Guide to Email Blasts + Tested Tips to Get You Started

Email remains a popular marketing tool for small businesses. As the number of email users grows worldwide, email remains an integral component of any online business. For this reason, many business owners tap into several email marketing initiatives to drive traffic, improve conversion, and boost the company’s bottom line. One popular approach to email automation is email blast, a creative way to send bulk emails to a target audience. Email blasts bring results, but many senders get it wrong.

For a start, no one wants to get swamped with emails, right? Then, there’s a whole set of questionable practices that small business owners often make in their excitement to improve conversion. For example, sending numerous random emails to unsubscribed people without purpose or warning. And most commonly, many send messages that don’t resonate with subscribers. Instead of boosting the open rates and improving conversions, they lose subscribers!

Email blasts shouldn’t be like this.

Below, we’ll cover the basics of email blasts and provide a few tested tips on improving your campaign. Read our guide, follow the tips below, stop blasting your list with irrelevant content, and start providing them with emails that bring value.

What’s an email blast?

An email blast (or e-blast) is a mass email sent to many subscribers simultaneously. Traditionally, it’s used for a promotional offer or other marketing-related email a business owner sends to its target audience. There are different reasons for bulk sending or email blasts— some use it to announce a limited-time offer, others for a big announcement, or some owners may use it to announce a product or service. 

However, email blasts aren’t always exclusively for digital marketing purposes. Some companies use this approach to announce a policy change, such as Netflix sending an email blast to report on the pervasive ‘password sharing habit’ on the platform. Email blasts have been around for quite some time, and this approach has evolved into specific terms and practices like broadcast email and email newsletters.

Email blasts vs. Email campaigns: Are they similar?

You may wonder if an email blast is similar to an email campaign. While the two approaches may appear similar due to their objectives and use of emails, they’re different. An email campaign requires sending a series of strategic emails to a targeted group of subscribers over a specific period of time.

An effective email marketing campaign aims to nurture relationships, boost brand awareness through continuous contact, and eventually convert. In an email blast, the objective is to reach as many subscribers as possible using a single email, intending to create a broad impact that does not require a follow-up email.

Here are a few tested tips to get you started

With increasing competition among business owners and tightening regulations on sending spam emails, starting an email blast can be tricky. Let’s admit it: email blasts are often associated with spam emails and not so much about a personalized email experience. But if done right, with the welfare of all stakeholders in mind, an email blast can still serve its purpose in building engagement. Here are a few suggestions to optimize and secure your email blast effort:

1. Double opt-in. You must start with a clean contact list or work with subscribers who have signed up to receive your emails. Organic growth is the key here, and buying a list of contacts is always challenging.
2. Segmentation. Targeted emails are always better because they offer value to the readers. Integrate research into your marketing efforts to learn about the products and services that your customers are interested in.
3. Monitor. Use engagement metrics to track how your emails are performing with your subscribers. Some metrics you can use are click-through, open rates, and email bounces.
4. Always comply with data protection laws. Before sending an email blast, comply with your country's data protection laws. For example, business owners may want to check out the CCPA, GDPR, and the CAN-SPAM Act requirements. Please comply to avoid costly penalties and the loss of some subscribers.
5. Don’t forget about the email’s best practices. In addition to privacy concerns and the requirements of the law, it’s always good to follow email’s best practices. Emails must be easy to read and follow a certain style guide. By adopting a professional style with your own tone, you don’t come across as a spammer or phisher. You need to adopt a certain style in formatting your emails, from the design of preheaders, subject lines, CTAs, and, yes, up to the tone of voice.
6. Ensure that your ESP can handle the volume. Before you start an email blast, ensure your service package is up to the task. Email service providers often offer different service tiers, which allow a cap on the number of emails you can send at a time. You’ll need to verify first if the provider can handle the volume. Otherwise, messages can bottleneck.

So, what’s the recommended open rate for email blasts?

We’ve already mentioned that a crucial to track the performance of your email blast campaign using a few metrics. A reliable marketing metric is the open rate for your email blast. If you’re running an email blast, an open rate of 15 to 30% is a good starting point. Some may say this open rate is low, but the figure varies depending on the industry. As such, we always recommend industry research to know the going rate in your niche. 

Then there’s the bounce rate or the percentage of email messages that are not successfully received by your subscribers. Marketing experts say that a bounce rate of 2% is ‘normal,’ and a conversion rate of 2 to 5% is acceptable for an email blast. You may think that a high open rate is the only metric to consider, but it’s essential to remember that other key metrics are equally important.

Final thoughts

Integrating an email blast into your marketing efforts is never too late. But when you do, ensure you don’t commit the usual and end up like a scammer. If you’re ready to improve your email marketing efforts through an email blast, consider the tips and suggestions included in this blog. Remember, an effective email blast requires an organized email campaign that relies on personalization and segmentation.

Before blasting these emails, check if your devices are ready for the volume. If you’re not yet working with a professional email delivery service provider, now’s the best time to sign up. What’s great about these top email providers is that they offer different tier levels with varying prices depending on the expected volume and services required. 

Also, don’t forget about the best practices when it comes to drafting and sending emails. Before you send, always check for spelling, design, and headings. Regardless of your industry, adding potential issues before hitting send is always best. With these tested tips in mind, it’s easier for you to blast those emails, improve open rates, and boost the bottom line.