Definition
Competitor analysis in email marketing is the systematic monitoring and evaluation of competitors' email programmes. It covers what types of emails competitors send, how often they send, their messaging strategies, design approaches, personalisation tactics, and how subscribers engage with their campaigns.
The goal is not to copy competitors but to understand the competitive landscape, identify industry benchmarks, spot gaps in your own strategy, and discover opportunities to differentiate your email programme.
What to Analyse
| Dimension | What to Look For | Why It Matters |
|---|---|---|
| Send Frequency | How often competitors email per week/month | Identifies industry norms and fatigue thresholds |
| Email Types | Promotional, educational, transactional mix | Reveals content strategy priorities |
| Subject Lines | Length, tone, personalisation, emoji use | Benchmarks for your own subject line strategy |
| Design Quality | Template sophistication, mobile optimisation, branding | Sets quality expectations for your audience |
| Personalisation | Name usage, behavioural targeting, segmentation | Indicates what subscribers now expect |
| Offers & Incentives | Discount depth, free shipping thresholds, urgency | Reveals competitive pricing pressure |
| Automation | Welcome series quality, cart recovery, re-engagement | Shows baseline automation expectations |
How to Conduct Competitor Analysis
- Sign up for competitors' lists: Subscribe using a dedicated email address and track every email received
- Use competitive intelligence tools: Tools like Mailcharts, Owletter, and Milled track competitor email campaigns
- Track over time: Monitor for at least 30-60 days to understand patterns, not one-off campaigns
- Create a competitive matrix: Document findings in a structured format comparing key dimensions
- Identify gaps: Look for areas where competitors are weak or absent and that your audience would value
What to Do With the Insights
- Benchmark your performance: Compare your metrics against competitor averages
- Identify whitespace: Find topics, formats, or frequency that competitors are not addressing
- Improve your programme: Adopt best practices you observe while maintaining your unique brand voice
- Avoid competitive weakness: Do not copy poor practices you observe from competitors
- Differentiate strategically: Use insights to position your email programme uniquely
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Related Glossary Terms
A/B Testing
A/B testing in email marketing is the practice of sending two variations of an email to a small sample of your list to determine which version performs better before sending the winner to the remaining subscribers.
Abandoned Cart Email
An abandoned cart email is an automated message sent to customers who added items to their online shopping cart but left without completing the purchase. It is one of the highest-converting email types in ecommerce.
Account-Based Marketing Email
An account-based marketing email is a highly targeted message sent to a specific organisation or decision-maker group as part of a focused B2B strategy.
AI Email Summary
An AI email summary is a short, machine-generated overview of an email's key points, shown by Gmail, Outlook and Apple Mail before a recipient opens the message. It is reshaping how email marketers think about subject lines, preview text and open rates.
AI Inbox Summary
An AI inbox summary is an AI-generated digest that condenses unread email — often highlighting news, actions and senders — changing how clearly your marketing email reaches and engages subscribers.
AI Inbox
An AI inbox is an email client that uses artificial intelligence to summarise, sort, prioritise and sometimes answer emails before the human recipient reads them. It is transforming email marketing metrics and copywriting.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes. Competitor email monitoring is standard industry practice. You are simply subscribing to publicly available email lists, which any consumer can do. Do not misrepresent yourself or use deceptive tactics to access private or paid subscriber content.
Monitor 3-5 direct competitors plus 2-3 aspirational competitors (brands in adjacent industries with excellent email programmes). This provides a balanced view without overwhelming data collection.
Continuous monitoring is ideal but review and update your formal competitive analysis quarterly. Email strategies, design trends, and subscriber expectations evolve quickly, and your competitive position can change within months.