To make this practical, we’ll follow one example: a small independent garden centre near York that wants a monthly email for its customers. The steps are the same for a charity, a consultancy or an online shop, and each one points to the Mailpro tool that does the work.
Step 1: Decide what readers get
The garden centre settles on a simple promise: “One email a month with what to plant now, what’s new in store and dates for workshops.” That line goes on the sign-up form, so subscribers know exactly what they are agreeing to. A specific promise makes consent under PECR clearer and keeps unsubscribes low.
Step 2: Build the list lawfully
The centre adds a sign-up form to its website and a tablet at the till, both with an unticked box. New subscribers confirm through double opt-in, which gives a record of when and how they agreed. Customers who bought online and were offered a chance to opt out at checkout can also be emailed under the soft opt-in, as long as the newsletter promotes similar products. Our guide to permission to send campaigns explains both routes.
Step 3: Choose a design route
In Mailpro you can start from one of more than 600 templates, build from scratch with the drag-and-drop editor, or import HTML. The garden centre picks a seasonal template, sets its green brand colour, uploads its logo and saves the result as a reusable layout. Next month will only need new words and photos.
Step 4: Write the first issue
- Subject line: “October: bulbs to plant before the first frost” is specific and useful.
- Opening: two sentences from the owner, in a friendly British voice.
- Main story: a short planting guide with one photo and a button to the online shop.
- Short items: a Halloween pumpkin event, extended hours before Bonfire Night, a reminder that Christmas trees arrive in late November.
- Footer: business name, address and unsubscribe link, as PECR requires.
Prices are shown in pounds including VAT. Our tips on creating the ideal email subject help if you are stuck on the first line.
Step 5: Personalise and segment
Add the subscriber’s first name to the greeting with a dynamic field. The centre also tags subscribers who attended a workshop, so a separate block invites them to the next one. Personalised newsletters go further into this.
Step 6: Test
Send a test to a Gmail and an Outlook address and open both on a phone. Click every link. Check the images have alt text and the email still makes sense with images turned off.
Step 7: Schedule and send
The centre’s customers are mostly local and retired or working from home, so it schedules the send for 9am on a Thursday. Remember that the UK moves from BST back to GMT on the last Sunday of October; Mailpro sends at the time you set. Use scheduled sending to set it up days in advance.
Step 8: Learn from the results
A day or two later, check which links were clicked and who unsubscribed. If the planting guide got most clicks, give it more space next month. Over time, the statistics tell you what your readers really want.
Step 9: Plan the next three issues
A newsletter gets easier once it has a calendar. The garden centre sketches the next quarter in one sitting:
- November: wreath-making workshops, Christmas tree arrival dates and a Black Friday offer on tools for existing customers.
- December: gift ideas, last dates for local delivery, and Christmas and Boxing Day opening hours.
- January: seed catalogues, winter pruning tips and gift card reminders.
Each issue reuses the saved layout, so the work is writing, not design.
Common first-issue mistakes
- Emailing everyone in the till system, including people who never agreed to marketing.
- Sending from a personal Gmail address instead of an authenticated business domain, which hurts deliverability.
- Cramming in ten stories. Two or three is plenty.
- Forgetting that the email will mostly be read on a phone.
That’s the whole process. For an overview of the tools involved, see creating newsletters with Mailpro. You can try it with 500 free credits.