Email Marketing for Small Businesses: Why It Still Works

That strength comes from email’s core difference: it’s permission-based and owned. Unlike social media or paid ads, you control who sees your message and when.

This article breaks down why email still matters, how it works for small to medium businesses in the UK, and how you can make it a reliable part of your marketing strategy.

Many small businesses try email marketing once or twice, see lukewarm results, and conclude it’s not worth the time. That’s understandable, after all, first impressions matter, right? However, email rarely delivers explosive results right away. Instead, it compounds.

When you give email enough runway, it builds familiarity and trust. People begin to recognise your name and feel comfortable enough to open, engage, and eventually buy or book.

A couple of years ago, we were speaking with a client who had over 5,000 contacts in their mailing list but was seeing no discernible return on the time they were investing. With an audit, we found they were using a list of contacts from a period of over 15 years, they had no plan for their email marketing, produced fairly random content with little to no CTAs and were sporadic in their sending timings.

We put together a marketing strategy review, which meant that email marketing was now aligned with the rest of their business. We segmented their audience to make the emails more relevant and planned their content to be informative, entertaining, and encouraging CTAs, while building trust with their audience at all times. Through tracking, we could see a 24% increase in open rates and a steady rise in enquiries and bookings purely through their mailing list contacts after 3.5 months.

If you want help refining your foundation before email (e.g., clarifying offers or website conversion), a website audit or marketing strategy review can set email up to win.

Social media platforms are rented space. You post, and the platform decides who sees it and when. Reach fluctuates with algorithm changes, and organic visibility can drop dramatically without warning.

By contrast, email gives you direct access to people who have explicitly chosen to hear from you. That’s a powerful difference.

Multiple reports note that organic social reach (the percentage of your followers who actually see your posts) often sits in the low single digits. This means many followers never actually see what you post. With email, you bypass the gatekeeper. The ball is in your hands.

Email isn’t a trend. It’s a behaviour. Billions of people worldwide use email regularly as a primary tool for both personal and business communication. Which means your messages can slot into a routine people already have.

That’s why email still works even in an age of apps, messaging platforms, and short-form video.

A healthy list isn’t defined by its size, but by engagement.

Benchmarks vary, but multiple sources suggest that an average open rate across industries sits between roughly 20% and 40%, depending on your sector and audience. Mailchimp

Click-through rates or CTRs (the percentage of people who click a link after opening) tend to cluster between about 2% and 5%. Mailchimp

The key takeaway: even modest engagement rates often drive meaningful business results when your list is targeted and relevant.

There’s no universal rule, but frequency should be consistent and helpful rather than erratic and promotional.

For most small businesses:

• Monthly newsletters are a strong starting point
• Fortnightly can work if you have regularly updated content or offers
• Weekly can work if the content is genuinely useful

• Offer insight or value (tips, updates, reflections)
• Share availability or deadlines (appointments, events)
• Tell a brief, personal story
• Remind people of something they signed up for

In reality, the emails that tend to work best are usually the simplest ones. They don’t try to be clever, and they don’t sound like marketing emails at all.

Here are a few examples in the style of emails I regularly see driving replies, conversations, and bookings.

• Offer insight or value (tips, updates, reflections)
• Share availability or deadlines (appointments, events)
• Tell a brief, personal story
• Remind people of something they signed up for

Hard sell emails work, but they work best when your audience already knows and trusts you.

Subject: Booking into March

“Hi Sarah,
I’m starting to book work into March now and just wanted to give you a quick heads-up before things fill up.

If you are still thinking about moving ahead, feel free to reply, and I’ll let you know what availability looks like.

Tom”

Notes: This works because it’s straightforward and respectful of time. There’s no push, just a clear reason for getting in touch and an easy way to respond.

Subject: Something that’s been coming up a lot recently

“Hey Mike,

Over the last few weeks, I’ve been helping a few clients with the same issue on their websites.

It’s a small change, but it’s made a noticeable difference, so I thought it was worth sharing in case it’s useful.

Tom”

Notes: This kind of email positions you as active and thoughtful, without trying to sell anything. Curiosity does the work for you.

Subject: A quick update from me

“Hi Jo,

I’ve been finishing off a few projects this month and noticed a pattern that comes up again and again.

I thought I’d share it here, as it’s something that often gets missed and can cause problems later on.

Tom”

Notes: These emails tend to perform well because they feel like a conversation rather than a campaign. People reply because it feels natural to do so.

Subject: Just checking in

“Hi James,

No rush at all – I just wanted to check in and see if you had any questions after we last spoke.

If now’s not the right time, that’s completely fine too.

Tom”

Notes:

This removes pressure entirely. It gives the reader permission to reply honestly, which often leads to a response either way.

Subject: Looking ahead to summer

“Hey Ben,

A few people have started asking about summer dates, so I thought I’d drop you a quick note in case you were planning ahead.

Happy to chat if it helps.

Tom”

Notes:

This works because it’s timely and relevant without being promotional. It feels helpful rather than opportunistic.

None of these are clever. None of them relies on heavy design, emojis, or sales language.

They work because they’re:

• Relevant to the person receiving them
• Easy to read
• Written like there’s a real human on the other end

Hard sell emails work, but they work best when your audience already knows and trusts you.

That strength comes not just from direct sales, but also because email nurtures relationships and stays visible without ongoing ad spend. Once you have a subscriber list, the cost of sending additional emails is minimal, meaning the ROI compounds over time.

It’s usually not the concept that fails (It’s the execution)

Some mistakes we see often include:

• Only emailing when selling
• Over-designed templates that feel too impersonal
• Ignoring mobile readability
• Never cleaning inactive subscribers

Email works best when it feels human, helpful, and respectful of the reader’s attention.

Email doesn’t reward a half-hearted attempt. It’s more like SEO than display ads in that respect; the payoff often comes after a few consistent cycles.

If you stop after a couple of sends because you didn’t get instant results, you’re almost guaranteed to never see what email could be for you.

Think of email as part of your longer-term marketing strategy, not simply a ‘suck it and see’ tool.

Email is most effective when it supports all your other marketing efforts. SEO brings intent-driven visitors. Social builds awareness. Email keeps the relationship alive after that first interaction.

Used together, they create a cohesive approach that supports long-term visibility and growth.

For help aligning your email strategy with your wider marketing plan, a marketing strategy consultation or SEO audit can help clarify priorities

Email tends to be the glue that holds other channels together. Blog posts you publish can be surfaced via your newsletter; social content can feed sign-ups; SEO traffic can be followed up with automated or planned emails.

This integrated approach makes each channel more effective than working in isolation.

Despite the recommendations of many top-ranking guides, you actually don’t need a full automation suite to start. What matters first is clarity about why you’re sending emails and who they are for.

A simple sign-up form on your website, a clear reason for people to subscribe, and a consistent schedule are all you need to begin.

Once you’ve established that rhythm, you can look at tools, automation, and segmentation.

Not at the start. Automation and AI can help when your list grows or your campaigns become more complex, but they won’t solve an unclear strategy.

Many of the best-performing small business emails are simple, text-based, and written by the owner or the team. That human touch often matters more than fancy tech.

Email is powerful, but it isn’t a fix-all.

If you’re struggling with:

• Very low website traffic
• An unclear offer or messaging
• Poor conversion paths on your site

Then those are the foundations that need attention first. Email will be far more effective once those basics are solid.

In such cases, consider starting with a website review to set priorities

Email marketing isn’t about tricking inboxes or chasing vanity metrics. It’s about staying visible to the people who have already shown interest in your work.

As algorithms shift and platforms come and go, email remains one of the few channels you truly own. That’s why it still works, and why it will continue to matter for small businesses that invest in it thoughtfully.