Understanding the key differences between a good email marketer and a bad one can help refine your strategies and achieve higher engagement and conversions.
🔍 Glossary of Terms
Term | Definition |
---|---|
CAC | Customer Acquisition Cost: What it costs to acquire one paying customer |
CLV / LTV | Customer Lifetime Value: Revenue expected from one customer over their lifecycle |
MER | Marketing Efficiency Ratio: Revenue ÷ total marketing spend |
Deliverability | Likelihood that emails land in inbox vs. spam folder |
Holdout Testing | Suppressing a portion of your audience to measure true lift from campaigns |
Zero-Party Data | Data customers voluntarily provide (e.g. preferences, quiz results) |
Omni-channel | A coordinated marketing approach across multiple platforms (email, SMS, paid, etc.) |
Automation Flow | A series of triggered emails based on user behavior |
Table of contents
1. Business Understanding: The Foundation
✅ Good Email Marketer
Understands:
- CAC, LTV, MER, AOV
- Product margins and return rates
- Business model (Subscription? DTC? Wholesale hybrid?)
Why it matters: Without context, your campaigns may generate vanity revenue while bleeding margin or misaligning with growth stages.
Pro Tip: Ask every new client:
“What’s your goal this quarter: Acquisition, Retention, or Margin?”
❌ Bad Email Marketer
Builds strategy based on past experience or “best practices,” ignoring the company’s current reality.
📉 Risk: Inflated performance metrics that don’t translate to actual business growth.
2. Tech Stack Alignment
✅ Good Email Marketer
- Audits the full tech stack: ESP, CDP, reviews, checkout, popup tools, customer service
- Ensures CRM doesn’t break ops
- Doesn’t force tools just because they’re trendy
Example: Instead of insisting on a complex multi-ESP system, they integrate the right platform (e.g. Klaviyo for Shopify) that plays well with the stack.
❌ Bad Email Marketer
- Pushes complex tools (“I always use [Tool X]”) that don’t match the brand’s operational level.
3. Deliverability First, Revenue Second
✅ Good Email Marketer
- Audits DNS: SPF, DKIM, DMARC
- Checks domain reputation via Google Postmaster
- Builds warm-up plans for new or dormant lists
KPI Benchmarks:
Metric | Target |
---|---|
Bounce Rate | <2% |
Spam Complaints | <0.1% |
Inbox Placement Rate | >90% |
❌ Bad Email Marketer
Starts sending before warming IPs or validating the list → sabotages reputation from Day 1.
4. Automation Strategy: From Lifecycle to LTV
✅ Good Email Marketer
Builds flows across the full journey:
Stage | Key Flow |
---|---|
Pre-purchase | Welcome, Browse Abandon |
Conversion | Cart Abandon, Checkout Abandon |
Post-purchase | Review request, Upsell, Replenishment |
Retention | Winback, Loyalty triggers |
They leverage:
- Dynamic product blocks
- Predictive segments
- Zero-party input (via quiz or email form)
❌ Bad Email Marketer
Uses default flows from ESP library and leaves them untouched.
5. Messaging Strategy: Context Over Clichés
✅ Good Email Marketer
- Builds messaging matrix per segment and flow
- Crafts stories → not just sales messages
- Uses internal data (NPS, reviews, quiz answers) to shape copy
Example:
“Still thinking about the face serum? Here’s what Laura said after week two…” vs. “Hey, you left something behind.”
❌ Bad Email Marketer
Defaults to:
- “Welcome to the Family!”
- “We Miss You 😢”
- Generic product plugs with no context
6. List Growth Philosophy: Quality > Volume
✅ Good Email Marketer
- Uses multi-step popups to capture zero-party data
- Prioritizes AOV, LTV, and engagement over list size
Campaign | Entry Offer |
---|---|
Quiz funnel | “Get your personalized routine” |
BFCM | Early Access Signup |
Post-purchase | “Get 15% off next order for a quick review” |
❌ Bad Email Marketer
- Buys lists 😬
- Focuses on list size for the sake of screenshots
- Over-relies on discounts to capture low-intent users
7. Data Collection: Zero-Party Focus
✅ Good Email Marketer
Designs popups and forms to learn:
- Skin type
- Size preferences
- Shopping frequency
- Style aesthetics
This info is piped into Klaviyo or CDP for segmentation + personalization.
❌ Bad Email Marketer
Collects just email & phone and hopes for the best.
8. A/B Testing Discipline
✅ Good Email Marketer
- Has a testing roadmap
- Prioritizes big levers: Subject lines, flows, segmentation logic, offer types
- Tracks results to build hypotheses
❌ Bad Email Marketer
- Tests every little thing at once → can’t attribute changes
- Abandons testing when results are inconclusive
9. Revenue Growth Strategy: Margin-Aware
✅ Good Email Marketer
- Builds layered monetization strategy
- Mixes educational, social proof, and urgency content
Smart plays:
- Upsell email post-order with “complete the look” bundle
- A/B test urgency vs. social proof
❌ Bad Email Marketer
- Repeatedly discounts to hit arbitrary numbers
- Cannibalizes future revenue with constant promos
10. Segmentation Strategy: Smart Not Small
✅ Good Email Marketer
- Segments by value, intent, lifecycle stage
- Uses predictive analytics to scale without damaging sender reputation
Segment | Example |
---|---|
High intent | Clicked last 2 campaigns + browsed in 48 hrs |
Loyal | 3+ purchases, NPS 8+ |
Cold | No opens in 90 days |
❌ Bad Email Marketer
- Over-segments, hitting audiences of 34 people
- Or… spams the full list with every campaign
11. Omni-Channel Alignment
✅ Good Email Marketer
- Syncs campaign calendar with:
- Paid (Meta, Google)
- Organic (TikTok, YouTube)
- Influencers
- Builds cross-channel flows (e.g. Email + SMS + DM)
❌ Bad Email Marketer
- Sends an email blast on top of a paid promo without coordination
- Misses opportunities to sync storytelling across platforms
12. Seasonality + Reporting Mastery
✅ Good Email Marketer
- Reports in context: “Open rates dropped post-iOS 15. CTRs + rev held steady.”
- Understands trends:
- Jan slump
- July acquisition cost spike
- Q4 margin compression
❌ Bad Email Marketer
- Panics at every dip without insight
- Defaults to discounting as a reaction, not a strategy
13. Reporting Beyond Revenue
✅ Good Email Marketer
- Shares:
- Flow upgrades + impact
- A/B test results
- Segment performance
- Zero-party insights
Why it matters: Builds trust across marketing and ops teams.
❌ Bad Email Marketer
- Says “revenue went up/down” and logs off.
14. Frequency Management: Testing for Cadence
✅ Good Email Marketer
- Tests frequency with holdout groups
- Builds email momentum without burnout
Week | Email 1 | Email 2 | Email 3 |
---|---|---|---|
Test | Promo | UGC | Winback |
Holdout | Promo only | — | — |
❌ Bad Email Marketer
- Jams 5 emails a week and wonders why engagement tanks.
15. Strategic Perspective: Business-First, Always
✅ Good Email Marketer
- Asks:
“How does email help us hit this quarter’s growth goal without harming CX or LTV?”
- Understands cross-functional goals: acquisition, retention, margin, logistics
❌ Bad Email Marketer
- Focuses only on email KPIs, not the broader business context
FAQ: Email Marketing Strategy Insights
1. What’s the #1 thing most email marketers overlook?
Business fundamentals. Without understanding CAC, AOV, or churn, email becomes a siloed vanity channel.
2. Should I always send to my full list?
No. Segment by engagement and value. Protect sender reputation and focus on intent.
3. How often should I email my customers?
Start with 1–2x/week. Use holdout tests to increase intelligently based on engagement.
4. Is SMS better than email?
They’re complementary. SMS is for urgency. Email is for depth, storytelling, and retention.
5. What’s a good ESP to start with?
Klaviyo for Shopify brands. MailerLite or ConvertKit for lean teams. Use tools that integrate with your stack.
6. What metrics matter most?
Revenue per recipient, flow contribution %, LTV by segment, and retention rates—not just open rate.
Final Takeaway: It’s About Alignment
A good email marketer is:
- Strategic
- Cross-functional
- Tool-agnostic
- Margin-aware
- Obsessed with testing
- Focused on LTV and brand equity
Bad email marketers just… send emails.
Need a Revenue-Focused Email Marketing Team?
At Blossom Ecom, we build email + SMS systems that align with your entire business—from acquisition to retention.
✅ Klaviyo Flows & Strategy
✅ Campaign Calendars
✅ Deliverability Audits
✅ Reporting Dashboards
✅ Full Lifecycle Personalization
→ Book a free strategy call now
Let’s turn your inbox into a revenue engine.
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- B2B Email Marketing: Building Relationships and Converting Leads
- Three Steps to Increasing Your Marketing Email Open Rates
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Need help implementing this?
Let us take the hassle of managing your email marketing channel off your hands. Book a strategy call with our team today and see how we can scale your revenue, customer retention, and lifetime value with tailored strategies. Click here to get started.
Curious about how your Klaviyo is performing?
We’ll audit your account for free. Discover hidden opportunities to boost your revenue, and find out what you’re doing right and what could be done better. Click here to claim your free Klaviyo audit.
Want to see how we’ve helped brands just like yours scale?
Check out our case studies and see the impact for yourself. Click here to explore.
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