So far we’ve focused a lot on the bits and pieces involved in building your list and finding your readers. It’s time to switch gears and focus on the actual email marketing. There will be a bit of overlap here and there, but I’m sure you’ll find some fresh ideas and new tasks to add to your running list of forgotten email marketing and list building tasks.
Part One – Auto Responder Messages
Let’s dive right in and start with the first email that goes out to your readers - the welcome email. I briefly mentioned reviewing this earlier as part of the list building process, but think it’s a topic worth diving into a little deeper.
Log into your auto-responder dashboard and find your current welcome email. Copy and paste it into a word document and start analysing it. Does it represent you and your online business? Is it still a good fit for your audience? Things change over time and it’s not uncommon to see a subtle shift in audience and purpose over time. Make sure your welcome email reflects your current thinking and goals.
Be very clear on what the main purpose of your welcome email is. Yes, part of it will be to welcome your readers and delivering your lead magnet, but it doesn’t end there. In addition, you can use your welcome email to give your readers a chance to get to know you, share your social media profiles or other places where they can learn a little more about you. For example, you could record a video where you share a little more about who you are and what your business is all about. Then invite readers in the welcome email to watch the video.
This is also a great place to set expectations for your email schedule. Let them know how often they can look forward to getting an email from you. If you send broadcast emails out on a certain day of the week for example, share that with them. If your list is set up with an auto-responder that goes out every couple of days, let them know when the next email is coming and what it is about. Sharing this type of information will have your new subscribers looking or your next email, which will greatly help with open rates. It may even prompt them to go look for the email in the dreaded Gmail promotional folder, or even go dig it out of spam. In other words, setting expectations greatly increases your chances of getting your readers to open your email, and even having them take actions that will insure that your messages get delivered to their inbox (by marking it not spam, or having your messages routed to the primary inbox instead of the promotional one).
Rework your welcome email as needed and save the new version in your auto-responder. Then schedule to review it every six months or so to make sure it still reflects you and your business.
Another great quick task to add to your list is to check what you have set up as the “from field” and what email address you’re using as the reply to address for your list. The first and most obvious task is of course to make sure the email is one you still monitor regularly. You don’t want to miss out on chances to interact with readers that reach out to you.
Then take a look at how your “from field” displays. What does it say and does it still make sense? Could you word it better, or use a tag or keyword that better represents you and your brand. Take a look at what others in your niche and industry are doing for fresh ideas.
Next it’s time to review your auto responder messages. These are the emails that go out to your readers in regular intervals. The welcome message is usually the first of those emails going out. Look through them one by one and check for all of the following:
Attention Grabbing Subject Line
Start with the subject line (or wait until you’ve editing and changed the content if you’re doing a complete content overhaul). You need to give your readers a reason to open your emails and you do that with the subject line.
Make sure it’s attention grabbing and interesting without going over the top or being spammy. Read up on writing good subject lines, and browse through emails you’ve gotten recently that grabbed your attention. See if you can emulate those types of subject lines and make them work for your purposes.
Helpful and Current Content
Review the content and make sure it is still current and reflects what you’re doing these days. Your auto responder is your chance to connect with and get to know your readers while establishing your expertise and showing your readers everything you have to offer (with offers sprinkled in of course …. More on that next).
Read through each email in your auto responder sequence and ask yourself if what you’re sharing is still helpful and current. If not, make a plan to replace it in the coming days and weeks. Of course you can also change and rework the emails right now if you’re feeling ambitious and have the time. If not, be sure to schedule it sooner rather than later.
Valid and Interesting Offers
It’s a good habit to make offers for your own products and those you’re an affiliate for throughout your A/R content. If you don’t have a lot of offers in there right now, there’s no better time than the present to fix that. Sprinkle them in your existing content as recommended products for example, or just work a link into the content you’re sharing. You can also write and add reviews and other solo mails into your auto responder where it fits and makes sense.
Look through any existing offers in those email sequences and make sure the offers are still valid and that what you’re recommending is still current and helpful to your readers. If it isn’t, replace it with a better offer.
Working Links
As you’re scanning through the content in your auto responder messages, don’t forget to check every single link in each message to make sure it’s working. We sometimes make mistakes when creating links, and of course pages disappear from the web over time. You know how disappointing it is when you click on a link to something you’re very interested in only to find it go to a 404 error page, or worse to a website that no longer exists. Make it a habit to check all outgoing links in your automated emails regularly.
Add New Messages Regularly
Last but not least it’s time to add more messages to your auto responder sequence. It’s something you want to add to regularly going forward. Start by deciding how often you want new messages to go out. One per week is a good starting place. Create a calendar with ideas for new messages and then add writing and adding it to your weekly list of things to do in your business. Over time, every single one of your subscribers will see these emails, so they are most definitely worth the effort.
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