Email marketing is a privilege online marketers have that many offline businesses don’t enjoy. Whenever someone visits your site, you have the opportunity to offer them a free gift in exchange for their contact information so that you can communicate with them in the future.
But once you have a list, you might feel intimidated or lost about what to send to your subscribers. You don’t want them to leave your list, and the only way you can do that is to provide content they find valuable.
At the same time, your ultimate goal as an online entrepreneur is to make money. Therefore, you have to find a way to add methods of promotion to your communications via email, without coming across as spammy or self-serving.
Below, you will find a strategy that allows you to utilize five different types of email messages that will not only serve your customers well, but also help you achieve your end goal of profiting from your list building efforts.
Needs-Based Emails Designed to Build Trust in Your Brand
The first, and probably most important thing you need to do if you want to build and retain your subscriber list is to figure out what kind of content your subscribers need most, so that you can turn them into consumers.
Whenever you don’t have anything to promote or an action you want your list to take, you can always use the needs-based email strategy to show value and boost you to the top of their “open” list.
Your goal is to find out what their needs are. There are different ways you can find this out. Keyword tools show you exactly what they’re searching for. For example, on the day this report is being written, if you were in the keto diet niche, you could go to Google Trends and search keto diet.
There, you would see that this audience has a current high interest in keto gummies. But there’s also a specific demographic searching for keto diet information – senior citizens – as well as people who have epilepsy
You’ll find questions people are asking, like, “Is the keto diet healthy?” They want to know how it compares to the Mediterranean diet and whether it’s good for diabetics, too. They’re also curious about keto flu symptoms.
These are the results from just one tool. There are others you can use too, and you can even drill down with these topics. If I use a keyword tool to drill down about the keto diet for seniors, I’ll discover they need information about whether it’s safe, what a meal plan might look like for seniors, and more.
Take time to learn how to spy on consumers to see what they feel they need. You’ll find this information in forums on your topic. You can go to a keto diet forum to lurk and learn.
Usually, they’ll have an “introduce yourself” section. Look in those to see what people say in their introduction. This is usually where they discuss their struggles, such as having fallen off the keto wagon and needing to get back on track or having been on low carb, but struggling to lose the last 15 pounds so they want to try keto.
When you step up and provide information about what they feel they need, it will prove to them that you’re the one they can count on to help them eliminate problems, overcome obstacles and achieve their goals.
Emails Designed to Open Up the Lines of Communication
Subscribers like to know that when they are on your list, the lines of communication work both ways. They don’t just want to be talked to. They want to know that if they address you, you will answer.
This is something that many online entrepreneurs fail to do. Instead, they don’t want to reply to emails because they don’t necessarily want to waste time helping people unless they are buyers.
But if you are an ethical marketer, you will respond to the emails that you received from your subscribers. Because of other people’s behavior, your subscribers may feel a bit intimidated about reaching out to you.
You want them to feel at ease communicating with you for several reasons. First and foremost, they will develop loyalty to those they feel are going out of their way to help them.
But it also allows you to pick their brain whenever you need to, such as when you are deciding which products you want to promote or which products you want to develop to sell in the marketplace.
In your emails, you can come up with questions that you present to your subscribers with an invitation for them to reply back to you with their answer. Sometimes, this can be as simple as asking them what they need from you so that you can serve them better.
However, it may be better to come up with some specific questions to ask. Don’t have too many questions in one email. In fact, sometimes it’s better to start with one primary question so that they don’t feel as if the task is a waste of time.
You can also develop a survey that has multiple questions, but again, not too many. You probably shouldn’t ask more than five to 10 questions maximum. You want the survey to take less than 5 minutes.
There are different tools you can use for your survey, so that you can have the data easily presented to you in the form of a graph or statistics. For example, SurveyMonkey has both free and paid levels of usage so that you can send out a survey to your list, collect the data, and use it in future communications and product development.
Asking your subscribers questions is a way of showing that you care about what they think and what they have to say. As long as you are not abusing this type of email and sending it out every single time you communicate with them, it will go over well if you actually put the data to good use.
Promotional Emails That Serve Both You and the Customer
The most difficult type of email for new marketers to send is one that promotes a product. They are so nervous about feeling spammy or as if they are providing too much hype in their communication that they struggle to sell at all.
There’s definitely a right and wrong way to send a promotional email. What you want to keep in mind is that the promo email needs to serve both of your needs. For you, the ultimate goal is to make money.
So you definitely need to have the right about of warming up of the prospective buyer, letting them know about the product and how it can benefit them. You have to have a strong call to action and let them know if there’s any scarcity involved.
For the reader, the focus must be on what’s in it for them. They have to know how this product is going to help them in their own life. So you need to paint a picture showing that you understand their problem or struggle.
Then you use some strategic storytelling to make them think about what life will continue to be like if they ignore your advice and continue on with the same path – whether it’s physical pain, a financial struggle, or some other obstacle.
You also show them what could be if they do take your advice. How will life improve? Make them get past their immediate focus on the problem and envision a change where this product has given them financial peace or freedom from some sort of pain.
When it comes to promotional emails, you have to put their needs first. You should never promote anything and everything just to make a quick buck. You have to carefully vet the products you promote to them so that you’re only giving them what’s in their best interest.
Anytime you can, make sure you add value to your promotions. You can include a list of tips for implementing or applying the knowledge or give subscribers access to a thorough review of the product.
Exclusive Subscriber-Only Emails
Subscribers love it when they get something the general public can’t get. They have trusted you with their name and email address so that you can communicate with them on a regular basis.
If all you are doing is spamming them with promotions continually, without providing any additional value, they will soon leave your list and go to someone who does deliver for them.
One way you can make them want to open every one of your emails, and be excited about receiving them, is to present exclusive subscriber only content. This is something that you send them, either directly in the email or that you post elsewhere and only give them access to.
These can be quick tutorials or case studies that you create that only subscribers can access. Creating a blog to post both public and subscriber only content to is always a smart idea.
Gated content is something that not only will your subscribers appreciate, but visitors to your blog will see and wonder how they can access it. When they use your contact form to get in touch with you about how to access those posts, you can direct them to sign up to your list using the form in your sidebar.
You can create your gated content on your blog by developing the post first. Then, before you publish it, go to the post area in the sidebar and click on the visibility. It will default to public.
Click on the word public and you will see that you can make it private or password protected. Choose the password protected option and create a password that you can send to subscribers.
You could use one password for all of your site content, but this might allow some people to get the password, unsubscribe from your list, and then use that password for all future posts.
Instead, have a separate password for each piece of gated content. That keeps people from leaving your list. Keep track of the passwords so that if anyone currently on your list needs access, you can provide it to them.
Another subscriber-only perk you can offer in the form of content is a bonus. Whenever someone buys through your link, you can provide them with a bonus that they get for being a loyal subscriber.
Even if you have a public bonus for people who buy through your link from social media or your blog, you can also have a separate exclusive bonus for your subscribers who get it through an email promo.
Magazine-Style Newsletters Packed with Information
One of the most popular email communications you can send out is a newsletter. Newsletter have a specific type of format. It’s not just an random email communication (some people mistakenly call all of their emails newsletters).
Instead, a real newsletter has multiple pieces of content in one mailing. For example, you might have a section for your thought of the day. It might be a motivational piece or your insight about something happening in your industry.
It would also include one or more tutorials or hacks. If you can provide these in a step-by-step manner, that’s even better. In fact, if it’s lengthy, you can start off with several paragraphs of the tutorial, and then send them to your blog to read the rest of the tutorial.
You can also make special announcements in your newsletter. Maybe you’re launching a new membership or blog – or even a social media presence on a platform you weren’t on previously.
Product reviews can also be placed strategically inside of your newsletter. You might even secure a coupon code for them, or some sort of exclusive deal that another vendor has agreed to give your subscribers.
You can also put a spotlight on subscribers. They love this! People who are taking action on whatever it is you’re teaching will come to you for engagement and communications.
Ask for their permission to share their tips or progress, and if possible, have them send in a picture to include. Being in the spotlight isn’t for everyone, but it also feels good to get the kudos from a respected niche leader when you’re doing something right.
You can also spotlight other professionals in the industry, or leading experts. Curate some information and discuss it – or reach out to them and ask for an interview. Sending emails gets easier once you study your stats and see which emails people are opening, which ones they engage with by clicking on links, and hearing directly from them about what they like (and what they don’t).