Email Marketing for Photographers: Real Examples, Templates, and Tips

If you’re a self-employed photographer, email marketing should definitely be part of your strategy. With an average ROI of $36 for every $1 spent, it’s a powerful way to boost your photography business.

Want to learn the basics but aren’t sure where to start? You’ve come to the right place. We'll explain everything you need to know about email marketing for photographers, including tips, templates, and real-life examples from other photographers.

Let's dive in.

Email Marketing for Photographers: A Step-by-Step Guide

Ready to get started? Here’s a step-by-step guide to help you get your email marketing plans off the ground and start promoting your photography business.

Step 1: Choose Email Marketing Software

Email marketing software allows you to build an email list, design and send your emails, and track their performance. It’s an essential step to any email marketing plan.

The software you choose will depend on your experience level, budget, and email marketing needs. But, as a photographer, you’ll want to ensure that whatever you choose is design-forward, with big image blocks, stylish fonts and spacing, and lots of customizability. A few options we really like include:

• Mailchimp: Offers a great mix of visuals and ease of use, including lots of templates with image sections, and easy-to-embed photos and galleries.
• Klaviyo: Excellent for embedding images and text overlays. It’s also great for segmentation and personalization.
• Constant Contact: Puts simplicity first, with easy-to-swap images, photo-friendly layouts, and built-in stock photo access.

You can also use Softailed’s list of best email marketing software to help you narrow down your options.

Step 2: Grow Your Email List

To start email marketing, you first need a list of email addresses to market to. Building a freelance photographers’ email list takes effort, but it’s worth it. Once you find what works, your list will continue to grow over time.

Below are a few ways to start growing your email list.

Your Website

If you have website traffic, add a newsletter opt-in form to capture visitors' email addresses. A lead magnet can help entice people to share their contact information. Try something like:

• A session prep guide.
• A mini-session waitlist.
• A location or venue guide.

These provide visitors with something of value, which can help encourage signups.

Your Social Media

If you have engaged followers on social media, use these platforms to promote your email signup form. Add a signup link in your bio or host a social media giveaway that asks participants to sign up.

Events

Photographers often work face-to-face with clients. Offer options for people to sign up for your newsletter at shoots and consider attending local events to build your brand and grow your email list.

Step 3: Segment Leads

Once you have some emails to market to, it’s time to do what’s called “segmenting” your leads. This means to divide your audience into segments based on certain criteria or shared characteristics. According to data from Hubspot, segmented emails drive 30% more opens and 50% more clickthroughs than unsegmented ones.

For example, if you specialize in professional headshots and event photography, each audience should get different messages. Similarly, prospective clients and past clients need personalized content.

Most email marketing software makes it easy to create groups based on how and where people subscribe, so you can market to them separately.

Step 4: Develop Clear Goals

If you’re starting email marketing for your freelance photography business, each email campaign should have a clear purpose. Are you looking to increase product sales, nurture existing customers into repeat clients or referrals, or boost brand awareness? Figuring this out will help you determine the type of content to use and the most effective call to action.

Whatever your goals, write them down and revisit them as your audience and business grow. Consider using the S.M.A.R.T approach to goal setting to ensure your objectives are specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and time-bound.

A few examples of goals you might set for your email campaigns include:

• Book 10 clients from email marketing this quarter.
• Generate $1,000 in revenue from email promotions this month.
• Get three referrals from email marketing this month.

Step 5: Decide on Campaign Type

There are a few different types of email marketing campaigns. You can choose one to start, but many people also combine different campaign types for better results. You can choose from:

• Welcome Emails: Sent when someone joins your list. These set expectations, introduce your brand, and build trust.
• Newsletter: Regular updates (weekly/monthly). These help you stay top-of-mind, and share content, announcements, and work. Check out some of the types of newsletters you could choose from.
• Promotional/Sales Emails: Discounts, launches, and limited offers. These are designed to drive revenue or bookings.
• Lead Nurture Emails: Also known as “drip” campaigns, these sequences are designed to move subscribers from “interested” to “ready to buy.”
• Transactional Emails: Receipts, confirmations, booking details. These deliver essential information (but you can always sneak branding and marketing in here too!)
• Feedback/Survey Emails: Ask for reviews, testimonials, or input. These can help you improve offerings and provide social proof for other prospective clients.
• Milestone/Relationship Emails: Sent for birthdays, anniversaries, or other milestones. These help deepen your connection with clients and improve retention.

If you zoom out further, these roll up into four key buckets:

• Relationship building (welcome, newsletters, milestones)
• Education and nurturing (newsletters, drip campaigns)
• Sales and conversion (promotions and launches)
• Operational (transactional and confirmations)

Step 6: Create Engaging Content

While there’s no guaranteed formula for creating beautiful emails that convert, there are a few creation and email design tactics that can help increase your open and clickthrough rates.

Focus on:

• Creating a clickable subject line.
• Building a beautiful email with engaging copy and photos.
• Having a clear call to action to ensure people move farther along in their journey with your brand.

These elements require hard work and practice to perfect, so take the time to dive deeper and learn more about them. Increasingly, AI tools are being used in email marketing to help make these tasks faster and easier.

Step 7: Monitor Results and Adjust

Once your first campaign has been delivered, it’s time to analyze how it performed and what you can learn from that to help you achieve your goals. Most email software platforms make this easy by providing analytics and reporting to help you understand how people are engaging with your content. This will help you better understand what your subscribers respond to, and how to improve your strategy over time. Best of all, many email marketing tools make this easy for you.

At a minimum, most platforms will provide details like:

• Open rates
• Click-through rates
• Conversions
• Unsubscribes
• Spam complaints

If you're confused by the terms, we explain everything in our list of email marketing terms.

The Benefits of Email Marketing for Photographers

Email marketing has many benefits, especially for small business owners like photographers. Here are some advantages you can expect from investing in email marketing:

Save Money

Email marketing is very affordable if you’re a smaller business with a small email list. For as little as a few dollars a month, you can send targeted messaging to clients and potential clients. And, unlike on social media, there's a high probability people will receive your marketing message.

There are a number of cheap email marketing software platforms that cater to the needs of small businesses. There are even a few free email marketing platforms to try out if you have a low subscriber count.

Take Control of Your Audience

Your email list is entirely yours. You own it, and its success is completely under your control. This differs from social media platforms, where an algorithm change can instantly undermine your visibility.

Connect with Clients and Build Your Brand

Email marketing is a great way to get people's attention. Over time, this can help you build your brand.

By reading your emails, clients and potential clients can get to know more about you, your philosophy and what you have to offer. This will help you stand out from competitors and keep you top-of-mind for when they, or someone they know, needs a photographer.

Showcase Your Best Work

About 60% of people say that marketing emails have influenced their purchases. This is your opportunity to showcase your visual creativity and make an impact.

Share some of your best shots or link to your online portfolio in your emails. This keeps your audience aware of your work and makes them more likely to choose you when they need a photographer.

Increase Client Bookings

Staying in touch helps clients remember you and feel confident in your business. Because booking a photographer is a big decision that often takes time, consistent communication makes it more likely they’ll choose you when they’re ready—or pass your name along to a friend.

Boost Revenue During Slow Seasons

If you want to get more work during slower months, email marketing can definitely help.

You could announce discounts or promotions on photography services, or run physical print promotions. You could even consider testing out some affiliate marketing. (Check out our top picks for best affiliate marketing software!)

Once you have an engaged email marketing list, it’ll be up to you to decide what might be of interest to your audience and how you can leverage that for greater revenues.

Real-World Email Marketing Examples from Photographers

If you’re looking for some examples of email marketing that actually drove business results for photographers, here are a few standouts to consider:

Boosting Bookings with an Email Waitlist Strategy

Nina Mace increased bookings by using a waitlist-driven email campaign. Her strategy succeeded in boosting bookings because it created anticipation, rewarded early sign-ups with exclusive access, and leveraged scarcity to fill mini-shoot slots fast.

How it worked:

• Built a waitlist via email, offering early access to a special deal.
• Invited past clients and social followers to join for exclusive booking access.
• Released mini-shoot dates first to the waitlist through a dedicated booking page.
• Used limited availability to drive urgency and fast bookings.

Turning Cold Leads Into Booked Clients

Jeffrey Wang, director at Perfect Moment Photo and Video, increased bookings by running a highly targeted nurture campaign that combined smart list segmentation, personalization, and visually polished emails. It drove 15–23% conversion rate and boosted open rates by 40%.

How it worked:

• Audited and rebuilt his list using past clients, unbooked inquiries, wedding expo leads, and social media leads.
• Segmented audiences so each group received relevant, interest-aligned content.
• Personalized emails using the recipient’s name to increase engagement.
• Sent beautifully designed emails featuring professional imagery, real client stories, and a clear, concise call to action.

Email Marketing Tips for Photographers

Email works best for photographers when it feels like an extension of your portfolio, not a sales blast. These tips will help your emails look great, get opened, and actually drive bookings.

Be Photo and Design-Forward

Lead with your images. Use clean layouts, generous spacing, and large visuals so your work does the talking. Avoid cluttered designs that compete with your photos.

Compress Images for Fast Loading

High-resolution images look great, but large files can slow emails down or get clipped, especially on mobile. Before uploading, compress images to 100–300 KB per image and keep widths around 600–800 px. This keeps emails loading quickly while preserving visible quality. Use JPG for photos, avoid PNG unless transparency is needed, and always preview on mobile before sending.

Keep It Concise

Your email doesn’t need to tell the whole story. One clear message per email is enough. Pair a short block of copy with strong visuals and let interested readers click through for more.

Offer Something of Value

Give subscribers a reason to stay on your list, such as early access to mini sessions, booking tips, seasonal guides, or exclusive offers. Value builds trust long before someone is ready to book.

Don’t Overdo It

More emails don’t always mean better results. Send consistently, but not constantly. A thoughtful monthly or seasonal cadence often performs better than frequent promotions.

Test, Test, Test

Experiment with subject lines, send times, layouts, and calls to action. Small changes can lead to big gains in open rates and clicks, especially with visual-heavy emails.

Always Include a Clear Call to Action

Tell readers exactly what to do next—book a session, view a gallery, join a waitlist, or reply to the email. One strong CTA beats several competing ones every time.

Check out our guide on the basics of email marketing for more helpful tips. You can also read about how other professionals, like lawyers, dentists, and real estate professionals are successfully using email marketing.

Email Marketing Templates for Photographers

When it comes to putting together a great marketing email, design is everything, especially when you work in a visual field like photography. Fortunately, there are lots of great email marketing templates for photographers out there.

All you have to do is find the ones you like and customize them with your own images, colors and branding. It’s as easy as that! Here are a few great places to find email templates:

• Etsy: You can buy templates designed by photographers for photographers on Etsy. Most are relatively inexpensive and are designed to be edited in Canva, which is also cheap and easy to do.
• Email Design Software Provider: Email design software providers like Unlayer, Stripo and BEEFree are no-code options for designing beautiful emails. They also offer hundreds or even thousands of templates you can easily copy and adjust.
• Your Email Marketing Software: Most of the best email marketing software platforms provide free templates you can adjust to your liking.