
An email marketing campaign is a series of emails sent to a group of people with a specific goal in mind, such as promoting a product, sharing updates, driving traffic to your business website, or just building a stronger relationship with your target audience.
Email marketing is important because it gives you a direct line to your audience. Unlike social media marketing, where algorithms decide who sees your posts, emails land straight in your customers’ inboxes — a space they check every day.
Additionally, it’s cost-effective, making it accessible for small businesses or beginners on a budget. It also offers a high return on investment (ROI) and gives you clear data, such as open rates and clicks, so you can see what’s working and what needs improvement.
There’s no single way to carry out email marketing, as it comes in a few different styles, each with its own purpose, including:
- Email blasts: One-time emails sent to a large group all at once, usually for announcements, promotions, or newsletters. In other words, everyone gets the same message at the same time.
- Automated campaigns: These are triggered by specific actions or events, like sending a welcome email when someone signs up or a thank-you message after a purchase. This saves time as the emails are sent automatically based on behaviour.
- Drip sequences: A series of pre-written emails sent over a set period, designed to guide someone through a journey, like onboarding new subscribers or nurturing leads toward a purchase.
How to run your first email campaign in 6 steps
If you’re new to email marketing, the process of creating your first campaign might feel overwhelming at first, as there’s a lot to consider.
To help you out, we’ve created an easy-to-follow guide below to help you create, send, and optimise your campaign, even if you’ve never done it before.
1. Define your goals and audience
The first step is to have a good understanding of your target audience and what you want to achieve from your campaign. This means knowing who your ideal customers are, what problems they face, and what kind of content will grab their attention.
At the same time, you should set clear goals for your campaign. These could be driving sales, increasing website traffic, growing your email list, or building stronger relationships with your audience.
However, it’s also important to understand compliance and rules around email marketing. Ensure you follow regulations like the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and always get clear opt-in permission from your subscribers before sending emails. You also need to provide them with the ability to unsubscribe at any time. This will keep you on the right side of the law and build trust with your audience.
2. Build your contacts list
There are several ways you can build your subscriber list. This includes offering an incentive (e.g., a discount, free guide, or a chance to win a prize in a giveaway), dedicated landing pages or pop-ups on your website, or encouraging referrals from current subscribers.
However you do it, the main goal is to build a strong subscriber list. This will help you connect with your audience directly and personally, foster brand loyalty, and drive consistent engagement and sales over time.
Also, keep in mind that quality is better than quantity, and good customer engagement is more important than volume. Having thousands of subscribers might sound impressive, but it won’t do much if most of them never open your emails or click your links.
On the other hand, engaged subscribers — AKA those who actually interact with your content — are far more likely to take action.
3. Choose the right email platform or CRM
Next, you’ll need to decide on an email platform or CRM software to execute your campaigns. There are several options out there, many of which are beginner-friendly and don’t require advanced skills to set up.
These platforms include Mailchimp, Freshsales, Zoho Campaigns, and HubSpot.
For example, HubSpot offers email tracking and notifications, letting you know when customers open your emails and click links in real-time. Meanwhile, Freshsales provides auto-scheduled follow-up emails, chasers, and personalised content based on user behaviour (e.g., email opens, link clicks, or form submissions) — ideal for online stores and ecommerce businesses.
Can I use CRM software for free?
Yes, there are several free CRM systems you can use. However, their features are quite limited compared to their paid plans.
You can start with free CRM or email marketing tools when you’re just building your contact list and sending simple campaigns. But it’s worth upgrading to a paid plan once you need more advanced features, such as automation and drip sequences, better analytics and reporting to track performance, and higher sending limits as your subscriber list grows.
4. Create your campaign content
Once you’ve decided on a platform, it’s time to start creating content for your campaign. This can be daunting at first, but it gets much easier once you understand the key components of an effective campaign. Here’s a quick rundown of what they are and how you should use them:
- A strong subject line: This is the first thing your customers see, so it needs to grab their attention immediately. Make sure it’s clear, catchy, and relevant to your audience. A good subject line can dramatically improve your open rates.
- Engaging body content: You should keep your messaging clear, easy to read, and focused on customer needs. Don’t use big blocks of text — use short paragraphs and bullet points so that your subscribers know exactly what you’re saying, and why it’s relevant to them.
- Good visuals: This includes images, GIFs, or branded graphics, all of which can make your emails more attractive. Don’t overdo it, though, as too many visuals can be overwhelming, distract from your message, and slow down loading times.
- A clear call-to-action (CTA): Every email should have a clear next step, such as “Shop Now”, “Find Out More”, or “Sign Up”. Make sure it’s prominent (e.g., a button at the end of the email), so that readers know exactly what to do.
- Personalisation (when possible): This can be something as simple as using a customer’s name or tailoring content based on their behaviour to make emails feel more personal and relevant.
5. Schedule and send your campaign
Now that you’ve got your campaign laid out and ready to go, the next question is when you should send it. This can be tricky to know at first, but there are a few ways you can figure it out, including:
- Considering customer habits: Think about when your customers check their emails. Sending in the morning, during lunch breaks, or evenings can work differently depending on your audience.
- A/B testing: This involves experimenting with different send times to determine which specific days or hours your customers interact with your emails most.
- Smart sending tools: Many email and CRM systems offer specialised features that recommend a time and day to send emails based on customer behaviour or send them automatically for you.
6. Measure results and optimise
After your first email is sent, you should look into how it performed, as this will help you understand what worked well, what didn’t, and how to improve your future campaigns.
There are several key metrics you’ll need to focus on, including:
- Open rates: The percentage of recipients who opened the email compared to the total number of emails delivered.
- Click-through rates (CTR): The percentage of recipients who click on a link or CTA within an email.
- Conversions: The desired action a recipient takes after clicking an email link, such as making a purchase, signing up for a service, completing a form, etc.
- Unsubscribe rate: The percentage of recipients who opted out of receiving your emails.
Most CRM platforms also offer dashboards for reporting, making it easy to track these metrics in one place.
Advanced email marketing tips
Optimising your email campaigns is essential for improving engagement, increasing conversions, and getting the best results from every message you send. Here are a few ways you can do so effectively:
- Set up an email calendar: Plan and schedule your campaigns in advance so that you have consistent communication with your audience. This will help you stay organised, avoid last-minute rushes, and coordinate content around promotions, events, or seasonal campaigns.
- Test different components: Experiment with different subject lines, content, CTAs and send times to determine what resonates best with your audience and drives the highest engagement and conversions.
- Measure in real-time: Consistently track the metrics mentioned above, as this will help you see what’s working, identify any issues, and make adjustments for future campaigns.
- Segment your lists: Group your subscribers based on factors, such as interests, past purchases, or engagement levels, so you can send more targeted emails.
- Implement email automation: Set up automated emails to send timely, relevant emails like welcome emails, birthday messages, or reminders for items left in a shopping cart.
Pros, cons, and costs of email marketing
Email is one of the most widely used digital marketing channels because of its direct reach and flexibility. But like any strategy, it also has its weaknesses. Here are the main advantages and disadvantages of email marketing.
✅ Pros of email marketing
- Direct access to customers: Emails land straight in your subscribers’ inboxes, letting you reach a large number of people directly and personally.
- Cost-effective: Email marketing is significantly cheaper than other marketing channels.
- Measurable results: You can easily track metrics like open rates, CTRs, and conversions to see what’s working.
- Highly targeted: You can segment your audience to send relevant messages that resonate with specific groups.
- Good automation: Automated campaigns can help you reach your audience at the right moment, saving time and keeping your communication consistent.
❌ Cons of email marketing
- Requires a quality list: Poorly-built lists or unengaged subscribers can hurt performance and deliverability.
- Risk of being marked as spam: Your emails can end up in spam folders or be blocked and deleted by recipients, both of which lead to low engagement.
- High competition: People get a lot of emails daily, and many businesses use email marketing, so standing out can be a challenge.
- Time-consuming: Creating relevant and engaging email content can take a significant amount of time.
- Compliance requirements: Regulations like GDPR mean you need to manage opt-ins and permissions carefully, with penalties imposed if you’re found to be non-compliant.
How much does email marketing cost?
Depending on the email platform or CRM software you use, the cost for email marketing can range from £0 to £89 per month. Here are the prices you can expect, based on our top picks of the best CRM systems.
| Platform | Cost |
|---|---|
| Freshsales | £0-£49 per user, per month (billed annually) |
| Zoho CRM | £0-£42 per user, per month (billed annually) |
| Pipedrive | £14-£79 per seat, per month (billed annually), or free trial |
| monday CRM | £10-£24 per seat, per month (billed annually) |
| HubSpot | £0-£9 per user, per month (billed annually) |
| Zendesk | £15-£89 per user, per month (billed annually) |
| Salesforce | £20-£80 per user, per month (billed annually) |
Avoiding spam filters
The last place you want your emails to end up is someone’s spam/junk folder. Luckily, you can avoid this by following these practices:
- Avoid certain words and punctuation: For example, using phrases like “FREE!!!”, “Act now!!!”, or using lots of £ signs, is likely to be flagged as spam. Not to mention it’s annoying for the customer.
- Use a custom domain: Don’t send bulk emails from free providers like Hotmail and Gmail. Make sure you’re sending from a verified business email address instead.
- Keep your lists clean: Regularly remove hard bounces (addresses that automatically reject the email) and long-inactive subscribers.
- Authenticate your domain: Set up Sender Policy Framework (SPF), DomainKeys Identified Mail (DKIM), and Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting and Conformance (DMARC), so that mail providers trust your messages.
- Don’t buy email lists: This increases the chance of your emails being marked as spam and doesn’t lead to good engagement.
Conclusion
Email marketing has been around for years, but it’s still one of the best ways to market your business and connect with your customers. It’s affordable, easy to get started with, and if you do it right, can bring in serious results.
The key is to focus on the people who actually want to hear from you by sending them useful and engaging content. Plus, keeping on top of metrics and testing different strategies can help you fine-tune your campaigns over time and get better results.
Email marketing works best when it’s personal and consistent, and when used with other effective marketing strategies, it can become one of your most reliable and profitable tools.
