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How do I get started with email marketing?
Begin with a specific business outcome and the audience most likely to care about it. A welcome series for new subscribers, for example, serves a different purpose from a post-purchase guide or a promotion to existing customers. Decide what the recipient should understand or do after each message before choosing a schedule or automation.
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- Define the outcome and audience. Set a practical objective—such as helping new customers use a product—and identify the people for whom the message is relevant.
- Collect and record permission appropriately. Keep a record of what a person agreed to receive, how that permission was obtained, and which channel it covers. A phone number alone does not establish permission for marketing texts.
- Organize contacts around useful context. Segment by information that changes what a recipient needs, such as signup source, product interest or purchase history. Avoid collecting or using data without a clear purpose.
- Choose a campaign or journey. Use a one-time campaign for a timely announcement and an automated journey for a meaningful event or stage in the customer relationship.
- Write and test the message. Make the sender and purpose clear, use a relevant call to action, and check rendering, links, and the recipient experience before sending.
- Review results and refine. Track delivery, clicks, conversions, complaints and opt-outs. Interpret each in context rather than treating a single metric as proof of success.
Start with a manageable sending rhythm. A smaller, relevant program is easier to monitor than a large list sent messages simply because it exists.
Do I need consent to send marketing emails or texts?
The answer depends on the jurisdiction, the message and the channel. Do not treat email permission as text-message permission, or assume that a rule from one country applies everywhere. The legal examples below are limited to U.S. commercial email and UK electronic marketing; they are not a global legal checklist.
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U.S. commercial email
The Federal Trade Commission’s CAN-SPAM business guide says the law covers commercial messages, not only bulk campaigns, and does not provide a general business-to-business exception. As the FTC puts it, “Despite its name, the CAN-SPAM Act doesn’t apply just to bulk email.” The guide calls for accurate sender and header information, non-deceptive subject lines, clear identification of advertising, a valid physical postal address, a clear opt-out method, prompt handling of opt-outs, and oversight of outside vendors sending email on a business’s behalf.
The FTC guide says opt-out requests must be honored within 10 business days. Keep suppression records so that a person who opts out is not accidentally added back to a marketing send.
When a message mixes service information and promotion
A message that includes both transactional and promotional content may still be commercial. The FTC says primary purpose matters: a promotional subject line can lead a reasonable recipient to expect advertising, and transactional content placed behind promotional material may not make the message transactional. The FTC’s transactional or relationship categories are limited—for example, they include facilitating an agreed transaction, product safety or warranty notices, certain account or membership updates, employment information, and delivery of goods or services already agreed to. Do not assume that adding an order update makes a promotional email exempt.
UK email and text marketing
Under the UK Information Commissioner’s Office guidance on the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations (PECR), electronic-mail marketing generally requires valid consent unless the sender meets the soft opt-in requirements. Consent should be specific to the channel: agreement to receive email does not automatically cover texts, and consent to live or automated marketing calls does not itself cover marketing texts.
SMS rules outside the UK
There is no single SMS consent rule established here for every country. The FTC has noted that CAN-SPAM does not govern every form of phone-to-phone SMS and points to other U.S. considerations, including the FTC Act and FCC/TCPA rules. That FTC commentary dates to 2015, so consult current official guidance for the relevant jurisdiction before launching a text campaign. Platform policies and carrier requirements can also apply alongside law.
How do I keep marketing emails out of spam?
No authentication setup can guarantee inbox placement. Google says it cannot guarantee that messages from email providers will pass spam filters, but it does set sender requirements for mail reaching personal Gmail accounts.
Set up authentication for Gmail delivery
Google’s sender guidance requires all senders to personal Gmail accounts to set up SPF or DKIM. Senders reaching 5,000 or more personal Gmail accounts in a 24-hour period have additional requirements: SPF, DKIM and DMARC; valid forward and reverse DNS (PTR) records; TLS; correctly formatted messages; and aligned From and authentication domains for direct mail. For marketing and subscribed messages, Google also requires one-click unsubscribe and a visible unsubscribe link in the message body.
Google’s threshold is based on messages sent to personal Gmail accounts within 24 hours, not a universal definition of a bulk sender. Mail from subdomains is aggregated under the same primary domain. Google says that once a sender is classified as a bulk sender, that classification does not expire. Its sender guidelines began applying to personal Gmail accounts in February 2024, and its FAQ says enforcement against non-compliant traffic is ramping up from November 2025.
- SPF declares which sending servers are authorized to send mail for a domain.
- DKIM adds a cryptographic signature that receiving systems can check.
- DMARC provides a policy and reporting layer that uses SPF and DKIM alignment.
Work with whoever manages your domain and sending service to configure records correctly. Authentication helps receiving systems assess messages; it is not a substitute for relevant content, a clean permission and suppression process, or honoring opt-outs.
Make the recipient experience trustworthy
- Use accurate sender details and a subject line that reflects the message.
- Send to people for whom the content is relevant, and remove opted-out addresses from marketing sends.
- Make the unsubscribe option easy to find and functional.
- Monitor complaints and delivery alongside clicks and conversions; investigate unexpected changes rather than repeatedly sending to an unresponsive audience.
Do not use open rate alone to diagnose spam placement. Google cautions that “Low open rates aren’t necessarily an accurate indicator of deliverability or spam classification issues.” Open tracking can be affected by factors beyond whether a message landed in spam, so pair it with other signals.
What should I automate?
Automate a message when a customer action or stage creates a clear reason to send it. Automation should follow the recipient’s consent and suppression status for each channel; an email opt-out, for example, must not be treated as permission to switch to promotional SMS.
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- Welcome messages: acknowledge a signup and set expectations about what the subscriber will receive.
- Onboarding education: offer guidance in a useful sequence after a customer starts using a product or service.
- Abandoned-cart or browse follow-up: remind a shopper about an unfinished activity only where applicable law, consent and platform rules allow it.
- Post-purchase education: help a customer understand setup, care or next steps after a purchase.
- Replenishment reminders: prompt a repeat purchase when timing is genuinely relevant, without implying certainty about the customer’s needs.
- Re-engagement or preference prompts: ask inactive subscribers whether they still want messages or prefer a different frequency or topic.
These are use cases, not a guarantee that a particular journey is lawful or effective in every location. Review the trigger, message content, recipient permission and opt-out handling before enabling a workflow. For SMS in particular, possessing a phone number does not prove consent to receive marketing texts.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.How should I measure email and SMS campaigns?
Use measures that correspond to the goal of the message, and keep their meanings distinct:
- Delivery: whether the sending system reports that a message was accepted or delivered; it does not prove that the recipient read it.
- Clicks: whether recipients interacted with links, interpreted alongside the message’s purpose and the quality of the destination.
- Conversions: whether the intended action occurred, using a clearly defined attribution window and method.
- Complaints: a warning that recipients or mailbox providers may see the messages as unwanted.
- Unsubscribes: a signal to honor the person’s choice and review whether targeting, expectations or frequency need attention.
Compare like with like: a service-oriented onboarding email and a sales promotion have different aims. Google’s guidance also calls for bulk senders to keep reported spam rates below 0.3%; this is a Gmail sender requirement, not a general industry performance benchmark. No typical open, click or conversion rate should be assumed without a relevant, comparable benchmark.
Which email marketing platform should I choose?
Choose against your actual workflow and volume, not a feature list in isolation. A platform can help execute campaigns, but it does not decide whether you have legal permission to send or make a message compliant by default. Verify current capabilities in each vendor’s own documentation before committing.
- Channels: Does it support the email and SMS channels you intend to use, with separate consent and suppression controls for each?
- Unsubscribe and preferences: Can recipients opt out cleanly, and can you manage topic or frequency preferences without overriding an opt-out?
- Automation: Are the triggers, timing controls and branching sufficient for the journeys you need?
- Segmentation: Can you form audiences using relevant customer context without relying on brittle workarounds?
- Authentication support: Does the service explain how to configure SPF, DKIM and DMARC, and can your domain administrator implement the required records?
- Reporting and integrations: Can you connect campaign activity to the business outcomes you intend to measure?
- Scale and portability: Does it fit expected contact and message volumes, and can you export contact and consent records if you move?
- Total cost: Check current pricing at your actual contact count, sending volume and channel mix rather than relying on a headline starting price.
This is a selection framework, not a tested ranking of vendors. Feature availability, limits and pricing change, so confirm the current terms and documentation directly with any candidate.
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