What is an Email Blast: A Guide to Wholesome Email Broadcasts

Email blast, also known as a broadcast message, mass email, or e-blast, is used to promote products, services, or important announcements. An e-blast is a marketing technique where a single message is sent to a large email list simultaneously. 

An email blast is usually a one-off email that may be a part of the overall marketing strategy with an aim to reach more people quickly and efficiently. However, these one-time messages may not be the safest method if they don’t follow legal regulations and personalization strategies.

That’s why following best practices is important to help you enhance customer interaction. Let’s explore how mass emails work, how to add value to each blast, and the best time to send them.

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What is an Email Blast?

In simple terms, email blasts are mass emails sent to many recipients at once. One such email could be a promotion, marketing newsletter, or an announcement that the business needs to send all its subscribers. 

These one-off bulk messages usually don’t enable recipient replies but may include links to products or company information. Many businesses use just the term ‘blasts’ to refer to mass emails that are not personalized or segmented. 

Email broadcasts are usually promotional but can also include feedback requests, educational content, holiday greetings, and so on.

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Email Blasts vs Email Campaigns

Both email blasts and sequenced email campaigns are methods of sending marketing or communication emails, but they often differ in their purposes. 

We’ve laid out the key differences between an email blast and an email campaign in the table below. 

Aspect	Email Blast	Email Campaign
Goal	Quickly reach a large audience with a single message.	Communicate with recipients over multiple emails as part of a broader marketing strategy.
Timing	Does not have a set timeframe. It’s a one-time message.	Is usually scheduled and sent in intervals as a sequence.
Content	Usually focuses on a single message or offer.	Content may be diverse and strategized according to the different stages of the customer journey.
Engagement strategy	Often focused on immediate promotions, announcements, or offers.	Designed to build relationships, provide value, and guide recipients through the sales funnel.
Metrics Tracked	Open rates, click-through rates, and conversions are usually tracked.	Aside from the basic metrics, businesses may track engagement rates, lead progression, and overall campaign performance.
Customization	Limited or no customization due to mass distribution.	More opportunities for personalization and segmentation.
Automation	Can be automated or sent manually.	Is generally automated to send pre-scheduled emails based on triggers and criteria.
Relationship building	Less emphasis on long–term relationship building.	Focuses on lead nurturing, customer retention, and building brand loyalty.

Email campaigns are strategic groups of messages sent to targeted audiences, while the main objective of e-blasts is to reach as many people as possible in one go.

Still, mass emails can help develop customer relationships and produce results like email campaigns when appropriately utilized. 

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The Benefits of Email Broadcasts

Mass emails are a cost-effective way to reach more people in a relatively short time. You can use them in addition to your regular email campaigns to promote something special such as a one-time discount or an event.

Broadcasts simplify communication; you don’t have to spend hours planning these messages. However, not all recipients may find your messages relevant, increasing the risk of spam complaints.

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Why Are Email Blasts a Potentially Risky Strategy?

When your e-blasts don’t follow legal regulations, they could quickly tank your sender reputation and email deliverability. 

These one-time emails may not work because your receivers will notice that the email was sent to a big group rather than to them specifically. This could make them ultimately lose trust in your brand.

This is where personalized emails have more effect — track your email metrics to know what works best for each of your audiences and create content around it.

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Email Broadcast — Important Metrics to Note

Analyzing your broadcasts will help you evaluate the effectiveness of your campaigns overall. 

Here are 5 important metrics to note.

Metric	What to Look For
Open rate	An overall average open rate of 19.96%
Click-through rate	A range from 1% to 5%
Bounce rate	Below 2%
Unsubscribe rate	Not more than 0.5%
Spam complaint rate	Less than 0.1%

Since bulk emails can occasionally raise suspicion among ISPs, it is good to frequently evaluate your spam complaint rates. 

For example, Campaign Refinery’s maximum complaint level is 0.1%. Clients will lose their active sender status if spam complaints exceed the threshold.

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How to Send an Effective Email Blast?

The secret to writing an excellent broadcast message is to infuse your brand personality and also make it relevant to your audience.

Here’s an exhaustive list to help you create better mass emails.

1. Define Your Goals

Define your goal to guide your messaging — do you want to create more sign-ups? Increase sales? Or drive more traffic to your store? 

Respect your subscribers’ time and think if your broadcast will provide value to them. For example, if they subscribe to your mailing list to stay updated about your brand, send them relevant email newsletters instead of random announcements or invitations.

2. Build a Quality Email List

Any email list you purchase or build without consent can risk your relationship with subscribers. Ensure your email list consists of people who opted-in to receive your communication and provide clear unsubscribe options in your emails. 

Your goal should be to grow your email list organically through website signups, social media, events, and other channels. 

Just for reference, Campaign Refinery allows permission-based opted-in subscribers only. Cold or 3rd party data is prohibited on the platform. Any use of this data type will result in an immediate ban from the platform.

3. Use a Sophisticated Email Automation Platform

Choose an email service provider that will help you with hassle-free email delivery so that you can focus on your content and strategy. Plus, you can always use the ESP’s built-in segmentation and personalization tools to enhance your email deliverability rates.

With Campaign Refinery, you can set up broadcasts in a few easy steps. Edit the message, choose an audience group, and save the content. You can also set tags and suppression lists and schedule your broadcast messages.

4. Segment Your Audience

Email segmentation is the most important part of sending a mass email — divide your audience into smaller groups to send highly targeted messages. 

You can further use advanced segmentation criteria and divide subscribers by their activity levels, such as email opens, click-throughs, and so on. 

Campaign Refinery allows you to set segmentation criteria for each contact, such as subscription type, engagement level, and first and last names. You can also use the tags feature to further separate audiences on a micro-level. 

5. Include a Clear Call-to-action

The next step is to ensure your audience is ready to take the desired action — include a clear and compelling CTA in your e-blasts.

The type of CTA you use will depend on what action you want the potential buyers to take. 

If you’re looking for hands-on support, here’s how Campaign Refinery can assist you with your broadcasts.

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How Can Campaign Refinery Help?

Sending one-off emails has never been easier — Campaign Refinery offers a broadcast dashboard with engagement metrics, broadcast status, and other functions.

You can also use our unique Engagement Broadcast Gamification feature to increase conversions with your broadcasts. Rewards can be PDF downloads, bonus chapters, etc.

If you’re looking for real-world inspiration, we’ve compiled a list of examples to get your creative juices flowing.

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3 Brilliant Examples of Effective Email Blasts

Feel free to download these examples for future reference.

1. Year-in Review

OLIPOP sets the mark with its year-in-review email broadcast — it’s no fluff, simple and to the point. The achievements column shows the brand’s place in users’ lives. The email copy emotionally connects with the audience, creating a sense of belonging.

2. Apology Explained

Methodical Coffee is excellent at apologizing — the email is an apology for the typo in their previous email campaign. Adding a lively standpoint, the brand makes customers laugh instead of cringe at their mistakes.

3. Hacks For a Healthier Life 

Newsletters are always unique — they are packed with images, useful information, and compelling CTAs. Meetup makes it even more special with their 8 hacks for healthier living. Since the brand focuses on community building, the newsletter helps busy people adapt to better food habits.

No matter how great your emails are, they don’t mean anything if they end up in spam. Let’s summarize the best practices to help you stay safe.

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Email Blast Best Practices: How to Safeguard Your Sender Reputation

Protecting your sender reputation is important to maintain deliverability and ensure your broadcasts reach your recipients.

Most importantly, pay attention to your email send timing; sending e-blasts when your audience is the most active increases the likelihood of higher engagement.

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The Best Time to Send Email Blasts

The peak time for sending mass emails is between 10 am and 12 pm. This is when most recipients are active in their inboxes. 

Here’s data on the best send times for different industries.

Industry	Best Time to Send E-blast
Marketing	5 pm – 7 pm
Travel	3 pm – 5 pm
Leisure-based topics	10 am – 12 pm
Finance	7 am – 10 am

Your email timing could differ based on factors such as audience type and content. A/B test email timings to find an ideal fit. You can also use email software to segment the audience and schedule emails accordingly. 

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Get Your Email Blasts Delivered to the Inbox

While e-blasts may be easy to send, they don’t always land in your subscribers’ inboxes due to irrelevant messages, poor email send times or not complying with legal regulations.

Sending too many mass emails can also get tiring since you must repeat the same process each time. Luckily, there’s a solution!

Campaign Refinery helps you deliver personalized e-blasts through a powerful automation system with the highest deliverability rate on the market. That means cleaner and valid email lists, personalized email content, and higher conversions in return.

We only work with senders that follow permission-based marketing.