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What email marketing is
It includes newsletters, campaigns, and automated sequences that go out when someone signs up, buys, or goes quiet.
It matters because your list is an audience you own.
Search rankings change and ad prices rise, but the people on your list chose to hear from you, and email reaches them directly. For most businesses it is one of the most reliable ways to turn a first visit into a sale and a first sale into a second one.
The SMARTSEO app doesn’t cover email marketing yet. This is expert help for now: we plan, set up and improve your email program with you.
Build the list
Ask for an email address where it’s worth giving: a useful guide, an account, an order, a quote. Say what people will receive and how often. Never buy lists: they damage deliverability and, in many countries, break the law.
Automate the essentials
A few automated sequences do most of the work.
Reach the inbox
Deliverability is whether your mail arrives at all. Authenticate your sending domain with SPF, DKIM and DMARC; Gmail and Yahoo require them for bulk senders, along with one-click unsubscribe and low spam complaints. Send from a consistent address, mail only people who asked, and clean out addresses that never engage.
Write emails worth opening
The subject line and the preview text, the snippet inboxes show beside it, decide whether a message gets opened. Say what’s inside, plainly; curiosity works once, clarity works every time. Keep each email to one main message and one main link, put it near the top, and make the button large enough to tap on a phone, where most email is read. Send as a person where you can: a name in the sender field is opened more often than a logo.
Segment the list
Not everyone on your list wants the same thing. Split it by what you know: customers and prospects, what they bought or asked about, how recently they engaged. A message to past customers about a product they use, or to prospects about the question they signed up with, does better than the same newsletter for everyone, and it keeps unsubscribes and complaints down.
Measure what matters
Open rates are inflated by privacy features that load images automatically. Judge email by clicks, conversions and revenue: tag every link with UTM parameters, and read the results in your analytics alongside your other channels.
Example for illustration; not a client's data.
How to check it yourself
- Read the original.
Send your latest campaign to a Gmail address and open it. In the message menu, choose Show original: it reports whether SPF, DKIM and DMARC passed.
- Check your email traffic.
Then check your analytics for email traffic: if it appears as Direct or Unassigned, your links aren't tagged.
Is this in the SMARTSEO app?
Not yet. The app doesn’t read social or email accounts today, so this is expert help only. What the app does check is your website itself, and that’s where every click from social and email lands.
The problems we find most often
These come from hands-on work, not from the app’s checks. Open one to see what it looks like and how to fix it.
CommonEmails landing in spam
- What we see
- Open rates fall, or Gmail and Yahoo reject messages, after a volume increase or a domain change.
- How to fix it
- Set up SPF, DKIM and DMARC for your sending domain, include one-click unsubscribe, and keep spam complaints low by mailing only people who asked.
CommonNo welcome sequence
- What we see
- New subscribers get nothing until the next newsletter, weeks later.
- How to fix it
- Send a short welcome series in the first days: what they signed up for, who you are, and one clear next step.
CommonA list that never gets cleaned
- What we see
- A growing share of addresses never open, and bounces climb.
- How to fix it
- Re-engage inactive subscribers once, then stop mailing those who don't respond. A smaller, engaged list delivers better.
CommonMeasuring opens instead of revenue
- What we see
- Reports focus on open rates, which privacy features now inflate.
- How to fix it
- Tag email links with UTM parameters and judge campaigns on clicks, conversions and revenue in your analytics.
Questions people ask
Does SMARTSEO do email marketing in the app?
Not yet. The SMARTSEO app covers your website and search. Email marketing is expert help for now: we plan, set up and improve your email program with you.
What are SPF, DKIM and DMARC?
Three DNS records that prove your emails really come from your domain. SPF lists the servers allowed to send for you, DKIM signs each message, and DMARC tells inboxes what to do with mail that fails. Gmail and Yahoo require them for bulk senders.
How often should I email my list?
As often as you have something worth reading, on a schedule subscribers can expect. Watch unsubscribes and complaints: if they rise, you're sending too often or the wrong things.
Are open rates still reliable?
Less than they were. Apple Mail Privacy Protection loads images automatically, which counts as opens. Clicks, conversions and revenue are more reliable measures.
What we do for you
- Email program setup: platform, sending domain and authentication
- Welcome, follow-up and win-back sequences
- Newsletters and campaigns that link to your best content
- Tracking that ties email to visits, leads and sales