I made $2,816,217 from email marketing last year for my own online store. Not bad right?
7 Common myths about email marketing
Myth 1 - Email marketing is dead
Truth - Most people are just doing it wrong. The best way to burn your email list is to send overly designed promotional email campaigns. This is the old way to make money with email marketing.
Myth 2 - You need to use HTML to make an email
Truth - Email service providers are now drag and drop. HTML is not needed and overkill.
Myth 3 - You need focus on email design and hire a graphic designer
Truth - Overly designed emails are not native to your inbox. Do you send your friends a
perfectly designed email or plain text? Be native to the platform to succeed
Myth 4 - The only emails I should send are promotional
Truth - You need to earn trust from your list. The worst way to do this is to ONLY send special deals and promotions. This will guarantee you end up in the dreaded spam folder.
Myth 5 - You should use a no reply email address
Truth - The goal is to hear from your email subscribers not ignore them. If you aren't willing to get replies from your list, you should not invest in email marketing. The worst thing you can ever do with email is to send from a no reply email address.
Myth 6 - Email marketing is too expensive
Truth - Email marketing should have the highest ROI of any marketing channel.
Myth 7 - You should send email newsletters with multiple calls to action
Truth - The most effective way to send email marketing campaigns is to have one clear call to action. Multiple calls to action and company updates in one email isn't as effective. Keep it simple.
What type of business should use email marketing?
Almost any type of business can benefit from email marketing.
1- Ecommerce
2- Digital marketing agencies
3- Bloggers
4 - YouTubers
5- SAAS companies
6 - Course creators
7 - Freelancers
8 - Traditional brick and mortar retail
Email is one of your only owned assets and any business can benefit from building an email list.
How does organic social media marketing vs Email Marketing
Email marketing is still one of the most effective ways to build an owned asset. Social media channels such as Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, and TikTok are reliant on their algorithms.
You don't own your audience and it is difficult to push your audience to take action off the platform.
An effective email marketing strategy can make you money, build your brand and build authentic relationships simultaneously.
Email marketing can reach many people while also feeling like it is personal.
How do you make money with email marketing? (Step-by-step guide)
Step 1 - Set up a way to collect email subscribers and build your own list
Examples:
Pop up form (Software: Privy)
Lead form (Typeform)
Quiz (Pre-Hook)
Customers that buy from you (Shopify)
The software you use may differ based on the type of business you are running. The most important thing is that you have a clear offer and a way to gather emails from website visitors.
Step 2 - Define your email marketing purpose.
This is often overlooked. You need to think from your customer's perspective.
Why would your customers want to sign up for your email list?
If your email marketing strategy is to only make money. You won't actually make money.
It sounds counterintuitive. But you need to bring value and earn the right to communicate with your email subscribers.
Example: My email marketing strategy is the following: I want to build my business with my email list and execute this by asking them authentic questions. I will build real relationships by having real conversations at scale with my audience.
Step 3 - Set up a simple email cadence
When you start out, the volume of emails you send isn't the most important aspect. Try to send on the same days each week when you first start. Half the battle is being consistent.
Start with 1 email a week and measure results from there.
Step 4 - Don't send an email if you have nothing worth saying
This kinda goes under strategy as well, but I would rather have you send one less email that week if you have nothing worth saying.
Step 5 - Define your Key Performance Indicators (Goals)
You can't hit your goals if you don't have them. Having a baseline for some key metrics can be helpful if it is part of a bigger strategy. If you focus only on revenue, you can hit those goals but the list will become ineffective fast.
Metrics to review:
Overall percent of revenue from email campaigns
Overall percent of revenue from email automation
Individual campaign performance
Open rate
Click rate
Unsubscribe rate
Again, these are just a piece of the puzzle and shouldn't change your overall strategy for long-term success with email marketing.
Step 6 - Send to segmented campaigns (Don't get too technical)
Email can get really technical really quickly. But the best way to use the technology is to build segments.
Popular segments we use to drive the best results for email marketing campaigns
Customer segment
Engaged segment
Targeted customers who don't own specific products
Non-Customers
We use a strategy of sending to the most engaged first to increase the chance of our emails
hitting the inbox.
Step 7 - Dial in your offers
No matter what you are selling, you need a great offer.
Whether its your own eCommerce product, an affiliate product, a digital product, online course or even a marketing service; you need a great reason for your list to make a purchase.
Even if it is an inexpensive product you still need to use your best copywriting to make it compelling.
Step 8 - Cross-sell related products
If you are having success selling one product, it is a great idea to find or build relevant products for your targeted list. Cross-selling is effective if the product is super relevant.
One of the best ways to find these cross-sell opportunities is to ask my customer what products they want me to launch next. This is one of the most effective ways to find these relevant products to launch next.
Step 9 - Learn how to launch products in a BIG way
Launching new products is a great way to increase repeat order rate, average order value and build your brand. I went into extreme depth on a recent product launch that did $238k in 24 hours. You can read about it here.
Step 10 - Use curiosity in your email subject lines
Don't give it all away. Write subject lines that get people excited but also curious enough to read your email. Do the same in the body of the emails.
You want to engage with your audience but you also want to get them to your website. Don't overdo this or it can become ineffective.
Recap: Email campaigns should be simple and sent consistently
An email marketing campaign doesn't have to be this big thing that takes a ton of time to create. Take the approach that you want to have authentic conversations with your email list.
Using this email marketing strategy will help build relationships through simple and effective emails they are excited to receive.
Send consistently and don't overthink it. Lastly, make sure you listen to your customers and reply back if they message you. Have fun with it!
How will you make money with email marketing?