What Is Email Marketing? When a local brand sends you something genuinely useful — a health tip before silly season, or your favourite music venue announcing an event — it doesn’t feel like marketing. It feels like they remembered you. That’s the quiet power of good email. Those moments add up to trust, and trust turns into loyalty. At its core, email marketing is simply staying in touch with people who’ve chosen to hear from you through messages that inform, reward, or inspire them to take action. How Email Works and Why Your List Matters Most The mechanics are simple. Someone signs up, you tag them by interest, and your platform sends messages automatically — when they join, when they buy, or when they go quiet. Every send gives feedback: what was opened, what got clicked, what got ignored. Over time, those small signals help you write smarter, more relevant emails. Your list is the real gold here. Again, you own it. If a social platform changes its rules tomorrow, your audience doesn’t vanish with the algorithm. That ownership is why email consistently outperforms every other channel, returning roughly $36 for every $1 spent, according to Litmus’s 2024 ROI Report. If you’re still building from scratch, check out Freya Media’s companion piece: How to Build an Email List for Your Business – a quick guide to growing a POPIA-compliant list that actually converts. The Four Types of Email (and When They Matter) Strong email programs mix different kinds of messages. Each plays a role — some to sell, others to keep your brand top of mind. The right blend makes your emails feel intentional, not intrusive. 1. Promotional Emails The high-energy sends that drive action. Purpose: create urgency around launches, limited offers, or seasonal drops. Best used: when you have something worth announcing, not just to fill space. Example subjects: “Our Winter Sets Are Back — 3 Days Only” “New Roast Just Landed ☕” Pro tip: focus on one clear offer; excitement fades fast if everything’s “on sale.” 2. Informational Emails The ones that keep the conversation going. Purpose: share knowledge, stories, or updates without asking for a sale. Examples: A skincare brand explaining how to prep skin for summer. A coffeehouse sharing a new bean’s origin story. Why it matters: people remember brands that teach or entertain, not just sell. People need value (and dopamine). When to send: between big campaigns, to keep your list warm and curious. 3. Transactional Emails The quiet backbone of trust. Includes: order confirmations, receipts, shipping updates, booking reminders. Purpose: reassure customers their purchase went smoothly. Why it matters: errors here erode confidence faster than any bad ad ever could. Tip: keep tone and design on-brand. Consistency builds recognition. 4. Behavioural (Lifecycle) Emails Messages triggered by customer actions or silence. Includes: welcome notes, birthday rewards, re-engagement offers, abandoned-cart nudges. Purpose: make your brand feel attentive without being pushy. Example: “You left something behind– here’s 10% off if you still want it.” Timing: automation does the heavy lifting, but empathy drives the message. Used together, these four kinds of emails create a natural rhythm. Some spark interest, some strengthen trust, all keep your brand human in the inbox. Building a Strong Email Strategy Unfortunately, this comes down to honest groundwork… there’s no secret trick here. Start with your audience. Grow your list the right way: people who want to hear from you. In South Africa, the Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA) requires clear consent before you send marketing emails and makes opting out simple. Choose tools that fit how you work. Mailchimp, HubSpot, and Klaviyo make it easy to design, automate, and measure campaigns without feeling like a chore. Segment your list so each message reaches the right group. It’s what turns a broadcast into a conversation. Then focus on what people see when your email lands. Write like you talk. Be useful. Share something worth opening — a quick guide, a real story, or an offer that helps. Automation keeps you steady without sounding robotic. A warm welcome email often does more for your reputation than a pile of rushed promos. Results to Aim For Benchmarks help you see progress, not define it. Most industries hover around 25 percent open rates and two-to-five percent click-throughs, but the real goal is improvement month after month. Watch for signs that you’re moving in the right direction: more opens, stronger clicks, fewer unsubscribes. If growth slows, check: Segmentation: are the right people getting the right messages? Value: does each email earn attention? Timing: are you sending often enough to stay remembered, not overstay? Content: are you sending emails that feel worth opening– relevant, helpful, or simply interesting to the person reading? Platforms such as Klaviyo show how your results compare to others in your field. It’s a helpful reference, but not the finish line. The only numbers that matter are the ones rising on your own dashboard. Small, consistent gains stack up faster than you think. Compliance and Trust (POPIA in Plain Language) Direct marketing via email is legal — if you get consent right and respect people’s choices. Under POPIA, consent must be voluntary, specific, and informed. Be clear about what subscribers will receive, how often, and how to opt out. Unsubscribes must always work. The Information Regulator’s Guidance Note is the definitive reference for South African businesses. Beyond legality, transparency improves performance. Lists built the right way — through explicit permission and clear expectations — enjoy stronger engagement and better deliverability over time. Why Email Is a Game-Changer for Small Businesses Email levels the playing field. It costs less, reaches further, and keeps working long after a social post has faded. You can start with 80 subscribers and still make it worthwhile. As the list grows, so do your options: more personalisation, richer automation, steadier revenue. Every click and conversion is measurable. Instead of guessing what works, you know. That feedback loop lets small businesses adapt quickly and outperform bigger competitors relying on expensive campaigns. Because email is direct, it builds loyalty faster than almost any other channel. It’s marketing that feels like conversation — steady, familiar, and human. Can You Really Make Money with Email? Yes. And you don’t need thousands of contacts to do it. A sharp email to a few hundred engaged subscribers can outperform a social campaign reaching thousands. Promotional sends drive quick wins, but automated journeys sustain them. Post-purchase follow-ups, restock alerts, and loyalty rewards build repeat business. Research by Omnisend (2024) found automated emails made up just 2 percent of total sends but generated roughly 37 percent of email-driven revenue – proof that timing and relevance beat volume. If email hasn’t worked for you yet, you’ve probably been sending blasts instead of building journeys. Shift to lifecycle thinking and your inbox becomes a dependable revenue stream. How Email Complements Your Other Channels Email strengthens every part of your digital presence. SEO brings visitors to your site; email brings them back. Social builds awareness; email deepens connection. Paid ads attract first clicks; email nurtures those leads until they’re ready to buy. It also keeps your brand voice consistent across channels — the same tone, visuals, and message wherever customers engage. That consistency builds trust and recognition over time. Segmentation and personalisation lift engagement across every channel, making the rest of your marketing work smarter. Deliverability, Design, and Little Things That Matter Deliverability Keep your list clean. Remove bounces and inactive contacts regularly. Send at a pace you can keep up with. Erratic schedules confuse inbox filters and readers alike. Avoid spam-trigger words in subject lines and skip the clickbait. Use a “from” name people recognise, and preview text that earns curiosity, not suspicion. Design Design for mobile first. Most people read on their phones. Keep one clear call to action. Don’t make readers hunt for the point. Choose easy-to-read fonts and use alt text on images. Let white space breathe. Clutter kills attention faster than bad copy. Data and Measurement Apple’s Mail Privacy Protection hides some open data, so focus more on clicks and conversions. They show genuine interest. Most platforms, including Klaviyo, provide performance benchmarks that allow you to compare your results to those of others in your field. Small habits like these keep emails healthy and trustworthy. Over time, they quietly outperform anything loud or overdesigned. Freya Media – Email Marketing Agency in South Africa At Freya Media, everything starts with people. We’re a Cape Town-based team with agency-level experience and a hands-on way of working. We find the moments that matter in your customer journey, write emails people want to open, and build automations that keep doing the work while you focus on running your business. Every project is made from scratch. You’ll see what we test, what we learn, and what makes a difference. We care about the numbers, but we care even more about making your brand sound human. Contact us — your Cape Town-based email marketing team helping South African businesses grow through clarity, creativity, and connection. TL;DR Email is permission-based, measurable, and yours to own — not rented reach. POPIA-compliant list growth (clear consent, easy opt-out) is ethical and profitable. Automation and segmentation drive the majority of results. Focus on clicks, on-site behaviour, and conversions for real insight. With the right strategy, email delivers one of the highest ROIs in digital marketing.