At Mailchimp, our mission has always been to support the underdog. We design tools that help small-business owners grow, but much of what we’ve learned comes directly from them—their wins, their challenges, and how they make it all work.
In honor of National Small Business Week, we’re spotlighting tips from real e-commerce users who show how strategy and creativity can make a difference in business growth.
Keep Email Design Simple
Fjällräven’s digital marketing manager Sam Minassian swears by simplicity. Their most effective emails feature a single strong image, concise copy, and a product recommendation block. The result is an engaging experience that drives clicks and open rates without overwhelming readers.
Write Subject Lines and Preheaders That Work Together
Arcade Belts maximizes open rates by treating subject lines and preheaders as a single storytelling unit. Communications manager Kasey Wiese advises keeping preheaders short but impactful—designed to complement the subject line or campaign content to capture attention in crowded inboxes.
Use Marketing Analytics to Understand Your Audience
Greensbury refined their messaging strategy using Mailchimp’s predicted demographics feature. Learning that their most active customers skew older and female changed how they approach content and segmentation. It’s helped them focus their efforts on more targeted, effective outreach.
Engage More with Your Most-Engaged Customers
At Gingiber, founder Stacie Bloomfield targets her most active subscribers with exclusive content and promotions. While she emails her full list twice a month, she connects with her engaged customers up to four times monthly. These messages often include early sale alerts and freebies to boost loyalty and click-through rates.
Combine Facebook Ads with Email Marketing
Fowler’s Chocolates boosts holiday sales using a smart one-two punch of email campaigns and Facebook ads. Digital marketing lead Heather Palmer notes that using email lists to build Facebook lookalike audiences helped them reach more qualified prospects. After the holidays, they continue email outreach to turn first-time buyers into returning customers.
Design Campaigns That Work on Mobile
When Gwynnie Bee optimized their email campaigns for mobile, they saw a 20% increase in engagement. Senior marketing manager Courtney Andrews emphasizes the importance of mobile-first design—ensuring layouts and visuals work seamlessly on smartphones and tablets.
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