Email Marketing: How to Protect Your List and Stay Out of Spam

Content:

What Is Email Marketing and Why Does a Business Need It?Where to Start: Email Marketing Plan and Strategy How to Write a Proper Email for a Mailing List Technical Setup for Email-Marketing: SPF, DKIM, Domain, and Anti-Spam Measures Guide to Metrics and Analytics for Your E-mail Marketing Campaign Email Marketing: Tools and Platforms Common Email Marketing Mistakes and How to Avoid Them Conclusion: How to Maximize the Value of Email Marketing Frequently Asked Questions About Email Marketing

Many of us perceive email marketing as spam that people voluntarily agree to receive. However, despite its “bad reputation,” it remains one of the most stable channels for customer retention and repeat sales stimulation. Moreover, its ROI is surprisingly high — according to the independent web resource Business Dasher, every $1 spent on e-mail marketing generates $42 in revenue!

Sounds great, right? So let’s find out what email marketing is, when it makes sense to use it, and how to run an effective mail marketing campaign.

What Is Email Marketing and Why Does a Business Need It?

Today, e-mail marketing is personalized communication with customers through email aimed at retaining them without costly retargeting. It allows you to nurture customers before they make a purchase and frees you from dependency on third-party algorithms (which is often the case when communicating through social media channels).

Finally, unlike many other forms of online marketing, e mail marketing allows for an optimal level of customization tailored to the characteristics of each specific target audience segment.

Where to Start: Email Marketing Plan and Strategy

So, what does a win-win email marketing plan look like? Let’s dive in!

What Do You Need for Email Marketing?

To lay a strong foundation for an effective e mail marketing strategy, you first and foremost need a subscriber base — and it’s crucial that this list isn’t purchased from shady marketplaces, but built organically from leads genuinely interested in the brand or business you are promoting. This can be achieved by offering something valuable on your website in exchange for a registration (typically participation in a loyalty program, additional discounts, etc.).

The next step is to connect an e-mail marketing platform (typically Mailchimp or Unisender) with the capability to configure SPF/DKIM-signed domains, to protect the email content during server transmission. Finally, you’ll need to develop a solid content plan, because email-marketing is a powerful tool for building long-term, loyal relationships with your audience.

Setting Goals for Your Email Marketing Campaign

Before you start drafting a content plan for e mail marketing, it’s important to understand: what exactly do you want from this email-campaign? For example, if your goal is to retain customers, you should use welcome series and educational emails. If the focus of your email-marketing is to increase LTV (Lifetime Value), remarketing campaigns and personalized promotions are a must.

Lastly, smart mail marketing can become an effective tool for automating the sales funnel — in this case, emails should be triggered by specific customer actions on the promoted website, such as completing registration or abandoning a shopping cart.

Segmenting Your List for Email Marketing Management

Of course, no one writes marketing emails manually anymore. However, that doesn’t mean your emails should feel impersonal. That’s why it’s crucial to segment your customer base in advance — by behavioral patterns, geography, sales funnel stages, interests, and preferences.

This way, you can achieve 2–3 times higher open rates compared to emails sent as part of generic mass email campaigns.

How Often Should You Send Marketing Emails?

When setting up your marketing emails, it’s important to find the right balance. Specifically, if you’re communicating within a B2C model, it makes sense to set a frequency of 1–3 emails per week. For B2B audiences, it’s better to stick to 1 email per week or even every two weeks. Ultimately, after one to two months of testing your chosen email conversion strategy, you’ll be able to rely on your Open Rate — if it’s high, your email frequency suits your audience; if you notice a high Unsubscribe Rate, it’s time to ease up on your email cadence.

How to Write a Proper Email for a Mailing List

Now, let’s move from theory to practice.

Email Structure and Best Practices

Start with a subject line — it should be catchy, highly informative, and never clickbait;
Follow with a greeting — make sure it’s personalized;
Next comes the main content block — avoid lengthy paragraphs filled with fluff; instead, focus on crafting a strong call-to-action;
Finally, place a button, contact details, and links to your social media accounts (if applicable).

Always keep in mind that each email is essentially a mini-landing page, and the key to its effectiveness lies in clear structure and valuable content.

Tips for Subject Lines, CTAs, and Visuals

In fact, great subject line ideas can easily be generated using ChatGPT or similar AI tools — you can specify all your preferences and requirements, and within moments you’ll receive truly engaging options. You can further improve the suggestions by clarifying the desired subject line length, your audience segment, and the specific goal of the email.

As for the CTA (Call to Action), always use active voice — not “Learn More,” but something like “Download the Checklist” or “Get Your Discount Now.”

And finally, a few words about visuals: avoid harsh, eye-straining contrasts (like green buttons on a red or bright orange background). Also, make sure your media assets are optimized for mobile devices, so users aren’t stuck waiting for slow-loading images.

Examples of Effective Emails and Email Marketing Strategies

Welcome Email

Promo Email

Re-engagement Email

Abandoned Cart

Technical Setup for Email-Marketing: SPF, DKIM, Domain, and Anti-Spam Measures

In reality, the correctness of your e-mail marketing technical setup determines whether your emails land in users’ spam folders (which could also get your domain blacklisted). Therefore:

First, set up SPF — this confirms that your IP address is authorized to send emails on behalf of your domain.
In practice, this looks like adding a record to your DNS field:
v=spf1 include:_spf.yourservice.com ~all
Next, configure DKIM — digitally sign your emails with a cryptographic key.
Simply create a DKIM record in your service’s panel and add it to your DNS.
Then, set up DMARC, which combines SPF and DKIM and defines how fake emails should be handled.
Here’s how: add the record to your DNS
v=DMARC1; p=none; rua=mailto:your@email.com
Finally, to prevent your emails from ending up in the spam folder, follow these recommendations:
- Set up a unique subdomain for your email campaigns and “warm it up” gradually by first sending emails to small audience segments;
- Limit the first email to no more than 2–3 links and images;
- Do not email users who haven’t opened your emails in over three months;
- Use double opt-in to confirm email newsletter subscriptions.

Guide to Metrics and Analytics for Your E-mail Marketing Campaign

The key to effective e mail marketing is comprehensive analytics and monitoring of critical metrics. Here are the most important ones:

Open Rate — determined by the number of email opens; an effective strategy achieves an open rate of 15–30% (this can be higher for B2C segments);
Click-Through Rate (CTR) — indicates how often links in your emails are clicked; a positive CTR typically falls within the 2–5% range;
Conversion Rate — shows how many users performed the targeted action, generally ranging between 1–3% (higher for niche audiences);
Unsubscribe Rate — measures how many users unsubscribed from your emails;
if it’s below 0.5%, you’re doing things right;
if it exceeds 1%, you should consider optimizing your strategy.

A/B testing can help you analyze these metrics by testing different aspects of your email, such as:

the subject line (which directly impacts Open Rate),
the CTA and design (affecting CTR),
and the sending time (which influences Open Rate, CTR, and Conversion Rate similarly).

Simply change one variable at a time and test it to see if your email marketing efforts are paying off.

Email Marketing: Tools and Platforms

Now, a brief overview of popular email marketing platforms:

Mailchimp — an English-language service with an intuitive visual editor, advanced analytics, and templates, perfect for creative email campaigns and A/B testing.
SendPulse — a solution focused on implementing an omnichannel approach, combining email, SMS, and chatbots.
Unisender — an intuitive Russian-language service for launching email campaigns, ideal for small businesses that value local support.
MailerLite — another budget-friendly tool that doesn’t require a lengthy onboarding process while offering extensive email automation capabilities.
GetResponse — a universal platform with advanced features for building funnels, automated sequences, and landing pages.

Common Email Marketing Mistakes and How to Avoid Them

Finally, here’s a quick checklist of common email-marketing mistakes — and how to avoid them:

Sending emails without explicit user consent (to avoid being flagged as spam, make sure your audience clearly agrees to receive your emails);
Uniform email content without considering audience segmentation (to avoid this, use AI tools beforehand to identify the pain points and needs of at least key audience segments — ideally, each individual user);
Forgetting the CTA at the end of the email (always include it);
Overloading with spammy or vague content (keep your emails brief and to the point);
Ignoring key metrics (review them at least once a month to ensure you’re not wasting your mail ads budget).

Conclusion: How to Maximize the Value of Email Marketing

Email marketing works — it was true 20 years ago and remains highly effective today. Moreover, in 2025, it’s working better than ever, thanks to AI tools capable of delivering end-to-end personalization of offers. Add to this the benefits of full control (no one can steal your customer base, as might happen with social media) and the ability to automate (set it up once and it runs itself), and it’s easy to see why analytics point to the possibility of a 42x return on investment. So — launch, test, and optimize — and soon you’ll see how much your upsells will grow!

Frequently Asked Questions About Email Marketing

Is There a Difference Between Email Marketing and Email Newsletters?

Yes. While an email newsletter is simply a tool, email advertising represents a full campaign, including audience segmentation, automation, content creation, and analytics collection.

What’s Better: Email Newsletters or Messengers?

A successful email newsletter strategy can generate a steady flow of orders due to its high level of personalization, making it especially valuable in the B2B segment where long-term communication is critical. Messenger communications, on the other hand, are cheaper and faster — better suited for sending everyday notifications.

How Many Emails per Week Is Considered Normal?

Sending emails 1–2 times per week is considered optimal for an effective advertising by email strategy. The key is to ensure that each email you send delivers practical value to the recipient.

Is It Necessary to Obtain Consent for Email Campaigns (Double Opt-In)?

Yes, because in some countries (particularly in the EU), it is required by current legislation (such as GDPR, HIPAA, and others).

What Types of Emails Perform Best?

The most effective types of emails are welcome series, personalized offers, abandoned cart reminders, and educational sequences — it all depends on the context and the goal of your email campaign.

Which Words in an Email Trigger Spam Filters?

Common spam trigger words for commercial emails include “URGENT”, “FREE”, “GUARANTEED”, and basically any words written in ALL CAPS or heavily punctuated with exclamation marks.

How NOT to Do Email Marketing for Business?

You should avoid email advertising practices that involve sending emails without permission, using third-party customer lists, and sending “cold” emails without prior adaptation to the specific segment of your target audience.

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