If you’re selling anything online, especially digital goods, you’ll likely want an email list of solid subscribers.
Why? Because this is best way to reach your audience directly. And that’s important.
Many folks have mixed emotions when it comes to getting emails. They want to get content from you but they also don’t want to be bombarded with constant emails. Also, and let’s be honest – most people only sign up for the freebies.
This is the ‘grab the goods and run’ crowd. It’s their right to do so, of course, and you really shouldn’t let it bother you. Remember, you’re looking for an audience that genuinely wants to hear from you, serious folks who are loyal. So maybe you get 20 new subscribers and half quickly unsubscribe. You still have the other half that didn’t…it’s them you want to focus on. And you want to keep building that base of loyal folks.
So how do you do that? — Well firstly, be patient. A quality email list of loyal subscribers takes time. It’s going to take some trial and error on your part.
Now for the rest…
- Offer freebies. Yes, freebies do attract the ‘grab and go’ types (as I like to call them) but some of those folks could very well end up becoming part of your regular base. Again, it’ll be trial and error but that’s expected. Just keep plugging away.
- Don’t spam your list. Nobody likes or wants that. Personally, I rarely unsubscribe from lists. For me to do so would be for only a few reasons; either I’m getting bombarded with daily emails, or it’s simply something I’m not interested in anymore. For the rest, I am able to easily able to navigate.
- Keep in touch the right way. In my opinion, you shouldn’t be sending more than one email a week. That’s just me. And I send less than that. Usually twice a month is my standard. Now that could be a mistake on my part…but I don’t think so. I want to send an email with interesting or important content. So if that means sending a few a month, I’m ok with that.
- Be personal. This is a tough one for me (I admit). I am not the type of person who likes to air out the personal parts of my life. However, sometimes that’s just what your subscribers want. They want to hear abut your failures just as much as they do about your wins. Why? Because it’s relatable. Just remember that too much information can be annoying as well. Also, it should end off with helpful advice from your own experience.
- Email blog posts. If you have a blog, go ahead and share a post to your subscribers if you like. I haven’t done that yet myself, but in the future I may do so with a post I think could be really beneficial to send them.
- Send an informative email. Maybe you found a new site that has great offers (pertaining to your field) and want to share it with your followers. Or maybe there’s a great promotion going on that they would find interesting. Share that, they’ll appreciate the gesture.
“You can please some of the people all of the time, you can please all of the people some of the time, but you can’t please all of the people all of the time”. John Lydgate
Remember, no matter how well you’ve gotten with your emails realize that you aren’t going to please everyone. That’s just a fact. What you’re trying to build is a loyal base and that will mean weeding out the rest. It doesn’t make either of you bad, it just means – for whatever reason – it’s not the right fit.
Think about your own wants and expectations when staying subscribed to an email list and use that as a guide. Send out emails that are informative and meaningful, while also being personal and engaging – and you’re going to see your email list grow.
Remember it’s about quality, not quantity.
Until next time…
