How to check on competitors email marketing is one of the most powerful skills a modern marketer can learn. Imagine you want to improve your email campaigns but aren’t sure where to start. Instead of guessing, you look at what top competitors are already doing with their subject lines, email timing, offers, and style. Suddenly, the path becomes clearer. Competitors unknowingly teach you what works and what doesn’t, without saying a word.
This article takes you through that entire journey in a simple, real, and narrative way, just like someone experienced it is sitting beside you and explaining the whole process step by step.
Checking Competitors Emails is like Having a Secret Teacher
Think of your competitors as teachers who are already running the same kind of campaigns you want to improve. They send emails every week, experiment with new designs, test subject lines, and try different offers. By watching them closely, you basically get “free lessons” on what successful companies are doing.
For example:
Let’s say a competitor suddenly starts sending more educational emails instead of promotional ones. It tells you that customers in that niche might be getting tired of constant sales and want more value. Or if a competitor pushes back-to-back discount emails before payday, it shows you they know when customers are most ready to buy.
So, when you check their email marketing, you’re not copying, you’re learning. You’re gathering insights that help you build a smarter and more customer-friendly strategy.
1. Start by choosing the right competitors.
Before anything, choose 3-6 competitors. Don’t pick too many, because information overload can confuse you. Pick a mix:
One direct competitor same product, same audience
One creative brand (unique messaging style)
One leading industry player-a benchmark for all the rest
Now, create two or three separate email addresses just for tracking. This makes your inbox clean, and you can label each competitor easily. Think of these inboxes as your “research lab.”
2. Subscribe, and watch the emails roll in like a story.
Once you subscribe, you’ll start getting their welcome email, their weekly newsletters, promo emails, abandoned cart emails in case you add something to your cart, and even their festival or seasonal campaigns.
Every message that arrives brings with it a small part of their story:
Why was this subject line chosen?
Is this to instill confidence or to make a sale?
What does the timing of their attempt say about their strategy?
Once you start noticing these details every day, you gradually begin to understand the big picture: their tone, their customer journey, and what they think really works.
3. Document the key aspects like a detective
To learn deeply, don’t just read the emails; document them. Keep a simple spreadsheet with columns like:
Date and day
Full subject line
Preheader
Type of email: promo, newsletter, welcome, reminder
Main offer or message
CTA: Buy Now, Learn More, Claim Discount
Landing page link
Tone or style: humorous, formal, urgent
Recording this information turns your competitor’s e-mail habits into patterns. After a few weeks, you will begin to notice the trends that weren’t so obvious on first glance.
4. Use lightweight automation so the process feels weightless
If your inbox gets filled up fast, use simple automation tools. For instance, tools like Mailparser, Zapier, or Make will take each email you get and scrape some important details like the subject line and links. These then store that information directly into your spreadsheet.
This means less manual work and more time to focus on insights.
5. Don’t Forget their landing pages, where magic really does happen
When you click on the CTA inside a competitor’s email, you come to a page crafted for that message. Many times, it’s on that page where the real strategy is:
How they present their offer
What type of images do they use?
Whether they guide you or force you
How smooth or complex the purchase process is
Sometimes, the real tactic isn’t in the email itself-it’s in the journey after the email.
You can also check some tools like BuiltWith or Wappalyzer to see what email platform they use-whether Klaviyo, Mailchimp, or HubSpot, which explains the level of personalization and automation.
6. Look for rhythm and repetition-the heartbeat of their strategy
After a few weeks of collecting emails, you start to see the rhythm. There’s a pattern that every marketer follows, and once you understand that pattern, you can plan.
Ask yourself:
Do they send more emails during weekends?
Is there a particular day of the week when goods are on sale?
Do they send educational content before launching a major product?
How frequently do they give their discounts?
Are they changing their tone gradually over time?
These clues enable you to comprehend the priorities of competitors and what your common audience thinks.
7. Uncover the hidden gaps-yours for real opportunities
One of the biggest benefits of checking competitors’ emails is seeing what they are not doing. For example:
Maybe they never send tutorials, just promotions.
Maybe they never give small incentives, only big discounts.
Maybe their emails seem too robotic and not personalized.
These gaps are opportunities for you to shine. You can create content or offers that your competitors ignore, and that becomes your advantage.
8. Use what you learn and apply to your campaigns
You’ve gathered insights, patterns, and ideas. Now comes the most important part, turning learning into action.
Start testing:
Try a subject-line style that consistently appears in your competitor’s high-quality emails.
Adjust your sending time if you notice a competitor dominates mornings and disappears by evening.
Add more value-driven emails if you find your competitors are not educating their audience.
Your own email marketing will grow stronger naturally, not by copying but by understanding.
A gentle word about ethics
When learning how to check competitors email marketing, always stay ethical:
Only subscribe through public forms. Never attempt to access or hack private systems. Never steal designs; never have word-for-word content. Use insights to inspire, not plagiarize. Good marketing is truthful, strategic, and customer-driven. Your competitors can guide your growth. Learning how to check competitors email marketing is not about spying, it’s about understanding what is already working in your industry. With every email you receive, you gain knowledge, clarity, and direction. Think of it as building your own “marketing map.” Every competitor’s email is a clue. Every trend is a signal. Every pattern is a lesson. And when you combine all these lessons with your own creativity, your email marketing becomes stronger, smarter, and naturally effective.
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