Do you, like many SMEs, sometimes feel that marketing is just a cost and doesn’t have any impact on your bottom line?
It's a common belief, but as a recent LinkedIn report highlighted, "Marketing is a commercial discipline that drives growth, enhances profit, and mitigates risk."
But, is this true of email marketing?
Cast your mind back to 2015. Email marketing was certainly in use, but often simpler in its approach. Responsive design for mobile and automations were growing, while personalisation often meant little more than addressing recipients by their first name. The focus was often on simple newsletters and promotional blasts.
Fast-forward to 2025, and this might still be what you are doing! But, the potential to go beyond that has dramatically improved. Email marketing is no longer just about sending messages; it's about building intelligent, personalised relationships at scale.
Email marketing is no longer just about sending messages; it's about building intelligent, personalised relationships at scale.
How has Email Marketing changed between 2015 and 2025?
- Hyper-personalisation & segmentation
- Advanced automation
- Interactive & engaging content
- Focus on value & trust
- Privacy first
Hyper-personalisation & segmentation
Moving beyond just a first name, modern email leverages data and AI to deliver content tailored to an individual’s behaviour, interests, and stage in the buyer journey. The aim is to stop email blasts and instead deliver the right message to the right person at the right time.
Advanced automation
From simple drip campaigns, technology providers such as HubSpot now enable sophisticated workflows triggered by specific actions (or inactions) that nurture leads and customers seamlessly.
Interactive & engaging content
Emails are no longer static. You can use dynamic content to display personalised messaging to each of your segmented audiences, and include engaging visuals, surveys and video, that keeps recipients within the email.
Focus on value & trust
With crowded inboxes, the emphasis is on providing genuine value, building trust, and fostering long-term relationships, rather than just pushing sales. At my previous workplace, no email could be sent out, whether it was a marketing or cold email, unless it added genuine value.
Privacy first
Compliance with regulations like GDPR isn't just a hurdle (though, as a former DPO, I appreciate that it can feel that way); it's an opportunity to build trust through transparent, respectful, and helpful data handling.
For B2B SMEs, strategic email marketing, when done right, directly contributes to:
- Mitigating risk: through addressing information needs and inspiring customers, you can create and maintain brand authority.
- Growth: efficient customer acquisition from timely reminders and lead-nurturing journeys.
- Enhanced profit: by increasing customer willingness to pay and maximising Customer Lifetime Value.
At Better Connected, we believe in starting where you’re at, implementing foundational principles of testing and improvement, and gradually scaling your email marketing efforts to deliver tangible results.
Do you want to make your marketing work smarter, not harder? Get in touch with Better Connected today to start creating and optimising emails that contribute to your business growth.
