7 Steps To (Finally) Start your Handmade Business’s Newsletter

Your small handmade business NEEDS email marketing. It’s 4x more effective than social media is, and it’s a guaranteed way to stay in touch with your followers.

Social media platforms, as well as search engines (e.g. Google), can change their algorithm at any time to limit how many people you reach, or even shut down your account without warning.

So you’ve taken a big step by landing here and will take an even bigger step if you take the time to set up your newsletter account right now.

It will take you 10 minutes following these steps (maybe a little more if you want to get fancy with your signup form) and you can start collecting email address today and be ready to send your first newsletter next week.

Let’s get to it!

 

1 – Choose an email marketing service

There are several email marketing services out there, and the options, pricing, etc., change regularly. So I won’t get into the pros and cons of each. I personally started with MailChimp, as they offered a free plan, and are fairly user-friendly (any platform is going to take some time to get used to). I’ve also used Kit, but only found it necessary when my subscriber list grew substantially.

Choose the one that fits best for you, based on the features you want, your budget, etc. 

There are several reasons you shouldn’t start sending newsletters from your regular email account (e.g. using your gmail or outlook account):

• Avoid spam filters: Services like Mailchimp are built to improve deliverability, while Gmail/Outlook bulk sends often land in spam

• Legal compliance: Automatically handle unsubscribe links and help you follow laws like CAN-SPAM Act and CASL (Canada’s anti-spam law)

• List management: Easily organize, segment, and update your subscriber list (no messy contact lists)

• Automation: Send welcome emails, sequences, or abandoned cart emails without manual work

• Analytics: Track open rates, clicks, and performance to see what’s working

• Professional design: Use templates that look polished and consistent

• Scalability: Send to hundreds or thousands without getting flagged or blocked

• Personalization: Insert names, tailor content, and segment audiences for better results

• Reputation protection: Bulk sending from Gmail/Outlook can damage your email/domain reputation

• Time-saving: Built for newsletters—faster and easier than manual sending

 

STEP 2 – Decide on your newsletter’s purpose

Yes, your newsletter should be used to market your business and its products. However, if every email you send is a promotional email asking subscribers to buy your latest products, your newsletter won’t be very effective.

You need people to open your newsletters and you want them to engage with them. So you should have a content plan that goes beyond “here’s my newest product”.

Consider the interest that draws people to your products. 

For example:

• Jewelry – interest may be fashion (a specific type of fashion)
• Bags – interest may be travel or makeup and beauty if they’re makeup bags
• Aprons – interest may be baking, cooking, or entertaining

If you know your target market, this will be easy to answer. 

If you’re not clear on your target market, you may need to test your signup forms to see which topic garners more interest. 

Once you know your target market’s interest, you can create a plan based on it.

 

Step 3 – Create an opt-in offer

“Sign up for my newsletter” won’t get much interest. But “Sign up to receive jewelry styling tips & promotion notifications” is more enticing. 

Consider the interest you uncovered in the last step and how you can work it into your newsletter signup form.

You can create an opt-in offer, such as:

• a free PDF (e.g. 10 jewelry styling tips for Spring)
• a coupon code (e.g. Sign up for my newsletter and receive 10% off your next order)
• a quiz/guide/consultation (e.g. a business selling skincare could offer a guide or consultation to help subscribers find the right products for their skin type)

If you can give website visitors an added perk, they’ll be more likely to sign up for your newsletter.

Once you decide on an opt-in offer, or the benefit people will receive when signing up (e.g. Sign up for weekly skincare tips and product drops), then you can create a signup form and embed it on your website or create a landing page for it.

 

Step 4 – Plan your sending schedule

It will be important to stay (somewhat) consistent with your sending. 

Instead of emailing every couple of weeks, when you feel inspired, and then ghosting your subscribers for several weeks, create a schedule you can realistically stick to.

How frequently you send newsletters will depend on your schedule and what type of content you’re going to share. 

If you don’t have a topic to write about and are only going to send promotional emails about your new products, then you may only want to send a newsletter every two weeks. 

On the other hand, if you can work an interest into your newsletters (e.g. skincare tips), and you also want to share craft shows you’ll be selling at (and you sell at several throughout the year), as well as new product drops, you may have enough content to send a newsletter every week.

There really aren’t any rules. Some companies send me multiple emails per day and some email me once a month.

Start with something you can be consistent with, and then adjust. If you start sending 2 newsletters per week and are getting lots of unsubscribes, try dialing it back to once a week. 

The same can happen if you go too long between emails. Subscribers may forget who you are and why you’re emailing them.

 

Step 5 – Plan your content

There are many businesses that simply send out newsletters sharing their latest products. 

I tend to ignore most of those emails. 

I find that a more effective strategy is to send a mix of promotional and non-promotional content. 

Again, work with that common interest that draws your target market to your products. 

For example, if I were starting a newsletter for my handmade skincare products and I was planning to send 3 emails per month, I might plan to send:

• Email 1 (non-promotional) – skincare tip (e.g. which products should change in a skincare routine when transitioning into Spring)
• Email 2 (non-promotional) – informational tip about ingredients (e.g. a surprising fact about a common skincare ingredient and why your products do or don’t include it)
• Email 3 (promotional) – a new product launching for Spring

These articles will be helpful for planning promotional and non-promotional content:

>> 13 Non-Promotional Emails to Send to your Newsletter List

>> 365+ Newsletter Ideas (for your handmade business)

>> How To Use the Trojan Horse Method to Promote your Handmade Products

 

Step 6 – Create a “Welcome Email”

It’s a good idea to send an email immediately after someone signs up.

This can be a welcome email or a welcome series (several emails that automatically send over a series of days or weeks that introduce a subscriber to your brand and let them know what to expect).

The purpose/benefit of a welcome email(s):

• Sets expectations (what they’ll get + how often)
• Delivers your opt-in immediately (builds trust)
• Introduces your brand + story (why you, not just what you sell)
• Builds connection early (highest open rates happen here)
• Guides next step (shop, follow, reply, etc.)
• Improves deliverability (engagement signals to inbox providers)
• Warms people up to buy (before pitching later)

Create a welcome email, at the very least, or a welcome sequence. 

A welcome sequence can take some of the work off your plate because you write the emails once, and then you can send them to new subscribers without any additional work. 

 

Step 7 – Start emailing!

The beauty of email marketing is that you don’t need a big subscriber list for it to be effective. 

As soon as you have one subscriber, you can start sending emails. 

In fact, it’s a great time to send emails because you can ask for feedback and respond to each one.

Don’t overthink what to send or creating the perfect newsletter. You’ll refine as you go.

Email marketing services will also have stats for you to work with, so pay attention to those. 

Look for emails that have higher-than-average open rates, click rates, unsubscribe rates, etc. and determine what you’ll do more of and what you’ll stop doing.