Why it’s time to reframe email from campaigns to conversations

Why do so many marketers still email like it’s 1999? Despite all the tools we have to optimize frequency and personalize content, my inbox shows how little most brands have evolved their email approach.

Every day, it fills up with a river of generic or irrelevant messages. 

• This brand doesn’t recognize that I haven’t opened its emails for over a year. 
• That brand sends me, a frequent purchaser, the same emails that go out to every other customer. 
• Others don’t care about me as a customer unless I’m buying.

Granted, I’ve seen progress over the years from marketers whose emails show they use the data they have on my preferences and behavior to tailor the messages I receive. 

But the old mentality hangs on — many email programs are simply a string of campaigns to tell the customers what the brand wants to say. The pressure to send those campaigns makes us forget we are sending them to real people, not just addresses in our database.

It’s time to rethink our approach to email marketing. Instead of leading with campaigns, we should focus on conversations — engaging customers throughout their entire lifecycle, starting when they opt in. 

In 2025, if you’re still treating email like a megaphone, you’re missing the channel’s real value: building lasting relationships that serve both your customers and your brand.

The problem with campaign-first thinking

It doesn’t line up with your customers’ goals, priorities, wants and needs

An email campaign typically stems from a brand-focused business goal, one that is often tied to the calendar:

• “We need to push this product.” 
• “It’s International Pancake Day.” 
• “We always send a campaign on Tuesday.”
• “It’s Q4 — we need to send more email!” 

But customers don’t care about your internal calendar. They care about what’s relevant to them right now. Campaign-centric thinking often leads to tone-deaf messaging that doesn’t align with the customer’s intent, needs, stage in the journey or position in the lifecycle with your brand.

It’s inconsistent

Campaigns go out when you want to send them, not necessarily when the customer wants to hear from you. The rhythm or flow doesn’t match a user’s needs or behaviors. One day, they get three emails. Then, nothing for weeks. It’s like starting a conversation and then ghosting them in mid-sentence.

It’s inefficient

Creating campaign after campaign is time-consuming and reactive. Every send is a fresh build, and the ROI is usually short-lived. You’re constantly reinventing the wheel, without learning or improving from one message to the next.

It drains engagement

People don’t unsubscribe because you sent them an email campaign. They unsubscribe because what you sent came off as irrelevant or pushy. Campaign-first brands often see open rates drop, click-throughs dwindle and unsubscribes climb.

That’s why it’s time to reframe.

Think lifecycle marketing, start honest conversations

Email isn’t a megaphone. It’s not a loudspeaker. It’s not a letter or a catalog in the mailbox. 

While email can be a billboard to nudge subscribers into action, it is primarily a dialogue with your customers. That sets it apart from every other marketing channel, giving it unique value and power. You are contacting customers in the inbox, a place that’s as private and personal as a bedroom.

Dig deeper: Email is the most misunderstood channel in your digital stack

Marketing based on customer lifecycles invites us to meet people where they are: whether they’re:

• New or long-time subscribers.
• Browsing or buying.
• Loyal or lapsing. 

It shifts the focus from what we want to say to what they need to hear and when they want to hear it.

Campaigns push messages out indiscriminately and these have their uses. Lifecycle engagement pulls the customer in with contextual, timely communications. Every email has a purpose beyond promotion. It plays a part in continuing and expanding the larger conversation with each customer.

Naturally, not every customer wants that deep relationship with your brand and you can address these aloof customers with messages tailored just for them. But for your best customers, this respectful and relevant relationship is a key part of engagement.

Campaign versus lifecycle messaging 

These examples show how differently each mindset shapes the message.

The four pillars of lifecycle marketing

• Relevance: Lifecycle messages are tied to behavior, not dates. They respond to what your customer does (or doesn’t do), not what you want to sell.
• Timeliness: They are triggered at key moments (sign-up, browse, abandon, purchase), so they arrive just when needed.
• Personalization: Beyond [First Name], lifecycle emails reflect customer intent, action and stage in the journey.
• Value: Every message gives customers information, support or inspiration. It doesn’t just ask customers to do something. It’s quid pro quo, something for something.

Real-world shifts: What this looks like in practice

Although there’sthere are an almost infinite number of conversation-focused email messages you can send to your customers, they fall into these four general categories. 

1. A welcome series that responds to behavior

Many brands send a two- or more-email series to new subscribers with information to help them get to know the brand and nudge them to start browsing or buying. It’s a vast improvement on the old “Subscription confirmed” message, but today we can create an even better option.

Instead of a static three-email sequence imparting the same information to every new subscriber, you can use data, personalization based on their behavior and automation to create a smart welcome flow that adapts to what the user clicks or browses. It answers their questions even before they can ask them.

2. An abandonment email that continues the story

At one time, just being able to send an abandonment email was considered progress. Today, we can go beyond “You left something in your cart.” We send a carefully timed reminder that considers product category, interest, possible objections and what customers can do to pick up where they left off.

3. A post-purchase journey that deepens relationships

Think beyond “Your order is on its way.” Share product care tips, invite feedback and offer a referral bonus. If you have a loyalty program or user community, invite customers to join it. Recommend complementary items or share use or care advice to help customers get the most satisfaction from their purchases.

4. Re-engagement as a listening exercise

Don’t say, “We miss you.” Even if they like your brand, customers don’t buy that fiction. Instead, ask what’s changed. Invite them to provide preferences (and make it easy; don’t ask them to scroll through dozens or hundreds of options). Make your email a genuine two-way interaction.

Dig deeper: 9 steps to make an email reactivation program that really works

Getting started: How to shift from campaign to conversation

Audit your current email program

What percentage of your emails is made up of campaigns, both broadcast (one to everyone) or segmented (one to many), and how many are triggered by lifecycle messages? Where are the gaps?

Start small

You don’t have to remake your program overnight. Identify the email flow that has the most significant impact on your email success or one you wish to offer, such as a welcome journey or abandoned-cart series. Build or improve that flow. Measure the effects. Learn from it, then go back and improve it again and again. 

Update your metrics

Move beyond opens and click-through rates. Consider these three metrics, which reveal more important values:

• Time to conversion. 
• Lifetime customer value
• Subscriber health (how often they open, click or act on your emails)

Bring in the whole marketing team

Too many marketing channels exist in silos, with little interaction among them. In addition to collaborating with the other channel marketers, connect with your product, customer service, data and CX teams to build a truly customer-first program.

One final thought

Lifecycle email marketing is not about sending more emails. It’s about sending the right emails. When you stop thinking in campaigns and start thinking in conversations, everything shifts. Engagement increases. ROI improves. Relationships strengthen.

Next time you look at your campaign calendar, ask yourself: “Is this a part of a conversation — or just noise?” If it’s the latter, it’s time to reframe.