If you’re running a candle business, there’s a good chance you’ve spent a lot of time thinking about Instagram.
What should I post?
Why has my reach dropped?
Should I make more Reels?
How often should I post?
Meanwhile, one of the most valuable marketing assets in your business may be sitting quietly in the background:
your email list.
The people on your mailing list have already shown an interest in your business. Some have bought from you, some have joined a waiting list and others may have been reading your emails for months without making their first purchase.
The mistake is treating all of those people in exactly the same way.
Good email marketing isn’t simply about sending more newsletters.
It’s about sending the right message to the right person at the right time.
And that’s where segmentation, tags and automation come in.
What is email segmentation?
A segment is simply a group of people on your mailing list who have something in common.
Instead of sending every email to your entire database, you can create smaller groups based on their interests or behaviour.
For a candle business, useful segments could include:
- Customers who have purchased previously
- VIP or repeat customers
- People who haven’t purchased yet
- Customers who bought last Christmas
- Candle customers
- Diffuser customers
- Refill customers
- Gift buyers
- Workshop customers
- Lapsed customers
- Highly engaged subscribers
- Local customers
You could even segment customers according to the types of fragrance they like.
Someone who regularly buys woody, earthy fragrances is probably a very good person to tell about your new woody Christmas candle.
Instead of emailing them:
“Our new Christmas candle has launched.”
you can say:
“If you love our deeper, woody fragrances, we think this one is going to be for you.”
The second message immediately feels more relevant.
Stop asking, “What email should I send?”
This was a big shift in how I started thinking about email marketing.
Instead of constantly asking:
“What should I email my list this week?”
ask:
“Who could I talk to this week?”
Perhaps you haven’t heard from customers who purchased six months ago.
Maybe your Christmas customers from last year would appreciate a sneak peek of this year’s collection.
Perhaps 200 people joined the waiting list for a new product.
Maybe your most loyal customers deserve early access to something before everyone else.
Suddenly, email marketing becomes much more interesting.
Use your website forms to learn about your customers
One of the simplest ways to improve segmentation is to think carefully about your website forms.
Imagine you’re preparing to launch your Christmas collection.
You create a form:
“Join our Christmas waitlist.”
A customer enters their email address.
They haven’t simply told you:
“Here’s my email address.”
They’ve told you:
“I’m interested in your Christmas collection.”
That’s valuable information.
But if that person simply gets added to the same general newsletter list as everyone else, you’ve lost some of that information.
This is where tags can be incredibly useful.
What is an email tag?
Think of a tag as a digital label attached to a subscriber.
Someone who completes your Christmas waitlist form might automatically receive the tag:
Christmas-Waitlist-2026
Someone requesting wholesale information might receive:
Wholesale-Lead
Someone interested in corporate Christmas gifts could receive:
Corporate-Gifting-2026
Other useful tags might include:
Autumn-Launch-Waitlist
Workshop-Interest
New-Fragrance-Waitlist
VIP-Early-Access
The terminology varies between email platforms — some use tags, groups, properties or other labels — but the principle is the same.
You’re recording why that person joined or what they’re interested in.
Tags and segments aren’t the same thing
This is an important distinction.
A tag records a piece of information about someone.
A segment uses information to create an audience.
For example:
Tag: Christmas-Waitlist-2026
You could then create a segment containing:
Everyone with the Christmas-Waitlist-2026 tag.
But you can go much further.
Imagine creating a segment of people who:
Joined the Christmas waitlist
AND
Have purchased from you before.
Now you’ve identified previous customers who are actively interested in this year’s Christmas collection.
That’s a particularly valuable audience.
Perhaps they should receive pre-order access before everyone else.
Create forms for specific reasons
Rather than having only one generic:
“Sign up to our newsletter”
form, think about the different reasons someone might want to hear from you.
For example:
Christmas
Be the first to discover our Christmas collection.
Tag them:
Christmas-Waitlist-2026
New product launch
Join the waiting list for our new collection.
Tag:
New-Collection-Waitlist
Wholesale
Interested in stocking our candles? Request our wholesale information.
Tag:
Wholesale-Lead
Corporate gifting
Looking for gifts for your team or clients? Request our corporate gifting information.
Tag:
Corporate-Gifting-Enquiry
Every one of those forms tells you something about the person completing it.
Capture that information.
Don’t collect information and then do nothing with it
This is where the real opportunity lies.
Imagine 300 people join your Christmas waiting list.
Those 300 people have actively told you they’re interested in Christmas.
So don’t wait until launch day and send them exactly the same email as everyone else.
You could create a mini campaign specifically for them.
Email 1: Welcome
Thank them for joining your Christmas waitlist.
Email 2: Behind the scenes
Give them a sneak peek of the collection.
Email 3: The reveal
Introduce the fragrances or products.
Email 4: Exclusive pre-order access
Give your waitlist the opportunity to order before everybody else.
Email 5: Last chance
Remind them that their early-access window is closing.
Then launch to your wider mailing list.
Your most interested audience has already had the opportunity to buy.
This is where automation becomes powerful
Automation means an email — or sequence of emails — is sent because a customer has taken a particular action.
Instead of you remembering to send it manually, your email platform does it for you.
Think about this customer journey:
Customer joins Christmas waitlist
↓
Christmas tag added
↓
Customer enters Christmas segment
↓
Welcome email automatically sent
↓
Sneak peek email
↓
Pre-order access
↓
Christmas launch
That’s very different from sending an occasional newsletter whenever you remember.
You’re creating a marketing system.
And for a small business where you’re probably also making products, packing orders, answering emails and running the business, automation can be incredibly valuable.
The email automations I’d prioritise
You don’t need dozens of complicated automations.
Start with the ones that can genuinely make a difference.
Welcome sequence
When someone joins your mailing list, introduce yourself properly.
Tell them:
- Who you are
- Why you started the business
- What makes your products different
- Which products customers love
- How to choose the right fragrance
Don’t assume somebody joining your list already knows your story.
Abandoned cart
Someone has shown strong buying intent but hasn’t completed their order.
A gentle reminder may be all they need.
And you don’t necessarily need to immediately offer a discount.
Browse abandonment
Depending on your email platform, you may be able to follow up when someone views particular products but doesn’t buy.
Post-purchase
Don’t let your communication stop when somebody places an order.
Follow up with:
- A thank-you
- Candle-care information
- A review request
- Replenishment reminders
- Relevant complementary products
Win-back
Create an automation for customers who haven’t bought for a certain period.
You worked hard to acquire that customer in the first place.
Before constantly chasing new customers, try talking to the ones who already know you.
Christmas is the perfect time to use segmentation
Christmas gives candle businesses so many opportunities to create relevant audiences.
Before your Christmas launch, think about creating segments for:
Previous Christmas customers
Christmas waitlist subscribers
VIP customers
Gift buyers
Recent customers
Lapsed customers
Highly engaged subscribers
Corporate gifting leads
Then think about what each group actually needs to hear.
Your VIP customers might get early access.
Your Christmas waitlist might receive pre-orders.
Last year’s Christmas customers might receive a “Christmas is back” email.
Gift buyers might receive a Christmas gift guide.
Corporate customers might receive completely different messaging about staff and client gifts.
You’re selling the same Christmas collection — but you’re talking about it in different ways.
Don’t train your customers to wait for discounts
Email marketing can easily become:
10% off.
Then:
15% off.
Then:
20% off.
And eventually customers learn not to buy until the next offer arrives.
There are lots of other reasons to email.
Try:
- Early access
- Limited availability
- Pre-orders
- New launches
- Gift inspiration
- Behind-the-scenes stories
- Customer reviews
- Educational content
- Product recommendations
- Returning favourites
Email should help build desire and relationships — not simply distribute discount codes.
Start simple
If all of this sounds complicated, don’t try to implement everything tomorrow.
Start with three things.
1. Create one useful segment.
Perhaps customers who bought from you last Christmas.
2. Create one properly tagged form.
Perhaps your Christmas waiting list.
3. Create one automation.
If you don’t already have one, I’d start with your welcome sequence.
Then build from there.
You don’t need thousands of subscribers or sophisticated software to use email marketing effectively.
You simply need to stop thinking of your mailing list as one big group of people.
Every click, purchase, form submission and sign-up tells you something.
Use that information to make your emails more relevant.
Because ultimately, good email marketing comes down to one question:
Why is this particular person receiving this particular email?
If the answer is:
“Because they’re on my mailing list.”
there’s probably an opportunity to do better.
But if the answer is:
“Because they bought from me last Christmas, joined this year’s Christmas waitlist and I think they’ll love our new collection…”
you’re starting to use email marketing strategically.
