Top tips for email marketing campaigns targeting a British audience.

Want to connect with your UK customers? The right email marketing strategy can help you keep in touch with your customer base.

Some say email is dead – but the stats suggest otherwise. With over 4 billion active email users worldwide and 99% of consumers checking their inboxes on a daily basis, email marketing offers a prime opportunity to reach your customers.

Whether you’re a small business owner or a marketer, read on to explore the benefits of email marketing. Get started with newsletter templates, tips and tricks, and more.

What is email marketing?

Email marketing covers any emails sent out to your brand’s mailing list, to increase brand awareness and sales. The first email newsletter was sent in 1977 via Arpanet – an early multi-network predecessor to the internet.

Email marketing has evolved since, with many innovative approaches. These include:

• Newsletters – A daily, weekly or monthly report informing people of business updates, such as product launches, promotions and more.
• Welcome campaigns – Introducing new customers to your brand when they sign up to receive emails.
• Seasonal messages – Adapted messaging according to the time of year. For example, fashion brands may have winter and summer ranges to promote via specific seasonal messaging.
• Lead generation – Attracting new customers to your brand.
• Transactional – Informational emails relating to an order. For example, order confirmations, shipping and refunds.
• Promotional – Informing customers of the latest offers and discounts.
• Post-purchase drip – Communications to a customer who has already made a purchase, to thank them, for example. It’s also an opportunity to build customer loyalty.
• Cross-selling – Targeted promotions to existing customers. Businesses can understand current preferences based on people’s past buying behaviour so they can offer similar things.

Why use email marketing for your UK brand or business?

Why send emails to your customers? There are many benefits of this kind of marketing:

Personalise your communications.

Email is a great way to add a personal touch to your marketing strategy. Personalised subject lines, email banners and promotions based on previous purchases can be a great way to make your marketing more targeted. According to Experian, open rates improve by 29% when the subject lines are personalised with a name, while click-through rates go up by 41%.

Build relationships with your customers.

Targeted messaging can help foster a better relationship between your brand and its customers. People appreciate it when you’ve addressed their preferences. They’re aware that emails go to the masses – show them you’ve gone the extra mile with directed messaging.

Optimise return on investment.

Email marketing can be cost effective too. It tends to be cheaper than other paid advertising channels, and you can reach lots of people from your target audience in one go. It’s a chance for you to generate sales with little cost to the business. A 2023 study shows 52% of marketers saw a two-time improvement rate in email marketing return on investment.

Drive people to your website.

Email marketing is a great way to get customers to visit your website. Have links that drive them there. Be careful not to be too ‘spammy’ though, as it will put people off. Subtly include links to your website with enticing messaging. Always leave them wanting more.

Increase brand awareness.

It can be easy for customers to forget about a brand. Regular email newsletters are a great way to stay on their radar once they’ve signed up or made a purchase. You can use it to announce any upcoming promotions and product launches.

You can also share useful information about your products after purchase. For instance, say they’ve bought a plant from your online shop. A week later you could send tips on how to care for it during this season.

Email banner ideas to inspire your next marketing campaign.

How to do an email marketing campaign.

You’re tasked with setting up an email marketing campaign, but where should you start? Take a look at the steps below to get going.

1. Choose your target audience – Do you want to target your entire customer base? Or is this an opportunity for a specific segment? For instance, you might be doing a couple of pop-ups in Liverpool and London and want to send an email announcement to customers in and around these two cities.
2. Set a goal for your email campaign – Pick your objectives carefully. What are you trying to achieve with this campaign? Is it boosting engagement, getting feedback from your database, click throughs to your website or actual conversions?
3. Pick your email format – You can use an email newsletter template to build out your design. Just add the key sections you need, as well as your logo, colour palette and other brand assets.
4. Select an email marketing service provider – Choose tech that’ll help you fulfil your objectives. For example, Adobe Campaign could help you build out your customer profiles to make your emails more customised and profitable.

Email marketing newsletter examples for UK small businesses.

Email marketing tips and tricks.

Want to know how to do email marketing properly? These tips and tricks might help:

1. Use eye-catching and on-brand designs.

Grab their attention with the use of cool images, fonts and text. Make use of your corporate colour schemes too. Stay consistent with your brand identity across all emails you send, so your customers can quickly recognise it’s from you.

2. Include social sharing buttons to help spread the word.

Add in links to your company’s social media channels so that people can stay up to date on other platforms too. It’s a great opportunity to drive traffic and build your following on the likes of Instagram, Facebook and TikTok.

3. Use catchy subject lines.

Write attention-grabbing subject lines to encourage users to open the email. The first thing people see when they receive an email is the subject line. So, make it a good one. Personalisation can be a great option here.

4. Choose the right time.

Sending an email at the right time can help you better reach customers. For example, you can automatically schedule emails to send over the weekend, when many people are off work. Some may be better first thing Monday though – for example, business-to-business emails.

5. Add clear calls to action (CTAs).

Include clear calls to action that prompt readers to act. Make them obvious, and ensure the messaging is inviting. Make readers want more, and subtly lead them further along the customer journey.

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Good to know.

What are the five Ts of email marketing?

The five Ts of email marketing are considered to be:

• Targeting – Know your audience.
• Timing – Choose the best time to send.
• Tailoring – Personalise it.
• Testing – Try different strategies with multiple campaigns.
• Tracking – Find out how the campaign did.

How does email marketing differ for a UK audience?

In terms of legal requirements, you’re only allowed to send marketing emails to UK customers if they have opted in to receive them from your brand. In terms of the email content, you should tailor this to your UK audience. You could use British humour, for example, to help make your brand more relatable and engaging.

Is Adobe Express free?

Yes. The basic version of Adobe Express includes everything you need to start working creatively. Adobe Express offers thousands of design templates, images, videos and royalty-free photos, quick actions for processing images, and more. Create personalised and catchy email marketing designs for a UK audience with Adobe Express. Get started with a free template.