Email Peeps 57: Sabahet Amjad

Tell us how you landed at Mailmodo and what you like most about it. 

I was a content writer 2020-21, and worked as a freelancer for Mailmodo in its initial days. One and a half years later, I joined the team full-time in 2022, and it has been the steepest learning curve in my career so far. I love how no idea is too small or no question is too silly at Mailmodo. You’re free to experiment, learn, and grow and are taught to take complete ownership of your work with a problem-solving approach. 

What email marketing trends are you most excited about at the moment?

I’m thrilled to see more businesses embracing sustainable email marketing and rethinking their strategies to reduce the carbon footprint of their campaigns. 

The irony? Sustainable email practices align perfectly with what great email marketers already do – sending emails only to engaged recipients and ensuring content is genuinely valuable to them.

Small but impactful steps, like minimizing attachment sizes, pruning your email list regularly, and ensuring proper opt-ins, benefit the environment AND boost email engagement.

It’s a win-win for everyone and a great reminder that strong fundamentals are the key to long-term, sustainable growth.

What could most small businesses improve when it comes to email marketing?

Emails are the most profitable and stable channel for growing an audience and turning them into loyal customers – no unpredictable algorithms or dependencies on any social media app. Your email list is truly your own. 

Yet many small businesses shy away from tapping into email marketing’s full potential as they believe it is too resource-intensive. 

However, with no-code tools, sending great emails has become easier. Even with limited resources and experience, you can run a good email campaign. All you need is an understanding of your users’ journey and behavior and send them the right emails at the right time. 

What’s in your email marketing toolbox?

Hardware:

• It’s pretty simple – my Dell laptop, AirPods, and Stanley’s dupe.

Software:

• Mailmodo
• Canva
• Figma 

What is your favorite email campaign of all time?

I love the emails I receive from an Indian brand called ‘Saada.’ The layout is simple, and the colors are always on-brand, but the content always wins me. They send yearly gratitude emails to all their customers, introduce their artisans, and share how they manufacture a garment in one of the first emails you receive. They’re a small business, but their thoughtful emails make customers feel like they’re a part of their tribe. 

I also enjoy newsletters by ‘The Product Folks’, a community for product managers. Each edition breaks down PM concepts with simple case studies and has many gamified interactive elements inside the email to make learning fun – be it quizzes, carousels, or forms. 

What are the benefits of interactive email, and how can brands measure its effectiveness?

Interactive emails make inboxes self-sufficient. As a marketer, you don’t have to depend on any third-party app or landing page to drive and measure conversions. 

Email recipients, on the other hand, enjoy a frictionless email experience. They don’t have to leave the inbox to modify the content of their shopping carts, change their delivery address, book an appointment, or use a calculator – all of this can be done inside inboxes. The potential is truly endless. 

With Mailmodo, creating interactive emails and measuring their effectiveness is also simple. You can track submissions on forms, quizzes, and polls in an easy-to-navigate dashboard. Our clients have reported higher engagement in their interactive campaigns than regular ones. Moreover, they now have richer zero-party data to make smarter decisions. 

What skills do you think are most important in email marketing?

Terrific copywriting and an eye for design are essential for an email marketer.  But the ability to put oneself in the customers’ shoes and ask questions like ‘Would I like it if I received this email at this point’?’ can make you stand out.

Equally important is being agile enough to experiment quickly and analytical enough to review the data and adjust strategies accordingly. That’s how you truly move the needle as an email marketer.

What is your advice for new email peeps entering the industry?

To begin with, get your basics clear – how to set up email infrastructure, email segmentation, deliverability etc. There are many free courses (Mailmodo’s got one, too!), or you can explore webinars and podcasts by experts.

Connecting with the email community is another move that can improve your skills and accelerate your career. Every expert is approachable and helpful. You’ll learn best practices and the latest trends just by following them on social media. Start with people like Lauren Meyer, Aquibur Rahman, Kathy Pay, etc. You must also join communities like Email Geeks on Slack or Mailmodo Tribe on Circle to network more and keep abreast of the current happenings.

After understanding the basics, your next step should be to master one email marketing platform – be it Mailchimp, Klaviyo, Mailmodo, or Marketo. This will give you an idea of the common terminology and how the process works. After getting hands-on experience on one platform, it will be easier for you to switch and explore others – then, it will just be a matter of different UI.

Also, here’s an extra tip: Start a newsletter as a side project while you learn all this. This will not only teach you the basics and help build an audience.