How to get subscribers more motivated
Idea Number 06: "Mail List Consistently"
Here's one that I struggled with for a long time. I made this mistake over and over and over again. And I cannot tell you how many thousands of dollars I threw out the window over the past four years because of this blunder.
The blunder is simple: I didn't mail to my list often enough. I was under
this impression that if I mailed them too much, then they would unsubscribe and
I'd lose out.
Well, to an extent, that is true. If you do nothing but
mail out promotional messages on a daily basis and never provide any kind of
useful content, yep, folks are going to create a mass exodus from your list like
the Israelites leaving Egypt.
And you're list will become of little or no financial value to you.
But, that can also happen in another way. If you DO NOT mail your list on a
consistent basis, then folks are less likely to respond to your mailings as
well.
Here's how it works: they join your list. You send them a "thank you." You don't mail them again for a month. They forgot they joined your list. They scream "SPAM". They unsubscribe. You wasted your time and efforts in getting them onto the list.
While that's a bit dramatic, that kind of thing happens every single day.
While you don't want to overwhelm your subscribers with mailings all the time
(even if it's good stuff, there's only so much they can absorb in one week), you
do want to make certain you train them to expect mailings. If you aren't mailing
to your list at least once every two weeks, then you are hurting your list
effectiveness.
You should make regular contact with your list members ...
at least once every two weeks.
Idea Number 07: "Create a Swipe File"
Anytime I receive an email that catches my eye, I keep it. I have a folder in
my mailbox that reads "Great Email Case Studies."
And that's exactly what
you'll find in that folder. You'll find a bunch of emails that I have collected
as people from all walks of life have emailed me.
I look for three things in adding more email samples into this swipe file: 1. First, I look for anything that really catches my attention in the subject line. 2. I look for any email that keeps my interest in the opening few sentences. 3. I look for any "unique" types of emails that are particularly appealing. The ones that make me click on a link and go to a site.
Now, I use this swipe file when I craft my own email messages. I simply look at one that fits my particular needs, modify it so that it is my own original mailing and send it out to my list.
For example: "The truth about traffic" was a subject line from a compelling email that I had in my swipe file. It became "the truth about ebooks" when I did a mailing for "How to Create Best-Sellers Online."
Swipe file in action.
Every email marketer – every
list owner – should create and build a swipe file of compelling email messages
that they receive. Refer back to them when crafting your own mailings. Don't
copy them word for word ... just use them as models.
Idea Number 08: "Watch Competition"
Another great thing you can do to become a more prolific email marketer is to
join the lists of your competition and analyze what they are doing.
Buy a
product and see how they use email before, during and after the sale. Join their
newsletter and see how each issue is structured and any other ways they use the
list. Request a free report or an ecourse and take note about their email
practices.
We're talking about a free, hands-on education here. You can learn more about email marketing by watching what the pros do themselves than from anything else.
Idea Number 09: "Write Conversationally"
One of the biggest keys to success in getting people to respond to your emails is to write it "conversationally." Don't write AT your subscriber; write TO them much like you would write a personal letter to your mom or dad.
The key to writing conversationally is two-fold: First, make certain that you "write like you speak." That is, write your email just like you would if you were actually SAYING the words to the subscribers instead of putting them down in an email. Secondly, write with ONE specific person in mind. It doesn't matter if it's your spouse, the kitchen table or your favorite pet. The key here is to write your email to ONE person, not an entire list of people.
Remember, only ONE person at a time is going to read your email when it
arrives in their inbox.
Write the message to that person.
In part three of this 5 part series were going to look at trends and events and how can you capitalize on them.
Find out how dressing up as the easter bunny tripled my sales
