An effective campaign is one that arrives, gets read on a small screen and leads to something you can count: a booking, a reply, a visit to your shop in Kingstown. Here is a practical checklist, written with Vincentian senders in mind.
1. Send from your own domain, and authenticate it
Many small businesses in SVG still run on free webmail addresses. Gmail, Yahoo and Outlook increasingly reject or filter bulk mail that claims to come from a free address or an unauthenticated domain. Use an address on your own domain (for example [email protected]) and publish SPF, DKIM and DMARC records. Our guide to SPF, DKIM and DMARC explains each record in plain terms, and Mailpro walks you through SPF configuration in the account.
2. Clean the list before the season, not during it
Lists gathered over years at the front desk, at trade shows in Europe or from old spreadsheets pick up typos and dead addresses. Remove hard bounces, drop contacts who have not engaged in a long time, and never buy lists. A smaller list that responds protects your sender reputation for the busy months.
3. Time the send for the reader’s clock
SVG keeps Atlantic Standard Time (UTC−4) year-round. That means:
- From March to early November your 8 a.m. is also 8 a.m. in New York and Toronto.
- From November to March you are one hour ahead of those cities.
- London is four hours ahead of you in winter and five hours ahead in the northern summer.
If most of a segment is overseas, schedule for their morning. The FAQ on the best time to send a newsletter has more on testing send times.
4. Write one clear message
A subject line should say what is inside: “Easter Regatta rooms: 3 left” beats “Our latest news”. Put the main offer and a single button in the first screen, then add supporting detail below. If you mention prices, say which currency: residents think in Eastern Caribbean dollars (XCD), while visitors usually expect US dollars.
5. Design for phones and slower connections
Most people in SVG go online through mobile networks, and bandwidth in parts of the Grenadines can be limited. Keep hero images light, write real text rather than text inside images, add alt text, and test on a phone before sending. Use a preview and test send from the editor to catch problems early.
6. Personalise with care
A first name helps; a relevant offer helps more. A returning guest should not receive the same “discover the Grenadines” email as someone who has never visited. Use personalised fields for names and past stays, and segments for island or country of residence.
7. Make leaving easy
Every campaign should carry a working unsubscribe link and your business name and address. It is required by laws such as CAN-SPAM for US recipients and CASL for Canadian ones, and it is simply good practice everywhere. People who can leave easily are less likely to press “report spam”.
8. Test one thing at a time
Try two subject lines on a small share of the list, then send the winner to everyone else. Over a few campaigns you will learn whether your audience responds better to prices, photographs of the Tobago Cays or news about the team.
9. Review the results within a week
Look at clicks per link, unsubscribes and complaints, and any bookings or replies you can trace. Note what you changed and what happened. Our email campaigns overview for SVG suggests a campaign calendar you can plan against.
Mailpro supports all of the above in one account, hosted in Switzerland and priced by sends. In Mailpro’s own customer survey, users rated email deliverability 9.6/10.