Email Marketing

email marketing

How Often Should You Email Your List?

email marketing

Is there a right or wrong way on how often should you email your list? We all know that your list should be treated as if it is a goldmine. Think about it. How would you react if you were bombarded with emails that provided no real value with the sole purpose of getting you to buy something?

Would you say that once a week or month is enough. You certainly do not want to inundate your subscribers with too much information, but at the same time you do not want them to forget about you either.

Why It is So Important To Frequently Send Emails

email marketing

If you get it wrong when sending your emails, you could border on being annoying, in which case your subscribers will unsubscribe from your list. On the other hand, if you communicate often enough at just the right times and frequency, you have a better chance of making more money than the average marketer.

Some marketers recommend that you stay in touch by sending your list a weekly newsletter. While others say twice a week is not a bad idea as an absolute minimum.

When would it be considered as wrong to send out scheduled emails? Randomly sending out emails is not such a good idea. Say, you send emails 3 times per day over a 4 day period, then you decide to send out 2 per day for a week.

The problem with this is that your mails would not be expected, and would most likely be ignored as a result. This is not the way to do it. You do not want to annoy your list to the point where they unsubscribe from you.

If you carefully consider what is needed to foster a positive relationship between you and your subscribers, once a day would be regarded as a good start. Provided you share very useful information in the form of free videos, mini reports or something that has real meaning in their lives. It must be new, exciting and content that has not been shared previously.

When you establish frequent contact you will start accomplishing some important factors that are needed to grow your business, such as:

  • Strengthen your authority in the Niche that you are in
  • Establish credibility and trust with your readers
  • Demonstrate that you are here to stay
  • Increase your chances of being foremost in the mind of your subscribers when it comes to purchasing your offer
  • Fully showcase the benefits of making use of your products or services

Most importantly, when looking for an answer on how often should you email your list, you should bear in mind that your subscribers should be treated like family. This can be done by sending them an email where you simply state how much you appreciate them, then give them valuable information that will make a difference to their lives. All this without any strings attached.

Things To Avoid When Sending Emails

email subject lines

Do not shove all kinds of marketing messages in the face of your subscribers to try and twist their arms into buying this or the other from you. Unless, of course, you do it in a tasteful manner where they get to realize the value in owning a particular product you have.

You should rather concentrate on getting your subscribers to trust and value your opinion. Doing so will ensure they stay engaged and ready to respond to any future offers coming their way.

Some marketers go all out to promote anything and everything for the sake of making money. Avoid doing this. Send emails that focus on useful information and list sources that will add value to the life of your subscribers. Never think that you are bothering your readers if you have something of value to share with them.

Should You Broadcast Messages Or Send Autoresponders?

email subject lines examples

If you intend making a special announcement, then a broadcast message as a one off email would be ideal. On the other hand autoresponders make the lives of internet marketers so much easier.

All they need to do is set up their series of messages upon which subscribers will be informed on a regular basis about news and events that is of importance, or any other informative material.

Which one of the two would be better to use?

There is no right or wrong answer in this regard. Below are a couple of guidelines to help you along:

Broadcast messages – If you are a very organized individual who are able to send broadcast messages consistently on a daily, weekly or monthly basis, then this would the way to go.

Autoresponders – Most people and business owners already live a very hectic life, and would therefore prefer making use of autoresponders. This way you can keep in touch with your prospects for months if not years. All this without even being there. All that is required of you is to do the work once, then set and forget about it.

The only problem is that too much automation can become impersonal to the point where people do not feel valued. It won’t be a bad idea to relate a story to your subscribers every now and again. You should mix it up a little. Make use of an autoresponder, but also broadcast something of importance every now and again.

For instance, on a Monday, Wednesday and Friday you could set your autoresponder to do its thing. Make a point of personalizing your messages on all the other days, which would include making use of broadcast messages.

Your subscribers will see you as a real person and not think they are dealing with a robot. This is the kind of approach that is highly recommended.

Back to how often should you email your list? The fact of the matter is that this question is answered differently by every business. You should email as frequently as you possibly can without annoying your subscribers.

Test it by taking a closer look at how often your mails get opened, etc. If you experience too many unsubscribes, then it is a sure indication that you are overdoing it. Close monitoring is the key to your success.

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Email Subject Lines

7 Email Subject Lines To Increase Your Open Rates

Email Subject Lines

Your email’s subject line is the gatekeeper of your email campaign. When you invest hours of work into getting the segmentation right and nailing the email copy, you absolutely want your email to get read!

The average person gets dozens of emails every day – and this may include coupons, newsletters, social media notifications, password resets, lead nurturing emails, invitation to parties, and so on. It’s a lot of material to sift through, never mind open, and most people open the emails based on how effective the subject line is.

Granted, there are a few more elements of an email that determine whether or not you’ll open it; for instance a familiar sender name, but for the most part, the subject line determines whether or not you’ll pay attention to the email.

People’s inboxes are always full of messages so it’s all too easy for them to hit Delete without a second thought; yet email can be a powerful tool when used to market your business. Subject lines that convey a sense of urgency tend to have higher open rates than say, those that offer freebies, and the use of first names has been found to increase the open rate by a small margin.

But there’s a lot more to subject lines than first names, and knowing which factors affect open rates can help you draft effective emails. Here’s a quick guide to get you started:

1. Localize And Personalize

Email Subject Lines

You’ve probably come across basic personalization in email marketing- “Hey John, would you like..” It’s pretty common nowadays and perhaps a little overused but that does not mean you shouldn’t personalize your subject lines. You get a better effect when you use customer attributes and actions to tailor your emails. Remember the following:

  • Use first and last name
  • Modify the subject line based on the recipient’s location
  • Mention their actions on the website- favorite features, what they’ve been up to, etc
  • Clothing stores are very specific to gender when highlighting products

2. Be Very Specific

Email Subject Lines Examples

Whether you’re sending notifications or direct updates, you need to be clear about each campaign and your objectives. However, being upfront doesn’t necessarily mean revealing everything the email is about, but assuming you’re targeting specific segments, then you need to point that out in the subject line.

Cold emails are the most challenging because you have to explain how you got the recipient’s contact information, win them over and then present your sales pitch.

It might sound counter-productive to let people know why you’re sending them emails but it’s actually the best way to get their attention and get click-throughs.

3. Take Time To Build Momentum

Email Marketing

Auto-responders are very effective at sustaining a life-cycle email marketing campaign. The series makes it easier for you to present yourself to the recipients and allow you to build momentum, because you shouldn’t just email people out of nowhere.

Informative subject lines can be used in a series to build momentum and increase your email conversions but unfortunately most businesses send less emails than they could for fear of annoying their recipients. If the emails are relevant and helpful, you shouldn’t worry about annoying the readers.

4. Test Everything!

Email Subject Lines

You may have read that short subject lines are more effective at boosting opens: it’s one of the many marketing quotes thrown around but the truth is you can never be sure how true that is for your own audience. Subject lines are relative to your audience and there really isn’t any hard rule when it comes to length.

The best approach here is testing. Draft the best subject lines you can and play around with long and short lines, capitalization, funny characters, etc. Testing is important in every aspect of marketing so apply it to your subject lines to get a clear picture of what works.

To give you a better picture of what works in subject lines, here is a compilation of 7 email subject lines people went crazy about:

1. ” Hey”

When handling inbound marketing, simple subject lines have the best results. This particular example is not about a smart or short subject line, but rather the effective combination of casual personalization and the sender name paring- for instance if you received an email from the president with this subject line, you’d be curious to find out what he has to say.

Pairing unlikely subject lines and sender names is very effective at getting people to read the email.

You may also try paring a goofy mascot with a serious subject line.

2. “As You Wish”

Learn what makes your audience tick and employ a few psych principles to get their complete attention. For instance, this subject line was taken from a movie, The Princess Bride, and UncommonGoods used it on their buyers for a more personalized effect.

The company knows their buyer persona very well and they knew that referencing that particular movie would get their subscribers’ attention.

3. “Where to Drink Beer Right Now”

Okay, so not everybody loves beer, but imagine receiving this in your inbox at 18:45 on a Wednesday night? I mean, think about it: you’ve been holding it together since Monday and now you need to decompress with a few of your buddies before the weekend gets here; and then you get a notification just as you’re about to head out and it says “Where to Drink Beer Right Now”.

The timing alone makes this subject line a winner.

4. “Not Cool, Guys”

We’re not all equipped to be snarky writers but you can play around with the subject line and find a way to make it stand out.

Most email platforms make it easy for you to edit the preview text so utilize that extra space to win over more subscribers and boost your email stats.

5. “You’re Missing out” 

You may have heard about FOMO, an acronym for fear of missing out; which is actually a big deal now in our interconnected society. Naturally, people don’t like to miss out on things, and a smart marketer will exploit this vanity by initiating an effective marketing campaign.

6. “DO NOT Commit These Facebook Atrocities”

No matter how reserved or down-to-earth you are, nobody likes to do things wrong.

Why not work on that simple and natural human tendency on your email subject line? Learn to dramatize your words for effect.

This line spells out “DO NOT” using full caps for effect, so that way readers will notice the message in their inbox.

7. “What Can You Afford?”

This is an interesting and somewhat encouraging angle; showing your audience a bunch of products that are RIGHT on their budget. Its also kind of competitive, your audience pitting cash against what’s available on the market.

You have to play off emotions to get people to read your emails.

You needn’t be a psychologist to play this game; just pay attention and you’ll see a number of opportunities. Remember principles such as scarcity, urgency and social proof, and see how they boost your conversion rates.


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Lead Magnet

How To Create The Most Powerful Lead Magnet

Lead Magnet

Everyone probably knows the power of giving away something for free to encourage visitors to give you their email address.

But your lead magnet has to be a real no-brainer offer as people are more suspicious and untrusting than ever as they are constantly being bombarded with marketing from all angles and your free gift has to be incredibly valuable and, more importantly, useful, if they are going to be tempted to part with their valuable email address.

I’m going to use the online marketing niche as our example to explain this technique, but keep in mind this could work equally well in other niches, too.

Consider this: When people have a specific problem that’s driving them crazy, they’ll do almost anything to fix that problem NOW.

For example, a bride-to-be has an acne outbreak the day before her wedding – what wouldn’t she do to fix her problem?

A woman is in immediate danger of losing her job – what wouldn’t she do to convince her boss not to fire her?

Parents are losing their child to alcohol – what wouldn’t they do to save their child?

Pay Attention!

Lead Magnet

Their need is great and immediate. Do you think they might pay to find the solution? Of course. Do you think they would enter their email address into an opt-in form to get the solution? You bet they would!

So how do we use this knowledge in a niche such as online marketing? Simple: If you pay attention to forums and blogs, you’ll notice there’s always some sort of online marketing crisis.

For example, Google just changed how they rank websites, and now thousands of online marketers are losing tons of money. Think they might like the solution?

Paypal is suddenly seizing accounts without warning and freezing the funds. Would the account owners like an answer on how to unfreeze their accounts? Would everyone else like to know how NOT to get their accounts frozen? You bet.

Facebook just changed (fill in the blank) and now marketers are unable to (fill in the blank) or maybe they’re banned, or…

Aweber just did the unthinkable, and marketers everywhere are freaking out.

XYZ hosting site just got hacked, big time. Websites are down and backups are missing – what to do?

The list goes on and on. Keep tabs on the forums and you’ll find a new crisis every month and often every week.

Offer The Latest Solution

Lead Magnet

As you’ve probably already guessed, your lead magnet is going to offer the solution to the latest marketing crisis.

Just imagine how fast marketers will give you their email address when you have the answer they desperately want NOW.

Right about now you’re asking, “But how am I going to find the solution when they can’t?”

Good old-fashioned research, that’s how.

Go to the help sections of the websites involved in the latest crisis and find out everything you can.

If possible, call the website and ask all the questions you need to ask.

Hit the chatrooms and forums and glean all the helpful info that is available. If you find an expert who knows what s/he’s talking about, do a quick phone interview.

Act Fast

Lead Magnet

Timing is everything on this, and you have got to act fast.

If the crisis hits on Monday, ideally you want your lead magnet up no later than Tuesday to take full advantage of the tsunami of new leads you’re going to get.

And by the way, when you’ve got the solution everyone is desperately looking for, what does that make you?

The trusted expert and authority, that’s who.

Do you think people will open and read your future emails? You bet your life they will.

Spread Your Net Wisely!

 

Lead Magnet

Now here’s the trick to getting your squeeze page in front of as many of these marketers as possible:

Outsource people to search out forums and threads where marketers are talking about this problem. If someone is looking for help, that’s where you want a link to your solution.

Have your outsourcers post a link to your squeeze page offering them the answer they seek.

Yes, it’s that easy.

Oftentimes that thread and even your post offering your lead magnet will end up on page one of Google for that particular search.

Not bad, right?

Oftentimes that thread and even your post offering your lead magnet will end up on page one of Google for that particular search.

Not bad, right?

And here’s the best part – your opt-in rate will be sky high. It will almost certainly top any squeeze page you currently have.

One more thing – if you want to take this just one step further, it can blow wide open.

Get On Record!

Lead Magnet

Get podcasters to interview you and do guest posts on as many blogs as possible.

Think about it – this problem is all over the online marketing community. What podcaster or blog owner doesn’t want to have someone with the solution to offer their listeners and readers?

Just one post on a major blog or podcast can result in a thousand subscribers in 48 hours.

Remember to position your solution not just as the answer to the problem, but also as the way to AVOID the problem for all those who aren’t already experiencing it.

This way you’ll be able to grab not only the marketers looking for a solution, but also everyone else who wants to avoid this headache.

Wealth loves speed. Now go find the latest crisis, research the solution and start building that list.

A side benefit of doing all this research is that you will always be on the cutting edge of whatever is going on in your niche and this is a great place to be.

Too many marketers rest on their laurels and regurgitate the same tired old tactics even though the marketplace has evolved and many of the tactics may no longer work, although the underlying strategy probably does.

Keeping yourself informed will help you to constantly be on the lookout for new trends in your niche and you can jump on these fast as you will become aware of them quickly, so don’t underestimate the power of being “in the know” as it can keep you way ahead of the competition.

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Lead Magnets

Lead Magnets: 5 Steps To Creating A Desirable Lead Magnet

Lead Magnets

If you are new to online marketing, you may not know what a lead magnet is so let’s start there.

A lead magnet is simply a free gift that you give away in return for some information from your prospect, typically their email address.

The idea is that once they have opted into your email list, you can then send them regular emails with tips and tricks and the occasional offer. You can read more about using autoresponders to send automated emails here and you can read this post about finding great lead magnet ideas.

So, how do you create a desirable lead magnet that your visitors will be unable to resist?

Well, follow these 5 quick steps and you’ll have a great lead magnet put together in no time at all.

1 – Know Your Audience

Lead Magnets

This is by far the most critical part of creating anything for your prospective visitors and buyers. You must know the audience you are trying to attract, and you must know them on a deep level.

A lead magnet is a highly targeted gift that solves one problem for your readers. Remember, less is more.

Your niche may have a number of sub-niches and you can create different lead magnets for each different sub-niche.

For example, you may be in the Internet Marketing / Online Business niche and you could develop a separate lead magnet for those interested in using blogging, Amazon Kindle, Ecommerce etc.

These are all types of online business but vary dramatically in what the audience needs.

You can create a generic lead magnet for “Online Business” but it won’t be nearly as successful as more specific, targeted lead magnets.

Remember, one problem; one solution!

If you already have a website, listen to your readers. If you allow comments on your posts, what are they saying? Any questions you see are potential lead magnets.

Browse forum boards in your niche to see the kinds of questions people are asking for more insights into the problems your readers are encountering.

OK, so you know your audience and what their problem is. Onto step 2.

2 – Brainstorm Lead Magnet Ideas

Lead Magnet

Now you have an idea as to what problem your lead magnet is going to solve, it’s time to get creative.

DO a brain dump and get everything out of your head. Nothing is off limits at this point as you will go through everything later and discard what you don’t need.

The important thing here is to always have in mind the research you carried out in step 1.

It can be very easy to go down the wrong route and to start creating a lead magnet that you think your readers want.

If you find yourself doing this; STOP.

You already know what your readers want so just give it to them.

This is one of the biggest reasons why your lead magnet will fail; giving your readers what YOU think they want, rather than what they really want.

Go through your brain dump, get rid of what you don’t want, and then start to think about what type of lead magnet you want to create which moves onto the next step.

3 – What Type Of Lead Magnet Will You Create?

How to create a lead magnet

OK, you’re really moving now!

You’ve done your research and got a seed of an idea for your gift which will be irresistible to your visitors.

Now, you need to decide on the format that you will deliver your free gift.

Are you creating a “how-to” type gift? If so, this may work well as a quick tutorial type video, unless your niche tends to dislike video (although this is rare nowadays)

Are you creating a checklist, tool list or resource guide? If so, then a simple pdf report may be best.

Are you creating a motivational type of gift? Then perhaps an audio would work best.

Once you have decided on the format, now you can move onto the next step and actually start creating it.

4 – Create Your Lead Magnet

Lead Magnet ideas

OK, now it’s time to put everything together and create your amazing free gift.

Research the topic fully and make your explanation as to how your readers can overcome the problem as simple as possible.

If you are writing a report, make sure it is easy to read with good use of headings, paragraphs, bullet points, graphics etc.

You can create great reports in MS Word or Pages and convert them to pdf’s, but if you want to take your reports up a notch, then consider looking into either Designrr or Sqribble to create eye-catching pdf reports.

If you are recording a video, you can use free or cheap screen recorders such as Screencast-o-matic and if you want to edit it, you can use something more powerful such as Camtasia.

If you want to record and edit audio, you can use a free tool called Audacity.

Once you have created your lead magnet, the final step is to get it live on the internet, so onto the final step.

5 – Upload And Automate

email marketing

So, you now have your sexy new lead magnet. That’s great, but now you need to get it online so people can find it, opt-in and then download it.

Firstly, you’ll need to sign up to an autoresponder service such as Active Campaign or Aweber. You will use these to generate some code for an opt-in form, and, more importantly, to send automated emails to people who sign up for your free gift.

Once you have signed up to an autoresponder, go and create a form that people can fill in. This will then generate some code that you will need in a minute.

You may also want to create an email sequence to welcome your new subscribers.

Now you have your opt-in form code, you need to create a web page for people to visit to read about your free gift and to opt-in. This is normally called a squeeze page or landing page

There are many page builders out there, but I prefer Convertri or OptimizePress.

Choose a template and create your squeeze page. Keep it simple, perhaps an image of your gift and a few bullet points explaining what they’ll get.

Once you have designed it, you need to add the form code from your autoresponder to the page so there will actually be a form that they fill in with their details to get their gift.

The final part is to upload your free gift so they can download it after signing up.

You can upload it to your own website or use something like Amazon S3 which is incredibly cheap; in fact, you get the first year free.

Once you have uploaded your gift, you can add the link to it in your welcome email.

Don’t send people to a Thank You page with a direct download link. This is because some people will give a fake email address. By including the download link in an email, you are ensuring that you are only getting genuinely interested people signing up and downloading the gift.

OK, there are the 5 steps you need to create a desirable lead magnet.

I know there are a number of technical moving parts involved in doing this, and if you have any questions feel free to contact me.

And here is a handy infographic that you can use as a reminder of the steps to follow.

Lead Magnets

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List Building

Do You Struggle With List Building?

List Building

If you’ve been around internet marketing for any length of time, I’m sure that you’ve heard the phrase “The money is in the list.”  You might get weary of hearing it, but it’s smacking you in the face for a reason – it’s the truth! Actually the phrase should really be “The money is in the buyers list.”

First of all, let’s answer the question, “What is a list?”

A list in internet marketing terms is a database of contact information for your prospects.  So if you have a product or promote products about gardening and I sign up for your list, I’m a prospect that you can market to repeatedly until I unsubscribe.

So why is building a list so important?  Let’s say you start off as an affiliate marketer.  You find a niche you truly enjoy and you start working what you’ve learned into some traffic for your affiliate links.

Over a period of 30 days, you funnel 5,000 prospects from the World Wide Web who are interested in your niche straight through your affiliate link to the product owner’s site.

They even buy – yea! You’ve made a 50% commission with a 2% conversion rate.  That means 2 out of every 100 people you sent bought the product, and your share was $26.00 (as an example).  You earned a cool $2,600 this month – good for you!

But you’re leaving money on the table.  Those 100 people who bought from your 5,000 clicks?  They’re now on the product owner’s list, not yours. So what they’re going to do is send them more offers over the coming weeks.

After all, they are proven buyers.  Over the next 30 days, those buyers fork over some more money for products that complement the original one they bought.  That money goes to the product owner, not you – because you passed on building a list the first time around.

A better way to build an internet marketing business is to start with a list from day one. Before you let a single person slip through your link without capturing their name and email address, have your system set up to build a list.

Why should the product owner get to cash in on that person again and again when you’re the one who brought them the customer in the first place?  Stake claim to each prospect and leverage your relationship with them for future sales and commissions.

List Building

You can have unlimited lists for different niches and send automated emails using a simple tool called an autoresponder, examples of which are Active Campaign or Aweber.  Every day you can log in and see how many people have signed up, and you can create automated messages to send out to help convert your list into more sales.

If you want to learn more about autoresponders, you can read this article.

If you are serious about growing a successful online business, then you must make list building your main priority.

Even if you are an affiliate marketer like in the example mentioned above, there are ways to capture the prospects email address before sending them to the sales page.

Email Marketing

You can do this by creating a free gift that the prospect opts-in (i.e. give up their email address) to receive. The trick here is to make the gift highly relevant to the affiliate offer.

Checklists, workbooks, case studies are such examples of good gifts, or “lead magnets” as they tend to be called.

Once you have your gift, you can create something called a squeeze page (sometimes called a bridge page in affiliate marketing) using your page builder of choice. If you use WordPress, I highly suggest OptimizePress and if you don’t use WordPress I would suggest Convertri.

When you are ready, you send your traffic to the squeeze page, the prospect opts in and is then sent to the affiliate offer.

This is a real win-win because you are building your list and you may also get some affiliate commissions if they decide to buy 👌

When you are a little more confident, you can try your hand at creating your own products and having affiliates send traffic to your offers. How amazing is that?

But whatever you do, you must ensure that you are actively list building all the time.

You also need to manage your lists proactively, and learn how to write compelling emails to get readers to open them and to take action on the contents.

Don’t just bombard your new subscribers with offer after offer. It is important to nurture your list and give huge amounts of value and helpful advice before  asking them to buy even more stuff from you.

This is a major mistake that a lot of marketers make, especially in the internet marketing/make money online niches.

Another thing you should be doing is not bombarding your buyers with offers to buy things they have already purchased; this is just plain lazy marketing and happens all the time and shows that you don’t really care about them.

So, as you can see, list building is critical for the success and longevity of an online business. But it is also incredibly important that you nurture and manage your list once they have subscribed as it is much easier to convince a customer to buy from you again.

Write emails that help your subscribers and don’t be afraid to get a little personal and reveal things about yourself as this will only make them connect with you more, as you are not just another marketer, but a real person.

And remember that your email list is a source of free traffic, so look after it and it will be a source of income for you for years to come.

Your subscribers will expect you to sell to them so that isn’t a big issue, but don’t go for a hard sell every email. Always have their best interests in mind, rather than making a quick buck and they will reward you with their loyalty and custom.

And don’t email them too often! Some marketers email daily, others a few times per week or once a week. There is no right or wrong but you do need to email them regularly; once a week minimum or they may forget about you.

Some marketers can be very pushy and email multiple times per day, especially if they are promoting a product launch, but I personally think that is too much and too aggressive.

And don’t be afraid of people unsubscribing; it happens and is nothing personal. You only want people on your list who are going to connect and engage with you, so repelling the wrong type of person is just as important as attracting the right kind of person.

As I said earlier, you need to be managing your list and this includes removing people from your list who aren’t opening your emails as this can affect your delivery rates. And as long as you are continually trying to build your list, this shouldn’t be a big issue for you.

Just remember that your subscribers are real people with real problems that hopefully you can help them solve and you will do well.

So, go out and start building and nurturing your list today. 👍

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