Tag: autoresponder email tips

avoid email marketing pitfall

Avoid This Email Marketing Pitfall

Jon Olson Leave a comment

Email marketing has been around for a while, decades in fact and for very good reason. There is no other form of communication on the internet that has the largest ROI when it comes to building relationships and getting your subscribers to take action.

However, one major pitfall has plagued email marketers since day one. It’s so common these days, we almost ignore it. We are so concerned with ‘getting new people to join our list’ we forget the core part of that message….The people.

Don't forget the people

Crazy if you think about it…

We work our tails off to build these huge lists without remembering that behind every single new ’email address’ that we generate is…A real person!

Each person, every name on our mailing lists has unique goals, dreams and business needs. And while it’s not always a guarantee that we’ll build relationships with each name on our list, we can try!

And when we ‘try’ to get to know our subscribers, good things happen.

You see, the more we truly care for the people on our mailing lists, and do everything we can to add value to their lives and serve them, we stop seeing them as just ’email addresses’.

People are the life blood of any business, and whether you are managing a list of 50 names or 50,000…People should always come first!

People are the lifeblood of your business

Respect the names on your list. Try to reach out to them to continue the conversation. Start to ‘pull‘ then towards you rather than ‘push’ your message on them. This is a huge nugget and has helped many email marketers truly embrace the massive power of email marketing.

We don’t need a huge mailing list to be successful, we need a responsive list. And the more you genuinely care for the names on your mailing list, the more responsive they will be.

This is a major pitfall that most email marketers fall into. They are more concerned about generating more and more email addresses, they forget the real people behind each address.

1. Give value in all communication


2. Pull rather than push when sending emails


3. Genuinely care for every person that joins your list

 

Following these 3 rules of email marketing will help you build a loyal and responsive mailing list for years to come.

most important email

The Most Important Email You Send Will Be The First One

Jon Olson 1 Comment

Building your list can be a very exciting endeavor. You’ve heard countless stories about how important building ones mailing list can be, but something most new list builders face as we addressed in previous blog posts is writer’s block. Knowing what to say to your new subscribers can be a daunting task.

And remember the old saying ‘the first impression can last a lifetime’…Well in list building that can truly be the case. So while we’re excited to add new subscribers to our mailing lists, the biggest hurdle will be to get your subscribers to know, like and trust you.

Here’s the skinny, having a list of 10,000 doesn’t mean a thing if you aren’t getting any ‘action‘ from those subscribers. So we need to start the relationship off on the right foot. Let’s get people to ‘know, like and trust’ us from the start.

know like trust

And it begins…With the first email you send your subscribers!

Here’s what I recommend. Some folks in the marketing world call the first email you send an indoctrination email. Basically, you want your readers to get a feel for who you are and what they can expect.

I want to really highlight this point! Who you are matters! And if you are getting ready to give your subscribers a boat load of content and great value while subscribed, it has to be stated early on in the email series.

Follow this formula for a great ‘welcome to my list’ email! first email formula

First – Say thanks! It’s important that you let your subscribers know that you value them and are grateful for them signing up. This shows that you respect them and understand you now have to show and prove that you value their time.

 

Second – Let Them Know What To Expect! If you are going to be sending them content, let them know. If you plan on giving them more offers than content (while not always the best route…) regardless, let them know. If they can expect exclusive offers, discounts, live training, videos…Whatever you are giving them…Let them know! Be up front about what they can expect so there aren’t any surprises.

 

Third – Get Them To Take Action. This is huge! What I recommend is getting them to follow you on Twitter, Like you on Facebook, watch a video you have for them, read a blog post…Anything to get them to ‘do something’ so they get into the habit of taking action in your emails. This is also a great way to build the relationship outside of an email environment. You want to communicate with your lists, and while email is a push marketing platform, we want to PULL them into other platforms where the conversation can continue.

 

Remember…The key is this indoctrination email is to get them to know, like and eventually TRUST you.

If you put your subscribers needs first and let them know you are there for them throughout their journey, you can expect a fantastic life long relationship with your list of subscribers.

The Long And The Short Of Writing Emails

Patrick Griffin Leave a comment

Writing Emails

Generally when writing emails for your RocketResponder subscribers you will want to keep them short and to the point.

Give people small bite-sized chunks of information a piece at a time rather than the whole lot at once.

The advantage of this is that your entire message is more likely to be read and understood and you can send the information out as a series of emails on the same subject or theme.

People generally look forward to a series and will eagerly await the next installment when the subject matter is of interest to them.

So an email series of short emails is a great way of capturing people’s attention ahead of a product launch or building up to announcing a new product for example.

It is also good as a training or information series in its own right – remember the purpose of sending emails is more than just to gain sales.

Part of the purpose of sending out emails is to build up a rapport with your subscribes, establish yourself as the authority figure or expert and generally get them to like you.

So every now and again take the time to mix things up a bit and send out a longer email. Make it personal, about you.

You could share some of the things you like and dislike, talk about the highs and lows you have recently experienced or include some pictures of you on holiday or having fun.

Remember that you are more than just an expert in your given niche. You are also an individual and a human being so don’t be afraid to let people see the personal side of you, the real you.

Take time to talk about yourself and you will come across as a more rounded person and someone people will really want to get to know more.

Don’t overdo it though – if you are always talking about yourself then you will come across as self-centered and arrogant and you want to avoid that at all costs.

Add The Fun Factor To Your Emails To Boost Open Rates

Patrick Griffin Leave a comment

Boost Open Rates

Most email these days tends to be rather boring, well at least the contents of my inbox is rather dull. We want to add the fun factor to your emails to boost open rates.

This is because a lot of business users – such as those who use RocketResponder – want to get a message across and do nothing more or less than that.

It is a perfectly acceptable approach to sending email but it is not the only method.

Another approach you could try is to make your emails fun and entertaining.

Don’t be afraid to inject a bit or humor into your email marketing efforts.

Perhaps you recently heard a joke you would like to share with your subscribers (but you might want to keep the really rude ones to yourself at the risk of offending people.)?

If you do videos in your marketing and have made a mistake, including an outtake video of how you messed up can be interesting, it also serves to reinforce the fact that you are just human too and make the same mistakes as the people on your list.

You could tell a funny story about something which happened to you and also don’t be afraid to ask your subscribers to tell you stories of their own.

Adding humor and encouraging interaction with your list should boost your open rates. Give it a go and see what happens…oh and let us know how you get on.