You subscribe to 15 shopping newsletters. You open maybe two of them. Or even unsubscribe them after few days, I even do it myself.
The ones you actually open? They’re sending discount codes. The rest are drowning you in “new arrivals” and “brand stories” that nobody asked for.
Numbers back this up. GetResponse analysed 7 billion emails in 2024 and found retail emails average around 36% open rates. Sounds decent until you realise that’s for ALL retail emails combined. When you split them out, the pattern becomes obvious. Discount-focused emails routinely hit open rates 8-10 points higher than generic promotional content.
Most people get 306 billion emails sent globally every day. Your “just checking in” newsletter isn’t special.
What Shoppers Actually Want (Spoiler: It’s Not Your Brand Story)
Something retailers mess up constantly. They assume people want to hear about their journey, their values, their “commitment to excellence.” they the software for newsletters keep sending emails, but what do they open these emails regularly and what if,
They don’t.
A 2024 LiveIntent survey found that 45% of consumers would only subscribe to a shopping newsletter if it came with a first-purchase discount. Another 52% said they’d subscribe for free access to exclusive content. Notice what’s missing? Nobody mentioned wanting weekly updates about the founder’s Instagram feed.
The psychology isn’t complicated. When someone hands over their email address to a shop, they’re making a transaction. You give me deals. I give you inbox access. Break that deal by sending fluff, and they’re gone.
Omnisend’s data from 2024 shows welcome emails get a 50% open rate. Know what that drops to for generic “new products just dropped” emails? Around 26%. Same list. Different value proposition.
Why discount emails work:
- People subscribe specifically for deals (half of all subscribers, according to Statista)
- 62% of US consumers actively hunt for promo codes before buying anything online
- 79% use coupons when planning purchases
- Subject lines with clear savings (“20% off trainers”) beat vague promises (“exclusive offer inside”) by double-digit percentages
One fashion brand tested this themselves. They sent the same email list two different campaigns. Version A: “New summer collection available now.” Version B: “30% off summer collection – 48 hours only.”
Version B got 2.3 times the open rate and 4 times the click-through. Same products. Different framing.
The Daily Email Trap
Retailers love the idea of “staying top of mind” by emailing daily. Subscribers hate it.
Constant Contact surveyed 1,400 consumers in 2024 about why they unsubscribe. The top answer? Too many emails. 69% of people said this, beating out every other reason by a mile.
Daily emails work for exactly one type of business: daily deal sites. Wowcher, Groupon, that sort of thing. They’ve trained their subscribers to expect a new deal every morning. If you’re not one of those, daily emails kill your list faster than anything else.
The data from multiple sources shows this pattern: retailers who email 5+ times weekly see unsubscribe rates 45% higher than those who email 1-3 times. That’s from GetResponse tracking across their platform.
But there’s a twist. It’s not just about quantity. It’s about value density.
Send three emails weekly, all with actual discounts or exclusive early access? You’ll maintain a 35-40% open rate. Send five emails weekly with “new arrivals” and “styling tips” mixed in? Watch that number crash to 15-20%.
Subscribers do simple maths. If only 1 in 5 of your emails contains something worth opening, they’ll train themselves to ignore all of them.
Subject Line Tactics That Actually Work
Email platforms analysed billions of subject lines in 2024. The patterns are clear.
Specific beats vague every single time. “£10 off orders over £40 – ends tonight” outperforms “special offer inside” by massive margins. GetResponse found subject lines between 61-70 characters had the highest open rates at 43.38%. That’s specific enough to communicate value but short enough to display fully on mobile.
Speaking of mobile – 61% of retail emails get opened on phones (Litmus 2024). Your subject line gets cut off after about 40 characters on most mobile screens. Front-load your value proposition.
What works:
- Numbers (“25% off”) beat words (“huge savings”)
- Deadlines (“ends midnight”) beat vague urgency (“limited time”)
- Product categories (“trainers sale”) beat generic terms (“shop now”)
The emoji debate: Data’s all over the place on this one. Some studies show 56% higher open rates with emojis. Others show they reduce performance. The split seems to depend on your audience and how often you use them. One emoji might work. Three looks desperate.
What definitely kills open rates? ALL CAPS SUBJECT LINES. Down 23% on average. Using “Re:” or “Fwd:” when it’s not actually a reply? Down 31% and you’ll get spam complaints.
Stop Emailing Everyone Everything
This is where most shops waste money.
You send the same email to your entire list. Blasting 50,000 people with trainers sales when only 8,000 of them have ever looked at trainers. The other 42,000 delete it immediately or mark it spam, which tanks your sender reputation with email providers.
Mailchimp analysed this across their customer base. Unsegmented emails: 15% open rate, 2% click rate. Segmented emails: 26% open rate, 7% click rate. That’s not a small difference. That’s make-or-break for your email programme.
Segments that matter:
- Purchase history (bought women’s clothing? Don’t send men’s sales)
- Browse behaviour (looked at winter coats? Send coat sales)
- Engagement level (opens every email? Can send more frequently)
- Last purchase date (bought 90 days ago? Time for a win-back discount)
One mid-sized fashion retailer shared their results. They sent the same 50,000 emails two ways. First approach: everyone gets everything. Result: 340 sales (0.68% conversion).
Second approach: segment by past purchases, browsing, and demographics. Same 50,000 emails. Result: 890 sales (1.78% conversion). Revenue jumped 161% from the same list size.
Segmentation isn’t fancy marketing theory. It’s basic respect for people’s time.
When to Send (And When Not To)
Timing matters more than most retailers think.
Omnisend’s 2024 benchmark data found retail emails sent Thursday at 6pm got 24% open rates. Same email sent Monday at 9am? 14% open rate. That’s a 71% difference just from timing.
Best times for shopping emails:
- Payday periods (25th-28th of the month) show 28% higher conversion in UK markets
- Saturday morning (people browse deals over coffee)
- Thursday evening (planning weekend shopping)
- Sunday afternoon (boredom scrolling)
Worst times:
- Monday morning (everyone’s clearing work inbox backlog)
- Late night (gets buried by morning)
- Mid-week afternoons (work mode, not shopping mode)
Seasonal patterns matter too. Black Friday emails? People are checking their inbox at 4am looking for early bird deals. Boxing Day? Mobile opens spike between 8-10am as people avoid relatives and hunt for bargains from the sofa.
Mobile Optimisation Isn’t Optional Anymore
Quick question: when did you last check your email on a actual computer?
Litmus found 61% of retail emails get opened on mobile devices in 2024. That number jumps to 70% for under-35s. If your email looks rubbish on a phone, 70% of people will delete it within 3 seconds. Not skim it. Delete it.
Mobile essentials:
- Single column layout (side-by-side content looks terrible on phones)
- Buttons big enough to tap (44×44 pixels minimum)
- Subject lines under 40 characters (mobile preview cuts the rest)
- Images that scale properly
- Text readable without zooming
Mobile shoppers behave differently too. Desktop users browse, compare, research. Mobile users make impulse buys. Data from multiple sources shows mobile users are 2.7 times more likely to make impulse purchases than desktop users.
Your mobile email strategy should match this. Simple. Single offer. Big button. Done.
Why People Actually Unsubscribe
Mailmodo’s 2024 State of Email report found average unsubscribe rates sit between 0.19-0.26%. Sounds tiny, but it adds up. And more importantly, the reasons matter.
Top reasons people bail:
- Too many emails (69% – this again)
- Content not relevant (48%)
- No exclusive offers or discounts (31%)
- Emails look like spam (27%)
That third one is interesting. Nearly a third of people unsubscribe specifically because you’re not giving them deals. They subscribed expecting value. You’re sending blog posts about “autumn fashion trends.” They’re out.
Geographic and demographic mismatches wreck everything:
- Sending women’s clothing to male subscribers: instant unsubscribe
- Promoting £200 items to budget shoppers: disconnect
- Scottish customer getting “London store only” deals: pointless
Some shops combat this with preference centres. Let people choose what they want to hear about and how often. Sounds like extra work, but it keeps engaged subscribers instead of losing them entirely.
Another tactic that works: remind people of the value you’ve provided. “You’ve saved £487 with our discounts this year” makes people think twice before hitting unsubscribe.
The FOMO Factor
Fear of missing out isn’t just social media nonsense. It drives actual purchasing behaviour.
SaleCycle found “stock running low” messages increase urgency by 34%. But here’s the catch – it only works if it’s true.
Honest scarcity that works:
- Real stock counters (“47 sold in the past hour, 200 left”)
- Actual deadlines (“sale ends midnight GMT – no extensions”)
- Limited edition products (actually limited, not “limited” every month)
Dishonest tactics that destroy trust:
- Countdown timers that reset after the “deadline”
- “Only 2 left” when you restock tomorrow
- “Last chance!” in every single email
Customers aren’t stupid. They notice patterns. That urgency timer that hits zero and then appears again next week? You’ve just trained them to ignore all your future urgency messages.
One retailer ran an A/B test on this. Group A got honest scarcity (“selling out, approximately 300 units left”). Group B got fake urgency (“almost gone – order now!”).
Group A converted 23% better. Group B had triple the spam complaints.
What Actually Works
After sifting through all this data, the pattern becomes obvious.
Shopping newsletters succeed when they:
- Contain actual value (discounts, exclusive access, early sales)
- Come from shops that segment their lists properly
- Respect frequency limits (1-3 times weekly for most retailers)
- Use specific subject lines that promise something concrete
- Look good on mobile (because that’s where people read them)
- Tell the truth about scarcity and deadlines
Analytics and reporting are critical features that allow marketing teams to measure the success of their email campaigns. Newsletter software equipped with robust analytics provides real-time data on key performance indicators, such as open rates, click-through rates, and conversion rates. By examining these metrics, marketers can gauge the effectiveness of their efforts and make data-driven decisions.
Shopping newsletters fail when they:
- Email daily with generic updates
- Send the same content to everyone
- Hide the value in vague subject lines
- Look like a design exercise instead of a shopping opportunity
- Cry wolf about urgency every week
The shops killing it with email aren’t doing anything revolutionary. They’re just remembering why people subscribed in the first place.
You’re not building a relationship through email marketing. You’re facilitating a transaction. They want deals. You want sales. Everyone wins when you’re honest about that exchange instead of pretending you’re pen pals.
