Email marketing for companies: Newsletters, automation and funnels

Email marketing is one of the most profitable channels in digital marketing: according to recent studies, a well-positioned email program achieves a return on investment of up to 4,200 percent – i.e. 42 euros for every euro invested. No other channel offers this direct connection to your target group, no algorithms, no loss of reach, no platform risk. Anyone who uses email marketing professionally is building a sales channel that works for the company 24 hours a day.

Key Facts -

Why email marketing is indispensable for companies

Building a newsletter: From the list to the community

Email automation: trigger emails and workflows

Email funnels: from lead to customer

A comparison of email marketing tools

KPIs and measuring success in email marketing

Legal requirements: GDPR and email marketing

Why email marketing is indispensable for companies

Email is the only digital channel you have complete control over. Your list is yours – no social media algorithm can separate you from your target group. At the same time, email marketing allows for personalization and segmentation that is not possible on any other platform with such precision. You address people directly, at the right time, with the right content.

Average open rate across all sectors: 21.3 % (Mailchimp 2025)
Click rate for segmented campaigns: up to 4.5 % (compared to 1.9 % for generic emails)
78% of marketers name email as the best channel for measuring ROI
Email marketing generates 3× more purchases than social media with the same budget
Automated emails (trigger-based) achieve 70.5 % higher open rates

The basis for successful email marketing is a clear strategy: define goals, segment target groups, develop relevant content and use the right tools. If you implement this consistently, you have a sales channel that is continuously optimized and scales with the company.

For companies that want to structure their digital sales, it is advisable to take a look at the agency’s services – especially if email is to be embedded in a holistic marketing system.

Building a newsletter: From the list to the community

A newsletter is more than just a monthly newsletter. When implemented professionally, it becomes the central means of communication between the brand and the target group. The structure starts with the right lead generation: opt-in forms, lead magnets, content upgrades and landing pages that promise real added value.

The most important elements in the newsletter structure:

Double opt-in: mandatory from a legal perspective (GDPR), but also crucial for list quality – only genuine prospects get through
Welcome sequence: The first three to five emails after registration determine open rates and engagement over the next few months
Segmentation right from the start: Differentiate by source (where did the lead come from?), interest (what topic attracted them?) and behavior (did they buy, click, open?)
Content calendar: Regularity beats frequency – better every other Tuesday than irregular and hectic
Test subject lines: A/B tests on subject, sender name and pre-header can improve the open rate by 20-40%

Anyone who brings performance marketing experience to the email strategy immediately understands that the newsletter is not an end in itself, but a conversion channel. Every email must have a clear goal, a clear call to action and a measurable success factor. You can find out more about how channels interact under Performance marketing: ROAS, conversion and strategy.

Agency tip: Don’t start with the perfect template, start with a strong welcome sequence. The first five emails after registration are by far the most frequently opened. Use this time window for onboarding, brand positioning and the first conversion attempt. An average newsletter later in the funnel rarely performs better than the initial phase.

Email automation: trigger emails and workflows

Email automation is the turbo in email marketing. Instead of sending emails manually, companies set up workflows that react automatically to user behavior. The result: higher relevance, better open rates and more conversions – with less manual effort.

The most important automation workflows for companies:

Welcome Series: 3-7 emails after registration – brand presentation, added value demonstration, first conversion
Abandoned Cart: User has added product to cart but not purchased – reminder after 1h, 24h, 72h
Post-purchase sequence: thank you mail, cross-sell, review request, loyalty offer
Re-Engagement Campaign: Reactivate inactive subscribers (no opening for 90+ days) or remove them from the list
Lead nurturing: guiding B2B leads through the sales funnel – white papers, webinars, case studies, demo requests
Birthday/Anniversary: Using personal occasions for highly relevant communication
Browse Abandonment: User has visited certain product page but not purchased – targeted follow-up email

The basic rule of automation: every trigger workflow is built once, then optimized. Split tests for timing (immediately vs. after 2 hours), subject and CTA gradually lead to better performance. Automation is not a set-and-forget, but a system that is continuously improved.

The article on social media marketing for SMEs describes how automation fits into an overarching social media strategy.

Email funnels: from lead to customer

An email funnel is a sequential series of emails that guides a contact through a purchase decision. In contrast to a newsletter, which provides content for existing customers, the funnel is aimed at new contacts and has a clear conversion target.

The typical funnel structure for companies:

Top of Funnel (Awareness): Valuable content, no direct sales message – build trust
Middle of Funnel (Consideration): Case studies, testimonials, product presentations, FAQs – offer decision support
Bottom of Funnel (Decision): Concrete offers, discounts, time pressure, guarantees – trigger purchase
Post-purchase (retention): Onboarding, upsell, cross-sell, loyalty program – ensure customer retention

An effective funnel works with segmentation: someone who goes through stage 1 without clicking gets a different sequence than someone who has clicked on links several times but has not yet bought. This behavior-based segmentation is the key difference between an average and a high-performing funnel.

The next step is to make the ROI of such funnels measurable. We explain how this works in Calculating social media ROI: Formula and examples.

A comparison of email marketing tools

Choosing the right tool determines how far you can get in email marketing. The following five platforms cover different requirements:

Tool	Price (from)	Strengths	Target group
Mailchimp	Free up to 500 contacts, from 13 $/month	Beginner-friendly, good template builder, many integrations	SMEs, start-ups, agencies
Klaviyo	Free up to 250 contacts, from 45 $/month	E-commerce focus, deep Shopify/WooCommerce integration, strong segmentation	Online stores, D2C brands
ActiveCampaign	From 15 $/month	Powerful automation, CRM integration, lead scoring, sales automation	B2B companies, SaaS, growing teams
HubSpot	Free (limited), from 45 €/month	All-in-one (CRM + e-mail + CMS), ideal for a complete inbound stack	Mid-Market, Enterprise, B2B
Brevo (formerly Sendinblue)	Free up to 300 mails/day, from 19 €/month	GDPR-compliant (EU server), low-cost entry, SMS + WhatsApp in addition	DACH companies, SMEs, NGOs

The decision for a tool depends less on the price and more on the use case: e-commerce stores are best served by Klaviyo, B2B companies with long sales cycles benefit from ActiveCampaign or HubSpot, and those who want GDPR compliance without effort are well served by Brevo. Mailchimp is the classic entry-level solution – solid, but quickly reaches its limits with complex requirements.

KPIs and measuring success in email marketing

You can’t improve what you don’t measure. The most important KPIs in email marketing are:

Open rate: Industry average 18-22 %; below 15 % = need for action on subject, sender or sending time
Click-through rate (CTR): 2-5% is good; 8-12% is also possible with segmented automation emails
Click-to-open rate (CTOR): Ratio of clicks to opens – shows whether the content is relevant
Conversion rate: percentage of recipients who perform the desired action after clicking (purchase, registration, download)
Unsubscribe rate: Below 0.5% is normal; above indicates too high frequency or irrelevant content
Bounce rate (hard + soft): Hard bounces (invalid addresses) must be removed immediately – they damage the sender’s reputation
Spam complaint rate: Over 0.1% leads to delivery problems with Gmail and Outlook
List build rate: New subscribers per month minus unsubscribes – shows whether the list is growing or shrinking

Each of these metrics is a lever. A low open rate indicates problems with the subject or sender. A low CTR shows that the content is not relevant enough. A high unsubscribe rate signals frequency or relevance problems. The interaction of all KPIs provides the complete picture of the email strategy.

If you want to delve deeper into the topic of reach measurement across all channels, you can find the direct route to us under Contact and advice.

Legal requirements: GDPR and email marketing

Email marketing is strictly regulated in Germany and the EU. The GDPR requires clear, documented consent before sending commercial emails. This means in practice:

Double opt-in (DOI) is mandatory: A simple registration is not enough – consent must be verified via a confirmation link
Documentation of the consent: IP address, timestamp and source of registration must be saved
Clear unsubscribe right: every email must contain a functioning unsubscribe link
No purchasing of email lists: Sending to purchased lists is illegal in the EU and severely damages the sender’s reputation
Data processing agreement (DPA): Must be concluded with the email tool provider (Brevo and Mailchimp EU offer this as standard)
Transparency about data processing: privacy policy must explain newsletter operation

Violations of the GDPR in email marketing can result in fines of up to 20 million euros or 4% of annual global turnover. Choosing an EU-based email provider (e.g. Brevo with a server in Germany/Belgium) simplifies compliance considerably.

What is the difference between a newsletter and an automated email campaign?

A newsletter is a regular, often manually triggered mailing to all or segmented subscribers – usually on fixed dates. An automated campaign (automation) is triggered by a specific user event, e.g. registration, purchase or click. Automations are more personal, more precise in terms of timing and achieve significantly higher opening and click rates on average.

How often should a company send newsletters?

The optimal frequency depends on the industry and the type of content. For B2C companies with a strong product focus, 1-2 emails per week is reasonable. B2B communication often works better with two to four emails per month. Relevance is more important than frequency: Each mail must offer clear added value. Too high a frequency with weak content leads to unsubscribes and spam complaints.

What is lead nurturing in email marketing?

Lead nurturing is the process of guiding a new contact step by step through the decision-making process. This involves building trust in several steps, communicating product benefits and addressing objections – all automated and behavior-based. Structured lead nurturing is crucial for the conversion rate, especially in the B2B sector with long purchase decisions.

What opening rate is realistic?

The industry average across all sectors is between 18 and 22% (source: Mailchimp/Campaign Monitor 2025). Well-segmented, automated emails (e.g. welcome emails, abandoned cart emails) regularly achieve 40-60%. Low open rates (below 15%) indicate problems with the subject, sender, sending time or list quality.

What is the difference between email marketing for B2B and B2C?

In the B2C sector, the focus is on emotional appeal, offers, seasonal promotions and short decision paths. In B2B, the focus is on added value, expertise, case studies and longer nurturing sequences – as purchasing decisions often take weeks or months. B2B emails are generally more text-heavy, more professional in tone and less visually elaborate than B2C newsletters.