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Email marketing is one of the most effective and profitable ways to reach your audience and grow your online business. But are you getting the most out of your email campaigns?
With just a few tweaks to your approach, you can unlock untapped profits and boost your bottom line. In this article, we’ll explore 10 easy yet powerful strategies to instantly improve your email marketing results.
10 Easy, Powerful Tweaks To Level Up Your Email Marketing
From crafting compelling subject lines to optimizing your calls to action, these tips will help you engage your subscribers, increase your open and click-through rates, and ultimately drive more sales and revenue.
Let’s dive in and discover the hidden potential of email marketing!
Money Up Your Lead Magnet
Let’s talk about your lead magnet and how it can help you grow your email list. First things first, take a look at your current lead magnet and ask yourself if it’s still the best fit for your ideal subscribers. Does the topic still interest them? Is it up-to-date?
If it’s not as great as it could be, don’t worry! You can improve it or even start from scratch. But if you don’t have the time or desire to create something new, there are other options available. You can repurpose existing blog posts or use high-quality PLR (private label rights) content, just make sure to rewrite it in your own voice before you use it.
Once you have a lead magnet you’re happy with, it’s time to monetize it! Yes, you read that right – you can make money from something you’re giving away for free. Don’t wait until your subscribers are warmed up to make your first offer. You could be leaving money on the table!
Find a product that complements the content of your lead magnet. Ideally, it should make it easier for your readers to accomplish what you’re talking about or help them take the next step. For instance, if your lead magnet is about setting up a blog, you could recommend a hosting company. If your report is about content curation, you could suggest software that helps with finding and curating posts.
Once you’ve decided on the product, figure out where it makes sense to mention it in your report. You should include it more than once – at least a few times within the content, and then end with a strong call to action to buy the product. Offering an exclusive, time-sensitive deal is even better. If it’s your own product, set up a special coupon. If it’s an affiliate product, see if you can work out a coupon or special deal with the product creator. This will be well worth it since every new subscriber will see it.
Why is it so profitable and important to promote a quality product in your lead magnet? It’s because you have your subscribers’ full attention. They just signed up and are highly interested in what you have to say. So take advantage of this opportunity to get in front of them with a good offer.
Tweak Your Welcome Email For Quick Profit Boost
Now that your lead magnet is monied up, it’s time to move on to your welcome email.
Did you know that your welcome email, one of the most read emails on your entire list? Yup, it’s true! Just about everyone who signs up for your list will read it to get their opt-in freebie.
That means you have their undivided attention more than any other time.
So why is it that the welcome email is often one of the most boring and neglected pieces of your entire email funnel?
The truth is, many of us set it up when we first create our list and then forget about it. But it’s time to review it and make sure you’re taking advantage of the fact that you have your readers’ attention.
Before you start editing away, take a step back and do a little bit of planning. You should have read the previous section about monetizing your opt-in report, so you should have a pretty good idea of the types of products you should offer your readers after they sign up.
In fact, using the same offers that you’re making in your lead magnet is a very smart idea.
Start with some planning.
Think about your target audience and what attracted them to your list in the first place.
Why did they sign up, and why is your lead magnet working so well?
That’s your starting point. Think about what they need to do next and what products or services will help them reach that next step. That’s the offer you want to present them with. Work it into your welcome email, your lead magnet, and your “Thank You” page.
When it comes to the email itself, there are three important tasks it should accomplish.
First, deliver the lead magnet.
Second, engage your readers and ideally get them to reply to you. This will help with future deliverability of emails.
And third, make an offer and profit from your subscribers.
So, take your time and compose your welcome email.
Don’t rush through it because it has a lot of profit potential. Write it, edit it, and tweak it until you’re happy with how it performs. Keep track of your clicks, so you can learn how well it’s performing. If hardly any subscribers click on the link for your offer, go back and change it.
Change your copy and call-to-action and see if you start to get better click-through rates.
If not, consider using a different offer until you find something that converts well with your new subscribers.
Your Thank You Page Is Likely The Most Valuable Page On Your Site
Let’s focus on your “Thank You” page – the page where your email subscribers land on after signing up for your list. This page provides a valuable opportunity to monetize your website and turn your readers into customers.
Your main goal for the “Thank You” page is two-fold – you want to thank your readers for signing up and encourage them to confirm their subscription.
Most list builders and online marketers do this already, but they miss out on the chance to monetize the page.
It’s essential to start building a relationship with your readers on this page and encourage them to click on the confirmation link in the email. But instead of letting them go, why not present them with an offer first?
Here’s how you can do it.
Begin with a simple transition such as “before you go…” and then introduce your offer. Keep it concise and directly related to your lead magnet. Offering something that’s too good to resist will significantly increase your conversion rates.
Don’t hesitate to provide a lot of value for a small amount of money.
Your aim is not only to make some money, but also to train your subscribers to purchase from you.
Acquiring the first sale, no matter how small, is the challenging part. However, people who have bought from you once are much more likely to do it again.
Create an amazing deal and turn it into a One Time Offer.
The inherent urgency of this one-time deal that they won’t come across again will encourage your readers to take action and boost your conversion rates.
Take a moment to review your Thank You page and ensure that you’re achieving both your confirmation email click and your sale.
By doing so, you’ll be on your way to building a profitable list of buyers who will be eager to take advantage of your offers repeatedly in the future.
Part 1: Improving Your Existing Autoresponder Emails to Boost Profitability
Squeezing more profit from your autoresponder is a two-part process that’s combined to increase the profitability of your autoresponder emails.
In this first part, we’ll focus on improving your existing autoresponder emails, and in part two, we’ll cover how to add more emails to your funnel.
Autoresponder emails are the messages that automatically go out to your subscribers after they sign up for your list.
They are a perfect way to share your evergreen content and build a relationship with your audience. If you have a list, you already have an autoresponder in place, whether you realize it or not.
The welcome email that your subscribers receive right after they sign up and confirm their subscription is the first message of your autoresponder.
Now is a great time to review your existing autoresponder emails to see what you can do to make them more profitable.
As you’re auditing your autoresponder emails, keep the following in mind:
Check Your Links and Offers
The first thing you should do is go through each email in your autoresponder sequence and click on the links and offers you’re sharing. Make sure everything is still working and all the information is correct. If something isn’t working or is out of date, fix it.
Relevant and Helpful Content
While you’re reading through your messages, think about how relevant and helpful the content you’re sharing is. Things change, and we get better over time, so make a note of any email that could be improved.
Improve Your Content
If you feel like you could write something better or share a different topic that would be more helpful to your audience, make a plan to rework that email. Take your time and work on one or two messages at a time until your entire autoresponder series is in top shape.
Make Better Offers
Don’t just look at the content, but also consider the offers you’re making. Whether it’s for affiliate products or your own products and services, ask yourself if it’s still the best offer for your audience. If not, replace it with something better.
Test and Tweak Going Forward
It’s important to review your autoresponder messages regularly to ensure that the links are still working, and the content is informative and helpful. You can check links every few months to make sure they are still working. Remember, by keeping your autoresponder messages in good shape, you will be able to profit from email marketing.
Recommended: For a deeper dive into the autoresponder audit process, click here to read about the 7-Day Step-by-Step Autoresponder Audit.
Part 2: Add More Emails & Generate More Income
In part one, we covered how to optimize your existing autoresponder emails. In this section, we’ll focus on adding more emails to your autoresponder sequence. Let’s dive in!
Plan Your Emails
The first step in adding more emails to your autoresponder sequence is to come up with a plan.
Consider the topics that your readers would be interested in and the products or services that you want to promote.
Start by making a list of potential email topics to work from. Having a plan in place will make it easier for you to write and add new emails regularly.
Create A Schedule
Once you have your list of topics, it’s time to figure out when you want to send them. In the beginning of your autoresponder sequence, when your subscribers are most interested, you can send messages a day or two apart.
As time goes on, you should space them out more, to one or two emails per week, and eventually one email every other week.
This is especially important if you’re also sending out broadcast emails with time-sensitive content or a weekly newsletter.
Write Your Emails
Now that you have your topics and schedule in place, it’s time to start writing your emails. There are a few ways to approach this.
Some email marketers prefer to write their autoresponder messages in batches, dedicating an entire day (or weekend) to writing enough emails to last a few months.
Others prefer to write them once a week and add them to their schedule. Regardless of your approach, it’s important to always stay several weeks ahead of your subscribers.
Life can get busy, and it’s helpful to have a cushion in place to prevent your autoresponder from running dry.
Keep Adding More Emails
By following these steps and adding more emails to your autoresponder, you’ll be able to keep your subscribers engaged and increase your income from email marketing. As your list continues to grow, so will the impact of your autoresponder emails.
Plan for the Future
Adding new emails to your autoresponder should be an ongoing process. Set a reminder for yourself to plan and schedule future emails every few months. This will help ensure that you always have fresh content to send to your subscribers.
How To Work Links Into Your Emails To Get More Clicks
Email marketing is all about making a profit from the emails you send to your subscribers. To achieve this, you need to include links to offers for your own products or affiliate offers in your messages.
There are five different ways to work these links into your emails, and the method you choose depends on what you’re promoting and your niche.
Link To Blog Posts That Discuss A Product
One of the easiest ways to “soft sell” a product is to link to a blog post where you discuss it. For example, if you’re promoting a product, you could link to a blog post where you review it.
Casually Mention A Product In Your Email And Link To It
Another great option is to casually mention a product in your email.
For instance, if you’re writing an email about keyword research, you could mention that Wordtracker is your favorite keyword research tool. Then, make “Wordtracker” a clickable link that uses your affiliate link.
Include An Offer With A Strong Call To Action
If you want to make a stronger offer, include a call to action in your email. For example, write your email about the topic of keyword research and then end it with a message that asks readers to click through and sign up for Wordtracker.
You can include the call to action at the end of your email or anywhere within the main body of your email. Consider reminding them to click through and buy in the P.S. of your email.
Sponsored By Messages In Your Newsletters
If you are publishing a weekly or monthly email newsletter, you can make an offer for one of your own products or something you’re an affiliate for and call it a “sponsored by” message.
For example, your weekly marketing newsletter could be sponsored by Wordtracker. This could be a simple note somewhere in your newsletter, or a small advertisement in each issue. It’s another way to include a sales message without coming off as too pushy.
Write A Solo Email
Lastly, you have the option for a hard sell with a solo email. The sole purpose of that message is to sell a product or service.
As with all of these emails, your offer could be any of your own products or those you are an affiliate for.
Solo emails are a great way to make sales, but it’s not something you want to use in every single email you send to your list.
Instead, use them when you have a great offer that you know your readers will love. Use marketing in your other messages using the other methods outlined.
Mix and match your emails using a combination of content and offers, and you’ll do well. While you don’t need an offer in every single email you send to your list, work them in as often as you can. Get your readers used to offers and get them in the habit of buying from you.
Not Testing Your Opt-In Forms and Pages? Big Mistake!
Let’s face it, if you’re not testing your opt-in forms, you’re leaving money on the table. It may sound harsh, but the truth is, testing is a critical component of list building and can greatly impact the success of your business.
In this section, I’ll explain why testing is essential and how you can get started with it.
The Benefits of Testing Your Opt-In Forms
Testing your opt-in forms and pages can significantly improve your conversion rate. If you’re only converting 10% of visitors to your site, a little testing and tracking can help you make simple changes that result in a 20% conversion rate.
This means your list will grow twice as fast, giving you twice as many subscribers who come across your various offers on your “Thank You” page, in your opt-in report, and throughout your emails. This translates to twice as much money for the same amount of work you put into building your list. That’s a significant benefit that can’t be overlooked.
Testing also gives you leverage.
There’s only so much work you can do in a day to grow your list, but if you can improve your conversion rate just a little, you’ll get more subscribers and make more money for the same amount of effort. This gives you the freedom to focus on other areas of your business, knowing that your list is growing, and your revenue is increasing.
How to Get Started with Testing Your Forms and Pages
Now that you know why testing is important and how it can benefit your business, let’s dive into how you can get started. The good news is that it’s a lot simpler than you might think.
Most autoresponder services have testing and tracking features built right into their service.
They want you to succeed and grow a big and profitable list because the bigger your list, the more they can charge you. That’s why they make it easy for you to test your opt-in forms and pages.
For example, in Aweber, it’s effortless to make a copy of an opt-in form or page and then set up a split test that compares one version to another.
Check the documentation and help files for your autoresponder service to learn more about how to start tracking, or give their customer service a call. They’ll be more than happy to help you get started.
Testing your opt-in forms and pages is a necessary step in growing your list and increasing your revenue. By making simple changes and paying attention to conversion rates, you can improve your results and build your lists faster.
Don’t leave money on the table – start testing today and watch your online business grow!
How To Read Your Autoresponder Stats
Let’s dive into something that may not seem all that interesting but can provide valuable insights: autoresponder stats. While you may only check to see how many new subscribers you have gained, neglecting the rest of the data can be a costly mistake.
Let’s explore a few examples of how examining your autoresponder stats can help you make informed decisions and boost your profits.
By reviewing these scenarios, you’ll be encouraged to delve into your own stats and reveal the stories behind the numbers.
Signup Form Tracking Helps You Determine What Works Best
Start by analyzing the conversion rates of your various signup forms. This information will help you understand what’s working and what isn’t. For instance, if you’re using two different opt-in pages, one for Facebook ads and the other for guest blogging, you can use the stats to compare their effectiveness.
Over time, you’ll be able to see if investing more time in Facebook ads or writing more guest blog posts will help you grow your list faster.
Armed with this knowledge, you can make more strategic decisions about where to focus your time and energy.
Testing And Tracking Can Reveal What Your Audience Wants
Split testing is another way to learn about your audience. Suppose you want to know whether your target audience prefers topic A or topic B. In that case, you can create a short lead magnet for both topics and use a split test to show one version of your opt-in form to half of your readers and the other version to the other half.
Once you’ve collected enough data, you’ll know which lead magnet generates more subscribers, giving you a clear idea of what topics your audience is most interested in.
Click-Throughs and Unsubscribes Tell The Biggest Stories
One of the most critical sets of stats are those provided for individual emails. When you notice high click-through rates for a particular product or blog post in one of your emails, it’s a clear sign that your readers are interested in that content.
Conversely, if you notice an unusually high unsubscribe rate after an email, you know that something in that email has turned off your readers.
Finally, pay attention to open rates as well. They indicate which subject lines are resonating with your audience. See if you can identify what worked well in those subject lines and try to replicate it.
Pay close attention to the stats your autoresponder service provides. You can learn a lot about your subscribers and target audience here, which can help you become a more effective email marketer.
Time To Fill The Holes In Your Funnel
Do you have a true funnel, or could it be more like a leaky bucket?
To maximize your email marketing, you also have to maximize (by optimizing) your funnel. After all, where do most of your subscribers start their journey with you? Your funnel!
Well, it might be time to fill the holes in your funnel!
So, you’ve got your lead magnet all set up and a couple of products you’re selling to your target market, but have you mapped out your whole funnel?
A good marketing funnel leads a prospect all the way from the initial opt-in freebie to a high-priced product at the end.
But don’t worry, you don’t have to create every single product from scratch. You can make offers for related products that you’re an affiliate for. In fact, your entire funnel, aside from the lead magnet, could be made up of affiliate products.
The important thing is to have your funnel mapped out and know what offer to present your readers at what stage in the process.
Your basic funnel should look something like this:
Lead Magnet → Low Cost Product → Series Of Higher Priced Products (or repeat buyers, recurring product sales) → High Ticket Item
The idea is to get them on your list and then get them to make that first purchase with you. Your best bet here is to start with something very low cost and then wow them with the value you provide for that price. An ebook or a recorded training course would be a good option here.
From there, you can move them through a series of other products. One way to do that is to offer higher and higher priced products that teach more and give your customers more access to you.
Of course, this isn’t the only funnel model. Another option is to have a series of products with the ultimate goal of having your customers buy as many of them as possible.
To get started, draw out your funnel and see what holes you have. What can you add to flesh it out and build it up more? Take a look at what your successful competitors have in place and sign up for their list. This will give you a good idea of what types of things you may want to add to your own funnel.
Once you have your funnel mapped out and identified the holes in it, it’s time to get to work and either create those products or find products you can promote as an affiliate. With a well-designed funnel, you’ll be able to increase your email marketing profits and grow your business.
Improve Your Subject Lines and CTA
As an email marketer, one of the most important skills you can hone to improve your bottom line is copywriting.
It’s not just about writing long sales pages, though that can certainly help. Even if you’re outsourcing your copywriting, paying attention to the words you’re using and how you’re using them can make a huge difference in the success of your email marketing campaigns.
Let’s face it, the first hurdle you need to clear in order to make money from your online business and your emails is getting your readers to actually open your emails. Unfortunately, that’s not always a given these days.
You need to earn that open.
Just take a look at your own email inbox and count how many unopened emails you have in there right now.
That’s why good copywriting skills are so important.
With the right subject lines and relationship-building techniques, you can entice even casual subscribers to open and read your emails. And once you have their attention, your copywriting skills can help you deepen your relationship with your audience and guide them toward making a purchase.
Of course, getting your readers to click on your offers is just as important as getting them to open your emails.
Crafting a strong call to action (CTA) is the key to making that happen. A good CTA should be specific and clearly tell your readers what action you want them to take.
With practice, you can write CTAs that convert well for your audience, leading to more click-throughs and ultimately more sales and profits for your business.
Crafting effective emails is a skill that takes time and practice to master.
By paying close attention to your copywriting, subject lines, and calls to action, you can create more compelling and engaging email campaigns that get results.
So take these tips and strategies to heart, and start experimenting with different approaches to see what works best for your audience.
With a little effort and creativity, you can create email campaigns that stand out, engage your subscribers, and drive real business results.