Email marketing is the practice of sending emails to people who have agreed to hear from a business. It covers newsletters, promotions, new-product announcements, order updates and automated sequences such as welcome and win-back messages.
A business collects subscribers through its website, checkout, loyalty program or in-store sign-up, stores them in an email platform and sends campaigns to the whole list or to segments. The platform reports opens, clicks and sales attributed to each send, although open rates have become less reliable since mail apps began pre-loading images.
Retailers use email for sales, back-in-stock alerts and loyalty offers. Cafés, restaurants and venues use it for events, seasonal menus and booking reminders. Segmenting by what people bought, or how recently, usually performs better than sending the same message to everyone.
Pitfalls include buying lists, which breaches Australian spam rules and damages sender reputation, and sending too often. Under the Spam Act 2003 each email needs consent, clear sender identification and a working unsubscribe. Poor list hygiene can push messages into junk folders, so remove bounced and inactive addresses.
Email remains one of the few channels a business owns directly, unlike social reach that platforms control. It works best when connected to POS and ecommerce data. RetailCare offers digital marketing and email services.