How to Check Competitors' Email Marketing: Tools and Techniques for Competitive Analysis

Published on Oct 24, 2025 Category: Blog 26 views

Introduction:

Have you ever wondered how businesses send you cool emails that make you want to click and learn more? Well, the secret is that they’re paying attention to what other businesses are doing! By looking at what your competitors are doing with their emails, you can learn what works, avoid mistakes, and get better at sending your own emails.

In this article, we’re going to show you how you can spy on your competitors’ emails (in a good way!) and use that information to make your own email game stronger. You’ll see how to understand their strategies, what’s working for them, and how to use those ideas to become even better. Let’s get started!

Why It's Important to Watch Competitors' Emails

Checking out your competitors’ email strategies is like having a secret map to winning. Here’s why it’s so helpful:

What’s the Big Deal?

By keeping an eye on what other businesses are doing with their emails, you can discover what makes their emails successful. This helps you know what trends to follow, avoid mistakes, and find creative ways to get people interested in your emails.

Why Analyzing Competitor Emails is So Helpful

Learning the Best Moves: If a competitor’s email is getting tons of clicks and opens, it probably means they’re doing something right. By seeing what works, you can use the same strategies in your own emails.
Avoiding Mistakes: If you see that a competitor’s email isn’t working, like if it’s hard to read on phones or has too many links, you can avoid making those same mistakes.
Getting Fresh Ideas: By watching what other businesses do, you might find new ideas for writing your subject lines, designing your emails, or even coming up with promotions that catch people’s attention.
Staying in the Loop: Email marketing trends change all the time. By checking out your competitors, you’ll always know the latest tools and strategies that are working in your industry.

Key Things to Watch When Checking Out Competitors' Emails

When you’re keeping an eye on what your competitors are doing, it’s important to pay attention to a few key things that show how well their emails are doing. Let’s take a look:

How Many People Are Opening the Emails?

This is called the open rate. If lots of people are opening the emails, it means the subject line was interesting or the business has a really engaged audience.

How Many People Are Clicking Links?

The click-through rate (CTR) tells you how many people clicked on something in the email. If lots of people click, it means the email’s content was really good and the links were easy to spot.

Are People Doing What the Email Wants Them to Do?

This is called the conversion rate. If people are buying something or signing up for a service after getting the email, it shows that the email’s message was clear and convincing.

How Often Are They Sending Emails?

Take note of how many emails your competitors send and when. Are they sending a lot, or just one big email once in a while? You don’t want to email your audience too much or too little, so checking out their schedule can help you find the right balance.

What Are Their Subject Lines Like?

Subject lines are the first thing people see when they get an email. It’s what decides if they open the email or ignore it. Look for subject lines that are short and catchy, or maybe personalized with someone’s name.

What’s Inside the Email?

The content inside the email is super important. Is it easy to read? Does it have cool images? How does the email make the reader feel? These things can tell you what your competitors are doing right or wrong.

What Do They Want People to Do?

Emails usually have a Call-to-Action (CTA), which is like a “Please do this” button or message. It could be something like “Buy Now” or “Learn More.” See what actions they’re asking people to take and how well those buttons work.

Tools to Help You Spy on Competitors' Emails

Now, if you want to make the best email strategy, you need the right tools to help you keep track of what your competitors are doing. Here are some cool tools that can help you out:

Email Tracking Tools:

MailCharts: This tool lets you check out email campaigns from lots of businesses. You can learn about their email design, how often they send emails, and the kinds of content they use.
SimilarWeb: This one helps you see how well their emails are driving traffic to their websites. It gives you clues on what’s working and what’s not.
SpyFu: SpyFu shows you what words your competitors are using in their emails. This helps you figure out which words are helping them get more clicks and attention.

Sign Up for Their Emails:

One of the easiest ways to learn about a competitor’s email strategy is to sign up for their email list. By receiving their emails, you can see how often they send them, what they say, and how they design them.

BeeFree.io: This tool lets you look at the designs of your competitors’ emails. You can see if their emails are easy to read, have good images, and look attractive.

Automated Email Tools:

HubSpot: HubSpot can show you how your competitors set up automatic emails, which are emails that go out to people on their own. This gives you ideas for making your own email sequences better.

How to Analyze Your Competitors’ Emails and Use the Info to Improve Your Own

If you want to get better at email marketing, it’s important to know what your competitors are doing. By looking closely at their email strategies, you can discover things that will help you make your emails even better. Let’s go over some easy and smart ways to analyze your competitors’ emails and use those ideas to improve your own.

Sign Up for Their Newsletters

One simple way to see what your competitors are doing with emails is by subscribing to their newsletters. This lets you check out:

How Often They Send Emails: Are they sending emails every week, every two weeks, or just once a month?
What They Talk About: Are their emails all about products, news, or special deals?
How They Design Their Emails: Is their email easy to read? Does it look good on a phone?

By subscribing to their newsletters, you’ll be able to watch their emails in action and learn from them.

Watch Their Promotions and Offers

Competitors often send special offers like discounts or giveaways through email. Keeping an eye on these emails can give you clues about:

How Often They Send Offers: Are they sending promotions all the time, or just during special seasons like Christmas or summer?
What Kind of Offers They Give: Do they offer free trials, discounts, or special deals just for their email subscribers?

By watching these offers, you can learn how your competitors use promotions to keep customers coming back.

Look at How They Target Different Audiences

Competitors might send different types of emails to different groups of customers. Here's what to pay attention to:

Who They Are Sending Emails To: Are they sending special emails for new customers, loyal customers, or people who haven't bought in a while?
How They Personalize the Emails: Are they using the person's name, showing items the customer likes, or sending birthday offers?

Learning how your competitors do this can help you send more personal emails that people will love to open.

Check Out Their A/B Testing

A/B testing means trying out two different versions of an email to see which one works better. Here’s how to learn from their testing:

What They Test: Are they testing things like the subject line, the images, or the buttons you click on?
How Often They Test: Do they test just one small part of the email or the whole thing?

This can help you try out your own A/B tests to see what works best for your audience.

Analyzing Competitors’ Email Lists and Subscribers

To really understand how your competitors are doing well, you need to look at their email lists and how their subscribers behave. Here’s how to dig deeper:

See What Makes People Sign Up for Their Emails

Competitors often give special offers to encourage people to sign up for their emails. These might include:

What They Offer for Signing Up: Do they offer discounts, free ebooks, or early access to sales?
How Easy It Is to Sign Up: Are their sign-up forms easy to find? Do they pop up on their website or are they on a special landing page?

Looking at these things can help you create better offers for your own email sign-ups.

Estimate How Big Their Email List Is

You might not know exactly how many people are on your competitors' email lists, but you can get an idea by looking at:

How Many People Open Their Emails: If lots of people open their promotional emails, their list is probably pretty big.
How Many Social Media Followers They Have: A big social media following can mean a big email list, too, because people often sign up after seeing posts on social media.

These tips help you get a rough idea of how big their email list might be and can guide your own list-building efforts.

Look for Behavioral Triggers

Some competitors send automatic emails based on what their customers do, like:

Cart Abandonment Emails: If a customer puts something in their shopping cart but doesn’t buy it, competitors might send an email to remind them.
Re-engagement Emails: If a customer stops opening emails, competitors might send special emails to get them interested again.

If you see competitors using these triggers, you can try using similar ones in your own business to keep customers engaged.

Ethical Ways to Analyze Competitors’ Email Marketing

When you’re checking out your competitors, it’s important to be ethical and follow the rules. Here’s how to do that:

Follow the Rules

It’s important to respect privacy laws and not do anything that could get you into trouble. Some rules to follow include:

GDPR: If you're in Europe or targeting European customers, you must follow this law, which makes sure people’s personal data is safe.
CAN-SPAM Act: In the U.S., this law says you can’t collect emails without permission or spam people with too many messages.

By sticking to legal and ethical methods, like signing up for newsletters, you’ll keep things above board.

Best Practices for Competitor Research

Here are some do’s and don’ts when analyzing competitors:

Do: Use tools that are available to everyone and sign up for their newsletters.
Don’t: Don’t steal email lists or break privacy laws.
Do: Use what you learn to make your emails better, not just copy their ideas.
Don’t: Don’t share or sell any competitor information you find.

Following these tips will make sure your research helps your business grow without causing problems.

Applying What You Learn to Your Own Email Strategy

Now that you’ve learned from your competitors, it’s time to use those lessons to improve your own emails. Here’s how to put the information into action:

Improve Your Email Content

Look at what works best in your competitors’ emails and try using similar ideas:

Subject Lines: If you notice certain subject lines get lots of opens, try using them in your own way. You could try creating urgency or making the email feel special.
Personalization: Make your emails feel more personal by adding the person’s name, suggesting products they might like, or sending them special birthday emails.

Make Your Email Design Look Good

Check out how your competitors design their emails:

Mobile-Friendliness: Do their emails look good on phones? Make sure your emails do, too.
Visual Appeal: Look at how they use images, colors, and text. If you see something you like, try using similar ideas to make your own emails stand out.

Personalize and Segment Your Emails

Competitors often send different emails to different types of customers. Try doing this too:

Audience Segmentation: Send different emails to people who bought a lot, new customers, or those who haven’t bought in a while.
Personalized Emails: Use the customer’s name or recommend items based on their past purchases.

Adjust How Often You Send Emails

Look at how often your competitors send emails and decide what works for you:

Adjust Frequency: If competitors send emails once a week and get lots of responses, you might want to do the same. If they send too many and people unsubscribe, you might want to send fewer emails.

Final Thoughts

Looking at what your competitors are doing with emails is a great way to learn and improve. By seeing what works, you can make your own emails better and stay ahead of the game.

Quick Tips for Action:

Track Important Metrics: Watch how often people open your emails, how often you send them, and what works with subject lines.
Use the Right Tools: Use tools to track email sign-ups and learn about your competitors’ emails.
Apply What You Learn: Use the tips from competitors to improve your emails.
Follow the Rules: Always make sure you're following privacy laws and being ethical in your research.

By using these tips, you can make your email marketing better and more successful!

Frequently Asked Questions

What are the best ways to monitor competitors' email marketing campaigns?

The most effective way is to subscribe to their email lists using a dedicated email account, then organize and track their emails regularly. Using tools designed for competitor email tracking can automate capturing and analyzing their campaigns for insights.

Which tools can help analyze competitors' email marketing strategies?

Popular tools include Mailcharts, Owletter, SendView, and Milled. These tools collect competitor emails, provide data on subject lines, frequency, timing, and campaign content, helping you benchmark and improve your own email marketing.

How can I analyze the frequency and timing of competitors' emails?

Track how often and when competitors send emails by collecting their campaigns over time. Tools like Mailcharts give detailed reports on send frequency and timing, helping you find optimal times for your own email sends.

What should I look for in competitors' email designs and content?

Focus on email structure, visuals, use of images or videos, personalization, types of offers, and calls-to-action. This analysis helps you understand how competitors engage their audience and inspire improvements in your own campaigns.

How can competitor email marketing analysis improve my campaigns?

By understanding competitors' strategies, you can identify market gaps, refine your messaging, optimize email frequency, improve subject lines, and create more engaging content that resonates better with your audience.

Is it necessary to identify competitors' target audiences for email marketing analysis?

Yes, knowing who your competitors target helps you better understand their email content and segmentation strategies, enabling you to tailor your campaigns to reach or differentiate from similar audiences effectively.