What is Email Marketing?

Definition

Email marketing uses email to nurture leads, retain customers, and drive direct response. Despite predictions of its demise, email remains the highest-ROI channel for most businesses.

Why it matters

Understanding Email Marketing is foundational to working in email. It shapes how teams plan, communicate with stakeholders, and interpret performance.

Best practices

• → Define it in shared documentation so every team uses the same meaning.
• → Tie it to a measurable outcome rather than treating it as an end in itself.
• → Revisit assumptions quarterly — the meaning and benchmarks evolve.

Common mistakes

• → Treating it as a vanity metric instead of a decision input.
• → Copying competitors' targets without context for your funnel.
• → Optimizing it in isolation, hurting downstream conversion.