Key facts at a glance
- Email lists are your only owned audience — social media algorithms can take reach away overnight
- Confidence to press send is the single biggest barrier for small business owners
- Single opt-in outperforms double opt-in — extra steps cause drop-off before the subscriber gets anything
- More than three links in one email causes click rates to drop significantly
- Apple Mail pre-opens emails, inflating open rates — bot suppression gives you true data
- Previous customers can be emailed under GDPR legitimate interest for similar services
- Replying to an email is one of the strongest engagement signals you can get
Email marketing might not be the sexiest part of running a business, but according to Minal Patel, it’s often where the sales actually happen. Louise Brogan sat down with her long-time friend and email marketing expert Minal for a candid LinkedIn Live conversation packed with practical advice for small business owners and service providers.
Start Before You’re Ready
Minal began her own email list with just two subscribers — herself and her husband. Her message is simple: start sending, practice regularly, and you’ll get better over time. The confidence to press send is the biggest barrier most people face, and the only way to overcome it is to do it.
Set Expectations From the Start
Whether you plan to email daily or weekly, tell your subscribers upfront. Minal sends every Tuesday and sticks to it. If your audience knows what to expect, they’re far less likely to disengage or unsubscribe when an email lands in their inbox.
Ditch the Double Opt-In
Minal is firmly against double opt-in. If someone has already filled in your sign-up form, they’ve given you permission. Adding an extra confirmation step creates unnecessary friction and risks losing people before they’ve even received your first email.
Launch to Your Whole List
Louise admitted she’d been sending launch emails only to a segment of her 1,600-strong list. Minal’s advice? Send an announcement to everyone. Let them know something is coming, create a waiting list, and use that early interest as a buy-in signal before you even open the doors.
Don’t Trust Your Open Rates Blindly
Apple Mail’s privacy policy pre-opens emails to check for safety, which inflates open rates. Corporate IT firewalls click every link for the same reason. Most email platforms now offer bot suppression to filter this out and give you a true picture of who is genuinely engaging.
Subject Lines — No Secret Hacks
There are no shortcuts. Use what feels right for your brand and your audience. An undertaker probably shouldn’t lead with emojis; a balloon artist absolutely can. The key is to test, learn, and compare your own results over time rather than chasing someone else’s best practices.
Don’t Be Afraid to Sell
Minal spent years never selling in her emails — and was still getting enquiries from people who had no idea how to actually work with her. The lesson: be clear about what you’re offering, what problem it solves, and what the reader should do next. Not every email needs to sell, but some of them absolutely should.
Keep Your Links Focused
More than three links in a single email and your click rate drops significantly. Where possible, include one clear, focused call to action. If you want someone to join a waiting list, that’s the only link they need.
Deliverability Is Your Responsibility
Your email platform’s deliverability rates mean nothing if your sender reputation is poor. Send what you promised, at the frequency you promised, and make it easy to unsubscribe. The alternative — people marking you as spam — is far more damaging to your long-term deliverability.
Cold Email? Proceed With Caution
Minal has never bought anything from a cold email in over a decade of business. It’s a numbers game that requires volume and persistence, and the legal landscape around data scraping tools is murky at best.
The Bottom Line
Email marketing works. It’s not glamorous, but it’s consistent, controllable, and — unlike social media — not at the mercy of an algorithm. As Minal puts it, people have given you their email address. That’s a privilege. Treat their inbox with respect and show up with something worth reading.
Minal Patel helps solo and small service providers build confident, consistent email marketing systems. You can find her on LinkedIn or at marketingbyminal.com.
Louise Brogan is hosting Raise Your Visibility Live in Belfast in October — a multi-day conference for business owners who want to grow their online presence. Early bird tickets are available now.