User Question: "How do I send email marketing campaigns like newsletters and promotions?"
Quick Version: Petboost doesn't currently offer email marketing campaigns, but here's what you can do instead using purpose-built marketing tools.
What You're Trying to Do
You want to send promotional or informational emails to your customer base for marketing purposes:
Common Use Cases:
Monthly grooming tips newsletter
Seasonal promotions (Christmas specials, summer coat care)
New service announcements
Customer appreciation messages
Educational content (training tips, pet health information)
Birthday wishes and special offers
What Petboost DOES Offer
Before looking at alternatives, here's what Petboost already does in this area:
✅ Appointment Confirmation Emails
Automatically sent when appointments are booked
Professional, branded with your business information
How to access: Automatic with every booking
What it's good for: Transactional communication, reducing no-shows
✅ Automated Reminder Emails
Configurable timing (for example 2, 24 or 48 hours before)
Friday summary reminders for upcoming week
How to access: Settings → Notifications → Email the customer: reminders
What it's good for: Ensuring customers remember their appointments
✅ Payment Receipt Emails
Professional invoices with downloadable PDFs
Automatic after payment processing
How to access: Automatic with payment transactions
What it's good for: Record-keeping, professional communication
✅ Course Enrolment Emails
Welcome messages with course schedule
Instructor information and class details
How to access: Automatic when customer enrols in a course
What it's good for: Setting expectations for training programs
✅ Marketing Ideas & Email Templates (Reporting & Intelligence)
Pre-written, personalised email templates for common marketing scenarios (win-back, VIP thank-you, senior pet care, puppy welcome, rebook reminders, and more)
Segmented customer lists based on your business data (e.g., customers who haven't visited in 60 days, high-value clients, customers with expiring vaccinations)
Opens in your own email client (Gmail, Outlook) for you to review, edit, and send
Campaign URL builder for tracking which booking links drive conversions
How to access: Reporting & Intelligence → deep dive sections → email icons on customer lists
What it's good for: Targeted, data-driven outreach without needing a separate marketing platform
Related guide: Pet Owner Communications
What Petboost DOESN'T Offer
Petboost does not currently include:
❌ Hosted email sending (emails are composed in your own email client, not sent from Petboost)
❌ Drip email sequences or multi-step automation workflows
❌ Drag-and-drop email campaign builder with design tools
❌ A/B testing for email campaigns
❌ Campaign analytics (open rates, click rates, conversions for marketing emails)
❌ Subscriber list management with opt-in/opt-out tracking
❌ Scheduled email broadcasts at scale
Why? Petboost provides smart, data-driven email templates and segmented customer lists so you can do targeted outreach directly from your inbox. For full-scale email marketing with hosted sending, design tools, automation workflows, and campaign analytics, purpose-built platforms like Mailchimp, Campaign Monitor, and HubSpot remain the better choice. We focus development resources on pet-specific operational features rather than replicating what these platforms already do brilliantly.
✅ Recommended Alternatives (What You SHOULD Do)
We recommend using purpose-built tools alongside Petboost:
Option 1: Mailchimp (⭐ Recommended for Small-Medium Businesses)
What it does:
Drag-and-drop email campaign builder
Pre-designed templates for newsletters, promotions, announcements
Audience segmentation (send to specific customer groups)
Automation workflows (welcome series, birthday emails)
Campaign analytics (open rates, click rates, conversions)
Compliance management (unsubscribe, GDPR)
Pricing:
Free plan: Up to 500 contacts (limited features)
Essentials: $13 AUD/month for 500 contacts
Standard: $20 AUD/month for 500 contacts (includes automation, A/B testing)
Premium: $350 AUD/month for advanced features
How to use with Petboost:
Export customer email list from Petboost monthly or quarterly
Import into Mailchimp audience
Create campaigns using Mailchimp's templates
Send to all customers or specific segments
Petboost continues handling all transactional emails automatically
Example workflow:
A grooming business exports their customer list from Petboost quarterly. They use Mailchimp to send a monthly "Grooming Tips" newsletter and seasonal promotions (10% off summer grooming). Petboost handles all appointment confirmations and reminders automatically. Customers receive helpful marketing emails AND reliable transactional messages-best of both worlds.
Link: mailchimp.com
Option 2: Campaign Monitor
What it does:
Professional email marketing platform
Beautiful drag-and-drop builder
Powerful segmentation tools
Automation journeys
Campaign analytics and reporting
Great customer support
Pricing:
Basic: $12 AUD/month for 500 contacts
Unlimited: $35 AUD/month for 500 contacts (unlimited sends)
Premier: $59 AUD/month for 500 contacts (advanced analytics, priority support)
How to use with Petboost:
Export customer emails from Petboost
Import into Campaign Monitor
Design campaigns using visual builder
Schedule or send immediately
Track results in analytics dashboard
Best for: Businesses wanting more sophisticated templates and better Australian support compared to Mailchimp
Link: campaignmonitor.com
Option 3: HubSpot (For Growing Businesses)
What it does:
Complete marketing automation platform
Email campaigns + forms + landing pages + CRM
Advanced lead nurturing
Marketing automation workflows
Detailed analytics and attribution
Scales as you grow
Pricing:
Free plan: Basic email marketing (limited)
Starter: $30 AUD/month
Professional: $1,220 AUD/month (advanced features)
Enterprise: Custom pricing
How to use with Petboost:
Use HubSpot as your marketing hub
Export Petboost customer data to HubSpot monthly
Create sophisticated campaigns and automations
Track all marketing activities in one place
Petboost remains your operational system (bookings, payments, pet records)
Best for: Growing businesses that want to invest heavily in marketing and have dedicated marketing staff
Link: hubspot.com
Option 4: Manual Email (Free, Basic Approach)
If you don't want to use external tools:
Steps:
Export customer email list from Petboost
Create email content in your email client (Gmail, Outlook)
Use BCC to send to customers (protects privacy)
OR use mail merge tools (Google Sheets + Gmail add-ons)
Time investment: ~1-2 hours per campaign
Best for: Very small businesses (<50 customers) sending occasional campaigns
Limitations:
No templates or design tools
No analytics or tracking
Risk of being marked as spam
No automation capabilities
Manual unsubscribe management
Real-World Examples
Example 1: Small Grooming Salon - Mailchimp Free Plan
What they needed:
Monthly grooming tips newsletter to 300 regular customers
What they used:
Petboost for all bookings, confirmations, and reminders
Mailchimp Free Plan for monthly newsletter
How they set it up:
Export customer emails from Petboost quarterly
Import to Mailchimp
Use Mailchimp template for "Grooming Tips Newsletter"
Send first Monday of each month
Track open rates (~40%) to gauge customer interest
Result:
Customers love the helpful tips. Newsletter costs $0/month. Petboost handles all operational communications automatically. Total time: 2 hours/month for newsletter content.
Example 2: Multi-Service Pet Business - Campaign Monitor
What they needed:
Separate campaigns for grooming customers, daycare customers, and training clients
What they used:
Petboost for all bookings and operations
Campaign Monitor for segmented campaigns
How they set it up:
Export customers with service tags from Petboost
Create three audience segments in Campaign Monitor:
Grooming customers → grooming tips
Daycare customers → daycare updates, socialisation tips
Training customers → training advice, course announcements
Send targeted campaigns monthly
Result:
Higher engagement because content is relevant. Open rates 50-60% (vs. 30-40% for generic campaigns). Cost: $35 AUD/month.
Example 3: Growing Pet Services Brand - HubSpot
What they needed:
Sophisticated marketing automation including email campaigns, lead nurture, and customer journey mapping
What they used:
Petboost for operational excellence (bookings, payments, pet records)
HubSpot for marketing automation
How they set it up:
HubSpot as marketing hub
Export Petboost data monthly to HubSpot
Automated welcome series for new customers
Seasonal campaign workflows
Re-engagement campaigns for inactive customers
Comprehensive analytics across all marketing
Result:
Professional marketing operation. 25% increase in repeat bookings from re-engagement campaigns. Cost: $30 AUD/month (Starter plan). Investment worth it for growing business with marketing goals.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Will Petboost add email marketing features in the future?
A: Not in the near term. Our strategic focus is on delivering exceptional operational features for pet businesses (bookings, pet profiles, packages, courses, resource management). Email marketing is a mature, competitive space with excellent dedicated platforms. We'd build a mediocre version of what Mailchimp already does brilliantly. We believe the "best tool for each job" approach serves customers better.
Q: Is there a way to do this without external tools?
A: Yes, but it's limited. You can manually export customer emails and send via your email client using BCC. However, you'll miss out on templates, analytics, automation, and compliance features. For businesses sending regular campaigns, a dedicated tool saves time and delivers better results.
Q: Which alternative do most Petboost customers use?
A: Mailchimp is the most common choice for small-to-medium pet businesses (Free or Essentials plan). Campaign Monitor is popular with businesses wanting better Australian support. HubSpot is used by growing businesses with dedicated marketing resources.
Q: How often should I send campaigns?
A: Best practice for pet businesses:
Newsletter: Monthly (first Monday of the month)
Seasonal promotions: 4-6 times per year (Christmas, summer, Easter, etc.)
New service announcements: As needed
Avoid: Weekly emails (too frequent, leads to unsubscribes)
Q: Will Petboost integrate directly with Mailchimp/Campaign Monitor?
A: Not currently. Integration approach: Export customer emails from Petboost → Import to your marketing platform quarterly or when needed. Takes 5-10 minutes. Future roadmap may include direct integrations based on customer demand.
Next Steps
If you want to proceed with Mailchimp (Option 1):
Sign up for free at mailchimp.com
Export customer emails from Petboost (Customers → Export → CSV)
Import to Mailchimp audience
Create your first campaign using a template
Need help? Mailchimp has excellent tutorials and support
If you want to proceed with Campaign Monitor (Option 2):
Sign up for free trial at campaignmonitor.com
Export customer emails from Petboost
Import to Campaign Monitor
Design campaign using visual builder
Send test campaign to yourself first
If you want to proceed with HubSpot (Option 3):
Sign up for free plan at hubspot.com
Set up customer properties matching Petboost data
Export and import customer data
Explore HubSpot Academy for training
Consider Starter plan when ready for automation
Related Guides
Last Updated: 10 April 2026
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