The case for email in 2026
If a single algorithm change can destroy your business model, you don't own that channel. Email is the rare exception. Your list is yours. Your sending domain is yours. The deliverability work you put in compounds. And the revenue-per-subscriber numbers for businesses that take email seriously still beat almost every other channel on the open web.
1. List quality, not size, is the asset
A 5,000-person list of engaged buyers is worth more than a 50,000-person list of strangers. Stop measuring success by signup count and start measuring it by engaged-recipients-per-30-days. Suppress people who haven't opened in 6 months. Win them back once, then let them go. The cost of carrying dead weight is bad deliverability for the people who actually care.
2. Segment by behaviour, not demographics
"All women aged 25–45" isn't a segment. "People who clicked on the sale email in the last 30 days and haven't purchased" is a segment. Behavioural segments, what people did, when they did it, what they haven't done, are five to ten times more responsive than demographic ones.
3. Subject lines: short, specific, no shouting
The job of the subject line is one thing: get the email opened. The rules:
- Under 45 characters so it doesn't truncate on mobile.
- One idea, not three.
- Specific over clever.
- No all caps, no excessive emojis, no "RE:" or "FWD:" tricks (they kill long-term trust).
"Your invoice is ready" beats "📧 EXCITING NEWS for our valued customers!!!" every single time.
4. Fewer broadcasts, more flows
Most businesses send too many broadcast emails and not enough automated flows. Flows are where the money is. The five that matter most:
- Welcome. 3–5 emails over the first week. Sets the relationship.
- Browse abandon. For ecommerce, they looked, they left.
- Cart abandon. They added to cart, they didn't check out.
- Post-purchase. Thank you, what to expect, how to use, when to reorder, a review request at the right moment.
- Win-back. They were great, now they're quiet. Try once. If they don't come back, let them go.
For service businesses, swap cart abandon for "consultation booked / not yet booked" follow-ups.
5. Write like a person, not a brand
The best-performing emails read like a note from someone in the business, not a press release. Use "I" or a real team member's name. Be direct. Tell one story. Make one ask. End.
6. Measure revenue per email, not open rate
Open rate is corrupted (Apple Mail Privacy Protection inflates it). Click rate is partly corrupted (bot clicks). The number that survives every measurement game is revenue per email sent (or revenue per recipient over a window). Measure that, and you will instinctively make the right tradeoffs.
7. CASL: it isn't optional in Canada
Canada's Anti-Spam Legislation is one of the strictest in the world. You need express consent, clear identification, and a working unsubscribe in every email. Implied consent is narrower than people think. If you operate from Canada or email Canadians, get the basics right or risk fines that have hit seven figures.
8. Sending domain reputation
This is the technical bit most businesses ignore until their emails start landing in spam. Set up SPF, DKIM and DMARC properly on your sending domain. Use a dedicated subdomain for marketing email (e.g. mail.yourdomain.ca) so your transactional email is insulated from any marketing-side reputation damage. Warm up new sending IPs before you blast.
9. Mobile design, not "mobile-friendly"
About 70% of your opens are on a phone. Design email like you design a small landing page:
- Single column.
- Body text 16–18px.
- One primary call-to-action button, big enough to tap.
- Hero image optional, never required to make sense of the email.
- Test in Apple Mail, Gmail and Outlook before sending to the list.
10. Never, ever buy a list
The math looks great. The reality is terrible: deliverability damage, unsubscribe rate, spam complaints that nuke your sender reputation, possible CASL violations, and an audience that didn't ask for you. Build the list one subscriber at a time. It is slower for the first six months and faster than the alternative forever after that.
Where to go from here
Our digital marketing service includes email-engine build-out, flows, segmentation, deliverability and the measurement layer. If you have a list and have never automated a single sequence, that is usually the highest-ROI starting point.