Why email works
A business needs two kinds of email. Campaigns go out on a day you choose; sequences start because one person did something. Sequences are a small share of what's sent and a large share of what it earns, and campaigns still bring in most of the money.
A business needs two kinds of email. Campaigns go to a list on a day you choose. Sequences go to one person, one email after another, because of something they just did. Each does a job the other can't.
The short version
- Campaigns keep you in mind and bring in most of the money, because there are so many of them.
- Sequences earn far more per email, because they arrive while the person is still thinking about the thing.
- At Omnisend, automated email was 2% of sends and 30% of revenue: $2.87 for each automated email sent, against $0.18 for each campaign email (Omnisend's own customers, 2025 data).
- Campaigns still made 59 to 70% of email revenue in the big vendors' figures. A business with sequences and no campaigns leaves most of its money unearned.
- Every subscriber is on a path: sign-up, welcome, regular email, a click and its follow-up, a purchase and after it, quiet, a win-back, then back or stopped. Each stage has its email and its next step.
- Judge email by what people do, clicks, replies, bookings and orders, and by your own figures as they build.
Two kinds of email
| Campaign | Sequence | |
|---|---|---|
| Who gets it | A list, or a group on it | One person |
| When | The day you choose | When that person does something |
| How many | One email | A set number, one after another, then it ends |
| Its job | Stay in mind, share news, sell an offer | Take one person one step further |
Why sequences earn more per email
Timing. The email arrives while the person is still thinking about what they did.
| Campaigns | Sequences | |
|---|---|---|
| Clicks | 1.69% | 5.58% |
| Placed an order | 0.16% | 2.11% |
That's Klaviyo's 2026 count across its own customers. Omnisend found the same shape for 2025: automated email had 24% higher opens, six times the clicks and nineteen times the conversions of campaigns.
Why campaigns still matter
There are far more of them. In Klaviyo's figures, sequences were 5.3% of the emails sent and about 41% of email revenue, so campaigns brought in the other 59%. In Omnisend's, campaigns brought in 70%.
Campaigns also do something no sequence can: they keep you in mind between purchases. Most people aren't ready to buy on the day an email arrives. Regular email means you're the business they think of on the day they are.
Every subscriber is on a path
| Stage | The email | The next step |
|---|---|---|
| Signs up | The welcome sequence, at once | Get to know you |
| Joins the regular email | Campaigns on your regular day | Click something they care about |
| Clicks an offer and stops | A short follow-up: the offer again, the doubt answered, a real deadline | Buy, book or reply |
| Buys | Thanks, what happens next, how to get the most from it | Use it, review it, buy again |
| Goes quiet | A win-back: a plain question, an easy way to stay and an easy way to leave | Come back, or leave cleanly |
| Stays silent | Nothing more | Leaves the list |
For every group on your list, ask one question: what is the next email meant to make them do?
Is email worth it?
The famous returns, £41 or $36 for every 1 spent, come from surveys of marketers: they're what people said, not what was measured. Email usually pays because it costs little to send and reaches people who asked to hear from you. Your own figures, as they build, are the real answer: Measure what matters.
Doing it here
- Campaigns are planned and written for you, and you choose who gets them and when: Your first campaign, start to finish.
- A sequence starts from one person's own action: a click in a campaign you name, its landing page form, or a reply. A landing page's form can also start one for each new sign-up: What starts a sequence.
- Replies come to one inbox, and you answer them as a person: One inbox for every reply.
Every stage of the path, drawn, is in the free guide Everything you need to know about email marketing.