Good Email Marketing – The Basics

Email marketing can feel like a minefield – especially when you’re just getting started and trying to work out what ‘good’ looks like. But everyone’s ‘good’ looks different, as every business is different. However, whether your business is eCommerce, B2B, charity or service-based, there are some core principles that hold true across the board. 

 

Be relevant

The number one thing to think about with any marketing is: “Why should my audience care about this?” This means thinking beyond what you want to say and focusing on why it matters to the person receiving it. 

There are two key areas that help achieve this: 

• Segmentation – splitting your mailing list into groups based on factors such as interests, demographics, purchase history, profile type (for example, in B2B this could be industry; for a leisure brand, it could be members vs. occasional users), or engagement (i.e. how often they open/click your emails). 

• Personalisation – going beyond “Hi [First Name]” and tailoring messaging and content to your audience’s needs and interests. 

If your email feels irrelevant, it’s likely to be ignored at best, or unsubscribed from at worst. That means you lose the opportunity to communicate with that user in the future, and you could also harm your email deliverability (more on that later). 

That said, not all unsubscribes are bad – it’s normal for some users to no longer want or need to engage with your business. As long as your unsubscribe rate stays under control (aim for below 0.5%, but under 1% is fine), these users are effectively cleansing your mailing list for you. 

 

Quality over quantity

It can be tempting to send more emails to try to get more results – particularly if your goal is sales. But blasting your mailing list, especially without proper segmentation, quickly turns your emails into noise. The result? People stop opening or even unsubscribe entirely. A smaller number of high-quality, well-constructed and relevant emails will serve both you and your audience far better. 

By high-quality, we mean emails with: 

• A clear purpose – the reader understands what the email is about and what action to take. 

• Good creative – strong, clear design, high-quality imagery, brand-appropriate, and supported by well-written copy. 

• Consistency – subject line, hero image, copy and CTA (call-to-action, usually on a button) should carry the same thread. Links should lead to landing pages that make contextual sense. 

• Value for the recipient – content that’s useful, insightful or compelling (including offers). 

Fewer, better emails lead to stronger engagement (higher open and click rates), lower unsubscribe rates, and a more credible relationship with your audience. 

 

Learn and optimise

“Always be testing” is a common mantra in email marketing. But if your mailing list is small, classic A/B testing (e.g. trying different subject lines with split audiences) won’t deliver statistically significant results – and if you don’t send often, it can also be slow. Instead, focus on learning from past sends, identifying what resonates with your audience, and testing those insights in future emails. 

Ways to do this include: 

• Reviewing historic performance (opens, clicks, conversions, unsubscribes). 

• Spotting trends – did certain topics or formats work particularly well? Were there days/times with stronger results? Did specific segments respond better than others? Did shorter emails outperform longer ones? 

• Applying those learnings to future campaigns and testing them again. 

This approach builds confidence in what your audience responds to. A useful way to visualise this is by exporting your email data into a spreadsheet and applying conditional formatting to key columns (open rate, click rate, unsubscribes, etc.). Highlighting the strongest results in green and the weakest in red gives you a quick, visual indication of which emails performed best. 

You can also look beyond email. For example, GA4 may show when your website receives the most traffic – you could trial email sends to mirror these peaks. 

 

Plan, plan, plan!

This is perhaps the most important principle, and the best way to achieve high-quality emails efficiently. Without a plan, emails risk being rushed, inconsistent or reactive. A good plan helps you: 

• Map campaigns alongside other marketing activity. 

• Allow time for content creation – blogs, photography, copywriting, design, and approvals. 

• Prioritise your audience and key messaging. 

• Keep stakeholders aware of what’s coming up. 

Your plan doesn’t have to be complex – even a simple content calendar helps you see deadlines, prepare content, and align with other activity. 

 

Be consistent

Building trust with your audience requires consistency. Your subscribers should feel that emails are a natural extension of your other brand touchpoints – your website, social channels, even offline communications. 

Consistency has three levels: 

• Across channels – emails should align with your website and other marketing in design, tone, imagery and key messaging. 

• Across email types – whether campaign or automation, every email should feel like it comes from the same brand. Frequency should be balanced so users aren’t overwhelmed, and different email streams should complement – not contradict – one another. 

• Within each email – subject lines should reflect content; CTAs should match the main message; landing pages should follow through seamlessly. 

When everything hangs together, your emails feel professional and trustworthy. 

 

Deliverability

Deliverability often gets overlooked – especially when someone senior insists on “sending more emails”. But if people aren’t receiving your emails, are unsubscribing in droves, or your messages are going straight to spam, you’ve got a bigger problem. 

Deliverability is about whether your emails reach inboxes – and whether inbox providers (Gmail, Apple Mail, etc.) trust you as a sender. They assess factors such as your sending reputation, positive engagement (opens, clicks), and negative engagement (unsubscribes, bounces, spam complaints). 

The good news: you can control a lot of this. Keep on top of: 

• Technical setup – make sure your sending domain, authentication and IP reputation are correct (see our blog [link] for more). 

• Database hygiene – regularly cleanse your mailing list (platforms call this suppression, archiving, etc.) to remove bounced, inactive or unengaged contacts. 

• Sending schedule – focus regular emails on engaged subscribers, and minimise sends to unengaged ones, reserving those for highly compelling content like promotions. 

• Email weight – avoid overloading emails with large images; some platforms warn when you exceed inbox provider limits. 

• Monitoring metrics – track positive and negative engagement and take corrective action when needed. 

A healthy list and good practices protect your reputation and maximise inbox placement. 

 

Final thoughts

Like all marketing, there’s plenty you could do – but if you’re starting out or simply want to improve, these six principles provide a solid foundation: be relevant, focus on quality, learn and optimise, plan ahead, be consistent, and keep an eye on deliverability. 

Whether you’re running an online store, a charity campaign or a B2B newsletter, these principles apply universally. And if you’d like expert support in applying them to your brand, drop us a line. We love email marketing – and we’d be glad to help.