Quick answer
To start email marketing in Kenya, register a domain such as yourbusiness.co.ke, create a business email address on it, add SPF, DKIM and DMARC records so mailbox providers trust you, build a list of people who agreed to receive your emails, choose an email tool with unsubscribe links and reports, then send a short, useful first campaign and review the results.
Key takeaways
- Send from your own domain, never from a free Gmail or Yahoo address.
- SPF, DKIM and DMARC are three DNS records that prove your emails are genuine; set them up before your first campaign.
- Only email people who agreed to hear from you, and include a one-click unsubscribe link in every campaign.
- Start small: a clean list of a few hundred engaged customers beats thousands of old addresses.
- Measure what matters to the business, such as replies, orders and bookings, not just opens.
Email still does a job that WhatsApp and SMS cannot: it carries long, designed content that people keep, forward and come back to. For a Kenyan small business it is also one of the cheapest channels to run once the foundations are in place.
Those foundations are where most first campaigns fail. This guide walks a business owner through the set-up in order, from domain to first send, without assuming any technical background.
Before you start
You will need:
- A domain name for your business, ideally a .co.ke address.
- Access to your domain's DNS settings, through your hosting provider or registrar.
- A business mailbox on that domain, such as info@ or news@yourbusiness.co.ke.
- A list of customers who agreed to receive emails, with their names and email addresses.
- An email tool that supports campaigns, unsubscribe links and reports.
- About two hours for the set-up, plus a day or two for DNS changes to take effect.
Step 1: Register a domain for your business
Register a domain that matches your business name. A .co.ke domain signals a Kenyan business and is managed by KeNIC through accredited registrars.
Keep the name short and easy to spell over the phone. If you do not have a domain yet, chat.or.ke's Kenyan hosting partner, HostingKE, registers .co.ke domains and sets up business email, payable by M-Pesa. The same domain and email are also needed for Meta business verification if you plan to use the WhatsApp Business API later.
Step 2: Create a business email address
Create a mailbox on your domain for sending campaigns. A sender like news@kahawabora.co.ke is trusted far more than kahawabora2024@gmail.com.
Use a general address rather than a person's name, so the list stays with the business when staff change. Many businesses use one address for campaigns and another, such as info@, for everyday customer email. Make sure replies to campaigns go to a mailbox someone actually reads.
Step 3: Set up SPF, DKIM and DMARC
These three DNS records tell mailbox providers that your emails really come from you. Without them, your campaigns are much more likely to land in spam, and major providers such as Gmail now expect them from anyone sending in bulk.
| Record | What it does | In plain terms |
|---|---|---|
| SPF | Lists the servers allowed to send email for your domain | "Only these post offices may send letters with my return address." |
| DKIM | Adds a digital signature to each email | "This letter carries my seal, and it has not been opened on the way." |
| DMARC | Tells receivers what to do if SPF or DKIM fails, and sends you reports | "If a letter fails the checks, put it in spam, and tell me about it." |
Your hosting provider can usually add SPF and DKIM for you, and your email tool will tell you which values to add if it sends through its own servers. Start DMARC with a monitoring policy, often written as p=none, then tighten it once you are sure all your genuine email passes.
Step 4: Build a list of people who agreed to hear from you
Only add people who gave you their email and agreed to receive marketing. Kenya's Data Protection Act, 2019 requires a lawful basis for direct marketing, and the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner is clear that consent must be freely given and easy to withdraw.
Good ways to collect consent:
- A sign-up form on your website with a clear sentence about what you will send.
- A tick box at checkout or on a booking form, left unticked by default.
- A question at the end of a WhatsApp chat: "Would you like our monthly offers by email?"
- A paper or tablet sign-up at your shop counter or event stand.
Never buy email lists or copy addresses from business cards without permission. Our guide on complying with the Data Protection Act when messaging customers covers the rules in more depth.
Step 5: Choose an email marketing tool
Pick a tool that sends from your domain, includes unsubscribe links automatically and shows results per recipient. The right choice depends on the other channels you use.
If email is your only channel and you need advanced automated sequences, a dedicated email platform is a good fit; Mailchimp alternatives in Kenya compares the main ones. If your customers also talk to you on WhatsApp and you send SMS, a combined platform avoids keeping three lists. chat.or.ke's email inbox and campaigns connects the mailbox you created in Step 2 over IMAP and SMTP, then lets you send campaigns with templates, a visual editor, merge fields and scheduling, with bounced addresses flagged and a one-click unsubscribe link in every campaign.
Step 6: Import and segment your contacts
Import your list as a CSV file and tag contacts so you can send each group what is relevant to them. Even two or three segments make a noticeable difference.
Useful first tags for a Kenyan SME:
- Location, such as Nairobi, Mombasa or upcountry, for delivery offers.
- Interest, such as product category or service.
- Customer type, such as new enquiry, first-time buyer or repeat customer.
If contacts already exist in your CRM, add email addresses to those records rather than creating duplicates. How to import and segment your contacts explains the process step by step.
Step 7: Write and send your first campaign
Keep your first campaign short, useful and personal. One clear message with one clear action works better than a busy newsletter.
A simple structure:
- Subject line under about 50 characters that says what is inside, such as "New Kenyan roasts, plus free delivery in Nairobi this week".
- Greeting with the customer's first name, using a merge field.
- Two or three short paragraphs and one image.
- One button, such as "Order on WhatsApp" or "Book a table".
- Footer with your business name, physical location and the unsubscribe link.
Send a test to yourself and a colleague, checking it on both a phone and a computer. Then send to your most engaged segment first.
Step 8: Measure results and keep your list clean
After each campaign, check delivery, clicks, replies and, most importantly, orders or bookings. Remove addresses that bounce and respect every unsubscribe immediately.
Treat open rates with caution, because some email apps load images automatically and inflate them. The figures that matter are the ones linked to revenue. Compare email with your other channels using email vs WhatsApp marketing as a guide.
How often should a Kenyan business send marketing emails?
Once or twice a month is a sensible starting point for most small businesses. Send more often only if you have genuinely new things to say, such as weekly menus or new stock.
Consistency matters more than frequency. A monthly newsletter that arrives on the same day builds a habit; bursts of daily promotions followed by silence mostly build unsubscribes.
Published 20 October 2026 Updated 20 October 2026 Plain-text version
