How to Not Screw Up When Launching Your First Email Campaign

You may be new to email marketing, but if you’re reading this article, there’s no need to persuade you that a smart email strategy can benefit your business in many ways.
Regardless of the size of your company, well-thought email campaigns promote brand recognition, keep your subscribers up-to-date, build solid relationships with customers, and eventually boost sales.
But you’re already aware, aren’t you? The thing you may be thinking over is how to get started with first email campaigns and lay the foundation for further development.
And this is where our experience steps in, as we’re ready to share our best practices and techniques that will help you succeed.
Ready to dig into the bulk email marketing trove? First, we’ll get insight into the basics.
Build a Reliable Contact Base
You don’t need to have a PhD in Marketing to understand that sending emails presupposes having someone you can email to in the first place.
Building an email list is a never-ending process as your email marketing database will constantly fluctuate, but the following are the main milestones to generate contacts for you.
- Original Content
Your potential subscribers will be more likely to provide their email address or other contact information if the material you offer is worth it.
- Rewarding Subscription Form
A signup form that offers some bonuses in exchange for an address has more chances to get one.
- Double Opt-In
Double Opt-In is a feature that asks your new recipients to confirm their subscription, verifying their identity and saving you from:
- fake email addresses;
- unsolicited emails to unaware individuals;
- spam reports;
- low-quality leads;
- poor deliverability;
- unreasonable expenditure on campaigns sent to inactive addresses.
- Take Advantage of Social Media
A simple sign-up form added to your FB page makes it easier for people to follow your company. And so does a call-to-action button.
Important: buying a contact list is never a good idea. Even if you think that it’s a quick and easy way to enrich your contact base, don’t go there. It’s unprofitable at best and damaging at worst. The first and the main reason not to opt for purchased lists is that you can’t trust the quality of contacts. And interaction with unconfirmed contacts may result into bans by email clients, problems with an ESP, fines, poor response rate and loss of reputation.
Ensure Quality Control
Maintaining regular contact hygiene should become a bit of a ritual for you.
You can do it by using an API to verify addresses in realtime or use a validation service. After the check-up, your contacts will be divided into three categories – valid, risky and invalid – and you’ll be able to make adjustments to your email campaigns based on this result.
Choose an Email Service Provider Wisely
An Email Service Provider is a company that will be responsible for technical solutions and management of your campaigns. Different providers offer different service packages, and you need to choose those that fit your business goals and budget.
Apart from email campaigns, ESP can bring in additional tools to reach your customers – such as mobile push notifications, web push notifications, and Viber campaigns.
You may also have heard of an AMP technology: it has been a real buzzword across the marketing world since Google announced its release in 2018.
To put it short, AMP-powered emails will possess the functionality of an app and will be able to include more interactive content.
At the moment, several ESPs support this feature, eSputnik, Stripo, Amazon SES and Litmus to name a few, but this technology is here for long, so it might be smart to look for an ESP that keeps up with tendencies.
Read also: How to Get Your First 100 Email Subscribers Even with a Small Blog
Register Your Own Domain Name

Even if you have good-quality content worth sharing, recipients may simply not make it up to it scared off by a no-reply address or a webmail address put in the “from” line.
A trusted sender name is one of the main factors in whether your campaign is read or labeled as spam.
To secure your sender’s reputation, register your own domain name: it will go with you even if you change a web host, letting your loyal subscribers find you by just typing your name.
Attaching it with a digital signature is the next step to grow your credibility: based on it, email agents rank your reputation as a sender. And the higher they rank it, the better the deliverability of your campaigns are. Worth bothering, isn’t it?
What Your First Campaign Might Look Like
Now when you’re properly equipped and ready to let the world know of your services, it’s time to launch your first campaign, which will most probably be a welcome email.
Keeping in mind that first impression counts most, you must come up with a truly well-thought first email. And here are a couple of tips on how to do it.
1. Thank your new subscribers.
You’ve just got a new friend, and it’s a good idea to tell you’re happy to have them on board. A simple thank you can show your appreciation without being too pushy.
2. Let them know they’ve become a part of something big.
Humans are social beings and like to be accepted into a group.
Greeting new members by Welcome to Our Family/Crew/Team makes them think they’ve joined the community of likeminded individuals rather than simply subscribed to a campaign.
3. Inform on what to expect from your emails.
In a short line, let your subscribers know what kind of content to look for in your campaigns.
4. Introduce not only products but also people.
Your subscribers would be happy to know there are real people at least behind some messages that attack their inbox on a regular basis.
By introducing your team members, for example, designers or support specialists, you’ll make your campaigns friendlier and more personal.
5. Invite people to your social media.
Linking out to your social platforms gives people more options to reach you. Plus, they can share your products with their friends and family who aren’t subscribed to you (yet).
6. Reward a subscription.
Everyone likes gifts, and offering a small discount or a promo code in a welcome email might be a good way to create you an image of a generous new friend.
Of course, welcome email advice isn’t limited to the above 6 tips. You’re always welcome to search for new ideas, improving your current design and introducing new features.
Don’t be afraid to ask your subscribers how they want your campaigns and what is missing right now.
Effective email campaigns aren’t built in one day, and there’s always more to work towards. But now you know in what direction to steer.
Creating a solid email strategy is a long-term play, taking months or even years to pay off, but a strong commitment will do the trick.
About The Author
Iuliia Nesterenko is a contributing writer at eSputnik. Her focus is on exploring current digital marketing trends and describing new strategies for email marketers.
