Regardless of what marketing trends come and go, email always stands as the breadwinner.
According to the Direct Marketing Association, “email marketing gets a $51 return for every $1 spent on it.”
And when you sit back and think about it, you can see why it’s where many business owners spend much of their energy.
Let’s say you have a newsletter list of 10,000 people who have signed up for you to send them your content on a consistent basis. And let’s say you have a $35 digital product you’d like to sell.
if only 35% of your list opens your email…
and out of those, only 3% make a purchase…
you’ve still sold $3,675 worth of your product from just ONE email.
So – how do you invest in Email Marketing without becoming a pest? (aka a spammer)
It’s one of the top questions I receive and for good reason. It can feel like a delicate balance, but honestly my answer is simple:
“Don’t email like a spammer.”
Simple yet true. If you don’t want to be seen as a nuisance, than don’t be. Don’t flood their inboxes with pleas for sales. As in stop communicating what your audience what can do for you and instead, provide valuable relevant content to your reader. And this is a given, but ALWAYS use an opt-in form to receive their explicit permission before sending an email. So, to start my top 3 tips on how to do email marketing the polite way, let’s start with Opt-In Forms.
1. Setting up an Opt-In Form
To start things off, here is an example of an email opt-in form. This is a screenshot taken from my own site:
Simply stated, installing an opt-in form presents every single site visitor the option to join your newsletter. You don’t break into their inboxes, you extend the offer to join your list. Once the visitor enters their information they click “Join” and immediately they also get a confirmation email asking them if they really did want to join. Only after they click the confirmation link are they an official part of the list.
Returning to the power of email, we’ve just highlighted one of the forces behind its power. One of the reasons email is much more effective than social media in driving conversion is the conscious commitment it takes to join your list.
To follow you on Instagram all your audience needs to do is press a button, which takes a second, and your photos rarely even appear on their feed unless you’re actively messaging.
Now let’s stop and compare this to the process someone must go through to join your newsletter list. We’re looking at not 1,2, or 3 – but 4 steps in this process:
Step 1: Enter name and email address in opt-in form once already on your site
Step 2: Click the Join button to submit their details
Step 3: See and open up your confirmation email
Step 4: Click the Confirmation link in the email to confirm that they actually want to join your list
So if someone is willing to commit that much time and effort just to get emails from you that tells you…”Hey, these people might actually want to hear what I have to say.”
2. Always work by the 80/20 Rule
To 80/20 Rule ensures you stay more polite than spammy. This means when you’re copywriting you deliver helpful, relevant content 80% of the time while 20% of the time you promote what you’re selling.
There are a few scenarios:
Scenario A: This could look like 80% of an email is an encouraging interview with a relevant expert while 20% of that email is direct response copywriting promoting your service and asking if your reader wants to hop on a discovery call.
(Or)
80% of all your emails could be valuable content like How-To’s on your area of expertise while 20% could be promotional. The difference is the prior merges the valuable content with the sales pitch while the second option separates the helpful emails from the promotional emails.
There’s not necessarily one right way to go. Just remember… 80% valuable, relevant content. 20% sales content.
3. Keep It Simple
Think back to the ultimate spam emails you’ve received.
What comes to mind? Bright images, flashing GIFS, rainbow text...bottomline, they look like ads and got sent to trash.
Even gorgeously designed emails tend to feel corporate right? Aka, they also feel like ads. On the other hand, when you receive an email from a friend, what does that look like?
Most likely it doesn’t feature a meticulously designed graphic. Chances are, it’s probably just a text-only email. He or she types it out and hits send. Because that’s what real people do. So when we receive plain text emails our subconscious lights up and says, “Hey, this is a safe email sent from a friend. I’ll open that one.” Which is why I always say – stay simple. Stick with text-only emails.
To wrap things up…
I don’t want to pretend that email marketing is simple. But I do think these 3 tips are a good foundation to build on.
Remember if you don’t want to look like a spammer then get people’s permission before emailing them, practice the 80/20 Rule and use plain text emails. These are simple but often overlooked ways to use email effectively to grow your business.