SNDR›New to email
New to email marketing_□×

Never sent a marketing email? Start here.

No jargon, no funnel diagrams. What email marketing is for a small shop, the five things you need before the first send, what to send in the first 90 days, and a short game that works out which platform suits you.

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What email marketing actually is

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It is two things, and people usually only think of the first one. The first is campaigns: the emails you decide to send, to some or all of your list, on a day you choose. A new product, a restock, a sale, a note about what you have been making. The second is automation: emails that send themselves when somebody does something, like signing up, leaving a basket or buying for the first time.

Campaigns keep you in front of people. Automation catches money that would otherwise walk out. Most shops start with campaigns because they are obvious, and most of the earnings sit in the automation they have not built yet.

The part nobody mentions: it is the only marketing channel where the audience is yours. Ads stop when you stop paying. Social reach depends on whoever is running the feed that month. The list is a file you own, and it keeps working. That argument is set out properly in email versus social media.

The longer version, with the flows most shops start with, is on what email marketing is.

What you need before the first send

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Five things. None of them are hard, and skipping any of them causes most of the problems I get called in to fix.

1. A domain you can authenticate

Send from your own domain, with the DNS records set up so inboxes can tell it is really you. Sending shop email from a free mailbox address is the quickest route to the spam folder.

2. Permission you can point to

People on the list should have chosen to be there, and you should be able to say when and how. A bought list is not a list, and it damages the sending reputation you need later.

3. Somewhere for people to sign up

A form on the site, a tick box at checkout, a sign-up card in the parcel. Quality beats volume every time, which is the whole point of list growth done properly.

4. A platform

The tool that sends, stores the list and runs the automation. That is what the platform finder is for. Do not agonise over it: the cheapest one you will actually use beats the best one you never log into.

5. Something worth saying

A reason to be in someone's inbox that is not only "buy this". Two genuinely useful emails for every one that sells something is a decent starting ratio.

Already have a list sitting there doing nothing? The free audit tells you what is missing, in writing, in five working days. No call needed to get it.

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Your first 90 days

In build order

  1. Month one: the plumbing and the welcome

    Authenticate the domain, connect the shop, get the sign-up form working, then build a welcome series. It is the first thing anyone on your list ever receives and it consistently earns more per email than anything else you will send.

  2. Month two: the cart and the first campaigns

    An abandoned cart sequence, then two or three campaigns in your own voice. Not a template with your logo dropped in. Written for a phone, because that is where most of it gets read.

  3. Month three: after the sale, and the numbers

    A post-purchase flow so a first order has a decent chance of becoming a second, and one page of reporting: what went out, what it earned, what changes next month.

That is a whole quarter, and it is deliberately unambitious. Three flows and a sending habit will do more than a clever strategy nobody has time to run. The full order, with the rest of the flows, is in the ten flows.

The beginner guides

Four pages, plain English
GuideWhat email marketing isCampaigns and automation, and where the money comes from.ToolChoose a platformThe Pipe Builder: seven questions, three platforms that fit.GuideReading your numbersWhich numbers matter, and which to ignore.ReferenceGlossaryEvery email term in plain English.

How I can help

One freelancer, one channel

I set it up and then I run it. Not a workshop, not a strategy deck, not a login and good luck. The platform gets configured properly, the campaigns get written, and the flows your plan covers get built and scheduled, and you get one page of numbers a month.

If you have never sent anything, the first 90 days above is roughly what the first quarter looks like. If you have a list already, start with the free audit: it is written by hand, takes five working days, and tells you what is leaking whether or not you hire me. The six services and the prices are both on the site, no call needed to see them.

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Screenshot: a new account on day one
and the same account after 90 days

Questions people ask when they are starting

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How big does my list need to be before this is worth it?

Small is fine. A few hundred engaged customers who chose to hear from you will out-earn a bought list of thousands. What matters is whether people asked to be there.

How often should I send?

Start at twice a month and keep it. Consistency beats volume, and a shop that sends well twice a month does better than one that sends eight times in December and nothing else.

Will I annoy people?

Only if the emails are not worth reading. Unsubscribes are not a disaster either: someone leaving a list they no longer want protects the deliverability of everyone who stays.

Do I need to move platform to work with you?

No. I build in the one you already pay for. I work across twelve platforms and will only suggest a move when the tool is genuinely the limit, which is rare.

What if I pick the wrong platform?

It is not fatal. Moving is a job with a price on it rather than a catastrophe, and the writing, the flow logic and the schedule all come with you.

Read next

GuideWhy email convertsWhat the channel does that the others cannot.GuideWelcome emailsThe first email anyone gets, and why it earns most.GuideAutomation for small shopsFlows that keep working while you serve customers.
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