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Currently, most retailers send promotional emails to their customers to promote their businesses. But how can you achieve higher open rates, click-throughs, and conversions?
The art of email marketing is one that is driven by intuition, data, and the ever-changing desires of customers. Being able to nail down multiple aspects of how to get your message in front of customers is one step of many in an overall digital marketing strategy to keep your brand at the front of mind.
We will break down email marketing into ten simple tips to provide in-depth insight and direction into those questions. While these are not an all-encompassing set of steps that will make a successful email marketing strategy, they can be the first steps into building that strategy!
There is a lot we want to say to our customers. But the reality is that our customers don’t have the time or patience to consume all of our information.
Your message competes with countless other emails in an individual’s inbox. Today’s consumers appreciate clarity and value conciseness over a cluttered smattering of information jam-packed into an email. A focused email has a single purpose: spotlighting a product launch, previewing an exclusive promotion, or introducing a loyalty reward; every element of your email must work toward that clear objective. So what does that look like?
Craft a Clear Call-to-Action: If you want customers to explore a sale, guide them with a bold, unmistakable call to action.
Minimize Distractions: Remove any unnecessary links or information that could detract from your main message.
Tell a Compelling Story: Use succinct language to connect with your audience and offer a relatable narrative.
For small retailers, a focused message helps differentiate your personalized, boutique touch from the generic blasts of big box chains. By keeping your emails purpose-driven, you signal your customers that each communication has intention, making them more likely to open the message.
Hopefully, you are tracking the success of your emails and have learned which days and times perform the best. It used to be that we would never want to send an email on Monday or Friday or too early or too late in the day.
But those ‘rules’ have gone out the window now with consumers equipped with smartphones and connected daily. So it will depend on your customers and when you know them to be most active.
Consumers interact with emails on many devices, from smartphones and tablets to wearable tech. A design that isn’t universally responsive can frustrate users and drive them away. Modern templating systems automatically adjust layout and content based on screen size. Digital modification tools can add interactive elements seamlessly on mobile devices.
Optimize and ensure fonts, buttons, and images for small and large screens. White space, well-considered typography, and intuitive navigation can encourage your audience to act.
A well‑optimized, omnichannel design builds credibility with your customers. It supports an effortless shopping experience, which is especially important when competing against large retailers’ standardized, seamless experiences.
In many cases, retailers are seeing up to 80% of their online traffic and interactions done through mobile devices- so it is crucial that your emails are mobile optimized and can be easily and automatically appropriately reformatted regardless of the device it’s opened on.
Today’s digital landscape is dynamic, and customer habits evolve. In 2025, the one‑size‑fits‑all approach to scheduling emails won’t cut it. Advanced analytics enable you to target the exact times your audience will most likely engage.
For local and regional retailers, this personalized scheduling ensures that your communication feels timely and relevant, which boosts both open and click‑through rates. When it aligns with live data from your retail systems, your promotions can drive real‑time sales and set you apart from larger competitors relying on generic campaigns.
| Strategy | Execution |
|---|---|
| Utilize Predictive Analytics | Modern email platforms incorporate AI that analyzes past engagement and predicts the optimal times to send emails to each segment of your audience. |
| Monitor Real-Time Data | Incorporate feedback from your point-of-sale system to gauge in-store versus online fluctuations in customer activity. This data can offer insights about when a promotional email might drive immediate foot traffic. |
| Customize Timing for Segments | Not all customers interact with digital content simultaneously. Segment your lists based on time zones and customer behavior to deliver personal and timely messages. |
For local and regional retailers, this personalized scheduling ensures that your communication feels timely and relevant, which boosts both open and click‑through rates. When it aligns with live data from your retail systems, your promotions can drive real‑time sales and set you apart from larger competitors relying on generic campaigns.
Sometimes, what you expect to perform the best flat out won’t. Testing and analysis mean the system will send some of your emails with subject A and another with subject B. Then, whichever results have the highest open rate, the system will automatically send that subject to the rest of your email list.
Digital marketing is a landscape built on constant experimentation. A/B testing helps you refine every aspect of your email, from subject lines and visual designs to the structure and tone of your copy.
Repeat execution means establishing consistent strategies that resonate with your audience. There are a few steps you can start with right now that will help build your plan.
Every interaction is golden, whether gaining new data or winning a conversion from one of your messages. Intelligent A/B testing ensures that your campaigns become progressively sharper and more effective, using fundamental customer interactions to inform strategy. This iterative approach gives you a competitive edge and optimizes communications for maximum conversion.
Never purchase an email list! All that will do is hurt your emails’ overall success. The email strategy is to grow your email list organically. Start collecting your customers’ emails in your store and on your website. There are plenty of ways to collect your customers’ emails, and that is who you want to market to.
While it’s sometimes thought, ‘Let me send all of my emails to every address I have,’ in hopes that someone will eventually react, that is not the right approach.
Suppose you are using a list built over many years. In that case, we recommend you run a report and remove anyone who has not interacted with your brand in at least 6 months, and more depending on the size and valid interactions. Suppose you continue to send email promotions to consumers who have not responded. In that case, you are wasting your budget and efforts, lowering overall performance rates.
A well-segmented email list means you’re not just blasting a generic message to everyone; you’re delivering targeted, relevant content that speaks directly to the interests and habits of each group. Regular list management is key to avoiding disengagement and improving deliverability.
How to Do It:
Advanced Segmentation Techniques: Move beyond basic demographics. Use purchase history, browsing behavior, location data, and event-triggered actions to create micro‑segments that cater to particular interests.
Regular List Hygiene: Periodically remove inactive or outdated contacts using automation tools. This regular cleaning boosts your open rates and ensures your messages reach those who care about your brand.
Integrate with CRM and POS: By interfacing your email platform with your retail system, you capture in‑store behavior and transaction history, allowing you to craft hyper‑targeted campaigns considering the customer journey.
Segmenting email lists allows you to mimic the personalized experience of a boutique store, even if your subscriber base is growing. Keeping your lists fresh means engaging an active audience, something both small retailers and large chains strive for. The difference is that your local appeal shines through when every email feels custom‑made.
Subject lines trying to ‘sell’ typically perform worse than subject lines that might be more educational or informative. Instead of talking about how great your products, company, or promotion is, explain more about why and what you are showing.
For example, a good, time-sensitive email subject might be “Tonight Only: A Denim Lover’s Dream” instead of a foul subject line, such as “Your coupons for this week.”
The “Dear [Name]” era is evolving. In 2025, personalization is a sophisticated process that leverages customer data to tailor content individually, making each email a personalized experience, not just a communication. Utilize customer behavior, such as recent purchases or browsing patterns, to shape the content of your emails.
Personalized product recommendations can be dynamically inserted from your integrated POS system. Acknowledge customer loyalty by highlighting rewards or exclusive offers tailored to their unique spending habits, reinforcing a personal brand connection.
For retail businesses, deep personalization fosters loyalty and drives conversion by making customers feel seen and valued. By utilizing real-time data from your retail technology partner, every email can feel like a conversation tailored just for them, offering an edge over impersonal mass campaigns.
A simple way to personalize an email is by addressing each recipient by name. Attribute the message to a real member of the team. Ensure that the customer can reply to the email instead of an automated generic address that doesn’t allow replies.
Consumers first look at the subject line and then at who is sending the email. If they don’t recognize where the email is coming from, they likely will not open it. If the ‘Sent From’ clearly states your company name, you probably shouldn’t repeat your company name in the subject line.
Modern email marketing doesn’t exist in a vacuum. A retail technology partner that unifies your point of sale, CRM, and digital marketing efforts transforms isolated data points into actionable insights, giving you a 360‑degree view of your customer’s journey. What does that look like in 2025?
This level of integration is particularly potent for small to medium retailers who need to maximize every customer interaction. Using a retail technology partner not only streamlines operations and analytics but also equips your brand to deliver the same quality experience as larger retailers, often at a fraction of the cost.
While you might have your own Gmail or Yahoo email account, remember to always send promotional emails using your domain name. And if you don’t have one, it’s time to get one.
The subject line is the first, and sometimes the only, impression you get to make on your subscribers. With inboxes flooded with messages, authenticity, and creativity set you apart from the endless commercial background noise.
Focus on what your email offers: insights into a new product, an exclusive discount, or an invitation to a community event. Make it clear why customers will want to click on your email.
Test conversational, humorous, and even narrative-based approaches. Use language that naturally reflects your brand voice while resonating with your local market segment. Modern consumers appreciate brevity.
A clear, concise subject line conveying urgency or exclusivity can significantly boost your open rates.
When creating emails, use consistent formatting across your messages. It builds familiarity and trust, making you a welcome guest in your customer’s inbox. By following these simple tips, you can turn your “From” field into a powerful tool for boosting open rates and building lasting connections with your audience.
Automation, driven by real‑time insights, transforms email marketing from a reactive medium into a proactive sales engine. Triggered campaigns respond immediately to customer behavior, turning every interaction into an opportunity.
To further your email success, allow your customers to choose from a short list of email types: newsletters, special events, sales and promotions, and others. You increase their chances of opening by giving your customers the flexibility to select the types of emails they receive.
Identify Key Triggers: Map out customer journeys and determine the moments that matter—cart abandonment, product purchases, or post‑visit follow‑ups. Use these behavioral triggers to launch automated workflows.
Design Comprehensive Workflows: Develop multi‑step campaigns that guide customers toward a sale and deeper engagement. Each step can be dynamically adjusted based on recent in‑store or online activity, providing continued value.
Leverage Integration: With your retail technology system feeding real‑time data, your triggered emails can automatically incorporate recent purchase information, loyalty rewards, or personalized recommendations to drive the following action.
For retailers, automated triggered campaigns ensure that every customer touchpoint is optimized for conversion. This isn’t follow-up marketing; it’s a dynamic conversation that continuously adapts to customer behavior, making your brand feel proactive and responsive, much like the big retail giants.
We have found that retailers who send more targeted emails that speak to a smaller audience have a much higher monthly ROI.
Continuous monitoring is achievable through email personalization. Segment your email lists by customer preferences and/or sales history so that you can send more targeted emails to smaller groups of customers based on what they like and the types of products they have purchased in the past.
An agile email marketing strategy constantly learns, adjusts, and evolves. In the fast‑paced 2025 digital marketplace, what works today might need fine‑tuning tomorrow. Continuous performance measurement lets you stay ahead of changing customer trends and market expectations.
There are a few easy tactics to get started:
For small to medium-business retailers, data isn’t just numbers: it’s the voice of your customer. By continuously measuring and adapting, you ensure your email marketing remains responsive, current, and remarkably effective.
This iterative process gives you a fighting chance to outpace larger competitors, proving that agility and attention to detail can redefine retail success.
While there is no magical answer to achieving increased email marketing success, following these tips can help. Working with many retailers over the years and helping them segment their lists and target their messages, we have seen open rates jump from 6-8% to over 28%!
When small and medium retailers adopt these enhanced strategies and partner with a robust retail technology provider, they create a seamless and engaging customer experience that positions them to compete with even the most prominent players in the market.
As you implement these 10 strategies, explore emerging trends such as AI-powered creative optimization, interactive email components, and even augmented reality integrations for product demos. The digital marketing landscape is continuously evolving. Your email campaigns can be the agile bridge between your physical store’s intimacy and the boundless possibilities of digital engagement.
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