Ed. note: This article was originally published Dec. 9, 2022 and has been updated.

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Email is a great way to stay in touch with your customers.

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But with so much email going out these days — and with some email providers automatically sorting those emails into promotions or spam folders — it can be hard to stand out.

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If you’re thinking about sending email in any form, or wondering what to do with addresses you've already been collecting, here are some things to think about.

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Why collect email addresses?

Owning your data is valuable to you as a shop owner. If you operate on social media or on a resale marketplace but don’t collect email addresses, your customer (and potential customer) information remains tied up in those platforms.

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You don't really know who they are or where they are located, and it's difficult to deepen your relationship with them.

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At any time, those platforms can make changes that either make it challenging to access your information, or that remove your access altogether.

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Take TikTok for example — at the time of this writing, there’s a potential for it to be banned in the United States. If the platform disappears, all your followers disappear, too. How can you contact them again?

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Email is how you can stay connected with your customers, encourage sales and build lasting relationships.

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Email can boost loyalty for your shop — a consistent email deployment, branded to match your shop, becomes something that your customers rely on and look forward to. It enhances trust.

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If you want to think of marketing as a funnel, social media is at the widest part, at the top. Social media gives you reach and is a way for customers to find you, but converting those followers into customers isn't easy.

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Email is considered mid-funnel. A person needs to choose to hear more from you by signing up. It becomes a direct line to your potential customer. Social media and your website or e-commerce site are your first lines of communication. Once a person is in your fold, you can invite them to your email list.

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The average reach rate on Instagram in 2024 is about 7.6%, and it has dropped about 18% year over year. Email, on the other hand? About 88% of people check their email multiple times a day.

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If someone invites you into their inbox, you have a much higher chance of getting seen and being granted the chance to make an impression than you do on social media.

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Are you ready to send email?

Before we dig in, email can be overwhelming. Here’s how to make it easier and more sustainable: Consider shifting from a social-first strategy to an email-first strategy, which means focusing on creating email content and then repurposing it for your social media, rather than spending so much time on creating original social media content.

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For example, say you have a new booth opening up. You'd write an email to your list about it first as your main piece of “content.” Then you'd turn the email into 2-3 social media posts. You’ve already written the email, so you can lift directly from it to create social media captions.

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Or if you have fresh products dropping in your shop, write the email first, then grab the content from it and drop it onto your social media feed.

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Working the other way around (creating for social first) can make it difficult to motivate yourself to get around to writing the email!

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Plus, email is often a small investment for your business — unless you’re using Shopify which offers free email, you will have to pay for an annual plan (it’s worth it, though — research from the Data & Marketing Association shows every $1 spent on email marketing results in $42 in return on investment).

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So if you are going to jump into the world of email, get your money’s worth and focus on growing it, then chop it up to be your social media content.

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Who are your emails for?

Email gives customers more reasons to shop with you. They get to know you and your brand better. Email is a key part of the sales funnel for a lot of brands — but is it right for your shop brand?

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Will you be able to integrate sending quarterly, monthly, or weekly emails into your workflow? Do you have things of value you can share with potential customers that could turn them into customers?

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Always keep your potential customer in mind when developing an email plan. For more on understanding who your customer is, check out our Find New Customers series.

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Identify who you will be designing the email for, and what you want to help them with, so that you can craft a series of emails they will want to open.

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Make note of the newsletters and promotional emails you tend to open. Why do you like them?


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How to collect the right information

A simple box for a user to enter their email address usually has the highest success rate for conversion, because the user is required to give up limited information. It’s quick and easy to sign up.

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However, if you ever want to send messages directly using first names, for example, or to one day use the emails to create a customer database, you may want to consider collecting first and last name as well.

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Or if you want to send emails about certain topics to certain groups on your list, you can ask them to specify their interests at point of signup. You can always ask for names or interests later, but your list will be easier to manage if you collect them all at once. Your email provider will have options to collect different types of information at signup.

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Note that the number of signups are likely to be lower when asking for names or interests, but they may be higher-quality signups — meaning they may be more likely to engage with your content.

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Tell people what to expect when they sign up: how often they'll hear from you, that they can unsubscribe at any time, and that you won't use their email address for anything other than what they signed up for. We'll go over an ideal email flow in the next post.

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Where to collect email addresses and how to promote

Wherever you can! In order to build your email list, you’ll need to house signups somewhere. Ideally that’s on a website where you can insert a simple sign-up form.

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If you don’t have a website, consider setting up something like Google Forms and dropping that link into your social media pages. You can then export to Google Sheets, then import to your email provider. Or your email provider may have a built-in signup form that you can use.

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Email lists take a long time to build up. Constant promotion helps. But even if you’re only emailing 20 people, it's still worth it to have a direct line to that particular group.

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Social media: Include a boilerplate at the bottom of feed posts, promote in Stories, include in link and bio or about section.

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And every time you release a new email, tell people about it! Share a screenshot of the email and link to where they can sign up. Regularly promoting your e-newsletter will build your contact list over time.

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In-store sign-ups: Encourage customers to sign up for your email list at checkout by offering incentives such as discounts or exclusive offers for subscribers. For example, a 20% coupon if they sign up for your email list.

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If you have a booth at an antique mall, use a sign or a takeaway card to promote the sign-up discount.

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Online opt-in forms: Feature prominent embedded opt-in forms, pop-ups or slide-ins on your website, allowing visitors to easily subscribe to your email list. Offer a discount or coupon, for example 10% off for new subscribers.

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If your emails are packed with content and value and you have a website, you may also want to make back issues available so people can read them before they decide to sign up.

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Events and markets: Capture emails during markets or workshops. Use a QR code to send people directly to your signup form, or use a clipboard and paper to encourage signups (if you do a more manual method, keep the piece of paper as proof of consent).

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Similar to an in-store sign-up, you might consider an incentive (chance to win a $20 gift card if you sign up to the email list at the market, etc.)

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Giveaways: Try a giveaway where entry requires subscribing to your email list. Offer a great prize from your shop to get people interested in signing up.

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In the next post in our email marketing series, we cover what you need to know about email content, from choosing an email provider, content ideas, anti-spam and deployment.

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