Think of email marketing like a digital megaphone—it lets you speak directly to your audience without the noise of algorithms or paid ads getting in the way. And when you want to make a big announcement or reach a wide audience fast, nothing beats the volume and reach of an email blast.
For ecommerce business owners, effective email marketing can be cost-effective and scalable, allowing you to deliver messages directly to people who’ve asked to hear from you. Despite the rise of other marketing channels like social media, the email landscape continues to grow.
One powerful tactic within your broader email strategy is an email blast (also known as an e-blast or mass email). When used strategically, it can boost traffic, drive conversions, and deepen customer relationships. Let’s explore how to make the most of this style of outreach.
What is an email blast?
An email blast is a one-time message sent to all of your subscribers simultaneously, with no personalization. As the term “blast” suggests, this approach excels when it comes to speed and reach. It’s ideal for communicating time-sensitive information, like flash sales, product launches, or important business updates that everyone needs to know.
By contrast, traditional email campaigns are targeted emails that are usually automated and triggered by customer actions or milestones. These campaigns are often personalized using data like customer behavior, whether they are a new subscriber, where they are in their customer journey, and their shopping history.
Email blasts and email campaigns are complementary. A well-executed email blast can amplify urgency, and targeted, personalized messages can encourage specific actions (like returning to your abandoned shopping cart). Putting them together makes for a well-rounded email strategy designed to sustain engagement and build loyalty over time.
Why send an email blast?
Some messages don’t require personalization to be effective. In fact, trying to over-segment a universally relevant message—like a price change or a brand partnership—can dilute the reach of the message. It can even cause confusion if some customers receive a message about something like a price update, but others don't.
Here are specific, strategic reasons to use an email blast:
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Flash sales. Limited-time deals can be a great way to create urgency and excitement around your products for all of your customers. Studies show that time-sensitive promotions can increase the chances of a customer making a purchase.
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Newsletters. While newsletters go out to all of your subscribers in an email blast, they can build long-term value by reinforcing brand authority and trust with insightful, educational, or even entertaining content. Weekly newsletters consistently rank high for engagement, with studies showing they have some of the highest click-through rates among email marketing campaigns.
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Business updates. Announcing pricing changes, rebrands, or new subscription options keeps your audience informed and indicates you want to emphasize your organization’s transparency.
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Product updates and restocks. Let customers know when a bestseller is back or if you’ve made a meaningful change. For example, “Now with 25% more protein per serving” offers a compelling reason to revisit a product.
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Event announcements. Maybe you're planning a thought leadership webinar, like hosting a certified dietitian to share nutrition tips if you run a supplement business. Sending an email blast to your entire subscriber list is an effective, budget-friendly way to increase event registrations without needing to invest in additional advertising. It helps ensure your core audience knows about the event and can take action quickly.
How to execute an effective email blast
- Curate your email list
- Understand the legal regulations
- Customize templates
- Craft compelling email copy
- Optimize with email automation tools
The term “blast” might make you think of spam, so it’s important to ensure your email blast delivers value for readers. More refined ways of referring to an email blast include "mass email campaign," "bulk email," or "broadcast email." No matter how you define it, an email blast should persuade readers to take action, not make them instantly delete your message without opening it.
Here's what to consider when crafting your email blast campaigns to maximize impact and avoid the spam folder:
1. Curate your email list
To unlock the full potential of email marketing, build an email list rather than buying data from a vendor. Sending to a subscriber list of real email addresses helps you reach a higher deliverability rate.
Strategies to make sure you're gathering real email addresses from customers include landing page pop-ups prompting email sign-ups and an embedded section on your website where customers can sign up for emails (i.e., an inline opt-in form). Offering exclusive content—like early access to webinars, product drops, or discounts—can also encourage email sign-ups.
2. Understand the legal regulations
Before sending an email blast, it's important to understand any relevant regulations, like the CAN-SPAM Act in the United States or the GDPR in the European Union:
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CAN-SPAM Act (US). Requires clear opt-out options, truthful subject lines, and sender identification.
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GDPR (EU). Requires explicit consent and data transparency.
Spam triggers include misleading subject lines (“100% guaranteed!!"), all caps ("ACT NOW"), or overpromising language (“FREE!!!”), so avoid those phrases. If you want more tips on avoiding spam filters, check out this guide to improving your email deliverability.
3. Customize templates
Even though email blasts differ strategically from an email campaign, that doesn't mean they have to stray visually. Email marketing software like Shopify Email makes it easy to customize pre-made email templates to fit the needs of specific messages that you know happen more than once a year, like sales and events. This way, you don't have to start from scratch each time by resizing fonts or rearranging images.
Shopify Email offers several particular email templates that work well for email blasts:
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Product launch. Tell your email subscribers about your new product with a catchy subject line and preview text, large product images, and a clear call to action button to start shopping. Shopify’s product launch template allows you to offer a time-sensitive discount, split test whether hiding the product price boosts click-through rate, and invite subscribers to talk about the product on social media.
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Flash sale. Reinforce a sense of urgency with a template that includes a countdown timer to clearly show when the deal ends and send customers directly to checkout with express checkout buttons on your most popular or fastest-selling items.
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Upcoming event. Whether you're having an in-person event or a webinar, an event template can help you emphasize the date, time and location, what to expect (like getting a gift or discount for attending), and how to register for the event.
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Product restock. Drum up excitement when you have a popular item back in stock. You can customize this template with a compelling title and subject line (like "Your favorites are back"), show a large image of the product or products, and display social proof like positive customer reviews, influencer endorsements, or user-generated content.
4. Craft compelling email copy
Avoid spammy language. This includes using excessive punctuation (!!!), all caps, or overly pushy phrases like “Buy now!” or “Click here!”—these can trigger spam filters and turn off readers.
For instance, instead of shouting about discounts, frame them in a way that delivers value:
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❌ “LIMITED TIME OFFER! ACT NOW!”
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✅ “Your favorite cookies are back—and they’re 25% off for the next 48 hours.”
Start with a clear, curiosity-piquing subject line, then use concise, benefit-driven copy and one clear CTA per email. Don’t overload with links or images.
5. Optimize with email automation tools
Email marketing automation is exactly what it sounds like—technology that automatically sends emails from email service providers. The automation offered by popular email marketing software like Shopify Email, ActiveCampaign, and Mailchimp is great for campaigns triggered by certain actions, like cart abandonment, as well as regularly scheduled emails that reach all subscribers, like newsletters.
If you know you have a quarterly sale, you can set email blasts about the sale to automatically send to your entire subscriber list. An email marketing tool helps you track important email metrics like click-through, engagement, and conversion rates to inform future campaigns.
Test which email templates, subject lines, or email copy leads to a higher conversion rate (and more purchases). Look for an email blast service with free plans or scalable paid plans offering all the features needed to make your email marketing as effective as possible.
Email blast examples from real ecommerce companies
- Flash Sale: Pearly Matcha Kits
- Product Launch: Cowboy E-bikes
- Newsletter: Sundays for Dogs
- Product restock: Graza Olive Oil
- Webinar: Miro
Explore these excellent examples of email blasts to generate ideas for your own marketing efforts:
Flash Sale: Pearly Matcha Kits
Drink company Pearly does a great job of advertising a flash sale with copy that clearly outlines the deal in a visually appealing email template:
Subject line: FLASH SALE: 25% Off Matcha 🍵
The copy also highlights important details like how to get the deal (by using code MATCHA at checkout), when the deal ends, and a clear call to action with a "Shop Matcha" button (which is even more specific than a generic “Shop Now” CTA).
The email continues by explaining to readers why matcha tastes good, which might be an informative hook for customers who normally buy Pearly’s other products, like boba tea. Throughout the email, there are several reminders about the 25% off deal and prominent CTAs to make it as simple as possible for recipients to buy the product.
Product Launch: Cowboy E-bikes
Cowboy not only announces a new product in this email but also effectively creates a sense of urgency by letting readers know it's available only for a limited time. The initial body copy in the email pairs product details with emotive language, like "the smoothest way to glide through the city" and states that the color is "inspired by spring's first light." The subject line is also evocative:
Subject line: It's a new Dawn
Rather than a generic "Shop Now," CTA, Cowboy makes an un-personalized email feel personal by encouraging readers to "make it yours." Readers can also click a button in the email to book a test ride.
Newsletter: Sundays for Dogs
Dog food company Sundays for Dogs sends a regularly scheduled email blast of their newsletter that includes valuable content for dog owners, like health-related tips, facts about dogs, and a way to submit questions to their chief veterinary officer.
Subject line: Ever want to just get away...
In this particular newsletter, the main story shares tips on where to take your dog on spring break. It's only in the middle of the email that anything "salesy" appears: a small banner that offers 20% off when you sign up for auto-deliveries.
Even though this newsletter is an email blast to all subscribers, it offers useful information for every dog owner, building trust with customers and establishing expert credibility for the brand.
Product restock: Graza Olive Oil
Drink company Aura Bora partnered with olive oil company Graza to develop a popular olive oil martini, which this email blast announces is back in stock. This email blast does a great job of drumming up excitement with fun graphics and copy that elicits excitement.
Subject line: AURA BORA x GRAZA! 🫒
A strategic educational section describes the taste to help anyone within the subscriber list who may not be familiar with olive oil martinis. The email also does a great job of creating urgency and excitement by emphasizing that this is an "Extremely limited edition" and likely to sell out fast.
Webinar: Miro
Miro, a collaborative software company, sent out an email blast encouraging registration for an informative webinar about AI for innovation:
Subject line: See you Thursday: Harnessing AI for Innovation Webinar
The headline of the email sets the stage for what attendees will get out of the event: understanding how they can better use AI to improve their leadership, which has broad appeal to professionals who use the software.
The body of the email builds credibility for why you can trust Miro in this space, and is clear about how long the event will last.
Email Blast FAQ
What is an email blast?
An email blast is a single email message sent to a large group of email subscribers, usually with promotional messaging. When executed strategically, it can serve as a valuable and high-performing element of a brand’s overall email marketing strategy.
How do you send an email blast?1
Write compelling email copy and use an email marketing service like Shopify Email to design an effective email template, set the right timing, and track performance.
How do you keep email blasts from getting flagged as spam?
To make sure your emails land where they’re supposed to (and actually get read), follow these best practices to stay on the right side of spam filters.
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Avoid trigger words like "FREE" and deceptive subject lines like "100% GUARANTEED!"
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Include an unsubscribe link
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Send only to opted-in subscribers
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Use email automation tools to save time and send to engaged subscribers
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Send from a verified domain
How do I use a verified domain?
To help your email blasts reach inboxes instead of spam folders, verify your sending domain so email providers like Gmail, Yahoo, or Outlook know that your emails are coming from a trusted source—not a spammer impersonating your brand. First, use a custom domain (like yourstore.com) instead of a free one (like gmail.com) when sending marketing emails. Access your domain settings through your domain provider (GoDaddy, Google Domains, Shopify, etc.). Follow setup instructions from your email platform—tools like Shopify Email will guide you through verifying your domain. This usually involves adding a few DNS records to your domain’s settings. Test your setup using free tools like MxToolbox or Google Postmaster Tools to check that everything is working properly.
