When was the last time your business emailed its customers?
And more importantly:
Why did you email them?
Was it because you had a sale?
A new product?
An offer?
Something you wanted them to buy?
There's nothing wrong with using email to generate sales. That's one of the reasons businesses invest in email marketing.
But if the only time customers hear from you is when you want their money, your emails can quickly start feeling like adverts rather than useful communication.
A better approach is to give people reasons to hear from your business between purchases too.
Because your email list isn't just a sales database.
It's an audience you've already worked hard to build.
📧 Your Customers Already Know Who You Are
Think about how much effort businesses put into acquiring a new customer.
You might have paid for:
- Google Ads
- Meta Ads
- SEO
- Social media
- Website design
- Promotions
- Sales staff
Eventually, someone makes an enquiry or becomes a customer.
Then what happens?
For many businesses:
Nothing.
They concentrate all their marketing effort on finding the next new person while barely communicating with the people who already know the business.
That's a missed opportunity.
Where you have the appropriate permission and lawful basis to contact people, email can help you stay in touch with an existing audience.
🚨 Don't Make Every Email an Advert
Imagine receiving emails from the same company every week:
20% OFF!
SALE ENDS TONIGHT!
BUY NOW!
LAST CHANCE!
ANOTHER SALE!
Eventually, those messages may become easy to ignore.
Instead, think about how you can make some of your emails genuinely useful.
For example:
💡 Teach something
Share a useful tip connected to your expertise.
❓ Answer a question
Take a question customers regularly ask and answer it properly.
⭐ Share a customer story
Show how your product or service helped somebody.
📅 Send a useful reminder
Remind customers about something genuinely relevant.
👀 Show behind the scenes
Give people a look at what's happening inside your business.
📰 Share an important update
Tell customers about something that actually affects them.
Now your email marketing has more variety than simply asking for another purchase.
💡 Teach Something Useful
Educational emails can work particularly well for service businesses.
Imagine you're an accountant.
Instead of only emailing:
“Book our accountancy services.”
you could send:
“Three records small businesses should keep organised throughout the year.”
A heating company could send:
“Three things to check before turning your heating back on this winter.”
A web design company could send:
“Try this five-second test on your homepage.”
You're still marketing your expertise.
You're just doing it by demonstrating what you know rather than constantly telling people to buy.
❓ Your Customer Questions Are Email Ideas
If you're struggling to decide what to send, look at the questions customers already ask.
What does your sales team answer repeatedly?
What appears in your inbox every week?
What confuses customers?
What do people need to know before buying?
Every question could potentially become an email.
For example:
“How long does installation take?”
“What's included in the price?”
“What's the difference between these two products?”
“How often should this be serviced?”
“Do you cover my area?”
Answering genuine customer questions makes your emails relevant to the people you're trying to reach.
⭐ Use Email to Build Trust
Not every email needs to teach something.
Some can provide reassurance.
Imagine you've recently completed a successful project and received a great customer review.
Instead of leaving that review sitting on one platform, you could create an email around the story.
Explain:
What did the customer need?
What did you provide?
What was the result?
What did they say afterwards?
Now the recipient isn't simply reading:
“We're brilliant. Buy from us.”
They're seeing evidence of somebody else's experience.
For potential customers who aren't quite ready to buy, that can help build confidence in your business.
👀 Show People the Business Behind the Emails
Your email marketing doesn't always need to look like a perfectly polished corporate newsletter.
Sometimes the interesting part is what's actually happening inside the business.
You might share:
A new member of the team
A recent project
New equipment
An upcoming event
A product being developed
A lesson you've learned
Something customers might not know about your service
This can make communication feel more like hearing from a real business and less like receiving another automated advert.
🎯 Then, When You Have an Offer, Make the Offer
None of this means you should stop selling through email.
Quite the opposite.
If you have a genuinely good offer, tell people.
If you've launched something new, tell people.
If appointments are available, tell people.
If a promotion has a genuine deadline, communicate it clearly.
The difference is that promotional emails become part of your communication, rather than the only reason customers ever hear from you.
🔄 Think Relationship, Not Individual Email
Businesses often judge each email in isolation:
Did this email generate a sale?
That's an important measurement for promotional campaigns, but it isn't the only way email can contribute.
An educational email might remind someone that your business exists.
A case study might increase confidence.
A helpful guide might bring them back to your website.
A reminder might arrive exactly when they need your service.
Then, several weeks later, they enquire.
Marketing journeys aren't always:
Email → click → immediate purchase.
Sometimes several interactions contribute to the eventual decision.
🧠 Segment Your Email List Where Possible
Not everyone on your email list necessarily needs the same message.
Imagine an online retailer.
Someone who recently purchased Product A might benefit from different information than someone who has never bought anything.
Or imagine a service company offering several different services.
A customer interested in one service may not care about every email relating to another.
Segmentation can help businesses make emails more relevant.
Depending on the information you've collected appropriately, you might segment based on factors such as:
- Customer vs prospect
- Product purchased
- Service interest
- Location
- Previous engagement
- Stage of the customer journey
Don't collect unnecessary personal information just because your email platform allows you to.
Use data responsibly and only where it genuinely improves communication.
📱 Keep Your Emails Easy to Read
Your email doesn't need to look like a magazine.
Many effective business emails are relatively simple.
Think about somebody reading on their phone.
Use:
A clear subject line
Short paragraphs
Useful headings
One main message
An obvious next step where appropriate
Avoid burying the important point underneath huge amounts of unnecessary text.
The same principle we've discussed with websites and social media applies here:
Don't make people work to understand the message.
✉️ Your Subject Line Matters
Before someone can read your brilliant email, they first have to decide whether to open it.
Avoid subject lines that promise something the email doesn't deliver.
Instead, make the reason for opening clear or genuinely interesting.
For example:
❌ AMAZING NEWS YOU WON'T BELIEVE!!!
Instead:
✅ 3 things to check before winter
Or:
✅ A question customers keep asking us
Or:
✅ Thinking about replacing your front door? Read this first
The goal isn't to trick someone into opening.
It's to give the right person a reason to care.
📊 Measure More Than Open Rates
Email performance shouldn't be judged using one number alone.
Depending on the campaign, you may want to consider:
- Clicks
- Website visits
- Replies
- Enquiries
- Purchases
- Unsubscribes
- Conversions
Also remember that email privacy features can affect how accurately some engagement metrics, particularly opens, reflect real human behaviour.
Focus on outcomes that connect with the purpose of the email.
If the objective was to generate enquiries, actual enquiries matter more than simply achieving an impressive-looking open rate.
⚠️ Don't Forget UK Email Marketing Rules
If you're sending marketing emails in the UK, don't treat someone's email address as permission to send them anything you like forever.
Businesses need to consider applicable privacy and electronic marketing rules, including the UK GDPR and PECR.
Depending on who you're contacting and how their details were obtained, the requirements can differ.
Make sure your business understands its lawful basis, when consent is required, any relevant existing-customer provisions, and people's right to opt out.
Your marketing should build trust — not damage it.
📅 What Should You Actually Send?
If your business only emails when there's a promotion, try introducing a simple mixture.
For example:
Email 1 — EDUCATE
Answer a common customer question.
Email 2 — HELP
Share a practical tip.
Email 3 — PROOF
Tell a customer success story.
Email 4 — PROMOTE
Introduce an appropriate service or offer.
Then repeat the principle with different topics.
There's no universal rule saying every business should email at a particular frequency.
Choose a schedule you can maintain while continuing to send something worth receiving.
🚫 Don't Email Just Because It's Tuesday
This is important.
The solution to:
“We don't email enough.”
isn't:
“Let's send pointless emails every week.”
Before pressing send, ask:
Why would somebody want to receive this?
If you can't answer that question, rethink the email.
Frequency matters less than giving people a reason to continue paying attention.
🚀 Turn Your Email List Into a Marketing Asset
Businesses spend considerable amounts of money trying to reach people online.
Then many overlook an audience they've already built.
Email gives businesses a way to stay in touch with customers and prospects where the appropriate permissions and legal requirements are in place.
At Page Crowd, we help UK businesses build joined-up digital marketing strategies across social media, websites, Meta Ads, Google Ads, SEO and wider customer communication.
Your advertising can introduce someone to your business.
Your website can explain what you offer.
Your social media can build familiarity.
And email can help you continue the conversation.
So before sending your next campaign, ask:
“Am I sending this because it's useful to the customer — or only because I want something from them?”
Promotional emails absolutely have their place.
Just don't make them the only reason you ever appear in someone's inbox.
