10 Email Marketing Tips from Successful Canadian Business Owners

At Constant Contact, we’re passionate about helping small businesses grow and thrive. That’s why we regularly share helpful resources, expert-led training events, and real-life success stories from businesses just like yours.

Today, we’re spotlighting a few standout Canadian small businesses that have achieved impressive marketing results, and want to share what they’ve learned along the way.

Whether you’re just getting started or looking to improve your strategy, these tips can help you drive better engagement and do more business.

Here are some valuable email marketing tips from successful Canadian small businesses:

1. Use a clear and concise design

Business: The Avenue Gallery

Location: Victoria, British Columbia

Results: Standing out in a crowded market; staying connected with loyal customers

When you open an email from The Avenue Gallery, you know right away what you’re receiving, and why it’s important to you.

That’s because owner, Heather Wheeler, uses a few simple best practices to make sure the gallery’s emails are easy to read and interesting to the people receiving them.

This includes, adding an instantly recognizable logo at the top of each email, using concise language and a clear call-to-action, and including eye-catching images that support the content she sends out.

According to Heather, the gallery gets calls each time an email goes out.

Key takeaway: Using a design that’s clear and concise is more important than ever in today’s increasingly mobile world. This means choosing an email template that looks great on mobile, and keeping the content of your email as focused as possible.

2. Provide a personal touch

Business: Second Bloom Design

Location: Dorchester, Ontario

Results: Doubling their business in the first year; generating new orders with each email

Second Bloom Design isn’t your typical furniture store. The family-owned business uses their passion and craftsmanship to create handcrafted furniture from reclaimed wood and architectural salvage.

And while their quality of work is what keeps customers coming back, they have also added a valuable marketing tool to help them stay in touch with customers — email marketing.

“It helps us stay in our customer’s lives without overwhelming them,” explains Sue Bedell, owner of Second Bloom Design. “We decided from the start that we wanted it to be something that people would actually want to read and look forward to seeing in their inbox.”

In addition to keeping customers updated about what’s going on at the shop, Sue also includes a personal note to customers in each email she sends out.

“It’s always nice to hear someone tell us how much they enjoyed reading our newsletter and thanking us for reminding them to come visit the store or give us a call,” she explains. “The personal touch really makes the difference.”

Key takeaway: Offering a personal touch will help you stand out in the inbox, and better connect with the people receiving your emails. Look for opportunities to humanize your marketing and you’ll have more people opening, reading, and acting on your emails.

3. Add value

Business: Wine Station

Location: Ottawa, Ontario

Results: A single email drove 400 customers to an event that is typically only attended by about 40 customers

When people join your email list, they want to stay connected with your business. But to keep them engaged, you need to make sure you’re offering something of value.

For some people, that value can come from knowing about your latest products or services, and for others it may be receiving special offers and deals.

Wine Station, a wine shop in Ottawa, Ontario, provides both. In addition to letting customers know about seasonal and new items, they also include a special coupon for email subscribers.

This has resulted in increased foot traffic at their store, and better attendance at in-store events.

Key takeaway: Think about what your audience will find valuable. If they know your emails will offer something they’re interested in, they will be more inclined to pay attention when you show up in their inbox.

4. Be timely

Business: Island Natural Markets

Location: Nanaimo, British Columbia

Results: Staying connected with customers; generating new business with each email

It’s important to think outside of your business when developing a plan for your email marketing.

This is something Island Natural Markets knows well.

Over the last two decades, they have grown to become the largest health food store and supplier of organic food and products in British Columbia.

One of the keys to their success has been the ability to understand what customers are interested in at different times of the year. This has certainly been true for their email marketing. They send a monthly email newsletter with information about seasonal events, recipes for different times of the year, and products that are popular that month.

Since 2011, the Island Natural Markets email newsletter has been one of their biggest drivers of new business.

Key takeaway: Your audience’s interests, needs, and expectations can change a lot from month-to-month. Focus on making your emails relevant to your audience throughout the year.

5. Invite customers into the process

Business: Rapido Trains

Location: Markham, Ontario

Results: Hundreds of preorders generated through consistent email updates and behind-the-scenes content

When customers sign up for your email list, they’re not just looking for promotions — they’re looking to feel like part of the journey. 

Rapido Trains, a model train manufacturer in Markham, Ontario understands this well. Their email campaigns do more than promote products; they bring customers behind the scenes with stories, sneak peeks, and progress updates on upcoming models. 

By offering this exclusive content, Rapido has built a loyal following that feels personally connected to each release. Their email list doesn’t just inform, it drives action. New product announcements often result in hundreds of preorders. 

Key takeaway: Use email to build a relationship, not just make a sale. When you invite customers into your process and share updates they care about, they’re more likely to stay engaged, and excited to buy. 

6. Segment for best results

Business: Wellington Brewery

Location: Guelph, Ontario

Results: $36,000 in additional orders from one automation alone, with over $2,300 in weekly email-driven ecommerce sales

To build strong customer relationships and drive consistent sales, you need to send the right message to the right people at the right time.

Wellington Brewery, one of Ontario’s first independently owned craft breweries, understands this well. As their business has grown, so has the complexity of their customer base, and they’ve adapted their email marketing to reflect that.

Using Constant Contact’s segmentation and automation features, Wellington has created targeted campaigns for different audience groups, including a dedicated list for customers of their nonalcoholic beverage line. This allows them to speak directly to customers based on their interest, buying habits, and preferences. 

They also use automated welcome flows, follow-ups for abandoned carts, and promotional messages to stay connected and drive conversions. One automation alone generated over $36,000 in ecommerce sales! 

Key takeaway: The more specific your messaging, the more impactful your emails will be. Segment your audience based on what they care about, and you’ll discover the kind of value that keeps them coming back. 

7. Let data drive the strategy

Business: National Golf Course Owners Association Canada (NGCOA Canada)

Location: Ottawa, Ontario

Results: Email open rates up to 65% and click-through rates significantly higher than industry average (4% vs. 1–2%)

When it comes to email marketing, NGCOA Canada doesn’t just send and hope for the best. They analyze. By digging into Constant Contact’s reporting tools, they track what’s working, when subscribers are most likely to engage, and how different segments of their audience respond to personalized content. 

Using branded templates, saved media, and Constant Contact’s BrandKit, NGCOA Canada creates emails that are both efficient to build and consistent with the association’s identity. They pair that with detailed reports to optimize send times and test what resonates with most golf course owners and industry partners. 

Their smart, data-informed approach means that NGCOA Canada emails not only look good, they get results. 

Key takeaway: Don’t just guess — measure. Use email reporting to learn what your audience responds to, and tailor your approach based on real-time insights. 

8. Tailor emails like they’re hand-delivered

Business: Genumark

Location: Toronto, Ontario (serving Canada and the U.S.)

Results: +54% list growth year-over-year | 40% open rate | 6% click rate

When your customers span different industries, regions, and even countries, a one-size-fits-all email strategy doesn’t cut it. 

Genumark, a family-owned merch company, has found success by tailoring their email experience to feel like it’s coming directly from a trusted contact. Instead of using a generic “info@” address, they segment their list by region and industry so each email appears to come from a customer’s actual account manager, someone they know by name. 

With support from Constant Contact’s tools like list segmentation, tags, landing pages, and BrandKit, Genumark delivers personalized content at scale while staying consistent with their refreshed brand.

Their monthly newsletter, Merch Makers Monthly, has become a reliable touchpoint that showcases new products, features customer stories, and invites readers to events. It’s not just polished, it’s personal. 

Key takeaway: Personalization doesn’t have to be complicated. Even small touches, like sending emails from a familiar name, can build stronger connections and drive higher engagement. 

9. Show up consistently

Business: Amarra

Location: Boutiques in Canada, Australia, the U.S., and the U.K.

Results: Around 40% of customers acquired through email marketing

When you’re growing a business, marketing isn’t a one-and-done deal. It’s about showing up consistently and being remembered when the time is right. 

That’s something brothers Kunal and Abhi Madan have mastered with Amarra, their formalwear fashion house. With more than 800 boutiques carrying their downs and over $80-million in projected 2024 retail sales, they credit a large part of that growth to strategic, long-term email marketing. 

They use Constant Contact to segment audiences, automate campaigns, and test what works. One of the most powerful lessons they’ve learned? Success often comes from repeated exposure, not just one great message. 

“The first email wasn’t the thing that did it — it was that second email, the third email, the fifth email,” said Kunal. “Two years of staying in front of [a customer] is what got them to eventually purchase.”

By staying visible, continuously refining their approach, and using-high-quality visuals, Amarra turns inbox impressions into sales and loyal retail partners.  

Key takeaway: Think long-term. Sometimes it’s not the first or the second email that drives a sale, but the persistence and presence over time that builds trust and wins business. 

10. Be authentic

Business: Velocity Sports Medicine

Location: Oakville and Burlington, Ontario, Canada

Results: 33% average open rate

When you’re a hands-on business owner like Jeff Ransome, owner of Velocity Sports Medicine, marketing needs to be simple, authentic, and true to your brand. Since 2011, Jeff has used Constant Contact to send short, visually clean emails that consistently connect with his clients — all without a marketing team or complex tech setup. 

Jeff focuses on staying consistent and showing up with an authentic voice. He avoids automation tools and stock imagery in favour of personally written messages and photos from his clinics, resulting in emails that feel human, and get opened. 

As he puts it:

“Get out there and connect with people. Email and social media should support your relationships, not replace them. And above all, keep it real.”

Key takeaway: Don’t overcomplicate it. When your emails reflect your voice and your values, your audience notices, and they stick around.

Get more expert tips

The best email marketing strategies aren’t necessarily difficult to implement. You can draw inspiration from the tactics our successful customers use, test what resonates with your audience, and build from there.

Meaningful and consistent tweaks can lead to better results and more memorable experiences in the long term.

Log in now to put these tips to work today, or explore more resources specific to Canadian small business owners.