How to create an effective email marketing strategy plan for 2026

In a hyper-digitalized world, B2C communication looks a whole lot different than it did a decade ago. With the rise of TikTok, WhatsApp Business, RCS, and AI chatbots, it’s easy to assume the humble email has lost its edge. You might look at your own overflowing inbox and wonder if it’s even worth the effort anymore. 

This leads to a question many marketing leaders are quietly asking: Is email marketing still relevant? 

The short answer is yes. Although the communication landscape has changed, email marketing remains the bread and butter of customer communication. It’s a familiar channel that still drives results for brands, but only if you stop using outdated “batch-and-blast” tactics. 

In 2026, email is no longer a standalone megaphone. It’s the strategic backbone of a modern, omnichannel customer journey. This guide will show you how to modernize your approach, integrate email with channels like SMS, and build an effective email marketing strategy plan that drives real revenue. 

To understand why email still earns its place in modern marketing stacks, we need to look at the concrete advantages it continues to offer brands today.

Why email marketing is still relevant (and critical) in 2026  

If you’re fighting for budget or trying to justify resource allocation, you need to look beyond open rates. No matter what a brand’s communication strategy looks like, email is more than likely part of the channel stack. Here’s why it remains critical:  

It’s universal, reliable, and accessible 

Email helps brands reach the results they’re looking for because it’s accessible to almost all of your customers. According to Statista projections, the number of email users worldwide was expected to reach 4.6 billion by the end of 2025. This means you can engage with customers globally and reach their inboxes no matter where they reside.  

The ROI is unmatched 

Despite the hype around newer channels, email continues to deliver reliable returns. Research consistently shows that the average ROI for email is approximately $40 per $1 spent on marketing emails. This efficiency makes it the ideal channel for retention and loyalty, where margins matter most. 

It’s the ultimate “owned” channel 

We live in a privacy-first world. Customer acquisition costs (CAC) on social media platforms are skyrocketing, and algorithms change daily. You don’t own your social media followers; the platform does. You do, however, own your email list. Email provides a direct line to your customers that no algorithm can shut down. It’s the anchor of your first-party data strategy. 

While email’s core value hasn’t disappeared, the way audiences engage with it has fundamentally evolved.

What’s changed in email marketing (and what hasn’t) 

The channel hasn’t died, but user expectations have evolved. The tactics that worked ten years ago will now get you marked as spam.  

These shifts make one thing clear: email can no longer operate in isolation from the rest of your channels.

Email vs other channels: where email fits in an omnichannel strategy 

To build a winning plan, you must understand where email fits in the mix. It shouldn’t compete with your other channels; it should support them. Think of email as the strategic hub of your communications. It’s perfect for visual storytelling, detailed product education, and non-urgent retention flows. 

Compare this to channels like SMS or WhatsApp. These are your accelerators. They are best for urgent alerts, time-sensitive offers, or quick customer service interactions. 

How they work together

The magic happens when you combine them.

1. Email: You send a visually rich email showcasing your new spring collection.  
2. Behavior: The customer clicks a link but doesn’t purchase. 
3. SMS: 24 hours later, an automated SMS is triggered with a reminder and a 5% discount code. 
4. Result: The high-open rate of SMS drives the customer back to the cart to convert.  

For more on SMS and the specific challenges it faces, read up on:

Once you understand email’s role within an omnichannel ecosystem, the next step is building a strategy that puts that role into action.

How to create an email marketing strategy plan (step by step) 

An email marketing strategy is designed to help marketing and sales teams boost engagement, conversions, and retention with a specific target audience. But building a strategy plan consists of coordinating different processes with relevant data. 

Here’s how to build yours:

Step 1: Define your goals across the lifecycle 

The first step in building an effective email marketing strategy is to define your goals. Defining measurable goals and objectives will help you create targeted and relevant content that resonates with your audience. 

Questions you want to address can include:

• What do you want to achieve with your email marketing campaign?  
• Do you want to increase sales, drive traffic to your website, or improve customer engagement?  
• What are your KPIs?  
• Are your goals measurable?  
• What’s the timeframe of this campaign?  

Step 2: Segment beyond demographics

Identifying your target audience will help you create personalized and relevant content that speaks directly to their needs and interests. 

Using a customer data platform (CDP) like Infobip’s, you can categorize customers based on their characteristics or behavior, such as how they interact with your app or website.

Some questions you want to address when segmenting include: 

• Who are you trying to reach with your email marketing campaign?  
• What are their interests, pain points, and motivations?  
• What are their habits and patterns?  

Step 3: Design email’s role in your omnichannel journeys 

Map out your trigger points. When should an email be sent? 

• Lead: Email is great for the initial welcome series.  
• Support: If a user doesn’t open the welcome email, support it with a WhatsApp message.  
• Follow up: Use email for post-purchase receipts and review requests.  

Step 4: Plan content that adds value 

Modern consumers are quick to unsubscribe if they feel like they’re just being sold to. Adopt a “value-first” mindset. 

• Education: How to care for the product they just bought.  
• Utility: Updates on their loyalty points balance.  
• Personal relevance: ”We saw you liked X, so we think you’ll love Y.” 

With a solid strategy in place, it’s time to turn planning into execution through high-performing campaigns.

How to create an email campaign that actually performs 

Here’s how to build specific campaigns that drive action. 

Choose the right campaign type

• Welcome Series: The average open rate for welcome emails is 68.8%. This is your best chance to set the tone.  
• Abandoned Cart: The biggest revenue driver. Remind them what they left behind. 
• Post-Purchase: Build loyalty. Suggest related items or ask for feedback.
• Re-engagement: Win back users who have stopped opening your emails. 

Make campaigns interactive (ROI booster) 

Static emails are becoming a thing of the past. To boost engagement, you need to bring the website experience into the inbox using kinetic content and AMP for email. 

As the name implies, these emails include dynamic functional elements that enable recipients to interact with the content. This could be anything from scrolling through a carousel of product images to clicking on a link to redeem a coupon or even completing a quiz to win prizes. 

Why does this work? It reduces friction. By including interactive shopping carts or polls within the email itself, you increase conversions by reducing the number of steps a user has to take. Be sure to read up on how interactive content can increase email ROI to take full advantage of its possiblities.

Optimize with AI and automation 

Automating your email campaigns can save you time and improve the effectiveness of your email marketing strategy. 

Ideally, you’ll use a customer engagement platform to set up automated emails to be sent to customers after they have completed, or not completed, an action. 

• Send-time optimization: AI predicts when users are most likely to open.  
• Trigger-based flows: If a customer buys a laptop, automatically wait 3 days and then send an email suggesting a laptop case.  
• Generative AI: Use AI to craft subject lines or variations for A/B testing.  

Even the best campaigns encounter friction, which is why knowing how to troubleshoot common issues is critical.

Common email marketing challenges and how to fix them

Even with a great plan, you’ll face obstacles. Here’s how to navigate common issues using best practices. 

“Our open rates are dropping” 

Privacy changes, like Apple’s Mail Privacy Protection (MPP), have made open rates less reliable. 

• The Fix: Shift your focus to click-through rates (CTR) and conversion metrics. If people are clicking, the content is working.  

“Customers aren’t replying”

Let’s face it, no-reply emails look spammy and untrustworthy. 

• The Fix: Avoid using a no-reply email. Your email marketing strategy should include an email or contact that customers can engage with if need be. Using a no-reply email can hurt engagement rates since customers can’t interact with you. 

“Email feels outdated” 

If your emails look like a wall of text, they will be ignored. 

• The Fix: Keep it sleek and branded. Creating custom email templates allows you to incorporate your brand elements into every interaction. Drag-and-drop editors make building email templates simple and fast, allowing you to include image carousels and animations without needing IT support. 

“We don’t know what works” 

• The Fix: Run A/B testing. Analytics are an important part of seeing your email marketing strategy evolve and improve. Use A/B testing to run the same campaigns using different designs, CTAs, or content and see how they perform against each other. 

Solving problems effectively requires measuring the right signals, not relying on outdated benchmarks.

Metrics that matter for email marketing effectiveness in 2026 

To optimize your emails for maximum effectiveness, you need to look at the right data. While open rates are useful, they’re no longer the whole story. 

The table below outlines the metrics that drive real business growth.  

Looking at these metrics not only improves today’s performance, it also hints at where email is headed next.

The future of email in an AI-powered, omnichannel world 

Email isn’t going anywhere. As digital identity becomes more fragmented, the email address remains the unique identifier that ties everything together. It’s the key to logging into apps, verifying purchases, and managing subscriptions. 

The brands that win in 2026 will not be the ones choosing between email and new channels. They will be the ones who master orchestration, using email as the reliable, rich, and trusted foundation of a wider customer experience. 

All signs point to one conclusion: email’s role isn’t shrinking, it’s becoming more central than ever.

Email isn’t dead, it’s foundational 

Is email marketing still relevant? Absolutely. It’s the most reliable bridge between your brand and your customer. But reliability doesn’t mean you can be complacent. To succeed, you must move from simple broadcasting to intelligent conversation. By leveraging data, embracing interactivity, and integrating email with your wider omnichannel stack, you can turn your email list into your most valuable revenue asset. 

Don’t be discouraged by the newer (sometimes, flashier) competition. Think ahead by modernizing your strategy and start building smarter, automated journeys today with Infobip’s omnichannel engagement platform. 

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