Email Marketing Basics

Email Marketing Basics is an eight-hour, self-paced introduction to email marketing for online shops. Across four modules, you learn how to build an address list, plan useful campaigns, automate selected messages and measure results, with particular attention to what is permitted in Germany and what is not.

Email Marketing Basics at a glance

• Format: Self-paced, 4 modules
• Level: Basics
• Participants: unlimited
• Language: English
• Certificate: AEI certificate of attendance
• Investment: free of charge

What you take away

You gain a practical framework for email marketing in an online shop. The course starts with the legal and operational foundations: when a shop may send promotional email, how consent should be requested and documented, which information belongs in a newsletter, and how recipients must be able to stop receiving messages. These topics are considered in the context of Germany, where a convenient marketing idea is not automatically a permitted one.

You then work through the complete path from first sign-up to evaluation. You consider why a visitor might join a list, how double opt-in works in practice, how to organise a clean list, and how to create a campaign that is readable in an inbox and on a phone. The final module connects welcome messages and cart reminders with measurement and testing, so that decisions are based on defined objectives rather than on the number of messages sent.

Your learning objectives

• You can explain why email remains useful for a shop and distinguish service communication from promotional communication.
• You can identify the main requirements for valid consent, double opt-in, newsletter content and unsubscribe processes in Germany.
• You can plan a list-building path with a clear reason to sign up and maintain the resulting contacts responsibly.
• You can outline a campaign with a relevant subject line, useful first line, clear structure, suitable images and readable text.
• You can select practical automation points, including a welcome sequence and an abandoned-cart message, while considering timing and consent.
• You can define basic email metrics, interpret their limits and set up simple tests to learn what changes recipient behaviour.

The levers at a glance

Permission is the first lever. A shop needs to know why a person is receiving a message and which permission supports that message. You examine clear sign-up wording, separate consent where necessary, records of the double opt-in process and the difference between a newsletter and an order-related email. The practical question is not only whether a box was ticked, but whether the recipient could understand what would happen and can withdraw consent easily.

List quality affects both reach and relevance. A list should not simply grow without review. You look at useful sign-up reasons, confirmation messages, invalid addresses, repeated non-engagement and safe ways to remove or suppress contacts. For a shop, this can mean reviewing a form on the checkout page, checking whether a discount promise is clear, and deciding what to do when a customer changes an address or no longer wants promotional messages.

Message design turns an intended send into something a recipient can understand quickly. You work on the subject line and first line, the order of content, the main action, links, images, alternative text and the relationship between text and visual elements. Examples relate to concrete shop situations such as a new product arrival, a seasonal offer, a back-in-stock notice or advice on using a purchased product. The aim is a message that remains understandable even when images are not displayed.

Timing and automation help a shop respond to a relevant event without making every send manually. You consider what should happen after a person joins a list, leaves items in a cart or completes an order. The course also addresses limits: an automated message still needs an appropriate purpose, suitable timing, a clear sender and a valid way to opt out where promotional content is involved.

Measurement and testing provide a disciplined way to improve. You define what a campaign is meant to achieve, distinguish delivery from reading and action, and avoid treating one metric as a complete answer. Small tests can compare a subject line, first line, content order or call to action. The focus is on learning from a controlled change and applying the result to the next relevant campaign.

Who is this course for?

This course is for shop owners, founders, e-commerce employees and people who support online-shop communication. It is suitable if you are starting a newsletter, taking responsibility for an existing list, working with an email platform or coordinating content with a technical or legal colleague. It also fits people who want a structured overview before choosing tools or setting up their first campaigns. You do not need advanced technical knowledge; examples are based on ordinary shop processes such as sign-up, checkout, product interest and purchase follow-up.

It is not for people looking for advanced lifecycle strategy, complex customer-data modelling, detailed platform training or an in-depth legal consultation for a specific business model. It is also not a substitute for individual legal advice, a technical deliverability audit or a complete implementation project. The course gives you a sound basis for asking the right questions and planning responsible next steps, rather than resolving every special case for you.

Cost and access

The course is free of charge. You sign up through the shop and receive access immediately after registration. There is no fixed start date, classroom appointment or required weekly schedule. The material is available for self-paced learning, so you can work through a complete module in one sitting or pause after a lesson and return when it fits your work.

The planned scope is eight hours across four modules. You can use the sequence as a learning path or revisit a topic when a concrete shop task requires it, for example before changing a sign-up form, reviewing a newsletter template or setting up a welcome email. A certificate of attendance is provided as stated in the course details; it does not replace an examination or confirm that a particular shop implementation meets every legal requirement.

After the course

A sensible next step is to map the current email process of your shop before changing it. List each form and source of addresses, the consent wording, the confirmation step, the types of messages sent and the available unsubscribe route. Then select one contained improvement, such as clarifying the sign-up reason, correcting the first welcome message or removing an unnecessary field from a form. This makes it easier to see what changed and why.

You can also create a simple campaign brief for the next send: audience, permission basis, purpose, main action, timing and success measure. Review the result together with the people responsible for shop operations, content and compliance. If a question depends on a particular legal situation, data setup or email platform, take that question to the appropriate specialist rather than treating a general course example as a final answer.

Programme: 4 modules

• Module 1: Basics and law — Why email still works; Getting consent right; What a newsletter must contain
• Module 2: Building the list — Reasons to sign up; Double opt-in in practice; Maintaining and cleaning lists
• Module 3: Designing campaigns — Subject line and first line; Structure of a send; Images, text and deliverability
• Module 4: Automate and measure — Welcome and cart; Email marketing metrics; Testing what makes the difference

Our approach

The institute works from realistic e-commerce situations and breaks each topic into decisions that can be applied to a shop process. Lessons connect legal requirements with planning, writing, design, automation and measurement instead of treating them as separate tasks. We explain terms in plain language, point out where a general principle ends and a case-specific question begins, and encourage small, reviewable changes. The result is a practical learning path for building email marketing on clear permission, useful content and responsible evaluation.