Email marketing delivers one of the strongest returns of any digital channel, and the numbers make a clear case for starting now. Email marketing campaigns have an average ROI of 36 times, meaning that businesses earn $36 for every dollar they spend. For many business owners and marketers, the question is no longer why to invest in email, but how to get started with email marketing correctly. This guide walks you through the core steps, from choosing a platform to sending your first campaign and tracking what matters.
Key Takeaways
52% of consumers made a purchase directly from an email they received, making email the most effective channel for driving sales.
Despite representing only 2% of volume, automated messages generated 37% of all email-attributed sales in 2024.
Marketers witnessed a 760% increase in revenue from segmented email campaigns, according to Campaign Monitor.
Welcome emails prove their worth as your most effective campaign type, achieving an impressive average open rate of 83.63%.
Building a permission-based list, setting measurable goals, and tracking the right metrics from day one is what separates high-performing programs from mediocre ones.
Why Email Marketing Still Outperforms Most Channels
Before getting into the steps, it helps to understand what makes email marketing worth prioritizing over other digital tactics.
Global email users are forecasted to increase from 4.48 billion in 2024 to 4.97 billion by 2028, reaching over 60% of the global population. That addressable audience is larger than any social media platform can claim.
41% of marketers say email is their most effective channel, way ahead of social media and paid search at 16%. The reason comes down to ownership: unlike social media followers, your email list belongs to you. No algorithm change can cut your reach overnight.
59% of consumers say marketing emails influence their purchase decisions, with over 50% saying they purchase from an email at least once a month.
For B2B teams, the case is equally strong. 59% of B2B marketers rate email as their most effective channel for prospecting.
Step 1: Define Your Goals Before You Send Anything
Email marketing delivers one of the strongest returns of any digital channel, and the numbers make a clear case for starting now. Email marketing campaigns have an average ROI of 36 times, meaning that businesses earn $36 for every dollar they spend. For many business owners and marketers, the question is no longer why to invest in email, but how to get started with email marketing correctly. This guide walks you through the core steps, from choosing a platform to sending your first campaign and tracking what matters.
Key Takeaways
52% of consumers made a purchase directly from an email they received, making email the most effective channel for driving sales.
Despite representing only 2% of volume, automated messages generated 37% of all email-attributed sales in 2024.
Marketers witnessed a 760% increase in revenue from segmented email campaigns, according to Campaign Monitor.
Welcome emails prove their worth as your most effective campaign type, achieving an impressive average open rate of 83.63%.
Building a permission-based list, setting measurable goals, and tracking the right metrics from day one is what separates high-performing programs from mediocre ones.
Why Email Marketing Still Outperforms Most Channels
Before getting into the steps, it helps to understand what makes email marketing worth prioritizing over other digital tactics.
Global email users are forecasted to increase from 4.48 billion in 2024 to 4.97 billion by 2028, reaching over 60% of the global population. That addressable audience is larger than any social media platform can claim.
41% of marketers say email is their most effective channel, way ahead of social media and paid search at 16%. The reason comes down to ownership: unlike social media followers, your email list belongs to you. No algorithm change can cut your reach overnight.
59% of consumers say marketing emails influence their purchase decisions, with over 50% saying they purchase from an email at least once a month.
For B2B teams, the case is equally strong. 59% of B2B marketers rate email as their most effective channel for prospecting.
Step 1: Define Your Goals Before You Send Anything
The most common mistake new email marketers make is jumping straight to platform sign-ups and list building before knowing what they want email to accomplish.
Regardless of whether you've already launched a number of campaigns or you have no prior experience, setting clear, achievable email marketing goals is crucial.
Your goals shape everything downstream: which metrics you track, what types of emails you send, how often you send them, and how you segment your audience. Common starting objectives include:
Lead generation: Capturing new prospects into a nurture sequence
Customer retention: Keeping existing buyers engaged and purchasing again
Revenue: Driving direct sales from promotional or abandoned cart emails
Brand awareness: Keeping your business top-of-mind through newsletters
Set goals that are specific and measurable. "Send more emails" is not a goal. "Achieve a 3% click-through rate on promotional campaigns within 90 days" is.
Step 2: Choose the Right Email Marketing Platform
Your email service provider (ESP) is the foundation of everything. It handles list management, campaign creation, automation, deliverability, and reporting.
An ESP will provide the tools you need to create, send, and manage email campaigns to your audience.
When evaluating platforms, look for:
Automation and workflow capabilities
List segmentation and tagging
Template builders
Analytics and reporting dashboards
Deliverability tools and sender reputation monitoring
Compliance features for CAN-SPAM and GDPR
Popular options for different use cases include Mailchimp, Klaviyo, ActiveCampaign, ConvertKit, and Brevo. The right choice depends on your list size, budget, and whether you are B2B or B2C. For a comparison of tools and features at different price points, see our guide to email marketing strategy templates for 2025.
Step 3: Build a Permission-Based Email List
A large list is worthless if the people on it never consented to hear from you. Permission-based list building protects your sender reputation, improves deliverability, and produces higher engagement rates.
To comply with the CAN-SPAM Act, make sure that you are being transparent with the purpose of your emails, and be certain that the information associated with your emails is accurate.
Practical tactics for growing a quality list include:
Lead magnets: Offer a free resource, discount, checklist, or guide in exchange for an email address
Website opt-in forms: Place sign-up forms on high-traffic pages, blog posts, and your homepage
Exit-intent popups: Capture visitors before they leave
Checkout opt-ins: For ecommerce, ask customers to subscribe during purchase
Social media promotion: Drive traffic to a dedicated landing page with a sign-up incentive
Use double opt-in for email signups to verify that new subscribers genuinely want to join your list, adding a confirmation step such as a verification email with a unique link or code that the subscriber must click to start their subscription.
Double opt-in reduces spam complaints, improves list quality, and keeps your deliverability metrics healthy from the start.
Before you plan newsletters or promotional campaigns, set up a welcome email sequence. It is the single highest-return automation you can build.
Welcome emails continue to prove their worth as your most effective email marketing campaign, achieving an impressive average open rate of 83.63% and a click-through rate of 16.60%, with a click-to-open rate of 19.85%.
Welcome emails produce 320% more revenue per email than promotional campaigns. That is a significant gap to leave on the table if you are not sending one.
A solid welcome sequence typically covers:
Email 1 (immediate): Deliver what you promised (lead magnet, discount, etc.), introduce your brand
Email 2 (day 2-3): Share your best content or most popular products
Email 3 (day 5-7): Address common questions or objections, drive toward a conversion action
Use your welcome emails to introduce your brand, share key links, and highlight what makes your brand unique. For ecommerce businesses, incorporating a discount code can significantly boost your subscriber-to-customer conversion rate.
For detailed guidance on structuring this sequence, see Welcome Email Sequence Best Practices: 7 Proven Strategies.
Step 5: Segment Your List From the Start
Most beginners send the same email to their entire list. That approach consistently underperforms targeted, segmented campaigns.
Marketers witnessed a 760% increase in revenue from segmented email campaigns, per Campaign Monitor.
According to an email marketing survey from HubSpot, 65% of marketers say their segmented emails have better open rates.
You do not need a large list or complex data to start segmenting. Basic segments to build early include:
New subscribers (first 30 days) vs. existing subscribers
Buyers vs. non-buyers
Engagement level (active openers/clickers vs. inactive)
Interest or product category based on signup source or browsing behavior
As your list and data grow, you can layer in behavioral triggers, purchase history, geographic location, and lifecycle stage. For a deep dive into how segmentation drives revenue, see Email List Segmentation Strategies That Boost ROI by 760%.
Step 6: Write Emails That Get Read and Clicked
The best platform and cleanest list cannot save weak email content. Every email you send competes for attention in a crowded inbox.
Focus on these fundamentals:
Subject lines matter most. 47% of recipients open emails based solely on the subject line, while 69% report emails as spam for the same reason. Test subject lines that are specific, curiosity-driven, or directly relevant to the reader's situation.
Mobile optimization is non-negotiable. 50% of people will delete an email if it is not optimized for mobile. Use single-column layouts, large tap targets, and concise copy.
One clear call to action per email. Be direct about what you want readers to do: "Schedule a call," "Click a link," or "Hit reply." One action per email. Confused people do not act. Clarity drives conversions.
Personalize where it adds value. Emails with personalization achieve 29% higher open rates and 41% higher click-through rates compared to generic messages.
Keep copy tight. Lead with the point, not background. Every sentence should earn its place.
Step 7: Set Up Automation Early
Manual sends work for newsletters, but the highest-ROI activity in email marketing is automated flows triggered by subscriber behavior.
Email automations deliver 30 times more revenue per recipient than one-off promotional campaigns. The average return per recipient for campaigns sits at $0.11, while automated flows earn $1.94 per recipient.
Core automated flows to build in your first 90 days:
Welcome sequence (as covered above)
Abandoned cart (for ecommerce) — abandoned cart email campaigns have an open rate of 50.50%, and businesses earn an average of $3.45 in revenue per abandoned cart email recipient.
Post-purchase follow-up: Thank buyers, encourage reviews, cross-sell related products
Re-engagement sequence: Target subscribers who have not opened or clicked in 60 to 90 days
Brands that regularly A/B test their emails achieve 83% higher ROI than those that never test. Build testing into your automation setup from the start.
Step 8: Track the Right Metrics
Bot-driven phantom engagement has made open rates unreliable, pushing high-performing teams toward revenue per email, list churn, and lifetime value as the metrics that matter.
The metrics worth tracking from day one:
Metric
What it tells you
Click-through rate (CTR)
Whether content is relevant and compelling
Click-to-open rate (CTOR)
Whether people who open actually engage
Conversion rate
Whether email drives the desired action
Revenue per email
Direct business impact
Unsubscribe rate
List health and content-audience fit
Bounce rate
List quality and deliverability
Keep bounce rate under 2% to maintain sender reputation. Keep unsubscribe rate under 0.5%; higher rates suggest a content-audience mismatch.
How much does it cost to get started with email marketing?
Most major ESPs offer free plans for small lists, typically up to 500 to 1,000 subscribers, with basic features included. Email marketing is not free at scale. You will need email marketing software, and while plans can start at an affordable rate, costs go up as your audience grows and you are sending to more people. For most small businesses, budget $20 to $100 per month to start with a mid-tier plan that includes automation.
How often should I send emails to my list?
Frequency depends on your audience and email type. Segmented email campaigns generate 30% more opens and 50% more click-throughs than non-segmented campaigns, which means relevance matters more than volume. Sending emails once a month had the highest open rate at 28%, with 2 to 4 emails a month following closely behind. For most businesses starting out, 2 to 4 sends per month is a reasonable starting cadence. Test, then adjust based on engagement data.
What is the most important email to set up first?
Your welcome email. Welcome emails continue to prove their worth as your most effective email marketing campaign, achieving an average open rate of 83.63%. It is the email with the highest engagement you will ever send, and it sets the tone for every future interaction. Get this right before anything else.
Do I need a large list to see results from email marketing?
No. List quality matters far more than list size. More businesses are turning to email marketing because it is effective. Not only is it cheaper than other forms of marketing, it is also high-converting, because your email list is filled with people who want to hear from your brand. A focused list of 500 engaged subscribers who opted in for a specific reason will consistently outperform a bloated list of 10,000 disengaged contacts.
The most common mistake new email marketers make is jumping straight to platform sign-ups and list building before knowing what they want email to accomplish.
Regardless of whether you've already launched a number of campaigns or you have no prior experience, setting clear, achievable email marketing goals is crucial.
Your goals shape everything downstream: which metrics you track, what types of emails you send, how often you send them, and how you segment your audience. Common starting objectives include:
Lead generation: Capturing new prospects into a nurture sequence
Customer retention: Keeping existing buyers engaged and purchasing again
Revenue: Driving direct sales from promotional or abandoned cart emails
Brand awareness: Keeping your business top-of-mind through newsletters
Set goals that are specific and measurable. "Send more emails" is not a goal. "Achieve a 3% click-through rate on promotional campaigns within 90 days" is.
Step 2: Choose the Right Email Marketing Platform
Your email service provider (ESP) is the foundation of everything. It handles list management, campaign creation, automation, deliverability, and reporting.
An ESP will provide the tools you need to create, send, and manage email campaigns to your audience.
When evaluating platforms, look for:
Automation and workflow capabilities
List segmentation and tagging
Template builders
Analytics and reporting dashboards
Deliverability tools and sender reputation monitoring
Compliance features for CAN-SPAM and GDPR
Popular options for different use cases include Mailchimp, Klaviyo, ActiveCampaign, ConvertKit, and Brevo. The right choice depends on your list size, budget, and whether you are B2B or B2C. For a comparison of tools and features at different price points, see our guide to email marketing strategy templates for 2025.
Step 3: Build a Permission-Based Email List
A large list is worthless if the people on it never consented to hear from you. Permission-based list building protects your sender reputation, improves deliverability, and produces higher engagement rates.
To comply with the CAN-SPAM Act, make sure that you are being transparent with the purpose of your emails, and be certain that the information associated with your emails is accurate.
Practical tactics for growing a quality list include:
Lead magnets: Offer a free resource, discount, checklist, or guide in exchange for an email address
Website opt-in forms: Place sign-up forms on high-traffic pages, blog posts, and your homepage
Exit-intent popups: Capture visitors before they leave
Checkout opt-ins: For ecommerce, ask customers to subscribe during purchase
Social media promotion: Drive traffic to a dedicated landing page with a sign-up incentive
Use double opt-in for email signups to verify that new subscribers genuinely want to join your list, adding a confirmation step such as a verification email with a unique link or code that the subscriber must click to start their subscription.
Double opt-in reduces spam complaints, improves list quality, and keeps your deliverability metrics healthy from the start.
Before you plan newsletters or promotional campaigns, set up a welcome email sequence. It is the single highest-return automation you can build.
Welcome emails continue to prove their worth as your most effective email marketing campaign, achieving an impressive average open rate of 83.63% and a click-through rate of 16.60%, with a click-to-open rate of 19.85%.
Welcome emails produce 320% more revenue per email than promotional campaigns. That is a significant gap to leave on the table if you are not sending one.
A solid welcome sequence typically covers:
Email 1 (immediate): Deliver what you promised (lead magnet, discount, etc.), introduce your brand
Email 2 (day 2-3): Share your best content or most popular products
Email 3 (day 5-7): Address common questions or objections, drive toward a conversion action
Use your welcome emails to introduce your brand, share key links, and highlight what makes your brand unique. For ecommerce businesses, incorporating a discount code can significantly boost your subscriber-to-customer conversion rate.
For detailed guidance on structuring this sequence, see Welcome Email Sequence Best Practices: 7 Proven Strategies.
Step 5: Segment Your List From the Start
Most beginners send the same email to their entire list. That approach consistently underperforms targeted, segmented campaigns.
Marketers witnessed a 760% increase in revenue from segmented email campaigns, per Campaign Monitor.
According to an email marketing survey from HubSpot, 65% of marketers say their segmented emails have better open rates.
You do not need a large list or complex data to start segmenting. Basic segments to build early include:
New subscribers (first 30 days) vs. existing subscribers
Buyers vs. non-buyers
Engagement level (active openers/clickers vs. inactive)
Interest or product category based on signup source or browsing behavior
As your list and data grow, you can layer in behavioral triggers, purchase history, geographic location, and lifecycle stage. For a deep dive into how segmentation drives revenue, see Email List Segmentation Strategies That Boost ROI by 760%.
Step 6: Write Emails That Get Read and Clicked
The best platform and cleanest list cannot save weak email content. Every email you send competes for attention in a crowded inbox.
Focus on these fundamentals:
Subject lines matter most. 47% of recipients open emails based solely on the subject line, while 69% report emails as spam for the same reason. Test subject lines that are specific, curiosity-driven, or directly relevant to the reader's situation.
Mobile optimization is non-negotiable. 50% of people will delete an email if it is not optimized for mobile. Use single-column layouts, large tap targets, and concise copy.
One clear call to action per email. Be direct about what you want readers to do: "Schedule a call," "Click a link," or "Hit reply." One action per email. Confused people do not act. Clarity drives conversions.
Personalize where it adds value. Emails with personalization achieve 29% higher open rates and 41% higher click-through rates compared to generic messages.
Keep copy tight. Lead with the point, not background. Every sentence should earn its place.
Step 7: Set Up Automation Early
Manual sends work for newsletters, but the highest-ROI activity in email marketing is automated flows triggered by subscriber behavior.
Email automations deliver 30 times more revenue per recipient than one-off promotional campaigns. The average return per recipient for campaigns sits at $0.11, while automated flows earn $1.94 per recipient.
Core automated flows to build in your first 90 days:
Welcome sequence (as covered above)
Abandoned cart (for ecommerce) — abandoned cart email campaigns have an open rate of 50.50%, and businesses earn an average of $3.45 in revenue per abandoned cart email recipient.
Post-purchase follow-up: Thank buyers, encourage reviews, cross-sell related products
Re-engagement sequence: Target subscribers who have not opened or clicked in 60 to 90 days
Brands that regularly A/B test their emails achieve 83% higher ROI than those that never test. Build testing into your automation setup from the start.
Step 8: Track the Right Metrics
Bot-driven phantom engagement has made open rates unreliable, pushing high-performing teams toward revenue per email, list churn, and lifetime value as the metrics that matter.
The metrics worth tracking from day one:
Metric
What it tells you
Click-through rate (CTR)
Whether content is relevant and compelling
Click-to-open rate (CTOR)
Whether people who open actually engage
Conversion rate
Whether email drives the desired action
Revenue per email
Direct business impact
Unsubscribe rate
List health and content-audience fit
Bounce rate
List quality and deliverability
Keep bounce rate under 2% to maintain sender reputation. Keep unsubscribe rate under 0.5%; higher rates suggest a content-audience mismatch.
How much does it cost to get started with email marketing?
Most major ESPs offer free plans for small lists, typically up to 500 to 1,000 subscribers, with basic features included. Email marketing is not free at scale. You will need email marketing software, and while plans can start at an affordable rate, costs go up as your audience grows and you are sending to more people. For most small businesses, budget $20 to $100 per month to start with a mid-tier plan that includes automation.
How often should I send emails to my list?
Frequency depends on your audience and email type. Segmented email campaigns generate 30% more opens and 50% more click-throughs than non-segmented campaigns, which means relevance matters more than volume. Sending emails once a month had the highest open rate at 28%, with 2 to 4 emails a month following closely behind. For most businesses starting out, 2 to 4 sends per month is a reasonable starting cadence. Test, then adjust based on engagement data.
What is the most important email to set up first?
Your welcome email. Welcome emails continue to prove their worth as your most effective email marketing campaign, achieving an average open rate of 83.63%. It is the email with the highest engagement you will ever send, and it sets the tone for every future interaction. Get this right before anything else.
Do I need a large list to see results from email marketing?
No. List quality matters far more than list size. More businesses are turning to email marketing because it is effective. Not only is it cheaper than other forms of marketing, it is also high-converting, because your email list is filled with people who want to hear from your brand. A focused list of 500 engaged subscribers who opted in for a specific reason will consistently outperform a bloated list of 10,000 disengaged contacts.
