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How to Set Up an Email Marketing System for Your Small Business

4/25/2025

 
​If you’re just getting started with email marketing, follow these steps:
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1. Choose an Email Marketing Platform
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​Pick one that fits your budget and needs. Some of the top easy-to-use DIY platforms are: 
  • MailerLite helps you design and send beautiful newsletters, promotions, and updates to your customers. It’s super easy to use, even if you’ve never done email marketing before.
  • Mailmeteor works with Google Sheets and Gmail to send personalized emails in bulk. Imagine sending 100 emails, but each one feels like it was written just for that person.
  • Mailchimp is a popular tool that helps you send emails, build websites, create ads, and manage customer lists—all in one place. It’s more advanced but still beginner-friendly.
2. Build Your Email List (Use my favorite Tech Tool HERE)

  • Add a signup form to your website and social media accounts
  • Offer a discount or freebie (% off order, eBook, checklist) to encourage sign-ups
  • Use your phone to collect emails from customers in-person and other ways online

3. Create an Email Marketing Plan
Decide:
  • How often you’ll send emails (weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly)?
  • The type of content you’ll share (news, promotions, tips, product recommendations, etc.)?
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4. Execute Email Marketing Plan

​Don't forget to include:
✅ Welcome emails for new form signups
✅ Follow-up emails after an action or purchases on Owned Platforms like your website and emails messages
✅ Abandoned cart reminders to recover lost sales for eCommerce brands
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5. Track & Optimize Your Emails

​Check open rates and click rates to see what’s working, and tweak your strategy accordingly. Statistics by industry are listed below. 
Average Open Rates (Source Mailchimp)
  • Government: 40.55%
  • Media & Publishing: 34.23% 
  • Retail: 35.05%
  • E-commerce: 29.81%

Average Click Through Rates (Source: Mailchimp)
  • Retail: 2.08%  
  • E-Commerce: 17.4%

The 2025 Email Automation & CRM Marketing Guide

3/20/2025

 
Engage audiences, nurture client relationships, and drive results with Email Marketing and Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems. Both have distinct functions that work together to enhance business success. Let’s take a look into each tactic to help you better understand how both can work for your business and brand:

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​Email Automation: Driving Engagement and Sales

Email marketing focuses on direct communication with leads and customers through targeted campaigns and allows businesses to:
  • Automated email sequences
  • Promote products and services
  • Share personalized offers and incentives
  • Retain customers with loyalty programs and updates
  • Analyze campaign performance with open rates, click-through rates, and conversions

When considering an email automation solution, we recommend email automation marketing solutions that integrate with Google Workspace like Mailmeteor and GMass. These integrated tools make sending emails in your Workspace email account a breeze. Also look for tools that send messages based on Google Sheets data.
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CRM: Managing Customer Relationships for Long-Term Success

CRM Marketing is developed and designed to track, organize, and manage customer interactions across multiple channels. It helps businesses and brands by:
  • Storing specific customer data for better personalization
  • Tracking sales via pipelines and automating workflows
  • Enhancing customer support with detailed history and insights
  • Integrating with marketing tools to improve engagement
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Popular CRM solutions like Zoho’s Bigin and CRM products help businesses streamline customer management and optimize touchpoints to strengthen relationships. I’ve been testing out a tool called OnePagerCRM which is a simple solution to help you track client interactions and its relationship to a sale.
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​How Email Automation and CRM Work Together for Business and Brand Success

Email Automation alone is a powerful tool for outreach and engagement. Combined with CRM you are sure to see customer interactions that are tracked and optimized for long-term success. By using both tools, businesses can maximize marketing efforts, increase customer retention, and drive trackable revenue growth. Whether you’re a small business or a large enterprise, investing in email automation and CRM marketing can set the foundation for long-term success.
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    D. Marie Smith

    Business Technology and Social Media Consultant

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