The 3 pillars of every successful email marketing strategy

From subscriber growth to campaigns and automations, here is what 500+ brands taught me about doing email right

Author

Yiqi Wu (Aimerce.ai)
August 21, 2025

Today, we’re excited to bring you a guest edition packed with practical email marketing insights!

Hey everyone,

I’m David and today I want to give you some tips and tricks to use in your own Email Marketing strategy.

Why me? I’ve been an Email Marketer since 2019, worked for 2 of the biggest eCommerce Agencies in the world and now run my own while working on the Email Marketing Agent here at Aimerce.

I’ve seen and worked with well over 500 brands so far from startups up to 9-figure companies so there’s something in here for everyone. Promise.

Now, here are what I’d call the 3 pillars of a good Email Marketing strategy:

1. Acquiring Subscribers (with a fool proof PopUp)

A good PopUp does not need:

  • Big discounts that make the first sale unprofitable

  • Pushy or manipulative messaging

  • Overly sales-focused language

  • Designs that feel off-brand

Instead, follow this structure that consistently works.

Teaser

Always include one so people can re-enter if they close the PopUp.

Opening Page

State the offer clearly and use a call to action that leads to the next page. Do not ask for their email yet. Example: “Congrats! You are eligible for our welcome gift.” Do not reveal the gift upfront, as that increases submission rates. Include a disclaimer if it applies only to first-time subscribers.

Subscription Page

This is where they enter their email. Add a disclaimer noting the gift will be sent via email. This reduces fake or spam submissions.

Confirmation Page

Run a timer. The length is less important than the urgency it creates, but it consistently boosts conversions.

Bonus Tip

In the Welcome Flow triggered by this PopUp, do not add filters or delays before the first email. Speed is critical.

Example:

Results:

2. Campaigns

The right balance between campaigns and flows is an indicator for the health of your email strategy. Aim for a 50/50 or 60/40 split between the two. If campaigns are too strong, your flows probably need work. If flows dominate, you may not be sending enough campaigns. Why? Because campaigns actually fuel flows.

Recommended send volume

  • 0 to 100K per month in revenue: focus on growing your list and do not overthink design

  • 100K to 500K per month: build consistency and test campaign series such as teaser, early access, launch, reminder, and offer extension

  • 500K per month and above: focus on testing and loyalty since even small percentage gains make a big difference

Campaign topics typically fall into three categories

  • Educational such as ingredients, production, or unique selling points

  • Entertaining such as behind the scenes, holidays, founder messages, or new products

  • Promotional such as launches, product spotlights, or bestsellers

A cadence of three educational or entertaining emails followed by one promotional email usually performs best. Remember that promotional does not always mean a discount. It can simply highlight a product or collection.

To stay consistent, plan campaigns at least one month in advance. Always keep at least 25 percent of your monthly volume in evergreen content. For example, if you send eight emails per month, keep two evergreen drafts ready to go at any time.

3. Automations

Automations, flows, drips - whatever you call them - are the backbone of your email strategy. They run in the background and generate revenue automatically.

Even now, many brands still make basic mistakes, such as triggering an abandoned cart flow from the wrong event. The details matter.

Here is a structure that works reliably for us and even though I can’t mention every single hack in here, I’ll leave you with one per flow:

  • Welcome Series: Remove all filters or delays before the first email, also on the flow level.

  • Abandonment Flows: site, browse, cart, and checkout abandonment flows should all be set up and each step should always cancel the previous one.

  • Winback and Sunset: Winbacks should be triggered by the placed order event while sunsets should be triggered by an unengaged segment. Winbacks are there to simply win customers back after some time while a sunset is the last resort to get someone’s attention after they’ve been inactive for a long time.

Bonus: If you’re a brand doing 100K+/ month, set up a 30-Day Activation Flow. It’s like a winback flow but triggered by the ‘created’ metric. It’s my secret weapon to convert new subscribers within 30 days of signing up. You can also find it inside the Aimerce Email Marketing Agent.

If you set up these few automations you’re ahead of 99% of your competition already.

Final Thoughts

The three pillars of PopUps, Campaigns, and Automations work together. PopUps bring people onto your list. Campaigns keep them engaged and fuel your flows. Automations convert and retain customers around the clock.

When you get these right, you have a strategy that scales from your first one thousand subscribers to your first one hundred thousand.

Here to help you win ✌️

David

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