Email Marketing Essentials: Why The Money is (Still) in the List in 2025
I don’t like email marketing. I love it.
I’m a dyed in the wool true believer, sidewalk soapboxing preacher of the Gospel of Email.
If you’re not (yet) sold on leveraging email to grow your business, my goal is to show you the evidence (including some impressive statistics) that might just change your mind.
And if you’re already on board, stick around. Because the piece you’re about to read has some pro tips that you can use to get more - in some cases, a lot more - from your existing email campaigns.
Email: An Oldie but a Goodie
In 1971, a young research engineer at ARPANET named Ray Tomlinson sent the first ever email. Far from containing any top-secret government info, it was just a test, literally containing a meaningless string of letters in all caps. Little did Ray know that this inauspicious start would one day evolve into a whopping 376 billion email sends per day in 2025.
Now, this might seem like bad news for business owners and marketing teams. That surely means that email is a noisy channel, right? Which means it’s hard to stand out and get a good ROI…. right?
As it turns out, the exact opposite is true. Let’s take a quick look at some supporting stats:
Stat 1: 96% of the top 1,000 online retailers say email gives them the best return on investment of any marketing method. This is because email has both a relatively low cost to start and maintain, and generates a ton of revenue when done well.
Stat 2: Email marketing campaigns earn an average of $36 for every $1 spent. Talk about ROI. It’s no wonder online retailers love it so much. If you’re not currently hitting that 36:1 ratio yet, don’t worry - we’ll get into some pro tips on how to increase your ROI here in a bit.
Stat 3: 73% of millennials say email is their preferred way to communicate with businesses. And if you’re marketing to a different demographic, don’t fret - 53% of Gen Z respondents (for example) still enjoy getting emails from brands they like, though there are definitely specific strategies you should deploy based on who you’re marketing to.
Obviously this isn’t a comprehensive list, but the punchline is clear: if you’re ignoring (or underutilizing) email marketing, you’re missing out. Clearly the data show that email is a winning strategy, especially when used in combination with other marketing channels.
Before we dive into the specifics of how to level up your email game, let’s take a quick detour into the psychology behind why email marketing works so well in the first place.
Seth Godin Was Right - Again
Full-time marketing sage, part-time eyewear trendsetter, Seth Godin is one of my all time favorite writers when it comes to marketing philosophy. He did, after all, write a book that’s literally titled This is Marketing. Bold title, but he’s got the track record to back it up.
For proof, look no further than his breakout 1999 book Permission Marketing, which codified a powerful (and obvious) concept: people don’t really love being marketed to.
Imagine that.
Traditional advertising, though still a great source of customers, is still what Godin refers to as interruption marketing.
Contrast that with his concept of permission marketing, where customers willingly sign up to hear from you. This is one of the key principles that makes email such a consistent cash cow. By opting in to your list, people are raising their hands, telling you that they want what you’ve got.
Now, to some, this might seem like a catch-22. People don’t want to be interrupted - makes sense. But you need to get their attention somehow, otherwise they’ll never land on your site so that they can opt in.
So, uh… what’s the plan?
The plan is to first understand that email isn’t the end-all be-all, but rather an integral part of your overall marketing strategy.
You still have to have good branding.
You still have to have a killer offer.
And you 100% still have to get traffic to your site.
Since this guide is focused on email marketing in particular, we’ll leave aside those critical pieces for now.
The main thing we want to focus on is the fact that, once your ideal customer has landed on your site, you should give them a compelling reason to join your email list. For that, you’re going to need a little something special - something that they just can’t live without. That is the essence of list building.
The Email List: If You Build it, They Will Buy
As the title of this guide says, the money’s in the list. Which means you’re gonna need a list.
Obviously.
But how do you populate that list with people who are most likely to become loyal customers? The way to think about list building is the same way as you think about selling your product or service: as an exchange of value.
Whatever you’re offering your prospect, it has to be perceived as valuable enough so that they’ll be willing to let you into their inbox.
For some business models, this is fairly straightforward. For example, if you’re in e-commerce, odds are good that a sizable discount will attract first-time buyers.
With service-based businesses, you need to rely on your market research (you did do market research, right?) to inform your decision. Whatever form it takes, you’re basically going to need a killer lead magnet.
Industry reports. Checklists. Free demos. On-demand training videos. Virtual access to a conference.
As the adage goes, “as to methods, there may be a million and then some, but principles are few.” In this case, the core principle that I always recommend is to give away your best stuff for free.
What you want your prospect to think is something like, “Wow! If their free stuff is this good, their paid version must be incredible!”
When you give the prospect something that solves a real problem that they’re facing, you’re well on your way to making more sales from email.
The question is… then what?
Strike While the Iron’s Hot: Email Automation 101
Alright, so we’ve completely glossed over getting traffic to your site (sorry), and touched on the importance of creating incentives so that people will opt in.
Now comes the fun part: the actual emails you should send, why they work, and how to set them up.
The first thing you need to set up is an email series that reinforces the idea that they made the right choice by entering their information into your opt in box.
If you promised them a lead magnet, send it.
If you promised them a discount code, share it.
Whatever you offered to give away in exchange for their info, the first email should automatically send as soon as they’ve opted in.
But that shouldn’t be the end of the story. Not by a long shot.
In some cases, especially for e-commerce brands, you want this first email to be a part of a welcome series. Usually consisting of 3 to 5 emails, each email should build on the last one, guiding them along the customer journey toward the point of purchase.
If your brand has a compelling backstory, this is the perfect time to share it. Bring the reader deeper into your world, and build that connection through good storytelling.
If your product(s) or service(s) have a list of key differentiators, share them. Get them up to speed about best practices, use cases, and so on. These emails are also a great opportunity to double down on social proof like customer success stories or your long list of glowing testimonials.
An important thing to remember though is that this sequence isn’t just for giving the reader a guided tour. You’re here to sell, remember? So make sure you have a compelling call to action at strategic intervals (or, you know, in every single email) so that if they’re ready to buy, you’ve left the door wide open.
Now. If you’re in a service-based business (especially one with a high-ticket offer), I want to also call out something very important at this point - something that some businesses forget about until it’s too late.
Before you start automating emails, you have to have something worthwhile to send.
Typically, that means you should have some other content (blog posts, related guides, etc.) already waiting in the wings to share. As I’ve said before, email is just one part of your marketing strategy. So if you’ve ignored content marketing up until now, this would be a good time to ramp things up in that area as well.
Alright, enough said about the welcome series. For the sake of time, let’s take a whirlwind tour of other must-have email automations. In this case, we’ll focus on those that any e-commerce brand worth their salt should have running at all times.
Cart Abandonment Emails – Bring Back the Almost-Buyers
I don’t know about you, but I’ve never actually seen a physically abandoned shopping cart in a store. But online, this kind of thing happens all the time. The good news is, you can get potential buyers to pull the trigger with a few well-timed reminders. Here’s how:
First of all, make sure your emails feel personal, helpful, and urgent. If they got as far as adding to cart, they were clearly interested. By reminding them about what they were excited about, handling common objections, and adding in some urgency, this set-and-forget sequence will be a consistent source of sales.
Browse Abandonment Emails – Catch Window Shoppers Before They Leave for Good
While browsing doesn’t show quite as much interest or intent as adding to cart, the fact is that the prospect was still looking - and that’s not nothing. Browse abandonment emails should recognize that level of interest, and meet the shopper where they’re at. Curious, but not yet committed.
These emails could just ask them if they have any questions (or answer common ones), make recommendations of similar products to those they were looking at, and add in subtle urgency.
(Pro tip: The key here is to make sure the urgency is legitimate - if a sale really is ending, or if something is selling fast, there’s nothing wrong with letting them know.)
Win-Back Emails – Reignite Interest from Lapsed Customers
Here we have one that takes a bit more skill to pull off, but when it does, you can get a really nice bump to your customer LTV. Obviously, not everyone who buys your product is going to be a superfan and want to come back for more.
But there’s always some percentage of past buyers who enjoyed what you had on offer, but just moved on to other things. This is your chance to remind them of what they loved about your brand, and even to introduce them to other products that might have come out since their last purchase, or that would compliment what they bought before.
Obviously, it never hurts to sweeten the deal with a discount, and as long as your margins stay solid, you could have the opportunity to bring back a customer who will buy from you again and again.
Keep on Setting and Forgetting. And Making Sales.
Cart abandonment, browse abandonment, and win-back emails are absolute essentials—but they’re not the end of your automation options. Here are some others you should consider working into your email marketing arsenal:
Post-purchase emails that turn first-time buyers into lifelong fans.
Review requests that generate powerful social proof.
VIP sequences that reward your best customers and make them feel special.
Cross-sell and upsell automations that increase revenue without extra ad spend.
Seems like a lot of emails? Maybe. Or maybe it’s a lot of opportunities to build relationships with your customer base, so that you’re always first to mind in your category.
Now, if that does seem like a lot of emails, I think we need to address one of the most contentious topics, possibly in all of marketing: email send frequency.
Email Send Frequency: Is More Always Better?
Yes. Just, yes.
I’m tempted to leave it here and move on, but that’s not going to convince the non-believers.
First off, let’s revisit that infamous industry statistic that email marketing gets around a 36:1 return. That’s our north star. The question is, how do we get there?
For starters, there’s a real benefit in getting your email writing reps in. The more you write, the faster you’re able to write them. Less time means less cost per email, which ups the return on time investment.
To get those reps in, you need to up your send frequency. Period, end of story.
A lot of marketers I talk to can’t believe this when I share it, but my absolute favorite email marketers are sending emails to their list literally every day. Not once a week, not a monthly newsletter - every single day.
(For the curious, the first three that come to mind are Ramit Sethi and Chris Orzechowski. Honorable mention to Brandon D’Eon and Graham Cochrane.)
“But Ian,” you might protest, “what about unsubscribes?”
Relax. If you’re sharing your best stuff, only the people who actually want to hear from you will stick around.
Those, my friend, are what we call buyers. And that’s exactly who you want on your list.
It’s the same reason why you write copy that calls out your ideal audience in your landing pages, exclude tire kickers with pre-qualifications on your forms, and so on.
This is also the other thing that ups your ROI from email. When the disinterested opt out, you end up with a higher quality (read: more likely to buy) subscriber list.
The key here is to keep driving traffic to your site so that the list keeps on a-growing. More lead magnets. More seasonal promotions. Keep that content engine running, and never look back.
Now, I’m not totally inflexible on this point about email frequency. I get it that bandwidth is limited. If you can only afford to send a monthly newsletter, at the very least do that.
The most important thing is to not disappear completely from your subscriber’s world.
Don’t go dark for months at a time, then start sending again in hopes that the busy people of the world will forget how much they missed you.
Obviously, if you can up your send frequency, all the better. Just make sure you’re connecting with them, sharing the best side of your brand’s personality, and giving away your best stuff for free.
And selling. Don’t forget to sell.
Alright you trooper, you’ve come a long way in this here email marketing manifesto. Let’s close things out with some rapid-fire top tips to make more sales from your emails.
Bonus: Top Tips to Win at Email Marketing in 2025
Don’t get hung up on vanity metrics. It’s not that open rate and CTR don’t matter at all. It’s just that they matter far less than, for example, monthly revenue per subscriber.
Test everything. Yes, that includes designed vs. plain text emails. Short form vs. long form. In my experience, the most important factor is that you’re sending things that people care about. As long as you do that, everything else is tinkering around the edges.
Optimize downstream. A little caveat to the point on vanity metrics: you might actually have above-average open rates and click through rates. But if your on-page optimization is lackluster, don’t be surprised if your ROI isn’t up to scratch.
When in doubt, ASK. The world is full of “reply guys”. For evidence, look no further than the comments section. So if you want to know what your subscribers want to hear about from you, all you have to do is ask.
Have a personality. Please. You may be working with the power of permission marketing, but if you don’t have any flavor whatsoever in your emails, you’re training your subscribers to ignore what you have to say.
Hey look, you made it! Congrats, you’re now well on your way to becoming a top-notch email marketing pro. Sure, you’ve now got a laundry list of emails to write, gated assets to build, and traffic to source, but that’s okay too. If you need a hand executing on anything you’ve learned today, Team Reusser is here to help. Drop us a line here, and we’ll help you build whatever you need to scale your business.