Month: January 2026

You’ve seen the stat. “$42 for every $1 spent on email marketing.” It’s everywhere: on LinkedIn, in case studies, probably tattooed on some growth hacker’s forearm.

And if you’re three months into building your email list with 287 subscribers, sending campaigns to crickets, and wondering if you’re doing something catastrophically wrong, that number feels like a personal attack.

Here’s what nobody mentions: That 42:1 average is just an average across thousands of businesses at different stages. It doesn’t tell you anything about where you should be in month 3 or year 1. You’re in year 1, trying to write a personalized subject line that doesn’t sound desperate.

This guide shows you what email marketing return on investment (ROI) actually measures, how to track the three numbers that matter for YOUR stage, and when your results are good enough to keep going versus when something needs fixing. You’ll learn why comparing your month 2 to someone else’s year 5 is pointless, and what to measure instead.

Let’s figure out what good ROI looks like for where you actually are.

What is email marketing return on investment + a formula for you

Email marketing ROI is a metric that measures how much revenue you generate compared to what you spend on email marketing campaigns. It’s expressed as a percentage, so 400% ROI means you made $4 for every $1 you spent.

The email marketing ROI formula: 

• Costs include: Your email platform subscription, time spent creating campaigns, design or content work, and any list management tools.
• Revenue includes: Direct sales from email links, repeat purchases from lead nurturing email sequences, and retained customers who stay engaged through email.

Here’s how it works in practice: Let’s say you spend $200/month between your platform fee and the time you invest in creating campaigns. Your emails generate $1,200 in tracked sales that month.

ROI = ($1,200 − $200) ÷ $200 × 100 = 500%

That’s $5 back for every $1 spent. Not the famous 42:1, but profitable for a growing business.

Best practices for tracking email marketing ROI 

You’ve got the formula. Here’s how to use it without overcomplicating things or panicking at every dip you see in your email marketing platform’s analytics page.

1. Start with a baseline measurement

Before you can improve anything, you need to know where you’re starting. Pick a month (ideally your first full month of consistent emailing) and calculate your ROI using the formula above. Write it down. This becomes your baseline: the number you’ll compare future months against. It doesn’t matter if it’s negative or barely positive. You just need a starting point to measure progress.

Let’s say you run a small online store selling handmade jewelry. 

• In your first full month, you spent $30 on your email platform and invested about 20 hours setting up your account, designing a template, creating a welcome email sequence, and sending your first few email marketing campaigns. At $25/hour, that’s $500 of your time. Total cost: $530. 
• Your welcome sequence and product launch email generated $900 in tracked sales. Your baseline ROI: ($900 − $530) ÷ $530 × 100 = 70%. 

Not breaking records, but you’re building something. And now you have a number to beat next month as your systems get more efficient.

2. Track trends, not daily fluctuations 

Email marketing ROI isn’t like checking your stock portfolio every hour. One bad week doesn’t mean your email marketing strategy is failing, and one great campaign doesn’t mean you’ve cracked the code. Look at month-over-month trends instead. Is your ROI moving up over three months? Six months? That’s what matters. Daily or weekly swings are normal noise, especially for small businesses with smaller lists.

That jewelry store owner with 70% ROI in month 1? Month 2 drops to 45% (holiday slow season, only 8 hours of work needed). Month 3 jumps to 110% (Mother’s Day campaign, 10 hours invested). Month 4 lands at 95%. If you only looked at month 2, you’d panic and quit. But the three-month trend shows 70% → 45% → 110% → 95%, which is an overall movement up, and time investment is decreasing. That’s what matters.

3. Set realistic benchmarks for your stage 

If you’re three months into building your email list, comparing yourself to the “$42 for every $1” industry average is pointless. That number reflects mature, optimized email programs; not someone just starting out.

Email marketing ROI is like building a business: A new freelancer just landing their first customers won’t have the same revenue as someone with three years of repeat customers. A blogger with 200 subscribers won’t see the same results as one with 5,000 engaged readers. The metric is the same, but the expectations should match your own reality.

Here’s what realistic email marketing benchmarks look like by stage:

• Year 1: Breaking even or slightly positive ROI (100-200%) is solid progress. You’re still learning what connects with your audience.
• Year 2: 300-500% ROI becomes achievable as you refine your approach and your list matures.
• Year 3+: This is when 1000%+ ROI (the famous 10:1 or higher) becomes realistic for well-run email programs.

Your real benchmark isn’t an industry average — it’s whether you’re improving quarter over quarter at your current stage.

4. Track the three metrics that matter

You don’t need to monitor 15 different metrics to know if email marketing is working. Email open rates, click rates, bounce rates, unsubscribe rates. Sure, they’re useful, but for ROI tracking, you need three numbers: 

1. List growth rate

How many new recipients you’re adding each month. If you started January with 500 subscribers and ended with 550, you added 50 people: that’s a 10% growth rate. A growing list means more potential revenue. If your list is shrinking or stagnant, your ROI will eventually plateau. Check your total subscribers on the first of each month in your email platform dashboard.

2. Email-attributed revenue

These are the sales generated after you send campaigns. This is the “revenue” part of your ROI formula. You’ll track this through your sales platform or website analytics. The simplest method: note when you send emails, then check for sales spikes in your store on those days. For more precision, use unique discount codes in each campaign (like JUNE10) and track how many times they’re redeemed. 

SiteGround Email Marketing shows you campaign performance metrics like which links people clicked, helping you track engagement—but connecting those clicks to actual sales happens in your ecommerce platform.

3. Monthly costs

Your email platform subscription plus a realistic estimate of the time you spend creating email marketing campaigns. If you pay someone to design or write emails, include that too. Most people underestimate their time investment, which makes their ROI look artificially high. 

When your platform is easier to use, you spend fewer hours creating campaigns—which directly lowers your monthly costs and improves your ROI. With SiteGround Email Marketing‘s no-code builder and AI text writer, you can cut your design time from 3 hours to 30 minutes. Over a year, that’s 30+ hours saved—worth $750+ if your time is valued at $25/hour.

That’s it. Three numbers, once a month, 15 minutes. Spending two hours every week analyzing micro-metrics won’t improve your ROI as much as spending that time writing better marketing emails.

How to improve your email marketing ROI at each stage

Remember those stages we just talked about? Each one requires a different approach. What improves ROI in year 1 won’t be the same as what works in year 3.

Year 1: Focus on list building and learning what connects

At this stage, you’re still figuring out what your audience responds to. Test different email subject lines to see what gets opens. Try various content formats: educational tips, behind-the-scenes stories, product showcases, and track which ones drive clicks. Find your voice. Don’t worry about advanced segmentation yet. 

Just send consistently, pay attention to what works, and grow your list. If you’re that freelancer landing your first customers or the blogger with 200 subscribers, this is where you build the foundation.

Year 2: Optimize based on patterns

Now you’ve got data. You know which emails people open, which links they click, and what type of content leads to sales. This is when you start segmenting your list: maybe by purchase history, email engagement level, or interests. 

With SiteGround Email Marketing, you can set up email automation triggered when contacts join specific groups. This is perfect for sending a welcome email series, onboarding sequence, or introducing your best content over several days. 

You’re refining what worked in year 1 and cutting what didn’t.

Year 3+: Scale what works

By now, you’ve got proven email marketing campaigns and a substantial list. Expand your successful campaigns. If a product launch email sequence worked once, use that template again. Refine your targeting based on years of behavior data.

This is when that 10:1 ROI becomes realistic because you’re running a system, not experimenting.

Why comparing your month 2 to someone else’s year 5 doesn’t help

Someone in year 5 has thousands of subscribers, proven email sequences, and refined targeting. You’re still testing subject lines. Their email ROI reflects years of compound growth: a larger list, repeat customers, and automated systems. Comparing your early results to their mature program just makes you feel behind when you’re actually right on track for your stage.

Your 15-minute monthly check-in

Set aside 15 minutes on the first of each month to track your progress:

Task	Time	What to do
Track your numbers	2 min	List growth rate: ___  Email-attributed revenue: $___  Monthly costs: $___
Calculate ROI	2 min	(Revenue − Costs) ÷ Costs × 100 = ___%
Compare to last month	1 min	Trending: ☐ Up ☐ Down ☐ Steady
Reflect and plan	10 min	What worked well this month: One thing to test next month:

This simple habit keeps you focused on progress without getting lost in daily fluctuations or vanity metrics.

When to optimize vs when to keep going 

Not every dip in performance means your strategy is broken. Sometimes the best move is to stay the course. Here’s how to tell the difference.

Green flags: Signs your email campaigns are working ✅

If you’re seeing these patterns, keep doing what you’re doing:

• Revenue is trending up – Even if it’s slow growth, upward movement over three to six months means your emails are contributing to sales. A $200 increase one month and $150 the next isn’t failure — it’s progress.
• Your list is growing – New subscribers joining consistently (even if it’s just 10-20 per month for small businesses) signals that people want to hear from you. Growth doesn’t have to be explosive to be healthy.
• Engagement is holding steady – Your open rates and click rates don’t need to climb every month. If they’re consistent, say, 20-25% open rate month after month, that’s a good sign. People are still interested in what you’re sending.

When you see these green flags, resist the urge to overhaul everything. Small tweaks are fine, but major changes can disrupt what’s already working.

Yellow flags: When to dig deeper ⚠️

These patterns suggest it’s time to investigate and adjust:

• Stagnant open rates for 3+ months – If your opens have flatlined or dropped and stayed low, your subject lines might need work, or you’re sending at the wrong times. Test different approaches before assuming your audience lost interest.
• No sales from recent campaigns – If you’ve sent five promotional emails in a row with zero conversions, something’s off. Maybe your offers don’t match what your target audience needs, or your email-to-landing-page experience has friction.
• List growth has stopped – If you haven’t added new subscribers in weeks, your lead magnets or signup forms might need refreshing. Or you’ve stopped promoting them.

The “it’s working” threshold for small businesses

Here’s a simple test: Are you making more from email than you’re spending on it? If yes, it’s working. You don’t need 42:1 ROI to justify continuing. Even 2:1 or 3:1 ROI in year 1 means email is pulling its weight compared to other marketing channels. Keep going, keep learning, and let the compound effects build over time.

Start tracking your email marketing ROI (your way)

You’ve got the formula. You know what to track. You understand why month 3 looks nothing like year 3.

Now actually do it. Open a spreadsheet or note on your phone. Write down your current subscriber count, last month’s email revenue, and your costs. Calculate the percentage. That’s your baseline.

Next month, do it again. The month after that, do it again. Fifteen minutes of paying attention to whether things are moving in the right direction.

Good email marketing ROI isn’t about perfect campaigns or advanced tactics. It’s about sending emails consistently and tracking those three numbers every month to see if you’re improving. And here’s the part most people overlook: the less time you spend creating each campaign, the lower your costs—which directly increases your ROI. Cut your campaign creation time in half, and you’ve just improved your ROI without changing anything else.

The businesses that hit impressive numbers in year 3? They’re the ones who tracked their modest numbers in year 1, kept going anyway, and found ways to work more efficiently.

SiteGround Email Marketing is built exactly for this: the no-code builder and AI text writer reduce your time per campaign, the dashboard shows you engagement at a glance, and when you’re ready for year 2 optimization, you can set up automated sequences without technical skills. Less time spent = lower costs = better ROI, even if your revenue stays the same.

Your way works if you stick with it long enough to let it work.

[58]

Frequently asked questions about email marketing ROI

Does your marketing feel a bit random right now? You post when you remember, send a promotion when things slow down, and never quite find a rhythm to any of it. Between running your business and actually doing the work, it’s hard to know when to reach out or what to say.

Seasonal marketing is like a moving train you can hop on. The schedule already exists: holidays, seasons, and annual events when your customers are primed to spend or take action. You just need to figure out which stops make sense for your business and get on board.

Which trains you board depends entirely on your audience. This guide will help you identify those moments, plan simple campaigns around them, and execute without overwhelm. Less random posting, more strategic showing up.

What is seasonal marketing?

Seasonal marketing is a strategy that aligns your campaigns with specific times of year when customer behavior naturally shifts. Instead of guessing when to reach out, you’re showing up during moments when people are already thinking about spending, planning, or taking action.

The obvious examples are retail holidays like Christmas, Black Friday, and Valentine’s Day. But “seasonal” goes way beyond shopping holidays and looks different depending on your business. An ecommerce store might focus on gift-giving holidays, while a B2B consultant targets January when companies have fresh budgets and less inbox noise. A wedding photographer’s “season” is completely different from a tax preparer’s.

These moments give you a ready-made reason to reach out, a clear theme for your campaigns, and customers who are already in the mindset to engage.

So which moments are actually yours?

Choose your seasonal marketing moments

Below, you’ll find the major seasons and the specific moments within each one. We’ll explain what each moment is and who benefits from it, plus quick campaign ideas.

Spring campaigns that bloom

Spring brings fresh starts, new budgets, and people ready to tackle projects they’ve been putting off all winter. Motivation is high, wallets are open, and everyone’s in planning mode.

• Spring cleaning (March-April): People are finally dealing with the clutter they’ve ignored for months. If you sell storage solutions, offer cleaning services, help people get organized, or blog about decluttering, spring cleaning is your Super Bowl.
• Mother’s Day (May): One of the biggest gift-giving holidays of the year, and people actually spend money here. Perfect if you run an online shop selling gifts, flowers, jewelry, or personalized items. Also great for restaurants offering brunch specials, spas, wellness services, and florists who are about to have their busiest week.
• Easter (March-April): Religious holiday meets family gathering meets excuse to buy chocolate. Works well for online stores with seasonal products, bakeries going all-in on themed treats, event planners, and craft bloggers showing off DIY Easter basket ideas.
• Tax season (January-April): The deadline everyone dreads, which means they desperately need help. If you’re an accountant, bookkeeper, financial planner, or business consultant, this is when your phone should be ringing. People are actively searching for you.
• Wedding season kicks off (April-May): Engagement season wraps up and couples shift into serious planning mode. Prime time if you’re a wedding photographer, event planner, venue owner, caterer, florist, or invitation designer. They’re booking now for summer and fall weddings.

And if your audience cares about these, so should you:

• 💐 International Women’s Day (March 8): If your audience skews female or you champion women-owned businesses, this is a natural fit for content and campaigns.
• 🎭 April Fools’ Day (April 1): Risky but can pay off if your brand has personality. Works for playful businesses that can pull off a good joke without annoying their customers.
• 🌱 Earth Day (April 22): If sustainability matters to your brand identity or customers, this is your moment to show it. Great for eco-friendly products, green services, or content about reducing impact.
• 📍 Local and niche seasonal events: Got runners in your audience? Check the spring marathon calendar. Serve gardeners? Align with when planting season actually starts in your region. The more specific you get to your actual customers, the less competition you’ll face.

Quick campaign ideas for spring seasonal marketing:

Summer campaigns to try: hot marketing ideas

Summer means vacations, slower inboxes, and for many businesses, a chance to stand out while everyone else is at the beach. Some industries hit peak season, others quiet down — both create opportunities.

• Father’s Day (June): The often-forgotten gift-giving holiday that still drives serious spending. Great if you sell tools, tech, outdoor gear, grilling supplies, or personalized gifts. Also works for restaurants promoting Father’s Day meals and experience providers (think golf outings, fishing trips, sports events).
• Summer camps and activities (June-August): School’s out and parents need solutions. Prime time if you run camps, offer tutoring, coordinate activities for kids, or create educational content that keeps children engaged during break.
• Vacation and travel season (May-August): People are booking trips, planning getaways, and buying everything they need for travel. Perfect for travel bloggers, tour operators, anyone selling luggage or travel gear, and destination-based services.
• Back to school prep (July-August): Starts earlier than you think. Parents and students are shopping for supplies, clothes, tech, and getting organized for the new school year. Works for online stores, tutors ramping up for fall, organizing services, and educational content creators.
• Home improvement season (June-August): Good weather means people finally tackle those outdoor projects. Ideal if you offer landscaping, painting, deck building, pool services, or sell home improvement products.
• Mid-year reviews and planning (June-July): Companies assess how the year’s going and adjust strategy for the second half. If you’re a B2B consultant, offer training, or sell software that helps with optimization, this is your window.
• Summer learning (June-August): Decision-makers actually have bandwidth when the office slows down. Great time for course creators, professional development programs, and B2B content marketing when there’s less inbox competition.

More moments that might match your audience:

• 🌈 Pride Month (June): If you serve or support the LGBTQ+ community, this is a natural time for visibility and campaigns that matter.
• 🎆 Independence Day/national holidays (July 4 in the US, Canada Day July 1, etc.): Patriotic holidays drive sales for certain products and create natural content hooks if your audience celebrates them.
• ☕ Back to school counterprogramming (August): While everyone’s focused on students, consider campaigns for adults who are kid-free and ready to focus on themselves again.
• 🎪 Local summer events: Outdoor concerts, farmers markets, community festivals. If your business is local or serves a specific region, align with what’s actually happening where your customers are.

More campaign ideas for summer seasonal marketing: 

Fall tactics to harvest results

Fall brings everyone back to routine after summer, ramps up holiday prep, and for B2B, it’s the final budget push before year-end. Attention spans return and purchasing picks up.

• Back-to-school (August–September): The return to routine means new schedules, supplies, and habits. Works for online stores selling supplies, clothing, and tech, tutors booking fall students, meal prep services for busy families, organizing experts helping people reset, and productivity tools.
• Halloween (October): Costumes, decorations, parties, and candy. One of the biggest ecommerce moments outside of the winter holiday season. Perfect for costume retailers, party supply stores, event planners, craft bloggers doing DIY costume tutorials, and anyone selling treats or seasonal décor.
• Fall home prep (September-October): Homeowners are getting ready for winter. Prime time if you offer HVAC services, landscaping, gutter cleaning, winterization, or sell seasonal home products like draft stoppers and cozy textiles.
• Financial year-end planning (October-November): Individuals and businesses make final money moves before the calendar flips. If you’re a financial planner, accountant, investment advisor, or tax strategist, your clients need you now to optimize their year-end position.
• Early holiday shopping (October-November): Smart shoppers start before the rush. Great for online stores offering early-bird deals, gift guide creators getting ahead of December chaos, and retailers who want to capture budget before Black Friday eats it all.
• Black Friday/Cyber Monday (November): The shopping weekend that launches the holiday season. If you run an online store or retail business, this is unavoidable — your customers expect deals. Also works for deal aggregators, shopping content creators, and anyone who can tie their service to “end-of-year savings.”
• Q4 budget cycles (October-December): Companies are racing to spend allocated budgets before they disappear. If you offer B2B services, sell software, provide consulting, or run training programs, this is when procurement gets urgent. Also prime time if you sell giftable items—companies, real estate agents, and service businesses buy employee and client gifts in Q4. Start pitching in October before budgets get locked up.
• Holiday event planning (October-November): Businesses and individuals are booking venues, caterers, and services for holiday parties. Works for event planners, venues, caterers, photographers, and entertainment providers.

Beyond the obvious:

• 🏪 Small Business Saturday (November, day after Black Friday): If you’re a small business competing with big retail, this is your counter-programming moment. Customers are actively looking to support small businesses.
• 💝 Giving Tuesday (November, Tuesday after Thanksgiving): If you run a nonprofit, have a charitable component, or your audience cares about giving back, this day is built for you.
• 🍂 Local fall festivals and events: Harvest festivals, Oktoberfests, Halloween events. If you’re local or regional, tie into what’s actually happening in your community.

And here come some campaign ideas for fall seasonal marketing:

Winter outreach to warm up your sales

Winter combines the biggest retail frenzy of the year with January’s fresh-start energy and new budget cycles. It’s chaos in December and opportunity in January.

• BFCM (Black Friday/Cyber Monday) (November): The biggest shopping weekend of the year, dominated by major retailers with massive budgets. But that doesn’t mean small businesses should sit it out. Your customers still expect deals, and there are smart Black Friday ideas to compete without burning your profit margins. Works for online stores, retail businesses, deal aggregators, shopping content creators, and anyone who can tie their service to “end-of-year savings.”
• Q1 planning and goal-setting (October-December): Businesses are finalizing strategies and setting goals for the year. Works for B2B consultants, strategic planning services, team development providers, and tools that help with execution and tracking.
• Christmas and holiday season (November-December): The peak gift-giving period with massive consumer spending. Perfect for ecommerce, retailers (online and brick-and-mortar), restaurants doing holiday bookings, delivery services working overtime, and gift guide creators capturing search traffic.
• Post-holiday sales (late December-January): Returns, exchanges, and “treat yourself” spending after the holidays. Great for online stores clearing inventory, retailers moving seasonal products, and services targeting people with gift cards burning holes in their pockets.
• New Year wellness and organization (January): Resolution season. Everyone wants to get healthy, get organized, and get their life together. Prime time if you offer fitness services, wellness coaching, organizing expertise, productivity tools, planners, goal-setting products, or courses that promise transformation.
• Tax prep season ramps up (January-February): Early birds are getting their documents together before the April rush. If you’re an accountant, bookkeeper, or sell tax software, starting your outreach in January means you’re not competing with the March panic.
• January “fresh start” campaigns (January): Companies have new budgets and decision-makers are open to change. Way less inbox competition than December when everyone’s checked out. If you offer B2B services, sell software, provide consulting, or run training programs, January is often smarter than Q4.

Still more to consider:

• 🎁 Boxing Day/December 26 sales: Huge in some regions (Canada, UK, Australia). If you serve international customers or are based outside the US, this rivals Black Friday.
• 🎉 New Year’s Eve: If you’re in hospitality, events, or sell party supplies, this is obvious. Less obvious: it’s also good for “last chance” year-end holiday deals.
• 🥤 Dry January: If you sell non-alcoholic beverages, wellness products, or create content about health, this month-long trend has real momentum.
• 📅 Your industry’s actual season: Winter looks different if you’re a ski resort (peak season) versus a landscaper (planning season). Don’t force December campaigns if your customers aren’t buying then — own January instead.

Winter seasonal marketing ideas:

Think about your actual audience — when are they actively looking for what you offer? That’s your calendar, not every holiday that shows up on social media.

Plan and create a successful marketing campaign in five steps

You don’t need a massive budget or a marketing team to run a seasonal campaign. You need a plan, a timeline, and the discipline to start before you’re scrambling.

1. Start 4–6 weeks early

Four to six weeks gives you enough time to write your marketing emails, update your website, and handle whatever goes wrong (something always does). It’s early enough that you’re not writing “Valentine’s Day sale” emails at 11 PM on February 13th.

This timeline depends on your resources and business type. A solo consultant needs less runway than an ecommerce store managing inventory. The point is breathing room without scrambling. Sometimes you’ll still do things last minute — we’ve all been there. Just don’t make it your default.

Quick timeline:

• Weeks 1–2: Decide your offer, write emails, draft landing page
• Weeks 3–4: Design graphics, set up email sequences, update website
• Weeks 5–6: Schedule everything, test all links, brief your team
• Launch week: Send your scheduled email campaigns, watch results, adjust if needed

With SiteGround Email Marketing, you can write all your successful seasonal campaign emails in advance and schedule them to send on specific dates and times. Set up your entire sequence in one sitting — your welcome email, reminder, last-chance message — and the system handles delivery automatically. No more panic-writing “last chance!” emails at midnight or setting phone alarms to remember to hit send.

1. Build one clear offer

Pick one thing. Make it obvious what people should do.

Your offer options:

• Discount or promotion (20% off, buy-one-get-one)
• Limited package (holiday portrait session, tax season bundle)
• Helpful content series (5-day wedding planning course, spring cleaning checklist)
• Resource guide (back-to-school survival guide, year-end tax checklist)

Match it to the moment:

• Tax season = stress relief. 
• Wedding season = planning help. 
• Holiday season = gift solutions.

2. Use owned channels first

Email and your website are marketing channels you control. Social media algorithms might bury your post. Email lands in inboxes.

Your campaign core:

• 3–5 emails over the campaign period
• Landing page with clear offer and call to action
• Social posts to support (but don’t count on them to carry the campaign)

Email is your best owned channel to start with — you actually own the email list. Pair email with your website, and you’ve got an integrated marketing setup that doesn’t depend on anyone else’s algorithm or policy changes. SiteGround Email Marketing makes this simple: easy campaign management plus strong email deliverability that actually gets your emails into inboxes.

1. Create honest urgency

Real deadlines work. Fake ones don’t. Here are examples of urgency you can use in your emails, landing pages, or social posts:

Real urgency	Fake urgency
“Early bird pricing ends Sunday because that’s when I finalize the workshop materials”	“Countdown timers that reset daily”
“Order by Dec 18 for Christmas delivery — that’s UPS’s cutoff, not mine”	“Limited time” offers that never end
“I’m booking fall sessions now. Wait until September and you’re competing for leftover dates”	“Only X spots left” when capacity is unlimited

2. Gather insights and track what works

Don’t launch and forget. Track basics so you know what to repeat.

Some factors to keep in mind:

• Email open rates (typical: 15-25%, seasonal campaigns often higher), click rates (typical: 2-5%, 10%+ means strong connection) and other relevant email marketing metrics
• Landing page conversions (1-5% is common, but depends heavily on your offer and audience)
• Which emails drove responses
• Total revenue or bookings
• Which channels performed best

Don’t obsess over industry email marketing benchmarks. Your first campaign is about establishing your baseline. Ideally, your second-year campaigns should beat your first-year numbers. That’s the only comparison that matters.

Seasonal campaign planner template

Now that you know the steps, here’s a template to keep your campaign organized:

Campaign element	Your plan	Deadline
Seasonal moment	Which holiday/season are you targeting?
Campaign dates	Start date: _________ End date: _________
Target audience	Who is this campaign for?
The offer	What are you promoting? (discount, package, content, resource)
Channels	Which channels will you use? (email, website, social, ads)
Team/help needed	Who needs to be involved? (designer, writer, developer, support)
Budget	What will this cost? (tools, ads, design, time)
Urgency element	What’s the real deadline? (shipping cutoff, limited spots, offer expires)
Success metrics	What are you tracking? (email opens, clicks, sales, bookings)

Choose your battles with seasonal marketing

You get to pick. Start with two or three seasonal moments that actually match when your customers are ready to buy. Test those, see what works, and add more as you get the rhythm down. Everyone else can chase every holiday that pops up on their feed while you show up strong for the seasons that matter to your business.Build seasonal campaigns in SiteGround Email Marketing, where high delivery rates mean your Black Friday sale actually reaches people instead of disappearing into spam folders. When you’re working with shipping cutoffs and real deadlines, an email that doesn’t land is a campaign that never happened. Schedule everything in advance, trust it’ll reach your customers, and move on with your day. That’s not missing out — that’s strategy.

[58]

Frequently asked questions about seasonal marketing

Most small business owners treat email closings like an afterthought. You type “Best” or “Thanks,” hit send, done.

But that closing does more than fill space before your email signature. It reinforces your message, signals your brand voice, and influences whether people take action. It’s not just politeness—it’s a tool most people don’t use intentionally.

For solopreneurs and bloggers running email campaigns, this can make a difference. Your welcome email closing sets the tone for everything that follows. Your newsletter sign-off reminds people why they’re here. Your sales email closing can tip someone from “maybe” to “yes.”

Here’s what email closings actually do, how to use them strategically in your campaigns, and how to create one that reinforces your brand. Plus a cheat sheet for every email type, the psychology behind why certain closings work, and the 15 that quietly damage your credibility.

What is an email closing?

An email closing (also called an email sign-off) is the final phrase you write before your name at the end of an email message. It serves as the conclusion to your communication and is your opportunity to reinforce the right tone, reinforce your professionalism, and leave a lasting impression on the recipient before they move on to their next email.

Your closing gets less attention than other parts of your email like subject line or body copy, but it does just as much work. It signals respect, reinforces your tone, and tells recipients how formal or casual your relationship is. Skip it, and your email feels abrupt. Choose the wrong one, and you might seem off-brand or unprofessional.

Most closings are short—one to four words, a comma, then your name or brand name underneath. In marketing emails, this is often followed by your company name, website link, or social media handles.

Your closing can also be personal and brand-specific. If you’re a fitness coach, you might sign off with “Stay strong.” If you run a creative business, “Keep making things” reinforces what you’re about. In SiteGround Email Marketing’s case, “To better emails” captures what the platform helps you build. The best email marketers use closings that connect with their audience and reinforce their message—not just generic sign-offs.

Together, the closing phrase and email signature create the complete sign-off that ends your email.

The 4 types of email sign offs

Your email closing falls into one of four categories, depending on what you’re trying to do:

• Formal: For first emails to potential customers or anytime you need to establish credibility. Honestly, you probably won’t use these much unless you’re in a more traditional industry.
• Semi-formal: This is where most of your emails will land. Weekly You’ll use these the most. email newsletters, product updates, promotional email campaigns, and regular customer communication—semi-formal closings strike the right balance between professional and approachable.
• Friendly: or subscribers who already know you. Use these in casual updates, personal stories, or behind-the-scenes content. If your brand voice is naturally laid-back or playful, you might stick to this category full-time and add humor or personality to your closings.
• Action-focused: When you need a click, a reply, or a conversion. Perfect for (calls to action (CTAs) in your email campaigns, feedback requests, or emails driving specific actions.

Pick closings that feel authentic to how you actually talk. You know what they say—just be yourself. Forced formality sounds stiff, fake casual sounds try-hard.

20 email closings that work

These 20 closings cover the different types of emails you’ll send as a small business owner or blogger. The key is matching your closing to your audience and your message—if you’re welcoming new subscribers, your closing should feel different than when you’re launching a product or asking for feedback. Pick the one that fits who you’re talking to and what you’re asking them to do.

Formal email sign offs

Like we said, most solopreneurs and bloggers won’t need these often, but they’re useful when you’re reaching out to potential partners, established businesses, or anyone where formality matters.

1. Sincerely: Works for formal partnership proposals or first contact with corporate clients. It’s universally understood as professional and respectful.
2. Best wishes – Slightly warmer than “Sincerely” while staying professional. Good for congratulating customers on milestones or ending positive exchanges where you want to sound genuine.
3. With appreciation – Use this when someone’s genuinely helped you—a mentor, an industry connection, or a customer who gave valuable feedback. It’s formal but feels sincere.

Semi-formal closings

These handle most of your email marketing and customer communication — professional enough to build trust, friendly enough to feel human.

4. Best regards: The workhorse of business email. Ideal for welcome sequences, onboarding emails, and first-time customer outreach. Professional but not stiff.
5. Kind regards: Slightly warmer than “Best regards” while staying professional. Good for customer service emails, survey emails, or when you want your brand to feel approachable.
6. Warm regards: Use this with repeat customers or loyal subscribers who already know your brand. It’s friendly without being too casual for a business relationship.
7. Regards: Shorter and more neutral than “Best regards.” Fine for transactional emails like order confirmations or routine updates, but can feel curt in promotional campaigns or sensitive customer service situations.
8. Best: Clean and efficient for regular newsletters or update emails to subscribers who know your brand. Skip it for first-contact campaigns—it’s too casual. Make it more personal: “Best, [your name]” or “All the best from [location/team].”.
9. All the best: Warmer than “Best” and works well for seasonal campaigns, end-of-year messages, or customer appreciation emails. Add specificity: “All the best with [their goal]” or “Wishing you all the best this [season].”
10. Thank you: Perfect for post-purchase emails, feedback requests, or any message where you’re asking customers for something. Make it specific: “Thank you for [specific action]” or “Thanks for being part of [community/journey].”
11. Appreciate it: Slightly more casual than “Thank you.” Works for customer loyalty emails, repeat buyer thank-yous, or acknowledging engagement with your emails. Personalize it: “Appreciate you” or “Really appreciate your [specific action].”

Casual email sign offs  

This is your home base. These closings work for most newsletters, product updates, and subscriber communication—professional enough to build trust, casual enough to sound human.

12. Thanks: Works for post-purchase emails, feedback requests, or when subscribers take action (click, reply, share). Add specificity to make it stand out: “Thanks for being here,” “Thanks for reading,” “Thanks for trusting us with your inbox.”
13. Cheers: Common outside the US (UK, Australia). Works for lifestyle brands, creative businesses, or anyone targeting international audiences. Feels friendly without being overly warm.
14. Take care: Use this with long-term subscribers who feel like community members. Pairs well with personal story newsletters or behind-the-scenes updates where you’re sharing more than just promotions.
15. Talk soon: Reserve this for emails with a clear next step: webinar reminders, consultation bookings, or event confirmations. You can make it more specific: “Talk soon about [topic]” or “See you Friday.”

Action oriented closings

Use these when you need something to happen — a click, a reply, a conversion, or any specific next step in your email customer journey.

16. Click here to get started: Direct call to action closing for product launches, limited-time offers, or sign-up campaigns. Gets straight to the action you want.
17. Ready to [specific action]?: Works in sales emails when you’re asking for the close. Examples: “Ready to upgrade?” “Ready to join?” “Ready to see results?”
18. Questions? Just reply to this email: Lowers barriers in welcome sequences, product announcements, or how-to emails. Makes you feel accessible, especially if you’re a solopreneur.
19. Let us know if you need help: Good for post-purchase emails, onboarding sequences, or technical setup guides. Use “me” if you’re solo, “us” if you have a team.
20. We’d love to hear from you: Softer ask for feedback emails, survey invitations, or community-building campaigns. Feels personal without being pushy.

Your go-to email closing cheat sheet

Match your closing to the type of email you’re sending—then make it yours.

Email type	Standard closing	Stand-out alternative
Welcome email to new subscribers	Best regards, Thank you for joining	Excited to have you here, Let’s [achieve goal] together
Weekly newsletter	Best, Until next time	Keep [your brand value], See you next [day]
Product launch or limited offer	Ready to [action]?, Get yours here	This is for you if [pain point], Claim your [benefit]
Post-purchase thank you	Thank you, Appreciate your trust	Enjoy! Tell me how it goes, You’re going to love this
Asking for product review	I’d love to hear what you think	Your experience helps others decide, Real feedback = better [product]
Re-engagement emails to inactive subscribers	Miss you, Still want [benefit]?	No hard feelings—want back in?, One click to stay / one to go
Educational/how-to content	Try this out, Let me know how it goes	Put this into action today, Report back with your results
Community or behind-the-scenes update	Thanks for being here, Stay [identity]	You’re part of this, [Personal sign-off that reflects your journey]
Customer support or help email	Here to help, Just reply if you need anything	I’ve got you, Hit reply—I read every one
Event or webinar invitation	Save your spot, See you there	Don’t miss this, Grab your seat before [deadline]
Sales email (warm lead)	Ready to [outcome]?, Book your call here	Let’s make this happen, Ready to [specific transformation]?
Feedback or survey request	Your input matters, Hit reply and tell me	I’m listening, Tell me what you really think

Pro tip: Use the standard closing when you’re starting out. Switch to the stand-out version once you know your brand voice and audience. The best closings feel like something only you would say.

The psychology behind your email closing

Your closing triggers psychological responses that shape how people perceive you and whether they’ll respond. For small business owners competing for attention in crowded inboxes, these signals matter.

• The reciprocity trap: “Thanks in advance” assumes compliance, which can backfire. Use it only for straightforward requests, not for big asks where someone might say no.
• The warmth-competence trade-off: Formal closings like “Sincerely” signal authority but create distance. Casual closings like “Thanks” feel friendly but less professional. Pick based on whether you need credibility or connection at that moment.
• The mirroring effect: People respond better to styles that match their own. If someone uses “Best,” mirror it. If they’re formal with “Sincerely,” match that. Pay attention and adapt.
• Last impression bias: People remember endings more than middles. Your closing carries disproportionate weight in how your entire email lands. A warm closing softens tough messages; a mismatched one undermines everything else.

Email closing lines preferences by generation

Your subscribers span different age groups, and they have different expectations for how email communication should sound.

• Gen Z (born 1997-2012) – Prefers: “Thanks,” “Best,” brand-specific closings like “Keep creating” or “Stay curious,” or no closing at all in casual contexts. Avoids: “Regards” (too corporate), “Sincerely” (unnecessarily formal). They expect conversational, authentic communication.
• Millennials (born 1981-1996) – Prefers: “Best,” “Thanks,” “Best regards,” “All the best,” or personalized closings like “To your success.” Avoids: “Sincerely” feels too stiff for most emails. They balance professionalism with personality.
• Gen X (born 1965-1980) – Prefers: “Best regards,” “Thanks,” “Best”—direct closings that get to the point. Also comfortable with “Appreciate it.” Avoids: Overly warm closings like “Take care” with people they don’t know personally. They value straightforward communication.
• Boomers (born 1946-1964) – Prefers: “Sincerely,” “Best regards,” “Kind regards,” “Thank you”—proper, complete closings. Avoids: No closing at all, abbreviations, or brand-specific closings that feel too casual. They expect traditional business conventions.

You can’t please every generation at once, but you can make smart defaults. If your audience skews younger (under 40), lean casual with “Thanks” or “Best.” If you’re targeting established businesses or older decision-makers, stick with “Best regards” or “Thank you.” When your audience is mixed or you’re not sure, “Best regards” is the safest bet across all age groups.

Write the best email sign offs for your brand

Your email closing is the last thing people read before they decide to reply, delete, or ignore you. Match it to your relationship and what you need from them. Stuck? “Best regards” works for most customer emails, “Thanks” handles everyday stuff.

Running email campaigns? SiteGround Email Marketing comes with professional templates you can customize with closings that match your brand voice—one less thing to overthink when you’re trying to hit send before midnight. And if you want to get better at the whole email marketing thing, our Email Marketing Course covers email deliverability, list building, crafting compelling content, and strategies that actually boost engagement and sales.

[58]

You’ve been staring at that blank email for five minutes now. Should you write “Hi” or “Hello”? Is “Dear” too formal? Will “Hey” make you look unprofessional?

Stop right there.

You’re overthinking it. And while you’re sitting there debating greetings, your competitor just hit send and got the reply.

Email salutations matter—they set the tone and make the first impression. But picking the right one shouldn’t take five minutes. This guide shows you exactly what works, what doesn’t, and gives you a quick decision table so you can figure it out in 10 seconds and get back to running your business.

What is an email salutation?

An email salutation is the greeting at the start of your email.

Most people sit there wondering if “Hi” is too casual or if “Dear” sounds outdated.

Here’s the thing: your customers care whether your email solves their problem, not whether you wrote “Hi” or “Hello.” Get the salutation right for the situation, and you’re good.

This guide shows you what works in different business situations so you can stop second-guessing and send the email.

Where the salutation fits in your business email

Every business email has the same basic structure:

• Salutation – The greeting that opens your email (“Hi [Name]”)
• Email body – Your actual message
• Email sign off – How you close (“Kind regards,” “Thanks”)
• Professional email signature – Your name and contact information

The salutation sets the tone for the rest of the email parts that follow. If you open with a formal “Dear Mr. Smith,” then switch to a casual tone in your message, it feels off. If you start with “Hey!” but you’re pitching a corporate client, you’ve already lost credibility.

Your email greeting tells the recipient what kind of email this is and how they should read it. Match your salutation to your message, and the rest of your professional email will feel consistent.

Business salutations for customer communication

You don’t need to memorize 50 different greetings. You just need to know what works for the handful of email types you deal with every day—reaching out to customers, following up, responding to questions, working with vendors.

Here’s what to use and when.

Reaching out to new customers

This is cold emailing—your first contact with a potential customer. You don’t know them yet, and they don’t know you. Your salutation needs to feel professional enough to build trust, but friendly enough that they keep reading instead of hitting delete.

What works:

• “Hi [First Name],”
• “Hello [First Name],”

For example:

Following up with customers

You’ve already made contact with an initial email, maybe sent a quote or had a conversation. Now you’re checking in without being pushy. The right greeting for your follow-up emails keeps things warm and reminds them you’re a real person, not just another sales email they ignored.

What works:

• “Hi [Name],”
• “Hope you’re well, [Name]”
• No salutation at all if you’re in an active email thread

Here’s how that looks:

Email newsletters and customer updates

You’re sending updates, promotions, or valuable content to your email list—people who’ve signed up to hear from you. Your salutation needs to feel personal even though you’re emailing hundreds or thousands of people at once.

What works:

• “Hi [First Name],” (personalized using email variables)
• “Hello [First Name],”
• No salutation for very casual brands (jump straight into content)

Here’s what that might look like: 

The key difference: You’re not manually typing each person’s name. Tools like SiteGround’s Email Marketing use variables to automatically insert each recipient’s first name from your contact list—so “Hi [First Name]” becomes “Hi Sarah” for one person and “Hi David” for another, all in the same send.

Responding to inquiries

This is the ideal scenario—someone reached out to you. They’re already interested. Your salutation should acknowledge their message and make them feel like you’re ready to help, not brush them off with a generic response.

What works:

• “Hi [Name],”
• “Thanks for reaching out, [Name]”

Something like:

Networking and partnership email etiquette

You’re reaching out to someone who could become a referral partner, collaborator, or strategic connection. This isn’t about making a sale; it’s about starting a business relationship with the recipient. Your salutation should display professional email etiquette and show you’ve actually looked at their work and aren’t just mass-emailing everyone in your industry.

What works:

• “Hi [Name],”
• “Hi [Name]—I’ve been following your work on [X]”

This could look like: 

Email salutations for other business scenarios

Beyond customer emails, you’ve got vendors to contact, teams to update, and situations where you’re reaching out cold with no name. Here’s how to handle those.

Email messages to vendors and suppliers

You need something—a quote, a delivery update, a fix for a problem. These emails need to be professional and clear, because you’re asking someone to do work for you. The salutation sets the tone: respectful but efficient.

What works:

• “Hi [Name],”
• “Hello [Name],”

A typical request might be:

Group emails and team messages

You’re talking to multiple people at once—your team, a client’s team, or a group of stakeholders. The email salutation needs to include everyone without sounding generic or impersonal. Get it wrong and half the group tunes out before they even read your message.

What works:

• “Hi everyone,” (when addressing the whole company or department)
• “Hi team,” (for your direct team or project group)
• “Hi [team name],” (for specific teams: “Hi marketing team,” “Hi design team”)

Here’s a quick team update:

When you don’t know their name

This happens more than it should. You’re trying to reach someone at a company, but there’s no name on the website, no one listed in the contact form confirmation, nothing. 

Before you default to a generic greeting, actually try to find the name—check LinkedIn, the company’s About us page, the Contact us page, or just call and ask. When you use someone’s name, they’re way more likely to respond because it shows you made an effort.

If you’ve genuinely tried everything and still can’t find a name, here’s what works:

• “Hello,”
• “Hi there,”
• Department-specific: “Hi Support Team,” “Hi Sales Team,”

What doesn’t work:

• “To Whom It May Concern” (sounds like a legal document)
• “Dear Sir or Madam” (outdated and impersonal)

Try something like:

Now that you know what works, let’s talk about what doesn’t. These are the mistakes that make people delete your email before they even finish reading it.

Email salutation mistakes to avoid

Getting the salutation wrong won’t just make your email feel off; it can cost you the response entirely. 

Some mistakes signal you’re lazy, others make you look unprofessional, and a few are just careless errors that tank your credibility. Here’s what to watch out for.

Greetings that feel impersonal

When you send a generic email greeting, you’re telling the recipient they’re just another name on your list. They can tell you didn’t put in the effort, and if you didn’t care enough to add a personal touch to the opening, why should they care enough to respond?

What to avoid:

• “To Whom It May Concern” – This sounds like a legal notice, not business communication. It screams “I didn’t bother finding out who you are.”
• “Dear Sir or Madam” – Outdated and impersonal. No one uses this unless they’re sending a formal complaint.
• Generic “Hello” when you have their name – If you know their name and don’t use it, it feels like you’re mass-emailing and couldn’t be bothered to personalize.

People respond to emails that feel like they were written for them, not copied and pasted to a hundred other people. Personalization isn’t just an email marketing trend and extra effort—it’s the baseline.When you’re reaching out to a list of potential customers or sending regular updates to your audience, personalizing each salutation manually isn’t realistic. That’s where SiteGround’s Email Marketing handles personalization for you. Add variables to subject lines and email body so every recipient sees “Hi [Their Name]”—even when you’re sending to hundreds of people.

Greetings that are too casual

Being friendly is good. Being too casual makes you look unprofessional, especially when you’re reaching out for the first time or talking to someone in a more formal industry. You want to build trust, not make them wonder if you take your business seriously.

What to avoid:

• “Hey” in first-time customer contact – “Hey” works with people you already know. In cold outreach, it reads as overly familiar or careless.
• “Yo,” “What’s up,” “Hiya” – Save these for friends, not customers. Even in casual industries, this is too much.
• Industry context matters – A creative agency might get away with “Hey” in some situations. An accounting firm or legal service? Not a chance.

Tone mismatch kills trust. If someone’s evaluating whether to hire you or buy from you, starting too casually makes them question your professionalism before they even read your pitch.

Greetings with careless mistakes

These are the mistakes that make recipients delete your email immediately. They signal you don’t pay attention to details, and if you’re careless with their name or basic information, why would they trust you with their business?

What to avoid:

• Misspelling their name – “Dear John” when their name is spelled Jon. Instant credibility killer. Double-check every time.
• Copy-paste fails – Using the wrong name because you forgot to update it from your last email. “Hi Sarah” when you’re actually emailing David.
• Using nicknames without permission – If they sign their emails as “Robert,” don’t call them “Bob.” Let them set the tone.
• Gender assumptions – “Dear Sir” when you’re emailing a woman, or making any assumption about titles or gender.
• Time-based greetings that arrive hours later – “Good morning” sent at 4 PM just looks sloppy.

Small mistakes leave lasting impressions. One misspelled name, and you’ve gone from “potential partner” to “another spammer who doesn’t pay attention.” 

These errors are completely avoidable—just slow down and proofread.

Quick decision guide: choose your email salutation in 10 seconds

Here’s a quick reference table you can bookmark. Find your situation, use what works, skip what doesn’t.

Situation	Use This	Skip This
First contact with a new customer	• “Hi [First Name],”• “Hello [First Name],”	• “Dear [Name],”• “Hey”• “To Whom It May Concern”
Following up with existing customer	• “Hi [Name],”• “Hope you’re well, [Name]”	• Overly formal email salutations• “Dear”
Responding to their inquiry	• “Thanks for reaching out, [Name]”• “Hi [Name],”	• Generic “Hello” without their name
Networking or partnership email	• “Hi [Name],”• “Hi [Name]—[personal connection]”	• “Dear”• Overly formal language
Email to vendor or supplier	• “Hi [Name],”• “Hello [Name],”	• “Hey”• Overly casual greetings
Group or team email	• “Hi everyone,”• “Hi team,”• “Morning all”	• “Hey guys”• Individual names in group context
Don’t know their name	• “Hello,”• “Hi there,”• Department-specific greeting	• “To Whom It May Concern”• “Dear Sir or Madam”
Ongoing email thread (multiple exchanges)	• No salutation needed• “Hi [Name],”	• Repeating formal greetings every time

Email closings: how to sign off your email professionally

Your email closing (how you sign off, that is) matters just as much as your salutation. It’s the last thing your recipient reads before deciding whether to reply.

And just like with your opening, you don’t need to overcomplicate this. A handful of professional closings work for almost every business situation.

Professional email sign offs that work

These cover 90% of your business emails.

For most business emails:

• “Best regards,” (professional, works everywhere)
• “Thanks,” (when you’re asking for something or expressing gratitude)
• “Best,” (slightly less formal, still professional)

For follow-ups:

• “Looking forward to hearing from you,”
• “Thanks again,”
• “Talk soon,”

For formal situations:

• “Sincerely,” (traditional industries, first contact with executives)
• “Kind regards,” (slightly warmer than “sincerely”)

Email closing salutations to avoid

Below are some closings that either sound unprofessional or feel outdated.

Too casual for business:

• “XOXO,” “Ciao,” “Later,” (save for friends)
• No closing at all (feels abrupt in first contact)

Outdated or overly formal:

• “Yours faithfully,” (sounds like a Victorian letter)
• “Respectfully yours,” (too formal for modern business)

Mismatched tone: If you opened with “Hi Sarah,” don’t close with “Yours sincerely.” Keep your opening and closing at the same formality level.

Quick reference: match your email closing to your opening

If you opened with…	Close with…
“Hi [Name],”	“Best,” “Thanks,” “Best regards,”
“Hello [Name],”	“Best regards,” “Kind regards,”
“Dear [Name],”	“Sincerely,” “Kind regards,”
“Hi everyone,” / “Hi team,”	“Thanks,” “Best,”

Stop overthinking, start sending emails

Look, you’re running a business. You don’t have time to agonize over whether “Hi” or “Hello” is the right move. Roughly right beats perfect every time—especially when “perfect” means your email sits in drafts for an hour.

Get the salutation close enough for the situation and hit send. Your customers care whether you can solve their problem, not whether your greeting was flawless.

Now, everything we’ve covered applies to your day-to-day one-on-one business emails. But when you’re emailing at scale—sending newsletters, promotions, or updates to your contact list—you need tools that handle personalization and delivery for hundreds or thousands of recipients at once. You need to make sure your emails actually land in inboxes and feel personal, not like mass spam.

That’s where SiteGround Email Marketing comes in. It handles the heavy lifting so you can focus on your message:

• Automatic personalization – Add “Hi [First Name]” to hundreds of emails without manually typing each one
• Reliable delivery – Your emails land in inboxes, not spam folders
• Professional emails at scale – Send personalized messages to your entire customer list without losing that one-to-one feel

[58]

Your email list is bigger than you think; you’re just not reaching all of it.

About 16% of people have disabilities that affect how they interact with emails. That’s roughly one in six subscribers who might struggle to read your tiny text, click your cramped buttons, or make sense of your “click here” links when a screen reader announces them out of context.

When you make your emails accessible, you’re not just reaching these subscribers, you’re improving results for everyone on your list. Let’s look at how to close this accessibility gap.

What is email accessibility?

Email accessibility is the practice of designing email messages that all your subscribers can read, understand, and interact with, including people with visual, motor, or cognitive disabilities. This means people who use screen readers due to vision impairments, subscribers with physical disabilities who struggle with small buttons, and anyone with cognitive differences who find complex layouts hard to follow.

But accessible design isn’t only about disabilities. An accessible email also works better for someone squinting at their phone in bright sunlight, a busy professional skimming messages while multitasking, or anyone with a slow internet connection waiting for image files to load. Larger fonts reduce eye strain for everyone. Clear link text helps anyone decide what to click. Simple layouts load faster on any connection.

When you create emails that are accessible, you remove barriers that prevent people from reading your digital content and clicking your links. 

Why email accessibility matters

Email accessibility matters because it determines whether your subscribers (including people with disabilities) can actually read and interact with the messages you send them.

According to the World Health Organization, 1.3 billion people—about 16% of the global population—experience significant disability. Many of these disabilities affect how people interact with emails: vision impairments that require screen readers or other assistive technology, motor limitations that make small buttons hard to click, or cognitive differences that make busy layouts overwhelming. 

Plus, what works for people with disabilities typically works better for everyone: 

• Clear email CTAs get more clicks from all subscribers. 
• Accessible email fonts reduce eye strain whether someone has low vision or just tired eyes at the end of the day. 
• Simple email layouts load faster and scan easier on any device. 

Most businesses see their email marketing metrics improve across the board when they prioritize accessibility. 

Accessible emails also increase email deliverability. Proper HTML structure, balanced text-to-image ratios, and mobile-friendly layouts are factors email providers use when deciding whether to deliver your messages to inboxes or spam folders. When you optimize for accessibility, you’re also optimizing for inbox placement.

Beyond performance, there’s a legal consideration: courts are increasingly applying the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) to digital communications, including email. While regulations like the ADA and European Accessibility Act vary by region, following basic accessibility practices protects your business from potential claims.

Email accessibility follows the same principles as accessible web design. Both focus on removing barriers so everyone can access your digital content, like adding alt text, using readable fonts, and structuring content clearly covers most legal requirements and protects your business from potential claims.

Each of these practices closes part of the gap between your emails and the subscribers who can’t read them.

Types of accessibility needs to consider

Accessibility isn’t one-size-fits-all. Your subscribers might face different challenges when reading emails:

• Vision challenges range from total blindness (requiring screen readers) to low vision (needing larger text and zoom) to color blindness (where certain color combinations are impossible to distinguish).
• Motor limitations like arthritis, tremors, or limited hand mobility make it hard to tap small buttons or cramped links, especially on mobile devices.
• Cognitive differences including dyslexia, ADHD, and processing disorders mean dense layouts and complex language become overwhelming quickly.
• Situational barriers might affect everyone at some point: a broken arm, reading in bright sunlight, or listening to emails while driving all create temporary accessibility needs that require the same design solutions as permanent disabilities.

When you understand these barriers, you can design emails that actually work for everyone on your email list.

Email accessibility best practices

Making your emails accessible doesn’t mean starting from scratch. The essentials break down into three areas: what you write, how it looks, and the technical setup behind the scenes. Let’s start with the part you already control: your content.

Write accessible email copy

Email copywriting and the structure of your content determines whether people can understand and act on your message. These practices directly address the most common barriers creating the accessibility gap.

• Write clear email subject lines and preheaders. These are the first things subscribers see and the only things screen reader users might hear before deciding to open. Make them descriptive and specific. “Your order #12345 has shipped” works better than “Good news!”

• Use descriptive link text. Screen readers often jump from link to link, reading them out of context. “Download the 2025 marketing guide” tells people exactly what they’ll get. “Click here” or “Learn more” means nothing when read alone. Make every link meaningful on its own.

❌ “We’ve launched new features. Click here to learn more.” 

✅ “We’ve launched new features. Read about our updated dashboard.”

• Keep language simple and direct. Skip the jargon and marketing speak. Short sentences and common words help everyone understand faster: people with cognitive differences, non-native speakers, and busy professionals skimming on their phones. If you need a specialized term, explain it.
• Structure content in logical order. Start with the most important information. Use headings to break up sections. Put related ideas together. Screen readers navigate by headings, so a clear structure helps people find what they need without reading every word.

Design accessible emails

Email design choices affect readability for everyone on your list. These visual elements make the difference between an email people can read and one they’ll delete.

• Use a minimum 14px font size. Anything smaller strains eyes and disappears on mobile screens. For body text, 16px works even better and is considered optimal for readability. Save smaller sizes only for fine print like footer text, and even then, don’t go below 12px.
• Choose readable email fonts. Sans-serif fonts like Monsterrat, Roboto, Open Sans, or Poppins are excellent for email body text. For a more formal look, try serif fonts like Lora or PT Serif. Avoid decorative or script fonts for body copy—save those for headlines if you use them at all. Never use all caps for long passages since it’s harder to read. SiteGround Email Marketing, for example, offers both email-safe and web-safe fonts with automatic fallbacks, so your chosen fonts display consistently across all devices.

• Make email CTAs large and easy to click. Buttons should be at least 44×44 pixels so that they are large enough to tap accurately on mobile. Add enough space around them so people don’t accidentally click the wrong element. Use contrasting colors so they stand out from surrounding content.

• Add space around elements. Cramming content together overwhelms readers and makes clicking harder. Give your text room to breathe. Add padding around buttons. Space out paragraphs. This negative space (often called “white space” regardless of color) improves readability for everyone and makes motor navigation easier.
• Avoid putting text in images. Screen readers can’t read text that’s part of an image file. If you must include text in images (like promotional graphics), keep it minimal and always include that text in your alt description. Whenever possible, use your email editor’s text tools to create styled headlines and callouts instead of images with text.

Technical requirements

If you’re using SiteGround Email Marketing, the platform handles most technical accessibility requirements automatically: proper HTML structure, semantic markup, and clean email code all work behind the scenes. But understanding what’s happening (and why) helps you make better decisions about your content.Add alternative text to every image. Alt text describes images for screen reader users. Keep descriptions concise but informative: “Marketing team celebrating Q4 results” rather than “image123.jpg” or just “team photo.” For decorative images that don’t add meaning, use empty alt text (alt=””) so screen readers skip them. SiteGround Email Marketing makes this straightforward by prompting you to add alt text when you upload images.

• Create a clear visual hierarchy. Use larger, bolder text for main headlines and progressively smaller sizes for subheadings and body text. This visual structure helps all readers – including those using screen readers – understand how your content is organized. Screen readers in email rely on reading order and text formatting rather than semantic heading tags, so keep your layout logical and use size and weight to show importance. SiteGround Email Marketing templates include preset text styles that create this hierarchy automatically.

• Test with images turned off. Before sending, preview your email without images (most email platforms include this option) or send yourself a test and view it with images disabled in your inbox. For instance, Gmail asks before displaying external images to protect users from tracking pixels and malicious content. Can people understand your message? Are your CTAs visible? If the email breaks without images, restructure it.

SiteGround applies accessibility standards to both the platform you use and the emails you send. The accessible Client Area and Site Tools dashboards include high-contrast themes, keyboard navigation, and screen reader support – so creating emails is accessible too. Email templates are tested with accessibility consultants to catch issues before they reach subscribers, meaning accessibility is built into the entire process, not added as an afterthought.

How to check your email accessibility

Once you’ve built your email with these practices in mind, run through a few quick checks before sending. You don’t need specialized software or technical expertise. These straightforward tests catch most accessibility issues.

• Check your color contrast by squinting at your screen or viewing it in bright light. Dark text on light backgrounds (or vice versa) almost always works better than subtle shades. SiteGround Email Marketing also includes a built-in contrast checker that proactively alerts you when your color combo doesn’t mean accessibility standards.

• Read it out loud. This simple test catches confusing link text, unclear CTAs, and awkward phrasing. If something doesn’t make sense when you read it aloud, it won’t make sense to a screen reader either. Pay special attention to links. Do they make sense without the surrounding context?
• Send a test to yourself. Check how your email looks in the email clients your subscribers actually use: Gmail, Outlook, Apple Mail, whatever your analytics show as most common. Some accessibility features (like alt text) display differently across clients, and you want to catch any surprises before your real send.
• Preview on your phone. Since you’ve already sent these test emails, be sure to also check them on your actual phone, not just a desktop preview. Tap every button and link. Are they easy to hit without accidentally clicking something else? Can you read the text without zooming? Your phone preview shows you what mobile users experience and reveals accessibility issues that desktop testing misses.

Most email platforms, including SiteGround Email Marketing, let you send test emails to multiple addresses. Take advantage of this to review your message in different environments before it reaches the email list you’ve built.

Start making your emails accessible

You don’t need to overhaul everything at once. Start with three changes: 

1. Add alt text to images 
2. Use at least 14px font size 
3. Replace “click here” with descriptive link text 

Each fix reaches more subscribers and improves performance for your entire list.

If you’re ready to make accessibility simpler, SiteGround Email Marketing handles the technical requirements automatically—proper HTML structure, accessibility prompts, and mobile-optimized templates. You also get automated email journeys to send welcome sequences or follow-ups without manual work, reliable inbox delivery backed by SiteGround’s infrastructure, and analytics that show what’s working. Less time wrestling with technical details means more time connecting with customers and growing your business.

[58]