Businesses use what’s known as email service providers (ESPs) to send marketing emails. An email service provider is a software that sends and manages email marketing campaigns.

It’s also referred to as an email marketing platform, email marketing tool, email marketing service, or email marketing software. These marketing tools often come as part of a larger customer relationship management (CRM) suite and work hand in hand to grow your business and make sales.

Now you might be wondering, can’t I just send marketing emails with my regular inbox provider? Do I really need to pay for a product on top of that?

Technically, it’s possible. (We even explain how in our guide on how to send mass email with Gmail.) Beware, though. You’re likely to run into problems with limited email bandwidth, design, and more importantly, email deliverability. Here’s why:

Internet Service Providers (ISPs) like Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo, etc. are designed for personal use — not for email blasts. Although they’re free to use, they’re not free bulk email senders. So when a mass email is sent from an ISP, it’s easily flagged by spam filters and your account can be disabled for suspicious activity.

Starting in February 2024, Gmail and Yahoo! sender requirements will make sending marketing emails from a freemail account nearly impossible.

Email service providers (ESPs), on the other hand, have the necessary infrastructure in place to ensure good email deliverability rates — i.e., the ability to avoid spam, and land emails in your subscribers’ inboxes. 

ESPs ensure that your sender domain satisfies security checks. Internet service providers like Gmail see your emails are being sent from a secure source and allow your campaigns to get through spam filters and into the inbox. You can see the benefit of working with software specialized in email marketing.

If you want to set yourself up for email marketing success from day one, get yourself a dedicated email marketing service.

With hundreds of ESPs on the market, it’s hard to know which one is right for your business. 

Some of the most popular email service providers include Brevo, Mailchimp, Constant Contact, Convertkit, Klaviyo, Mailjet, Mailerlite, GetResponse, and HubSpot.

Here are some questions to help narrow down your options:

It’s also a good idea to consider your future needs. Down the road, how many emails will you need to send and what features will you require? Choose an email marketing tool that can support your business both today and as you grow.

Email marketing costs can vary widely depending on the size of your email list, the number of emails you send, the level of support you need, and the technical specifications you’re looking for.

For some, free email marketing plans offer more than enough functionality. For others, email marketing can cost hundreds or thousands of dollars per month.

As you’re exploring different options, you’ll notice most providers base their pricing on the number of contacts on your email list. This pricing model can be attractive to those just starting out, but costs rise considerably once your list grows. 

Brevo, on the other hand, structures its pricing by email volume rather than the number of subscribers. That way, you can grow your email list infinitely and it won’t impact the pricing. 

The Starter Plan at $9 for 5,000 emails per month is more than enough for any small business just starting out. Try it out today!

You can’t send email campaigns without anyone to send them to, so it’s time to start building an email list of engaged, opt-in subscribers.

Yes, that’s right — opt-in. Because here’s the thing about email contacts:

Everyone on your email list needs to have given their express permission to be there. 

What does that mean?

It means they agreed to receive emails from you when they entered their email address into an email signup form on your blog, website, landing pages, social media, or anywhere else. In email terms, this consent is referred to as an “opt-in.” (“Opting out” would be an unsubscribe.)

Permission-based marketing is essential to comply with data protection laws and safeguard the integrity of your brand. After all, nobody likes a spammer.

Because this is a pretty non-negotiable part of email marketing, most ESPs let you create signup forms to organically grow your subscriber list.

Here are some tried-and-tested ways to organically grow your email list:

Create an email signup form to make subscriptions as easy as possible. Then place your email subscription form in highly visible places where people will definitely see it. 

Typical subscription form hotspots include:

Creating a pop-up form on your website can be a good idea, too. Just make sure not to disrupt the user experience too much. Pop-ups that prevent visitors from using your site can be big deterrents! (Think of your signup form placement like your call-to-action placement.)

Nothing makes a list grow faster than premium content.

Guarded content like ebooks, reports, checklists, or infographics are great ways to grow your contact list. Visitors get valuable content in exchange for joining your newsletter list. It’s a win-win!

Special offers and discounts are a great way to get people onto your list, too. For example, clothing brand Mango offers 10% off your first order when you subscribe to their newsletter.

Now that you’ve started building your contact list, the next steps are defining an email marketing strategy and creating the content!

To define your email marketing strategy, think about what you want to achieve with your first campaign. Here are some common goals for email marketing beginners:

Your goals can be specific or broad — as long as they fit with your business and your audience. In either case, having a clear, measurable goal will make it easier to create your email content. 

Email design doesn’t have to be difficult or overly technical. Using a drag-and-drop editor, you can easily create stunning and professional marketing campaigns.

There’s no need to get hung up on creating fancy, elaborate emails. More importantly, you should focus on creating an email that embodies your brand, whatever it may look like. Oftentimes, this means keeping it simple. You can always build upon this later on as your skills grow.

Just follow email design practices to make your campaigns as impactful as possible.

A few tips for making a strong email design are:

For beginners and seasoned pros alike, email marketing templates are the perfect shortcut to standout email design. 

Just pick one you like. Customize it to match your brand colors and font. Then reuse it for future email newsletters. All you’ll have to do is update the content. Quick and easy!

Brevo has over 40 newsletter templates available on all plans (even the free one). There are also plenty of free email templates available from other sources.

Brevo offers 100% responsive email templates, meaning they automatically adjust their formatting to fit the device they’re viewed on — mobile, tablet, or desktop.

Introducing one of the most important elements of your email marketing campaign: the email subject line.

These few words could determine whether your email is read or not. And with so much competition in the inbox these days, they need to stand out.

Aim to create intrigue or a desire to open in just a few words.

AI is a useful tool for developing subject lines. AI technology is trained to find what works and can help you learn how to do it well. An email tool with AI capabilities like Brevo makes subject line creation easy.

When you get an email, what’s the first thing you look at? Probably who it’s from.

The sender name answers the recipient’s first subconscious question: Is this genuine or is it spam?

The best way to reinforce trustworthiness and brand recognition is to incorporate your brand name into the sender name. There are several ways to go about this:

To be easily recognized in the inbox, use the same sender name and address for all campaigns.

Avoid no-reply email addresses, as these diminish trust in your brand and prevent subscribers from reaching out with questions. 

The email preheader (or preview text) is the snippet of text that appears after the email subject line for certain email clients, particularly on mobile devices. That is what you see in the blue box below.

The preheader adds valuable context to your subject line and can significantly boost your open rates. The subject line and preheader should work together to start telling the reader a story.

Again, it should instill enough curiosity to make the reader want to open the email and learn more.

Fail to set a preview text and the email client will see the first line of text. This isn’t always an issue, but it might mean a missed opportunity to grab subscribers’ attention.

Email copy needs to offer value, feature topics that interest your audience, and embody your brand’s tone of voice. 

To write persuasive, engaging email copy, keep these tips in mind:

This email by Sundays has a clear tone of voice that matches the brand’s personality. The copy is concise and easy to understand.

Rather than choosing a random day and time to send your emails, be strategic. Think about what you know about your audience and choose the best time to send emails for them.

Brevo’s research showed that email marketing campaigns tend to perform better when sent on Tuesdays or Thursdays in the mornings around 10 AM or in the afternoons around 3 PM.

But, what works for most may not work best for you. It’s important to test different times to see where the sweet spot is for your audience. Or, use Brevo’s Send Time Optimization feature, which selects the best time for each individual contact based on previous engagement data.

This next section focuses on strategies and email marketing best practices.

Building an email list can be slow, especially when you’re just starting out. Buying a list might seem like a tempting shortcut, but trust us — it’s a terrible idea.

Buying a list will put your business at risk because:

In short, don’t buy email lists. Build your list organically — however slowly — and you’ll reap the benefits in the long run.

As already mentioned, the term “opt-in” refers to the signup process. There are two different types of opt-in for email marketing:

Sure, double opt-in adds an extra step between the potential subscriber and your list. But far from being an obstacle, this process is important — especially for email deliverability.

Double opt-in eliminates any misspelled email addresses that would otherwise generate a hard bounce. It also rules out spam traps and acts as proof of subscriber consent — a GDPR requirement.

For better email marketing, double opt-in is the way to go. 

As your email list expands, it’s likely to contain diverse buyer profiles.

List segmentation is the process of dividing your list of subscribers into smaller sub-lists with common traits. The idea behind this technique is to engage subscribers with more relevant, targeted emails. 

Typically, contact lists are segmented by demographic information like age and location, as well as customer information like lead score and purchase history. (This is where having a contact CRM database that works with your email marketing tool comes in handy as it stores information like this about your contacts.)

To get a head start on segmentation, add subscribers to separate lists during signup by asking about their email content and frequency preferences. 

Email marketing signup form example: Bloomingdale’s

This signup form by Bloomingdale’s asks customers to choose the kind of content they’d like to get in their inboxes. Every person who signs up for “home” will be added to the “home” email list in a CRM. 

From there Bloomingdale’s can easily create specialized campaigns for contacts in this segment and send them relevant content.

The more you know about your customers, the more relevant and valuable the content will be that you send them.

People generally appreciate when brands add personal touches and pay attention to small details. When it comes to making us feel valued and understood as a customer, a little personalization goes a long way.

This rings true for email marketing, too.

Email personalization is essential to building relationships with prospects and customers.

Here are some simple email personalization ideas to help increase your open, click-through, and conversion rates.

Recent data by McKinsey & Company shows the importance of personalization based on consumer insight. The bottom line — customers like personalization. It helps them see more of what they want and makes them feel understood by brands.

For your next targeted personalization campaign, use dynamic content in emails. 

Case study: Netflix

Netflix targets users with tailored content based on what they already engage with. When a new season of a show they watched comes out, or if there is a similar show to stream, Netflix lets them know. 

While their emails aren’t the only factor behind Netflix’s 2.4% churn rate, they play a part in their overall marketing strategy.

Hesitating between two subject lines? Not sure what content your audience will react best to? A/B testing is one way to find out — and a great way to optimize your campaigns’ open rates and click-through rates.

Test different email subject line formulas, content formats, and CTAs. See which ones get the best engagement and adjust your strategy accordingly.

Even more than subject lines, calls to action, and copy, email marketing success hinges on reliable email deliverability.

All-important for email marketers, email deliverability refers to the ability to deliver an email to the inbox. 

When all goes according to plan, the email makes it past the spam filters and arrives at its destination. When deliverability is compromised, the email lands in the spam folder or, worse, your sender IP is blocklisted by the ISP.

While deliverability often depends on technical factors, there are plenty of non-technical ways to help your email newsletters reach the inbox.

Here are some deliverability best practices:

Keep your database up to date for optimal email deliverability and higher engagement rates.

Got subscribers who’ve dropped off the radar? If someone hasn’t engaged with your emails in at least six months, send a reactivation campaign or even ask for a second opt-in. See if you can get them interested again.

If there’s still no engagement, delete the subscribers from your list.

Sure, no one likes losing subscribers, but email list cleaning is better for your deliverability in the long term

Make it easy to unsubscribe with a clearly visible unsubscribe button. If people can’t find the way out, they’re more likely to mark you as spam.   

Good to know: If you’re using Brevo’s marketing emailing service, you’re already doing this by default and there’s no need to worry.

For reference, a good unsubscribe rate is 0.5 or less. 

Analyzing key email marketing metrics will teach you how to improve your strategy for future campaigns. Most ESPs have an analytics dashboard with at least the following real-time metrics:

In Brevo, you can find an overview of your campaign results in real time, or under statistics. 

To improve your performance, try to manage your email list better to get better engagement. 

As you go, you’ll begin to see what works and what doesn’t so you can develop stronger campaigns.

Different regions have different policies for data protection. Make sure to check out guidelines and laws for your area. ESPs help you comply with many important ones, but it’s always good to be safe. As mentioned above, some regulations to know about are:

USA: The CAN-SPAM Act

Europe: The GDPR

Once you’ve got the hang of things, automate your email marketing strategy to make your business grow even faster.

Autoresponders are the simplest form of email automation.

Autoresponders send an automatic personalized email (or email series) at different stages of the buyer journey. You get to follow up with subscribers without having to be physically present to hit send.

The welcome email is the most common autoresponder example and most email marketing services have an autoresponder function. 

With Brevo, you can select from essential email automations to jumpstart your campaigns. 

You can also build custom workflows inside an automation builder as shown below. Easily click to add entry points, actions, re-starts, and exits.

Equipped with the right email automation software, you can go one step further and set up complex email automation sequences using if/then/else logic. This kind of email series is highly effective for lead nurturing and lead scoring. 

In the coming year, 48% of companies will focus their efforts on developing their marketing automation. So, learning the basics will help you send successful email marketing campaigns and keep a competitive edge. 

Hopefully, this article has given you an in-depth answer to “What is email marketing?” and how it can benefit your business. We know there’s a lot of information here. But by taking things one step at a time, anyone can use email marketing to grow their business. 

Get started today with Brevo’s Free Plan to streamline your email marketing efforts. Whatever your industry, Brevo has features and functionalities to create stunning and successful email campaigns that your contacts will love.