Email marketing. Enewsletters. EDMs. Call them what you want. They need to be in your marketing strategy for 2026. Here’s why.

In the world of all-singing, all-dancing digital marketing tactics, enewsletters seem a bit old hat.

Which, technically, they are.

While there had been some examples in the late 70s, companies began sending enewsletters that are more in keeping with the newsletters we are familiar with today, in the late 90s. Meaning that, as a marketing tactic, it’s almost 30 years old.

Does that mean we should ditch it and move on to something else? Absolutely not. There’s a reason they’ve stuck around for so long, and despite a whole range of new digital marketing tactics, they’ve stood the test of time and are considered the gold standard of digital marketing.

Do enewsletters work for small-medium businesses?

In marketing, there’s never one magic lever that gets stunning rewards with just one pull. It’s a combination of factors – and enewsletters are significant contributors to that.

Enewsletters often work for small-medium sized businesses because of a number of reasons:

• Low cost of entry
• Consistently strong open rates
• Your brand is in front of your customers specifically
• It enables you to tell your story to your customers

What’s the benefit of an enewsletter for a business?

One of the biggest benefits is related to the old marketing adage: don’t build your house on rented land.

Countless brands build their audience on Facebook or Instagram – not realising that they don’t ‘own’ the audience. Meta does. If you can’t get into your account one day, your audience is gone, and you’re starting from scratch. Don’t think it’ll happen to you? Neither did these small business owners.

Social media can be highly effective to get people to your website, and getting them to subscribe to your enewsletter – which should be the aim of the game on social.

Once you’ve got people on your database, they’re signed up, and are yours to contact directly. Always be careful of your terms and conditions – they need to explicitly state customers are signing up to your marketing emails.  

How will the social media ban affect enewsletters?

The social media ban for under 16s came into effect in Australia in December last year, and while its impact is still being understood, it’s very possible that a need to age-verify will cause adults to move away from social media – placing even more importance on building your own database and sending enewsletters to your customers.

What’s the benefit for small businesses to send enewsletters to customers?

There are a number of benefits to sending enewsletters to clients, including the fact that it’s you, your voice and your branding landing in their inbox.

You can tap into local demand for products and services, understand seasonal fluctuations specific to your area, and even include pictures and info on things going on around town too – including the sports teams and community events you sponsor – to demonstrate that commitment to the region.

In short, it can help your brand reputation, your credibility, your visibility and keep you front of mind, too. Win/win/win/win.

What enewsletter program should I use for my small business?

There are a whole host of email programs out there – MailChimp is a popular choice for many small businesses, as is MailerLite, Brevo, Hubspot and Constant Contact. Hubspot in particular can do a lot more in terms of digital marketing and measurement, so it’s good to explore – keeping in mind what you need today, as well as what you may need next year. 

What are good enewsletter benchmarks?

They vary by industry of course, but average open rates are generally around 43% for 2025, with a click through open rate of just under 7% – meaning 7% of the people who opened clicked on a link in the newsletter. Mobile open rates, however, lie around 55%-60%,

What’s the return on investment (ROI) for an enewsletter?

Research shows the average ROI for an enewsletter is up to $36 per $1 spent, which is a pretty significant return on marketing investment.

How can I improve my enewsletters?

Aside from getting the right content mix, two key things impact the effectiveness of enewsletters. The first is personalisation in the subject line, which can increase open rates by 26%. The second is personalised automation – for example, sending an email with a discount code on the recipient’s birthday.

What should I put in my enewsletter?

Always go quality over quantity. A regular, monthly email containing three or four regular and easily repeatable items will work wonders. For example, a story about energy saving tips linked to a product or service, a Q&A with one of your team, some pics of a completed job from this month, a testimonial from a happy customer, a ‘local knowledge’ tip about a new restaurant that’s opened (prospective client, hello), or a story about the charity and community work you do. It doesn’t have to be difficult, it needs to be simple and formulaic. Crack that, and you’re on your way to enewsletter success.