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Every few years, somebody announces that email marketing is finished.

Social media killed it.

SMS killed it.

AI will kill it.

And yet brands continue generating serious revenue from something as old-fashioned as a message landing in an inbox.

The catch?

A lot of ecommerce businesses are doing email badly.

Poor targeting. Constant discounts. No real deliverability monitoring. Beautiful templates containing absolutely nothing customers want to read.

Here are some lessons worth stealing.

Fix the Technical Stuff Before Anything Else

SPF, DKIM, and DMARC should be part of your sending-domain setup.

If you’re starting with a new domain or restarting a dormant list, increase volume gradually while monitoring complaints, bounces, and inbox placement.

Google Postmaster Tools and GlockApps can help diagnose issues.

And if you’ve inherited a giant customer database with unclear permission records, don’t just dump it into Klaviyo and hit Send.

That isn’t a growth strategy. It’s a reputation problem waiting to happen.

Your Open Rate Might Be Lying to You

Apple Mail privacy features can inflate reported opens, while automated security scanners can generate artificial clicks.

So stop treating opens as the ultimate measure of success.

Pay more attention to revenue per recipient, attributed orders, meaningful customer responses, and credible human engagement.

A campaign generating sales from a smaller audience can be far more valuable than one generating impressive-looking opens.

Stop Training Customers to Wait for Discounts

If every email screams 20% OFF, guess what happens?

Customers learn that your normal price isn’t the price they should pay.

Try sending actual value.

Product tips. Customer stories. Unexpected uses. Useful advice. Behind-the-scenes insights customers might genuinely care about.

And yes, test plain-text emails.

A personal message from a founder can sometimes feel more convincing than a heavily designed promotional masterpiece.

Timing Matters, but Relevance Matters More

Payday-related promotions, local-time sending, and personalized send-time optimization are worth testing.

But automated flows based on real behavior are often the smarter starting point.

Abandoned checkouts, post-purchase education, and relevant replenishment reminders put the message closer to the customer’s actual needs.

One particularly important distinction: US and EU email marketing rules aren’t identical. Existing-customer exemptions depend on local requirements and conditions, and having a buyer’s email address isn’t blanket permission to market to them.

The Hot Sauce Take

Email isn’t about sending more messages to more people. It’s about sending something worth reading to people who actually want to hear from you.

And no, blasting your entire database before Black Friday doesn’t count as a strategy.

Five Things to Do Before Next Friday

Here’s your homework. Nothing complicated, just five moves that could make a real difference before the Q4 madness peaks.

Review your European inventory strategy. Check whether Amazon’s upcoming GWD expansion could simplify replenishment or change your warehouse economics.
Get your product information AI-ready. Audit your descriptions, sizing information, FAQs, and delivery details for clarity as shopping assistants become more prominent.
Give your email database a health check. Verify authentication, consent records, segmentation, and real performance metrics before increasing Q4 sending volume.
Test AI product photography on ten SKUs. Compare quality, approval time, and production costs against your current workflow.
Send one genuinely useful email. No discount code. No unnecessary design. Just something that helps your customers.