Email marketing is an excellent and successful method for a small business to build relationships with customers. It keeps your products and services top of mind, boosting your brand and the possibility of their repeat business (or new business).

There are several ways to use purposeful emails to keep in touch with your customers and market your business – and influence their buying decisions. You can share customer discounts, announcements of new products or featured services, as well as content such as newsletters, blogs, educational content, etc.

“Email is one of the most effective digital marketing tactics out there,” says GrowBiz Media CEO Rieva Lesonsky in a blog for Fundera.

“Whether they’re consumers or business buyers, and no matter what their age, just about everyone checks their email,” she writes. “Create a monthly email newsletter or send out regular marketing messages with special offers, news, and discounts.”

Here are a few ideas and best practices on how your small business can successfully implement email marketing.

Make subscribing easy and inviting.

Post your signup form for subscribing to emails on your website’s landing page (homepage) to attract visitors, and on your social media pages and platforms as you want to go where your customers and potential customers are.

“It’s essential to turn your website visitors into known contacts before you can convert them into paying customers,” says Abhishek Talreja, founder of Prolific Content Marketing.

In a blog for DigitalDoughnut, Talreja suggests small businesses compare email marketing tools – find ones that are free – and integrate the email software with your website. This will automate lead collection from your website to the software, he says.

“To collect email addresses of your potential customers you can use website popups and contact forms,” writes Talreja. “You can offer giveaways and free trials to get your audience to share their contact details.”

Also, keep the signup form simple. This is because you don’t want to make your would-be subscribers wade through too many fields to complete the form.

“You might want to collect names and birthdays (for a special offer or gift) or invite readers to join groups, but don't go crazy with the required fields,” writes Kate Kiefer Lee, content strategist for MailChimp, in a Forbes blog. “A too-long subscribe form might scare people off.”

Set up “welcome” emails.

Welcome emails can be a key element to the email marketing process. It’s your first chance to build a relationship with the new subscriber – a customer or potential customer. 

There’s the actual welcome itself and “thank you for signing up” part but you are being given an opportunity to tout your business and highlight the benefits they’ll get for joining your brand’s “community.” 

Remind them what they can expect now that they’re subscribers, such as newsletters, blogs, or special invites, whatever you plan to send (or promised at sign-up).

“You might even send new subscribers a special offer or exclusive content, as your way of thanking them for their loyalty,” MailChimp’s Lee says.

Consider using software to help.

Even if you’re looking to start simple, check out what’s out there in terms of email marketing software and platforms – there are good options for small businesses, with varying price levels. 

You can get help with anything from automated email campaigns and list management to newsletters and targeted marketing tools, which allow you to segment your email lists and run triggered campaigns based on specific events.

In “Free and Cheap Email Marketing Software Comparison 2020”, founder and chief editor Jordie van Rijn reviewed several options. The list led with SendinBlue, an email blast software that claims 50,000 companies as its users, followed by Moosend, a platform for newsletters and simple automations, which he said had a “very nice email designer.”

Also on the list was GetResponse, a “popular all-in-one email marketing platform,” he says, with list management, marketing automation and newsletter functions. Also, according to his post, Benchmark Email offers “free CRM and great support,” and MailerLite is “a user-friendly email tool that has a clean interface and simple personalization features.”