Good email marketing looks much the same everywhere, but the details that make it work are local. Here are eight rules drawn from the realities of selling from St Kitts and Nevis, where your audience is split between two islands and several continents.
1. Send on your recipients’ clock, not yours
The Federation stays on Atlantic Standard Time (UTC−4) all year, with no daylight saving. That puts you level with New York in the northern summer and one hour ahead of it in winter, while London is four hours ahead of you in winter and five in summer. Split your list by region and schedule each segment for its own mid-morning. Mailpro’s guidance on send times is a useful starting point.
2. Be clear about currency
Local customers think in Eastern Caribbean dollars, which are pegged to the US dollar at 2.70. Many tourism businesses quote rates in US dollars. Choose one per segment and label it every time: EC$ or US$. A price written simply as $ causes confusion and complaints.
3. Write subject lines that promise something specific
News from Nevis tells the reader nothing. Your 2 free nights before 15 December does. Keep the most important words in the first 40 characters, since most of your readers will see the email on a phone. Mailpro’s article on writing the ideal subject line has more patterns.
4. Use personal details you actually have
Addressing a guest by name is the minimum. Better is referring to what they did: the villa they stayed in, the month they visited, the tour they booked. Mailpro’s personalisation fields pull these details from your contact list automatically.
5. Match the tone to the season
From 1 June to 30 November, hurricane season shapes how people read your emails. When a storm is in the news, pause promotional sends to the affected region, send a short factual update instead, and resume when the situation is clear. Readers remember which businesses kept them informed.
6. Give each email one job
An email about the St Kitts Music Festival package should sell the package, not also mention the new spa menu, the Sugar Mas lineup and the Christmas brunch. One main message, one clear button. The button builder makes that button obvious on any screen.
7. Design for mobile first
Recipients will open your email on a phone at the beach, in a queue at the airport or on the ferry between Basseterre and Charlestown. Use a responsive template, large text, and images that still make sense if they load slowly.
8. Measure, then change one thing
After every campaign, look at the reports: opens, clicks, unsubscribes, bounces. Change one variable next time, such as the send time for European guests or the subject-line length, and compare. Small, steady adjustments beat occasional overhauls.
And before you press send
Check that everyone on the list agreed to receive your emails. The Data Protection Act, 2018 builds on consent, and overseas laws like CASL and the GDPR are strict about it. If you need a refresher, read getting permission to email in St Kitts and Nevis, then go back to the email campaigns overview to set up your next send.