Email Marketing Campaigns: How They Work and How to Run One

Email marketing is sending messages by email to people who have agreed to hear from you, to inform them, keep them coming back or persuade them to buy. An email marketing campaign is one planned piece of that work: a single email or a short series sent to a chosen group of people, with one clear goal such as filling a workshop, launching a product or bringing back customers who have gone quiet.

For a small business, email has an advantage few other channels offer: you own the list. A social media platform can change what your followers see overnight; your email list stays yours, and every message lands in the inbox of someone who already knows you.

How email marketing works

1. People join your list through a sign-up form, at checkout or when they make an enquiry, and give their permission to receive marketing.
2. You keep the list in an email marketing platform rather than a normal inbox. Platforms handle sign-ups and unsubscribes, design templates, send in bulk and report on results.
3. You send campaigns to the whole list or to segments, such as past customers or people in one area.
4. You measure and adjust: which emails were opened, which links were clicked and what people did afterwards.

Types of email campaign

Campaign	What it does	Small business example
Newsletter	Regular update that keeps you in mind	A garden centre's monthly "what to plant now"
Promotional	Announces an offer or launch	A bakery's new seasonal range
Welcome series	Greets new subscribers over 2–4 emails	A salon introducing its team and booking tips
Re-engagement	Brings back people who have gone quiet	A gym emailing members who have not visited in two months
Event	Invites, reminds and follows up	A bookshop's author evening
Transactional	Order confirmations, receipts, reminders	Appointment reminder from a dentist

Transactional emails are service messages, not marketing, but they are read more than almost anything else you send, so keep them clear and on brand.

The UK rules you must follow

Email marketing in the UK is governed by the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations (PECR) alongside data protection law. The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) explains the rules, and the main points for a small business are:

• Individuals need to have consented to your marketing emails. Individuals include sole traders and some partnerships.
• The "soft opt-in" is the exception. You can email your own customers about your own similar products or services if you collected their details during a sale or negotiation, gave them a chance to opt out at that point, and offer an opt-out in every message.
• Bought-in lists of individuals are not covered by the soft opt-in.
• Limited companies (corporate subscribers) fall outside the consent rule, but you must still identify yourself, give a way to opt out and respect it.
• Every marketing email must say who it is from and include a working way to unsubscribe.

How to run your first campaign, step by step

1. Choose one goal

"Book 20 tables for Thursday", "sell 30 gift vouchers before Christmas" or "get 50 replies to our survey". One goal makes every later decision easier, from the subject line to the button.

2. Pick who receives it

Not every campaign belongs with everyone. A loyalty offer suits recent customers; a "we miss you" note suits people who have not bought in a year. Even a simple split between customers and enquirers improves results.

3. Write the email

• Subject line: say what is inside, specifically. "Thursday tasting menu: 12 seats left" beats "Our latest news".
• Preview text: the line shown after the subject in most inboxes; use it to add the detail.
• One message, one button. Several competing links split attention.
• Write like a person. Short paragraphs and a signed name usually outperform a glossy brochure.

4. Check it before sending

Send a test to yourself and a colleague, open it on a phone, click every link and check the unsubscribe works. Make sure your sending domain is set up properly: major inbox providers such as Gmail expect senders to authenticate their emails, and your platform will walk you through it.

5. Send and follow up

Send at a time your audience is likely to read. For a business audience that is often a weekday morning; for consumers, evenings and weekends can work. A short reminder to people who did not open the first email, a few days later, is a common and effective follow-up.

6. Measure

Look at clicks and, most importantly, results against your goal: bookings, sales, replies. Open rates have become less reliable because some email apps load images automatically, which can count as an open. Our guide to email marketing metrics explains which numbers to trust.

Common mistakes

• Emailing people who never agreed to receive marketing.
• Sending only when you need a sale, so every email feels like a pitch.
• No plain way to unsubscribe, which drives people to report you as spam instead.
• Huge images and little text, which load slowly on mobile data and can look like spam to filters.