11 Ways To Make Money With Email Marketing In 2024

17 Aug 2023

With 4 billion users of email and an average ROI of $42 for every $1 spent - email marketing remains one of the best ways to generate sales for any business.

That is, if you actively use email to generate revenue as part of your overall marketing strategy! 

To be successful at email marketing, it's a given that a solid effort is needed. This includes diversifying your email strategy to maximise effectiveness and ultimately the results. 

However, stick with it, and email marketing could just be your secret weapon to generating more cash for your business or side hustle.

Whether you’re new to email marketing or are looking to shake things up, here are 11 ways anyone can generate money through the power of email.


Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate marketing pays you for sending business to others. All you need is to place an affiliate link in content (including email campaigns!) and if that link generates a sale, you’ll earn a cut.

When trying to do affiliate marketing through email, the key is to target people with relevant products or services. That way, they are more likely to be interested in the content, especially if the mail isn’t unsolicited but they’ve also agreed to be on your list.

Some affiliate programs pay out a small percentage and others pay $200+ per sale. Though even if you get lots of smaller sales, that soon adds up! 

Psst: Did you know that EcoSend has an affiliate marketing program? ✉️💰


Abandon Cart Emails

So someone was about to purchase one of your products or services, but decided at the last minute to close the page.

Don’t lose that sale!

An abandoned cart email can be triggered instead, with this email type boasting an almost 40% open rate. These emails encourage users to return to the page by offering a reminder or incentive.

Every sale captured = more money generated for your business. 


Announcement Emails 

Have a new product that you want to shout about (and well, sell)?

Announcement emails are an excellent way to engage with your email subscribers to encourage them to click-through to your website. The aim here is that whatever you have to announce will promote sales as a result, so make it something good! 

Maybe you have a new product launch, or are changing how your business operates. Based on what you know about your subscribers or customer base, the announcement should intrigue and delight to generate those clicks. 


Birthday Emails 

You might wonder how someone’s birthday can generate money for your business?

Sending someone an email on their birthday is about as segmented as it gets. This super personalised email type is a perfect opportunity to send a special promotion, while also engaging with that subscriber.

The email content can also be curated to include products or services that users may be interested in on their birthday.

For instance, a restaurant might want to encourage a table booking for that person’s birthday by sending an email a week in advance. Apply the same logic to whatever your business happens to do to boost revenue, and voila! 


Customer Engagement

Customer engagement plays the long game to make money for businesses, but trust us it’s well worth the effort.

When businesses engage with customers by tailoring content, and generally taking an interest in their wants and needs, that business is more likely to see repeat visits and overall brand loyalty.

In contrast, businesses that don’t engage with customers are more likely to lose out to competitor brands.

Top tip: Remember that customer engagement is not basic communication with customers, rather it acts more like a digital concierge service to enhance the overall experience. 


Lead Nurturing Emails 

Lead nurturing emails encourage prospects along the sales funnel to become a paying customer.

The goal is to eliminate any hurdles, while highlighting the unique value proposition of that product or service. 

What lead nurturing emails do is stop leads from going cold. Stats suggest that by using marketing automation for lead nurturing, this can lead to a 431% increase in sales.

If you’re an EcoSend user, it’s possible to trigger lead nurturing messages based on user behaviour making it easier than ever to generate sales for your business. 


Re-Engagement Emails 

If it’s been a while since a customer spent money with your business, re-engagement emails are designed to get those wallets open once again.

Re-engagement emails can also be used to check that the email addresses are still active, and that users are opening your emails. Inactive contacts actually cost businesses money, since it’s not free to send email campaigns. 

In short, use re-engagement emails to tempt users back, while ensuring your email lists remain clean to maximise open rates, clicks and conversions. 


Newsletters

Newsletters keep subscribers engaged, and can also be used to sell a range of products or services within the content itself.

Making money through newsletters relies on sending relevant and quality content. 

As a marketer, ask yourself:

  • What are my subscribers most interested in?

  • What trends or topics could I tap into to boost sales?

  • How can I present my products in the most engaging way?

  • How can I add value to the customer experience within my newsletter?

  • What would be a good send frequency to maximise open rates?

While newsletters can take more time to curate, write and design, the intention is to gain long engagement times compared with short emails. As we all know, when people are engaged with your content they are more likely to spend money vs content which offers no interest or relevance. 


NPS Survey Emails

Another way to make money with email marketing is to find out how you can boost sales, or recover a dip in sales.

NPS (net promoter score) surveys allow you to collect information unique to your business, products or services. Doing so allows you to create a stronger business offering compared to your competitors. 

Without such feedback, it’s so easy to lose sales and never understand why. However, by fully understanding what customers love or dislike about your business, you can generate more profit simply by listening and responding to that feedback. 


Segmented Email Campaigns 

If you really want to make money through email marketing, then you need to stop sending the same messages to everyone expecting the same results will happen.

Segmenting means sending the right message to the right person at the right time. 

As a highly effective marketing technique, sales are more likely to happen when emails feel tailored to where someone is in the sales funnel. Segmenting can also involve sending emails which are based on the preferences or demographics of certain users.


Welcome Emails 

Play your cards right as an email marketer, and welcome emails will do far more than just say hello.

That's because welcome emails offer a golden opportunity to highlight all that makes your business great, plus improve the customer experience to generate sales. 

Welcome emails also boast some of the highest open rates of any email type. So use these to your advantage to sell, sell, sell! 


EcoSend - Sustainable Email Marketing For Eco-Friendly Campaigns


Did you know that email has a carbon footprint?

Every email emits up to 26g of CO2, with some 300 billion emails sent every day. 

But wait, that doesn't mean you can't use email to grow your business!

That's because by switching your email marketing platform to EcoSend, your business can continue to send incredible campaigns that sell, but without the cost to the planet.

EcoSend runs on renewable energy sources, and we’ll plant trees on your behalf just for signing up.

Start your free trial of EcoSend today to see what we’re all about.

Or, want to talk to our team? Drop us a message (page will open a new tab) and we'll be right with you.

About the author

Rachael O'Flaherty

Content Writer

About the author

Rachael O'Flaherty

Content Writer

Grow your business sustainably

Get the EcoSend Weekly newsletter — inspiration, helpful tips, and a good giggle, every Friday.

Grow your business sustainably

Get the EcoSend Weekly newsletter — inspiration, helpful tips, and a good giggle, every Friday.

Grow your business sustainably

Get the EcoSend Weekly newsletter — inspiration, helpful tips, and a good giggle, every Friday.

The email marketing platform for better business

Win new customers, send better email, and make the planet better with every campaign.

  • Free Email Templates

  • Smart Segmentation

  • Lead Forms

  • Automated Campaigns

  • Automatic Offsetting

  • Team Sharing

  • HTML Email Editor

  • Multi-channel Campaigns

  • Drip Campaigns

  • MailChimp Import

  • Zapier Integration

  • Powerful API

The email marketing platform for better business

Win new customers, send better email, and make the planet better with every campaign.

  • Free Email Templates

  • Smart Segmentation

  • Lead Forms

  • Automated Campaigns

  • Automatic Offsetting

  • Team Sharing

  • HTML Email Editor

  • Multi-channel Campaigns

  • Drip Campaigns

  • MailChimp Import

  • Zapier Integration

  • Powerful API