Email marketing is back and big social is panicking – everything you need to know

Storytime! 😄

There I was, many, many, many moons ago, struggling to make Facebook ads work.

I would complain to anyone who would listen that I couldn’t get these ads to work, and my customer acquisition cost was through the roof. 

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Then, I heard what could only be described as an angel say, “Have you tried email marketing?”

My guardian angel taught me the importance of collecting the lead and nurturing prospects before making the sales pitch.

Like a total newbie, I said, “Email doesn’t work.”

(Looking back, this was probably one of the top 10 dumbest things I’ve ever said.)

I got schooled again. “Email marketing does work. You just suck at creating emails.” Oof. 😩

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Damaged ego and pride aside, I rolled up my sleeves and tried this email marketing thing. Over the next decade, I learned many things gurus never talk about. I had emails that crushed and generated hundreds of thousands of dollars. I also had emails that completely bombed and almost made me cry, as well as everything in between.

If you have ever struggled with email marketing or are looking for a way to get new customers while reducing your customer acquisition cost, this is for you.

In this article, I’m going to share:

• How to create an effective email marketing campaign even if you aren’t good at marketing
• How to implement email marketing, even if you are starting from scratch
• How to turn an email list into revenue, even if your list is small
• Plus, all the best hacks I’ve learned to date

You’re going to need a notepad for this one!

Word count limit be damned. I’m spilling all the tea! Bookmark this for later. Leave a comment if you have questions because I’m about to share it ALLLLLLL. 🍵

Quick intro

If you’re new to my work, I’m Lester, but my friends call me Les. 👋

I’m a founder with a successful exit and currently the executive chairman of a group of DTC brands. At my core, I’m an award-winning performance marketer.

A lot of our biggest wins are from email marketing, so if you’re interested in data-driven marketing insights and strategies to grow, check out my free newsletter, No Fluff Just Facts.

Now that we’ve got the pleasantries out of the way let’s jump right into it. 🤓

What is email marketing, and why is it still important in 2025?

This is the part of the article where gurus wow you with all the stats about why email marketing is so powerful.

For example, the return on investment for email marketing can be as high as $36 for every $1 spent (ROI 36:1). 

Or how 60% of consumers make a purchase because of a promotional email.

Or even that 61% of consumers prefer to be contacted by a brand via email.

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But as the guy who owns a newsletter called No Fluff Just Facts, I think it’s only right to share the cold, hard truth you won’t find on the internet.

Email is just a medium. 🤓☝️

What you are really doing is communicating with your audience. Call me crazy, but communicating with the people who give you money sounds like a good idea.

You can also think of email as the glue that keeps everything connected.

Sending emails like “Hey, I just made a social post,” or “Hey, I’m hosting an event, pull up,” or “Hey, I’m having a sale you can order here” makes sure your audience stays engaged and connected to you. 

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On top of that, you own your email list. Unlike social platforms that either throttle your reach or charge you to show everyone your post, you don’t have to pay to reach your audience. 🎉

It’s one of the only ways to reach your audience directly without paying a toll or being at the mercy of the almighty algorithm.

Your email list is an asset.

How to start email marketing 

At the risk of sounding cliché, just start.

Don’t overthink it. Focus on what problem you are solving and for whom, pick a platform, grow your audience, send emails, and measure the feedback. 🤗

Here is your checklist…

Pick an email marketing platform. This matters, but not for the reason you think. You have to choose an email service provider based on your needs. All ESPs aren’t created equal. 🙅‍♂️

Start collecting emails. Add opt-in forms to your website or landing page. Give people a reason to opt in, whether it’s a discount, a guide, or more information to solve their problem. That’s level one.

Level two is promoting your newsletter. For example, I’ve already told you at least twice to sign up for my newsletter, and I’ll probably plug it two more times before I’m finished.

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Level three is using social media to tell people about your newsletter through organic content or paid ads. Promote, promote. By the way, you should sign up for my newsletter to see how I do it. (See what I did there.) 

Set up a simple welcome email. When someone subscribes to your newsletter, welcome them with an email reminding them why they signed up or deliver what you promised. Engage new subscribers by encouraging them to share with a friend. Keep it short, fun, and memorable so the next time they see you in their inbox, they can’t wait to open it.

Send emails and stay consistent. I’m not going to lie to you. Getting subscribers won’t be easy in the early days, but that’s OK and completely normal. Now is the time to stay consistent. Use this time to practice your craft and build. The worst thing you can do is ghost your audience.

Change the plan, not the goal. If nobody opens it, fix the subject line. If nobody clicks, improve the offer. If nobody buys, rethink the audience, message, or offer. Adjust as you go, and don’t take it personally if something doesn’t work. This is a marathon, not a sprint. 

These are the core steps of what you need to do. 🙌

Grow your list. Email your list. Repeat.

How AI is changing email marketing

You may be wondering if AI has impacted the email marketing space and if it can disrupt email marketing.

The short answer is yes.

The long answer? I’m glad you asked, lol. 😏

AI is making email marketing more innovative and efficient, especially in content creation and email management.

Tools like ChatGPT generate subject lines and body copy. AI can also craft personalized email content based on user behavior, making emails feel more relevant without manual effort. On the design side, AI-powered tools help create visuals that match audience preferences, eliminating the need for an entire creative team.

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For email management, AI is optimizing how emails are sent and delivered. It predicts the best send times based on user behavior, ensuring emails reach inboxes when subscribers are most likely to engage. AI-driven automation adapts workflows dynamically, adjusting based on customer actions instead of relying on rigid, pre-set sequences. It also enhances deliverability, spotting potential spam triggers before an email is sent and keeping messages out of junk folders.

Now, the question you really want answered is, “Should I use AI to create email content?” 🤭

Honestly, I’m conflicted. While I appreciate that AI can make things easier regarding content creation, I have a fundamental problem with anything getting in between me and my customers. I disdain algorithms and hacks that push me away from a genuine connection with the people I choose to serve.

Not a fan. ❌

Maybe I’m “old school,” though I get mad when people park in front of my house, so take what I just said about AI with a grain of salt and do what is in your audience’s best interest.

My email marketing growth hacks

Here are some email hacks I learned on my journey.

Subject lines matter. Outside of a good sender reputation, your subject line gets your email opened. Any list of “best subject lines to use bla bla bla” yea, ignore that. Instead, remember this. Your product or service solves a problem; if you did everything right, everyone on your list has that problem. Let them know the solution is inside your email.

However, do not give away the solution in the subject line. If you have a unique bathroom cleaning formula, do not say, “Use vinegar and baking soda to clean your bathroom.” Instead, say, “Could this be the best solution to a clean bathroom?” 

If you spill the beans in the subject line, there is no reason to open the email. 🤓☝️

Feel me?

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Curiosity is what drives engagement. But here is the most crucial part: You need to deliver. No bait, no deception. Make sure you provide something valuable in your email.

Be personal. Being personal with my audience was a game changer. It separates you from sounding like every other brand in their inbox. People do business with people. If your emails feel robotic or like they were written for the masses, they will get ignored.

Talk to your audience like you would talk to a friend. Use personalization like name placeholders, but more importantly, be real. If something is exciting, let that energy come through. If you make a mistake, own it. If you have a story that connects to what you are selling, tell it. The more human your emails feel the more people will engage. 💪

How do I make sure my emails hit the primary inbox?

You can write the best emails, but if they do not land in the inbox, it does not matter. Email deliverability is everything, and it starts with the proper setup. 🤓

• DMARC protects your domain from being spoofed by spammers. Without it, someone can send emails that look like they came from you.
• Your domain matters. Sending from Gmail or Yahoo makes you look unprofessional and hurts deliverability. Use a custom domain.
• A dedicated IP gives you complete control over your sender reputation. If you send high volumes, a shared IP means your deliverability is affected by others.
• SPF and DKIM authentication will verify that your emails are legitimate. SPF ensures your emails are sent from an approved server, while DKIM prevents tampering.

Ensuring these technical steps are taken is one step closer to keeping your emails out of spam. In addition, never buy an email list; send emails only to people who have opted in. Spam is illegal, so don’t do it. 🚨

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This may seem overwhelming, but you only have to do this stuff once. Most email service providers will handle it or have detailed guides to walk you through the setup.

Don’t panic; it’s easy… ish. 🤧

If someone unsubscribes, don’t re-add them to your email list, and make sure to clean your list regularly. If a subscriber has not opened any of your emails in the last three months, it may be time to remove them from your active send list. It is an email list, not a hostage situation. Don’t make it weird.

Avoid using spammy words like “free,” “guarantee,” or “urgent” excessively, as they can trigger spam filters and hurt your deliverability.

The best time to send an email?

It depends. 😅

I have seen success at all times of the day, but going against the grain has worked for me. Everyone follows the same “best practices,” which means inboxes are crowded at peak times, so I do the opposite. I’ve sent emails at 11:45 p.m. with a “promo ends at midnight” where urgency was built in, and they crushed.

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I’ve also sent emails every day of the week, but Thursday and Sunday are my favs — although not for the reason you think. Thursday gives me almost a week to come up with fresh ideas, and Sunday works because people slow down and check their inboxes.

The key is to test and figure out what works for you and your audience. What matters more than the time or day is staying consistent.  😉

Set a schedule and communicate that cadence in your welcome email so your audience knows when to expect your emails and adjust based on performance.

How do you create amazing emails that get opened?

Creating emails that get high open rates and engage users in a way that makes them support your venture comes down to one key skill.

Storytelling. 🧐

Your ability to communicate what you have and how it helps.

Here is the secret, if there ever was one. Your ability to tell stories clearly and coherently is a superpower that transcends any medium in any business.

It is probably THE life skill, not just a life skill. 😇

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I came at you with a lot today, but this is the most important takeaway.

Here is how you should structure any email.

Hook. Grab attention and get the audience invested in what you have to say. Don’t know what a good hook is? Look at how I started this article. I pulled you into my world, and here you are, 10 gazillion words later. Do that with your emails.

Story. No matter the situation, craft a story around it. In the real world, this is called building rapport. A good way to think about this section is to introduce the problem and then the solution.

Close. Marketers call this the call to action. This is the part where you ask for what you want. That could be for them to purchase, stay tuned for the following email, or take any action that moves the relationship forward. Whatever it is, make the ask.

Email marketing benchmarks

Knowing and understanding your numbers is necessary for any venture.

“You can’t grow what you don’t measure.”

That said, benchmarks require context. 🤔

For example, if your emails are structured with few or no links, your click-through rate (CTR) will naturally be low. That does not mean your email is failing. It just means the metric needs to be analyzed in the proper context.

Some metrics are non-negotiable, however. The unsubscribe rate and bounce rate should be below 1%. A high unsubscribe rate could mean your email content is not resonating or is not what subscribers expected when they signed up. If your bounce rate is high, look at where you are promoting your email list.

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If you attract low-quality signups, you will have a bloated list of invalid or inactive emails. Consider using an email validation tool to ensure the addresses you collect are real and can receive emails.

As a general rule, here are some basic benchmarks that apply across industries:

• Open rate, 20-30% – My open rate is closer to 50%. Why? ‘Cause I’m awesome, duh 🙃. But on a serious note, I have made a connection with my audience, so breaking the industry norm is “easy.” 
• Click-through rate (CTR), 2-5% – My CTR is closer to 7-20%. I don’t ask my audience to “click” often, and when I do, I make sure it is so attractive you have to click.
• Unsubscribe rate, below 1% – My unsubscribe rate is higher than most simply because I target a much bigger audience. That said, I work on this, and it helps me craft my content.
• Bounce rate, below 1% – If your emails are bouncing, this is not a good sign, and you must look at how you collect emails.

Another metric I track, and it is often overlooked, is revenue per recipient (RPR). This is also a function of what you sell, your industry, and your price point. Your target should be getting it above $1 per subscriber. 🤑

For example, if your list has 10,000 subscribers, you need your email list to generate at least $10,000 in revenue. Note this is an ambitious goal, but use it as your North Star so you know whether or not you are on the right path.

These numbers give you a baseline, but regardless of your industry, the best benchmark is your own performance over time. Track your numbers, test what works, and refine your approach based on accurate data. 📈

My two cents

Email marketing is one of the most effective marketing tools.

The biggest trick? Create content people actually want. You do that by knowing the problem your audience has and providing the solution.

That is it.

No hack in the world can fix your email if it is unwanted. 😤

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I won’t lie: This will not be all sunshine and rainbows, as learning a new skill takes time.

Email marketing is one of the most important skills I have learned as an entrepreneur and marketer.

You should seriously consider email marketing if you want to reduce customer acquisition costs or improve deal flow.

If you hit a roadblock, you can always reach out to me or watch videos on YouTube.

It will not be easy, but it is possible.

XOXO, your guardian angel. 😉