Every now and then I’ll come across someone who doesn’t have an email list.
The top two reasons are typically…
1) I don’t know what to send
2) I don’t want to spam people
I can sort of relate to that. When I first started this site I didn’t have a list for a long time. My site links were converting fine on their own so I thought, Why do I need to bother people with emails?
At the time, I still had a 9 to 5 job, and I was not treating this “website stuff” as a real business.
Occasionally people would ask, How can I sign up for your list? So I reluctantly started one, and it sat out in cyberspace collecting e-dust because I had no idea what to send.
At the time I didn’t have a product, and like a lot of people, I looked at email marketing as spammy. Of course, I know now that isn’t necessarily true.
And when I finally did send out something, hardly anyone opened the message. The people who did, flagged it as spam. (Most mailing services alert you if your complaint level goes above .1%, and let’s just say I was alerted!)
To add to that, it was costing me more money as the list grew. So I gave up on email and I did something that was probably very stupid.
I deleted my entire list.
Yep!
Thousands of emails down the Internet drain.
Granted, since I wasn’t using my list, many of the subscribers were probably uninterested and had forgotten about me anyway (Lisa who?), 🙂 but it was a lot of people nonetheless.
A couple of years later I started collecting them again. I did some list segmenting (where you send out emails to targeted groups), and that was actually more successful, but I still never established a mailing rhythm.
Another Experiment
So in April of last year I made a difficult decision.
Instead of just using my list for special broadcasts / one-off mailings (which I rarely did anyway), I decided to use AWeber’s blog broadcast feature (affiliate link). That means an email goes out every time I write a new post.
Knowing what a sensitive medium email is, I was a bit nervous about this. So I drafted an email to let my subscribers know what was coming and hit the SEND button with much hesitation.
As I suspected, a lot of people unsubscribed. Just to put this into perspective, right now my unsubscribe rate per email opened is under 1%, but this email caused 7.6% of the people who opened to unsubscribe.
Uh oh. Was this a mistake?
I remember thinking that going forward I needed to be much more selective about my blog topics since every post will generate an email. Looking back on things, I should have been selective ANYWAY but hey…. I was learning. 🙂
YIKES! Speaking of being selective, I went back to some older blog posts and some of them were just ridiculously trivial. I would never publish anything like this today… blog broadcast or not. Look at this piece of work from 2006! Yeah, real captivating huh? So basically I just created a blog post with 100 words to point to another page on my site! Yikes. Can you imagine what my unsubscribe rate would be for the blog broadcast if I published posts like that? Wow!
Anyway, the next email went out and the unsubscribe rate dropped down to under 1%. Whew! I felt a little better.
I knew I had to stop focusing on what I lost, and work to keep the people I still have on my list.
So I began to be even more selective about what I sent out. Since I started using the blog broadcast feature last year, my open rates have improved by an average of 60% compared to when I sent emails before the change.
Part of that is about being selective but a bigger part of that is sending emails more consistently AND setting expectations as soon as people subscribe.
Looking back on those 7.6% that unsubscribed, I realized it wasn’t really a loss because I had probably already lost most of them by now.
I wasn’t using the list anyway, and if they really wanted to keep up with me, they could follow my updates other ways online.
Expectations Are Everything!
Even if you’re only going to send out one email per month, tell your subscribers that on the follow-up or confirmation message.
You could say something like, Thanks for signing up. I’ll be sending you my month-end wrap up so stay tuned!) Or, I’ll be emailing you when I have important posts or news to share.
As far as the blog broadcast feature goes, I would tread carefully with this feature if you post multiple times per week. I use it because I blog less than most active bloggers (usually 2-3 times per month now), and I don’t send out a lot of emails in addition to that.
But if you do blog a lot and want to use it, you can always send a weekly or monthly summary. You don’t have to send a mailing with each new post.
Whatever you do, set the expectation so people know how often to expect your emails.
The other advantage of doing this is if your email gets caught in the junk or spam folder when a subscriber first signs up, they may realize they aren’t receiving them and investigate. New subscribers are more likely to be on the lookout for your emails.
Summing It Up!
I’m not saying that what I am doing now is the absolute best strategy, but it’s certainly better than what I was doing… which was almost nothing. 🙂
Plus, it was encouraging when I discovered the sizable open rate increase.
I disagree with people who say email is dead. Sure, it’s been impacted by social media, and if you have a younger audience, it may not be as popular with them. However, I’m still convinced most sites still need a list.
I know I’m truly grateful for mine now, especially with some launches coming.
I’m half way done with my Photoshop video course (which, by the way, is going to teach you how to make eye-catching images for your site and social media with incredible ease!) and I’m working on a course related to video as well. </end shameless plug>
So I will be offering nice discounts to my list when they launch. In the meantime, I’ll try to refrain from thinking about how large my list COULD have been.
Oh well. You live and learn, right?
What can you share about your email strategy? Has your journey been like riding a roller coaster too?
I’m half way done with my Photoshop video course (which, by the way, is going to teach you how to make eye-catching images for your site and social media with incredible ease!) and I’m working on a course related to video as well.
Mrs. Lisa, Your article is great.. This one make me open my mind.. Great work.. Thanks!
High reach: When you get people to join your email list (aka “subscribe to updates” or “opt in”), you can actually reach them. If they just like your Facebook page, for example, it’s quite unlikely that they’d actually see your updates. Sure, not everyone opens your emails, but the numbers are usually still in favor of email compared to other communication methods.
Hey Lisa,
I can’t tell you how many lists I’ve deleted over the course of several years. I did everything all wrong and either didn’t email them in a timely manner or I didn’t know what to say to them. It’s definitely a learning process.
I started doing the broadcast feature as well a few years ago now. It’s worked beautifully for me as well and I have a pretty high open rate too. My list is very engaging and we have the best conversations.
I share a little about me along with my blog posts and some goodies from time to time. It’s been great but I think we all have to just test the waters to see how we can continue to improve things.
I’m glad you’re doing well with this and letting everyone else know too.
Great share Lisa and hope you’re having an awesome week.
~Adrienne
Hey Adrienne!
You are the queen of blog engagement! If you ever create a product (or maybe you have one already?) Sign me up to recommend it. Seriously, I love how you interact with your followers and in such a very genuine way. No wonder your comment section is always buzzing! Thanks for taking the time to comment Adrienne!
Hey Lisa,
That is SO funny because that’s what I’m doing right now. I’m in the middle of creating a product about how to build a blog community and I hope to release it by next month. I’ll definitely let you know, thank you for offering. That means a lot coming from you. You’re amazing and someone I look up to as well.
Thank you so much for the compliments, that means a lot.
Enjoy your week.
~Adrienne
Awesome! Will be looking forward to it!
I’ve been struggling on email marketing for the last 2 years, I am really unsure what to do with them. Maybe Lisa, you should create a series of post about email marketing (hint, hint)
That’s great to know, thanks Lisa. I’ll give it a shot as my email strategy definitely needs improvement.
I’m sure a lot of people can relate to your story about your initial attempt at managing an email list Lisa, me included.
I have been very curious/nervous about Aweber’s blog broadcast so was very pleased to to see that you have written about it here. Does this feature allow you to choose whether Aweber sends an excerpt or the whole post?
Hi Glenys,
You sure can. And as I said in the post, if you’re nervous about sending too many emails you can always opt to just send a summary after you get X amount of posts published. It’s very flexible. Glad I made the choice.
Hello Lisa,
How do you do your images?
For example you have an image on your page that reads:
“Your email marketing strategy starts with…etc…”
If you don’t mind sharing can you lead me in the right direction on how that is done…thanks…
Hi Will,
I use Photoshop. I am in the process of creating a course right now that I will be selling. It’s going to teach people who have absolutely NO experience how to do this easily. But if you don’t have Photoshop you can use Canva, PicMonkey, etc. You just are limited to what you can do.
I struggle with the idea of email marketing. I receive so much junk. I want to be taken seriously, and I am conflicted about whether email marketing brings a non professional view to my firm
whew! thank you… thank you and thank you, Lisa! 😉 Just what I needed to hear! we are all learning out here.
I am still working on my writing voice, but with the help of people like you, I think I’ve got a good idea where I want to go now. I need to restart and just write about what I am passionate about with my travel site.
I can definitely relate to the ‘not knowing what to send’ issue. My site has been up awhile and I have never maintained it regularly, but a lot has changed in me and my life and it’s not too late. In fact it’s the perfect time. I have felt like I have so much I want to write about with my travels that I haven’t known where to start, but I am honing that down. I am definitely not one to ‘blog on the road’. I want to enjoy my travels and share tips later.
I’m getting good inspiration from you and others about how to get going again posting on my site. (or in reality, get rolling properly for the first time! sounds like everyone successful with a site has been there… a few times maybe!!)
I am thinking about going with the auto-send when posted / RSS feed with mailchimp. I think that will be good for me. Not a big worry about sending too much though since I’ve been so bad about posting. I will definitely keep that in mind though. I have noticed that I like to get 3 – 4 emails tops a month from people I subscribe too. Best to have content that is worth it then post a lot without the value in it.
Thanks so much Lisa for all your knowledge and inspiration!! 🙂
Hi Lisa
Yep, it’s a learning process for sure! That’s just the name of the game. Sounds like you are now on the right track and I’m glad I’ve been able to offer some advice. Definitely make sure you check out my podcast next Monday. I feel it will be really helpful for people still in the early stages and are trying to figure out where to focus in the beginning. Thanks so much for taking time to comment!
Really interesting. You and I have approached email the same way – being really cautious and worrying if people are going think we’re spamming them. Unfortunately, that approach caused me problems because I waiting for ages to say something to them and then when I did, they’d all forgotten about me and complained and the next thing I knew I was being kicked off MailChimp. Lesson learned. Always keep emailing to your list. Never let a list go cold.
Now I look at email completely differently. It’s almost my business’s greatest asset. People subscribe to you because they love you, they want what you’ve got to offer.
Now, I email them at least once a fortnight (never more than 250 words, it doesn’t take long) and one in every 3 or 4 emails is a sales email. Crazy! Yes, but the the crazy thing is I get just as many unsubs from the “value” emails as I do from the sales emails!
For me the email list it huge. It guarantees sales which is so helpful when you’re trying to persuade Amazon and Udemy that people want your stuff. 😉
I agree Rob. Email used to be an after thought. But now I look at anyone who has given me their email address as probably one of my most loyal fans. In an age where people guard their addresses with their life, that’s a compliment that someone is saying “Yes, email me!” Couldn’t agree more. I can see it being an even bigger asset when I put the courses out.
Great post Lisa! I learn more everyday, and this post reminds me of the importance of focusing on the people who are telling you that they want what you have to offer.
When someone stays on your email list and continues to open them after you make a change like deciding to include the broadcast blog post feature, I think this is a clear signal that this person likes what your doing. Since we want a higher ratio of the people who come to our site to actually be VERY interested in what we have to offer, then this reaffirms that numbers are much less important that people who feel engaged by your content.
Like you mentioned, the people who unsubscribe probably weren’t interested so much in the first place. Not much is lost there and in fact something is gained, because you now have a tighter group of people to focus on.
The consistency thing sounds like something a lot of us have a hard time with, and I was glad to hear other people mention this in their comments, because I know I’m not alone now! Hahahaha… I’m working on this also!
I know from the people whom I follow that on top of links back to posts, I really get a lot out of the more personal emails which are a little post unto themselves. They don’t need to be long, but from what I’ve been reading it’s good to get a bit more personal in your emails. It’s the medium for it, and I’m going to be experimenting with sending out more mini posts. Last time I did, I got many more responses and thanks than any other message I sent out!
Anyhow, great focusing reminder post! 🙂
Sean, how did I miss this reply? Great tip on getting more personal. I need to work on that too. I do find it effective when people start out with a small paragraph that’s more personal. I think it’s about balance… but yes certainly agree!
I visit ur page most of time u send me an e mail
Its not dead its alive
Lisa, I enjoy reading your posts. Keep up the good work.
Thanks so much Chris! Means a lot to know people are enjoying the posts.
Catch subscribers when you have a blog. Okay is working with AWeber, the leader in email marketing space.
I know you have a forum, have you tried to catch subscribers from there? Thanks for your reply!
I have but didn’t have a rhythm. I have toyed with the idea of sending out a monthly summary like I described in this post but just haven’t gotten around to it. vBulletin removed their email functionality so I’d have to use AWeber, which would be fine.
Lisa,
I’m guilty of not being consistent with my blog or mailings. Since I’d lost focus and direction, I wasn’t blogging much. And at times, what I might think is interesting to me, might not be to someone else.
While I try to be selective about what I post, along with making it intriguing, I still don’t have a large volume of openings even when I am consistent.
I know it’s been ingrained in us to believe that the money is in the list, but I think it’s more practical to inform your list subscribers versus using your list as a source of income. When your list trusts you and gains valuable knowledge from you, they’re more likely to buy something you recommend.
I must admit that I enjoy getting you posts right inside of my email. It means I don’t visit your site (which we’ve been taught is the goal of emailing) but it makes it more convenient for me. But I noticed your strategy of putting a link in your post that sent me to your sight.
There are smart tactics that you can use that gets viewers to your website without being obvious. I enjoyed this post – thanks! Sorry for being so long-winded.
Hi Cynthia,
If you have an ecommerce site, it makes sense to send out more “sales” type emails because that’s what people expect. But for content bloggers, it definitely makes sense to go light on the promos and heavy on the help/updates. That way when you DO have something to sell, people are more receptive and don’t get irritated.
On the other hand, there are some who NEVER think you should sell to your list, but I disagree. I think it’s OK as long as you have the right balance. Most people understand that you don’t work for free. It’s just HOW you go about it that matters. And it takes time to figure out the ideal balance.
Inevitably some people will unsubscribe if you sell, but you can’t worry about those people. They would have never been customers anyway.
And no need to apologize for your long reply. I welcome all comments…. long and short. I appreciate people who take the time to leave their replies.
Hi Lisa,
Published my first site on Friday (9/5/14), and I’m thrilled that I finally got off my duff and decided to ‘just do it’. I’ve chosen to focus on building an email list and am using MailChimp because of their under-2000-subscribers free option.
To be perfectly honest, I prefer building a list to doing the “social” thing. I spent some time on Twitter and Google+ this weekend, just checking them out and getting reacquainted with the networks. I discovered that everyone is re-sending the same stuff over and over and over again.
When I signup to someone’s email list, it’s because I’ve visited the site and enjoy reading and learning from what she/he has to say. I look forward to seeing their emails in my inbox. It’s someone that I can relate to, someone with whom I have a ‘connection’.
Social is just the opposite. It’s ‘you follow me, I’ll follow you’. Or I’ll see stuff like ‘Interesting article…’ then a link to it. They don’t say why it’s interesting or what they got out of reading it or why someone else would want to read it. I just find it to be very disingenuous.
To sum it all up, I’ll just say that if I get 30 subscribers to my site, subscribing because they enjoy reading my work without all the noise, I’ll be very happy. Social should be left to family and friends because it has been abused to the point of not being ‘social’ anymore.
As always, thanks for sharing Lisa…
Lizzie, I honestly feel the same away about email vs. social sometimes. And I’m proud of you for getting your site up and running! Wishing you all the best and thanks for stopping by. 🙂
Hi Lizzie,
I started out using MailChimp too and like you was also attracted by the 2000 subscribers feature. But what happens when we go over this limit? MailChimp is not as good value (last time I checked) compared to the paid AWeber plan, so we will probably need to migrate our lists elsewhere.
This is something I intend to investigate asap!
Hi Darren,
When was the last time you check their site? I know they have 3 plans:
– Entrepreneur Plan for up to 2,000 subscribers (FREE)
– Growing Business Plan for up to 50,000 subscribers
– High Volume Sender Plan for more than 50,000 subscribers
In addition to the plans I listed, they also offer 0-500 (unlimited) and 501-1,000 (unlimited). Check out their website and go directly to their pricing menu, the costs of the plans is right there. Right now, I’m satisfied with the options offered with the free plan, so FREE works for me.
Hope that helps …
“I’ll be emailing you when have I important posts or news to share.”
… and BTW, name mine Yoda is 🙂
LOL! Oh crap. Oops. 🙂
Thank you for the post, Lisa. I am facing this dilemma as we speak. I too lost thousands of email addresses. I didn’t know what to do with them, and they are gone … gone … gone. So I am starting fresh with AWeber too. I am wavering between a fully automated sendout for the first year or so, which would give me time to do other stuff, or use the blog broadcast feature which allows me to build my blog at the same time. I appreciate your perspective. My mind still isn’t clear on which direction to go. Maybe I’ll go sit on a lily pad this afternoon and ponder it — lol.
Hi MaryAnn
You can actually do both! You can set up your autoresponder series and then send out broadcasts when applicable. That’s the beauty of it, it’s very flexible.
I was grandfathered, too, but I still had access to everything. I closed my account last year, so maybe some stuff introduced in 2013 or later???
I use Basecamp for client work so, voilà! Instant forum!
Cheers,
Mitch
Oh Mitch you are taking me back!! Yes, I remember those unlimited days too. I got my account grandfathered so my cost is very low BUT I don’t have access to some of the newer features like pruning people who don’t open… which kinda sucks.
Just curious, what platform do you use for your forum?
Lisa, I loved AWeber and had an account from the glory days of 14.95/month unlimited lists. However, I had no strategy. LOL
Eventually, I closed the account. Now, I do by-invitation-only to an exclusive Forum for my software. No spam, no pressure, and the cost is absorbed by using a platform I was using for client work, anyway.
I know that I will get back to using email lists when my shopping cart provider does its magic with customer -after-sale opt-ins. Until, then, I just chat with my forum members!
Cheers,
Mitch
Lisa.
Enjoyable post. I began a list in the technical field and did wonder at times whether it was worth it. I only have about 30 subscribers now which is very small but they are very responsive. Good think is that the list is growing. I wish I had started this list a long time ago. I probably would have had over 1000 subscribers by now.
Andrew
I know what you mean Andrew, but better late than never!
Hey Lisa!
I had to pull out my calculator before I could leave a comment. lol
I really don’t mind, I just think it is so amazing how spambots and human spammers have practically ruined blog commenting for the rest of us.
Anywho – I was just like you and it took me a couple of years before I started building a list. I still struggle with sending out emails regularly. Thank goodness for the auto-responder sequence I set up in AWeber.
If I had to set expectations for my subscribers it would be something like – I got a ton of info to share with you but you can only expect to get an email from me when I finish making videos, recording podcasts and writing blog posts. That is AFTER I get home from work. lol
I know I’m full of jokes today but it’s your fault because I’m still cracking up from when you said “it sat out in cyberspace collecting e-dust”.
Great minds really to think alike because the course I’m working on is very similar to your (minus the Photoshop part). This is going to be interesting….
Thanks for the encouragement Lisa. Have a great week ahead.
LOL, Sorry Ileane. Spambots were literally shutting down my dedicated server so you know that had to be a lot of spam attempts. So I had to make that call and install the CAPTCHA. GRRRRRRR!! Yes, it is sad what spambots have done to the web. My forum is having the same issue with sign-ups.
LOL, great point about the autoresponder series. I should have mentioned that too! At the end of the day, it’s about finding what works for you and I think the autosponder series is awesome because you can set it and forget it!
Good luck on your course, Ileane! I know it’s going to be fabulous. 🙂 Chat with ya later.