How to create an effective email marketing strategy step by step?

E-mail marketing is more than sending a newsletter once in a while. It’s a whole ecosystem of activities in which a well thought-out strategy determines whether messages reach recipients and get opened or end up in spam.

Thoughtful campaigns can simultaneously increase loyalty, engagement and sales. But where do you start? How not to duplicate the most common mistakes? And what to do to systematically improve results?

In this guide, we’ll go through each stage of creating an effective email marketing strategy together. I’ll show you what tools are worth using and how to measure results so that your campaigns deliver measurable results.

What will you learn from this article?

• You will learn the most important elements of an email marketing strategy and the importance of knowing your target audience.
• You will learn the most important steps in creating a marketing strategy.
• You’ll learn how to choose email marketing tools, selection criteria and an overview of popular systems.
• You’ll learn how to measure and optimize your efforts by tracking KPIs and using A/B testing.
• You’ll also learn about the most common email marketing mistakes and how to avoid them to increase deliverability and engagement.

What is an email marketing strategy?

An email marketing strategy is a cohesive plan of action for using email to achieve specific business goals. It includes thoughtful communication, selection of tools and analysis of results so as to strengthen relationships with recipients, increase sales and build brand loyalty.

A good strategy is not a rigid document – it requires observation of effects and ongoing modifications. It is the ability to respond to change that enables campaigns to consistently deliver better results.

Before you start creating a strategy, know your target audience

Effective email marketing starts with understanding who you are targeting with your messages. The better you know your audience’s lifestyle, needs and challenges, the easier it will be to create content that captures attention and encourages action.

Analysis should include not only demographic data, but also psychographic and behavioral information – what they like, what concerns they have, how they make purchasing decisions. Based on this, you can prepare personae, or detailed profiles of your ideal customers. These are the ones that will help you tailor your tone, language and offerings so that each message is perceived as valuable and hit the mark.

👉 Learn more about creating marketing personas.

How to create an email marketing strategy? A Step-by-Step Guide

Creating an effective email marketing strategy is a complex process that consists of the following steps:

1. Determine your business goals and performance indicators (KPIs)

Before you send out your first newsletter, answer the question of what you want to achieve in this way. Is your goal to increase sales? More base signups? Or maybe the return of customers who haven’t bought anything for a long time?

Objectives are best written according to the SMART principle – that is, so that they are concrete, measurable, achievable, realistic and time-bound. An example of such a goal is to increase the number of subscribers by 15% in three months, or to increase sales from a campaign by 25% by the end of the quarter.

When you know what you’re aiming for, it’s easier to choose metrics that will show whether the strategy is working. The most common metrics to monitor in email marketing include:

• open rate,
• click-through rate (CTR),
• conversion-factor,
• number of unsubscribes.

2. Building and managing a subscriber base

Without a good subscriber base, even the best newsletter will fail. It is worth striving not only to collect as many addresses as possible, but most importantly to acquire those that are quality and active.

How to build a base? Use:

• Subscription forms – place them in visible places on the site (footer, pop-up, blog).
• Lead magnets – offer something in exchange for signing up, such as an e-book, discount code, access to a webinar.
• Social media – promote newsletter sign-ups where you have an active community.

How to take care of it?

• Regular list verification – remove inactive addresses so you don’t lower deliverability rates.
• Monitoring of returns and spam – react quickly if message rejections increase.

Compliance – remember about RODO and a clear privacy policy. This is not only a legal requirement, but also part of building trust.

3. Segmentation and personalization

Segmentation and personalization are indispensable elements of effective email marketing. They help you reach your audience with content that really interests them – instead of sending a one-size-fits-all message to everyone.

How to segment your base?

• By demographics – include age, gender and location.
• Based on purchase history – analyze what the customer bought, when, and at what price.
• Based on behavior – check what links they clicked on in previous messages and what pages they visited in the store.

And how to personalize content?

• By offer match – recommend products based on previous purchases or categories browsed.
• Apply dynamic content – change the content of the message depending on the segment it reaches.
• Using remarketing – send special campaigns to people who haven’t opened messages for a long time.

4. Content planning and mailing calendar

Calendar should take into account:

• frequency of mailings,
• special dates (holidays, product launches),
• customer buying cycles.

Marketing content must be valuable and varied. Take care to maintain a balance between sales and educational communications. Remember that every email, every subject line, should have a clear purpose and be tailored to the preferences of people in specific segments.

5. Implement marketing automation

Automation involvessetting such rules and scenarios in the mailing system so that the messages send themselves – at the right time and to the right people. This makes communication faster and more relevant, and less time-consuming. It’s a way to respond to audience behavior in real time, without having to manually plan each campaign.

Frequent uses of automation include:

• After signing up for a newsletter – send a welcome sequence that introduces the brand, the offer and encourages the first purchase.
• After cart abandonment – remind the recipient of an unfinished order and add an additional incentive (such as a discount code).
• After certain interactions – trigger messages in response to the recipient’s actions, such as clicking on a link or downloading an e-book.
• In remarketing campaigns – prepare special messages for people who haven’t opened emails in a while to re-engage them.

👉 Learn more about automation of marketing.

What email marketing tools to choose?

Professional platforms like Mailchimp, ActiveCampaign or HubSpot allow you to not only send messages, but also schedule, test, analyze and automate them. They provide high deliverability that you won’t get with free mailboxes.

Specialized systems offer:

• automation of campaigns,
• detailed reports,
• segmentation of recipients,
• the ability to create responsive messages.

Many of them have an intuitive interface and free trial versions. It’s worth taking advantage of them before you buy to see if the solution fits your way of working.

Criteria for choosing a newsletter platform

Choosing the right email marketing platform is a strategic decision that affects your entire customer communication and campaign effectiveness. What aspects are worth paying special attention to?

• Size of base and frequency of mailings – not every platform is viable for large bases or very frequent campaigns.
• Functions available – automation, segmentation, reporting, integrations with CRM or online store.
• RODO compliance – data protection is the basis of trust.
• Ease of use – the interface should be intuitive and configuration should be simple.
• Integrations – make sure the tool connects with other systems you use.

Review of popular mailing systems

Here are some suggestions for systems you might consider:

• Mailchimp – simple to use, ideal for small and medium-sized bases.
• ActiveCampaign – advanced automation and segmentation, great for precise personalization.
• HubSpot – powerful platform that combines email marketing with CRM.
• Brevo (Sendinblue) – flexible plans, free version, good tool to get started.
• GetResponse – extensive automation and sales funnel creation capabilities.
• Mailjet, Klaviyo, rapidmail – solutions tailored to different strategies, from simple campaigns to complex workflowy.

Measuring and optimizing your email marketing strategy

By regularly monitoring your results, you can correct your actions and increase the effectiveness of your campaigns on an ongoing basis.

So track key performance indicators (KPIs) such as:

• Open Rate – the percentage of recipients who opened the message.
• Click-through rate (CTR) – the percentage of people who clicked on the link.
• Conversion Rate – how many recipients performed the desired action (e.g. purchase).
• Unsubscribe Rate – a signal that the content is mismatched.
• Bounce Rate – information about problems with deliverability.

Based on the collected data, optimize content, layout, mailing frequency or segmentation. It’s a process that never ends – but it’s one that increases audience loyalty and ROI.

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to track

Tracking Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) is essential for evaluating the effectiveness of email marketing and continuously optimizing your strategy. This allows you to accurately measure return on investment (ROI) and tailor tactics to the real needs of your audience.

• open rate – how many recipients opened the message;
• click-through rate (CTR) – the percentage of people who clicked on a link, indicating engagement;
• conversion rate – how many people completed the desired action (e.g. purchase) after clicking;

Monitor also the unsubscribe rate and rejection rate (Bounce Rate), which signal problems with deliverability or quality of the base. Analyzing this data is a must.

A/B tests as a way to continuously improve campaigns

A/B tests allow you to see which version of your message works better. You send two different versions (A and B) to different segments of your base, and then compare the results.

You can test, among other things:

• theme of the message,
• the content and form of the CTA,
• layout and design,
• degree of personalization.

The results of such tests will tell you what actually engages recipients – and that’s a simple way to increase conversions and maximize ROI.

Optimize emails for mobile devices

Most users read emails on smartphones and tablets. If your messages aren’t tailored for the small screen, you’re losing potential customers.

Make sure that:

• content is responsive and automatically adjusts to screen size,
• text is readable without zooming,
• CTA buttons are the right size,
• graphics are lightweight and load quickly.

Test your messages on different devices and systems. It’s a simple way to avoid a situation where difficulty reading an email will prompt the recipient to unsubscribe. Most email marketing tools give you the ability to preview the message you’re creating in different dimensions.

Frequent email marketing mistakes – how to avoid them?

Mistakes in email marketing can reduce the effectiveness of a campaign and damage the sender’s reputation. Many of them are due to both lack of strategy and technical negligence.

What stumbling blocks to beware of?

1. Purchase databases from insecure sources. Leads to high return rates, risk of being labeled as spam and violations of RODO regulations. Build a database only based on recipients’ consent.
2. Lack of technical preparation. Incorrect SPF, DKIM and DMARC record settings reduce deliverability. These safeguards help bypass the spam folder and protect domain reputation.
3. Lack of segmentation and personalization. Sending the same message to your entire base results in decreased engagement. Segment your audience and tailor content to their behavior and needs.
4. Too-frequent or repetitive mailings. A overload of messages with the same message discourages recipients and increases churn.
5. Lack of optimization for mobile devices. Unreadable layout, too-small CTA buttons and heavy graphics can cause recipients to abandon the message.
6. Lack of a clear call to action (CTA). Without a clear purpose for the email, the recipient doesn’t know what to do next.
7. Hard to unsubscribe. This is an easy path to frustration and infringement. The unsubscribe link should be visible and, of course, functional.

Your email marketing strategy in a nutshell: summary and next steps

Effective email marketing is based on four pillars:

• building a valuable base,
• segmenting your audience,
• personalizing your content,
• automating your efforts.

All to increase sales and build customer loyalty. Remember to be RODO compliant and adapt your messaging to mobile devices – it’s a standard today, not an add-on.

And what’s next? Do an audit of your communications, identify areas for improvement and make changes, monitoring KPIs on an ongoing basis.

Now you have a solid foundation to turn your inbox into an effective sales channel and one of the strongest elements of your marketing strategy. Good luck!