Dovetail Kitchens: Launching Email Marketing for the First Time in 40 Years
At Strong Social London, we love helping established brands embrace new ways to connect with their audiences — especially when it’s something they’ve never done before. That’s why we were delighted to work with our long standing client Dovetail Kitchens, a trusted bespoke kitchen company with over 40 years of craftsmanship, to launch their email marketing for the very first time.
By introducing a strategic, personalised newsletter approach, we helped Dovetail Kitchens create a new communication channel designed to strengthen relationships, showcase expertise, and stay front of mind with past and prospective clients alike.
Building a Personal and Strategic Communication Channel
Our work with Dovetail Kitchens started with laying the foundations for long-term email marketing success. We began by setting up and configuring their Mailchimp account from scratch, ensuring the platform was fully optimised and ready to support future campaigns.
To align with Dovetail Kitchens’ approachable, trusted and locally rooted brand identity, we designed a bespoke email template that felt personal and authentic. Rather than a highly corporate style, this first newsletter was written from the perspective of founder John, giving the campaign a warm, personable feel that reflected the business and its longstanding reputation.
This personal approach allowed recipients to feel directly connected to the people behind the business — an important touchpoint for a brand built on trust, relationships and craftsmanship.
Organising and Segmenting Over 40 Years of Relationships
Before launching the campaign, we also helped Dovetail Kitchens organise their extensive contact database. Having worked with homeowners, builders, designers and industry professionals over several decades, it was essential to create a more strategic structure for future communications.
We designed a comprehensive contact management spreadsheet to categorise and segment their audience into key groups, including builders, interior designers, previous clients and other professional contacts. This gave Dovetail Kitchens the ability to send more relevant and tailored messaging moving forward, creating stronger engagement and a smarter long-term marketing strategy.
Strong First-Time Email Marketing Results
For a company sending its first-ever email campaign after 40 years in business, the results demonstrated strong engagement and genuine audience interest.
The campaign achieved an impressive 26.4% open rate, showing strong curiosity and engagement from an established audience.
Even more encouraging was the 12.7% click-through rate to the linked website pages, demonstrating meaningful interest in the business, projects and services showcased in the newsletter.
Engagement levels remained high beyond the initial open, with recipients generating 181 total opens and 93 total clicks, indicating that many readers returned to revisit the content and explore multiple areas of the website.
The most popular links included featured project pages and the Dovetail Kitchens homepage, highlighting strong interest in their craftsmanship and portfolio of bespoke work.
Laying the Foundations for Long-Term Growth
Launching Dovetail Kitchens’ first newsletter was about much more than sending one email — it was about building the foundations for a smarter, more consistent marketing strategy after four decades of relying primarily on reputation and referrals.
With the systems now in place, Dovetail Kitchens is well positioned to continue nurturing relationships with past clients, professional partners and prospective customers through thoughtful, personalised communication.
At Strong Social London, we’re proud to support heritage businesses like Dovetail Kitchens in embracing modern marketing while staying true to what makes their brand special. By combining strategic systems, personal storytelling and thoughtful design, we help businesses build stronger relationships that drive long-term growth.