5 emails you should be sending to your subscribers
Is your mailing list becoming the ‘Cinderella’ amongst your content marketing activity?
Personally, I think emails are so important right now. Nurturing your mailing list and offering real value to your subscribers is vital. We all know that the traffic on social media is ever increasing and the algorithms fight against you . You put out a post and who knows how many followers will actually see it…let alone those who are actually interested in what you have to offer.
With this in mind, now compare an email. There can be so much more direct and targetted. LEt’s explore this and some different emails you can send to really catch your ideal clients’ attention.
5 reasons why email is better than social media
Firstly, if someone subscribed to your mailing list, they are already a warm lead. They want to learn more about you. …who knows how many social media followers are actually interested in what you do?
Secondly, once someone has subscribed to your list they are giving you an open invitation to their inbox. Make sure you respect that by sending them good content. …whilst on social media who even knows which posts are seen by whom??
Thirdly, you can take advantage of the opportunity to directly engage with subscribers. You get access to information about how subscribers are interacting with your email (like clicks and opens) and can use this information and identify their preferences. …there’s only so much you can read in to getting a reaction on a social media post or the odd comment!
Fourthly, you can personalise emails. You can make them read really naturally and cram in a lot more information than a social media post. …you definitely can’t personalise a social media post (no matter how smart the algorithm)
Finally, you can also segment your list and send only information about certain parts of your business, products, services or events, that should appeal most to certain groups of individuals. …imagine if we could just send certain social media posts to certain followers, rather than the weird algorithm deciding for us?! Oh just imagine!
Hopefully, I’ve convinced you that investing time and energy into creating content for email is worth it. So, now to inspire you and help ensure you are offering so much more than a standard sales email or monthly newsletter, here are 5 recommendations for types of emails you should be sending to your list…and why!
5 great emails you can send to your list
Welcome email sequence
When someone commits to your mailing list, do you offer them more than a confirmation message or ‘thank you’ landing page? I jolly well hope so! At the very least, ensure that every subscriber gets a confirmation and welcome email. Make your new subscriber excited about what to expect from you. Thank them for subscribing and showing support. Better still offer something in return. Yes a ‘lead magnet’ is a classic sales tool but, genuinely, consider it as your free gift to your new subscriber. And don’t just give it away and walk away. Send a follow up sequence, ask them what they thought of the resource or download. If you offer a discount code or similar, then check in with those who take advantage, as well as those who don’t. The wonderful advantage of email software like Mailchimp, Convertkit, etc etc, is that they allow this kind of ‘personal’ response – so use it. Make your subscribers feel like so much more than an email address through your welcome.
Promotional or sales emails
It is of course vital that you tell your subscribers about any promotions, products and services. Advertise discounts, offers and events, etc. Better still, offer your subscribers something exclusive. Don’t offer everyone the same. If I have subscribed and follow your business, I’d be delighted to notice that a certain promotion or offer is not also advertised on social media. Remember to mix ‘commercial style emails’ with more personal sounding one – even if it is just the ‘FNAME’ tag!
Watch my Facebook Live about making your emails more personal
Remember to make the most of segmentation too – perhaps offer special offers to active subscribers, rewarding loyalty and support. Consider a different promotion for those who are inactive to entice them to re-engage.
Seasonal / regular updates
Whilst I lament the use of ‘newsletters’ as your only form of email, there is absolutely nothing wrong with sending out emails that offer a round up, update or seasonal news. It is essential to consider timing. Do you have enough news or content to do a monthly update? Would quarterly (i.e. seasonally) work better or could you pick ‘key dates’ throughout the year, i.e. business anniversary, Christmas or New Year, Summer, Back to School?
As well as highlighting key services or products, don’t forget to remind your subscribers about basic details like your social media, contact information or opening hours.
Post-purchase follow up
Do you have a template email ready to send to your customer or client after they have bought from you? If not, why not?! If someone has spent their hard earned cash with you, why not send them a follow up email? This could be a simple, “how was it and would you be happy to leave a review?” I’m sure you’ve all had one from Amazon or a similar online retail giant. If you offer a service, could you send a feedback form, questionnaire or a simply ‘how is everything?’ …if you are feeling brave enough, direct them to where they could leave a testimonial. These emails can be highly personalised, but you can still have templates ready to go, saving you time and effort. Furthermore, you could have more than one – one scheduled to send a relatively short period after purchase, but then one more ‘longer term’ offering a genuine follow up enquiry.
Sunset sequence
I know that many of us get hung up on open rates and click rates…but also get obsessed with mailing list quantities. What if I told you that 50 active subscribers is soooo much better than 500 inactive ones?! Think about it…it’s too easy to just ignore an email, to delete it. People are lazy and will often delete many unopened emails for a long time before they actually unsubscribe. For you, this means that every email you send out, the more inactive subscribers you have, the lower the open rates and click rates become, even if you are adding new subscribers regularly. I recommend that once a quarter you identify your inactive subscribers, those who have not opened any emails for a significant period of time (the exact amount of time or number of emails/campaigns will depend on how often and how many emails you send).
For these inactive subscribers, send a short series of email (just two is enough) trying to re-engage them in the first instance (which can have a very high success rate) and offer to unsubscribe them in the second. Then be brave and remove them from your list. No one gains anything from having unopened and unwanted emails in their inbox. Archive them and move on…focussing on your active subscribers instead.
Don’t let your mailing list go to waste
I have heard horror stories of social media accounts being hacked and online selling accounts (like Etsy) being shut down without warning. Your mailing list is precious and whilst you should do everything to protect the data anyway, it does seem to be the safest, most secure and most effective way to engage directly with your followers, supporters and customers (past and present!).
If you would like help with creating emails, come and join The Content Club and find lots of resources to help with mailing lists, as well as all forms of content creation. PLUS, there is a whole community of like-minded businesses owners helping each other too.