Email marketing is a powerful way to connect with customers, share updates, and promote your farm products to increase sales and foster trust with your shoppers.
To enhance your communication, you’ll need to find a dedicated email marketing system (EMS) to nurture meaningful customer relationships and drive sales. But there are a lot of options out there offering a variety of features at different price points, and finding the right platform for your farm can feel overwhelming.
In this article, we’ll explore your email marketing options, tools, and strategies tailored to farm businesses on GrownBy. Follow these steps to set up a system that works for you; learn how to import customer data and send emails that keep your customers engaged and committed to your farm.
GrownBy sends automated e-commerce notifications to support transactions. However, GrownBy software does not include a built-in customizable Email Marketing System (EMS) where you can build individual email campaigns or newsletters designed for current or potential customers.
Learn more about these automated notification emails for farmers and shoppers.
Each email marketing platform has unique strengths. When choosing the right EMS for your farm business, you should consider your farm’s:
Mailing List Size: Affects both free and paid plan options.
Campaign Frequency: Frequent emailing may require a larger plan.
Budget: Free plans work for many small businesses; paid options provide more features. In addition to free plans, many platforms offer a free trial for paid plans so you can test what features you want to utilize (like SMS, or AB testing).
If you’re an email marketing novice and want a digital tool you can quickly set up without the technical headache, Mailchimp, Omnisend, or MailerLite are excellent affordable options.
If you’re serious about growing and looking to dig deep into analytics, get started with Klaviyo.
If you’re transitioning from another email marketing service, or consolidating data from multiple sources, learn how to import customer information into your EMS to communicate with potential or existing customers without interruption.
If using GrownBy: Download your customer list as a CSV file from the admin dashboard. Learn how to export emails here.
If using alternative platforms (e.g., Shopify, Mailchimp, etc.): Use their export tools to download customer data, ensuring you include fields like name, email, and any segmentation data.
Most EMS platforms allow CSV imports. Follow this general process:
Go to your EMS account.
Navigate to the “Contacts” or “Audience” section.
Select “Import Contacts" and upload your CSV file.
Map fields (e.g., match “First Name” in your CSV to the EMS’s contact field).
Review and confirm the import.
Build a quality email list. You can collect emails in person at events or farmers markets, online using sign-up forms and pop-ups on your website, or promoting your list on social media. Common techniques involve offering a discount for first-time customers or exclusive promotions for those on an email list. Learn how to set up promotions and discounts on GrownBy.
Email Segmentation Use tags or groups to segment customers such as CSA members or market customers. Targeting specific groups of customers will help you personalize emails to improve campaign performance.
A clear plan ensures your email campaigns resonate with your audience. Consider these key questions:
Who are you targeting? Your target audience will inform your language and messaging. Use segmentation to send personalized emails to CSA members, farmers' market shoppers, or general newsletter subscribers.
What is your goal? Do you want to announce a new product or share a farm update? Are you communicating share contents and recipes for your CSA members? Are you promoting a special offer or event, or will your campaign educate customers about seasonal produce?
Consider what you want your audience to do; these details will affect your call to action, or CTA — the action you want your consumer to take upon opening the newsletter. See campaign types and examples in the graph below, and continue reading for more tips on crafting an engaging CTA.
How often will you send an email? A monthly newsletter or weekly updates are common for small to mid-size farms and CSAs, but you may want to send fewer (or more!) newsletters, depending on your farm's needs and CSA style.
Most EMS platforms include drag-and-drop editors to make building emails easy. Here’s how to get started building a successful email campaign:
Choose a template: You can start with a pre-made design, or get creative and build your own. Avoid large blocks of text and blurry photos.
TEMPLATE TIPS Avoid large blocks of text to ensure your content is concise and visually appealing, which increases engagement. Make your email:
- Easier to read and skim.
- More engaging on mobile devices.
- More likely to convert readers into customers.
Add quality content: Include a compelling subject line, engaging (and accurate!) text, and high-quality images of your farm or products. You can also use stock photos on Canva and Unsplash until you take photos of your farm products.This will be subjective to your community and your farm, but in general, keep the subject line
Choose a compelling call to action (CTA): The call to action is a prompt in your email that encourages your reader to take a specific action. It is typically a button, link, or phrase that stands out and guides people to the next step. A strong CTA removes confusion by making the desired action obvious and straightforward.
CRAFTING A CONCISE CTA If you’re sharing a seasonal recipe,“Download the Recipe” is a clear, concise, and actionable call to action, compared to a vague statement like “Check It Out.” The recipient doesn’t have to read any other descriptors to know what sort of content they will get when they click on the button.
- Use Action-Oriented Language Be clear and direct: “Buy Now;” “Subscribe Today;” “RSVP.”
- Make It Visually Stand Out Use bold text, contrasting colors, or buttons to draw attention.
- Create a Sense of Urgency Add phrases like “Don’t Miss Out” or “Only 3 Spots Left.”
- Align with Your Goal
- Tailor your CTA to match your desired outcome (e.g., “Join Our Email List” for lead generation).
- Keep it short and simple Avoid long or confusing phrases; your audience should immediately understand what sort of content they will get when they click the button without having to read any other content in the email
4. Test before sending: Always send a test email to yourself or a colleague to ensure your campaign is readable on desktop and mobile.TESTING TIP Check for any spelling errors and make sure your links are working properly! Ensure your images are properly sized and add "alt text" to your images — a brief description of the image that will appear in the email if the graphic cannot be displayed; alt text also provides a text alternative for visually impaired users.
After building your campaign, it’s time to send your newsletter and monitor performance.
Set a Schedule: Choose an optimal time for delivery based on customer habits (e.g., mornings or weekends). This will depend on your location and audience, but, as a general rule, mid-morning (between 9am and 11am) on weekdays is a good time to send email shopping campaigns, as people are likely checking emails, and planning their meals for the week; Tuesdays and Thursdays tend to see the highest open rates for food-related emails. You should experiment with sending times to find the optimal schedule for your farm.
Analyze Results: Track open rates (ORs), click-through rates (CTRs), and conversion rates (CR).
Refine Future Campaigns: Use insights from past campaigns to improve subject lines, content, call to actions, and timing.*
Many EMS platforms, like Omnisend and Brevo, allow you to integrate SMS (Short Message Service aka a text message sent to mobile devices) with email campaigns.
If your farm already sends SMS for notifications and updates, consider adding SMS marketing to reach customers quickly and effectively. You can easily track past messaging, open rates, and audience segments.
You might consider utilizing a SMS service to notify customers about flash sales or promotions, add-on items, or last minute changes with pick up times and location due to weather.
If your farm uses a website or other e-commerce platform/s, check for integrations. For example:
GrownBy: Export your customer list as a CSV and then label or tag them in your EMS upon upload for easy segmentation and targeting.
Other Website Platforms: Ensure your website forms (e.g., newsletter signups, pop-up banners, etc) sync with your EMS to collect contacts.
By following these steps, you’ll be well on your way to creating effective email campaigns that nurture your customer relationships and grow your farm business.
Email GrownBy support directly at support@grownby.app, or schedule a one-on-one call with one of our team members. A real human with farming experience will get back to you as soon as possible!