What is email marketing? How to build a list and send emails people read
Email marketing is sending useful, relevant emails to people who have agreed to hear from you. It is one of the few marketing channels a business fully owns: social platforms can change their rules, and ad costs can rise, but your email list stays yours.
Why email still works
- Low cost: sending to an existing list costs little compared with ads.
- Direct: your message lands in the inbox rather than competing in a busy feed.
- Personal: emails can be tailored to what each person is interested in.
- Measurable: you can see opens, clicks and the sales or enquiries that follow.
Building a list the right way
Only email people who have given permission. Buying lists is ineffective and harms your sender reputation, and India’s Digital Personal Data Protection Act requires personal data to be used with proper consent. Good ways to grow a list include:
- a signup form on your website with a clear promise (“one useful tip each week”);
- a free resource such as a checklist, guide or template;
- asking customers at checkout or after an enquiry;
- event and webinar registrations.
Types of emails to send
- Welcome emails: sent automatically when someone joins. Introduce yourself and deliver what you promised.
- Newsletters: regular updates with useful content, not only offers.
- Promotional emails: launches, offers and events.
- Automated sequences: a series of emails triggered by an action, such as an enquiry, an abandoned cart or a course signup.
- Transactional emails: receipts, confirmations and reminders.
Writing emails people open and read
- Write a clear, specific subject line. Curiosity helps, but misleading subjects destroy trust.
- Use a recognisable sender name.
- Keep one main message and one main action per email.
- Write as a person, not a press release.
- Make it easy to read on a phone.
Deliverability: reaching the inbox
Even good emails fail if they land in spam. Since 2024, Gmail and Yahoo require bulk senders to authenticate their emails and make unsubscribing easy. The basics are:
- set up SPF, DKIM and DMARC records for your sending domain;
- send from your own domain, not a free email address;
- include a clear, one-click unsubscribe link;
- remove addresses that bounce or never engage;
- avoid sudden huge sends from a new account.
What to measure
Open rates are less reliable than they used to be because some email apps load images automatically, so focus on clicks, replies, enquiries and sales. Test one thing at a time, such as the subject line or the call to action, and keep what works.
Learn list building, writing, automation and deliverability in our Email Marketing Course.