Email marketing is a love/hate relationship. How many times have you signed up to receive what you thought would be a helpful newsletter only to be slammed with daily, or even sometimes multiple daily emails? Yup, me too… time for the unsubscribe link! OR What about those sweet gems that manage to land in your inbox that you look forward to receiving?
What makes the difference between the emails you delete and finally unsubscribe to and the ones that you look forward to? Two things…
1 – Relevance
2 – Usefulness
Why should you start an email list?
Of course, all the marketing gurus are saying you must do it, and there are miles of blog posts to prove it. Two things…
1 – It’s a way to stay top of mind to your current clients and help them.
2 – People who sign up for your list have given you permission to contact them — they are interested in what you have to say.
Both of these are a sacred trust!
What knowledge, content, information do you have that would be relevant and useful to them? The answer to this question lies in how well you know your customer, and what they want.
Have this information in mind as you plan what you’re going to send.
How to start
We love and recommend Mailchimp for a few reasons.
- They have a forever free plan where you can build your list to 2000 contacts.
- They believe in fun along with business. You swear over a banana that the list of contacts you’re uploading is yours and you have permission to do so.
- They have pre-made templates or you can customize your own which makes putting an email together so much easier.
- And, while the free plan doesn’t have access to their support, the online help/tutorials are very well written and easy to follow.
Here’s more info and how to get started.
Once you’ve got your account set up, check into Mailchimp 101 for a simple walkthrough to get you started on the right foot.
Export your client list from your CRM, Quickbooks, or online store. Organize it in a spreadsheet and import it. If you sell products online, most eCommerce platforms will connect to Mailchimp, making it easy for people who buy your products to get on your mailing list.
For your first email, give a warm welcome and let people know that you are starting a regular email. Let them know how often and most importantly, WHAT you’ll be sharing with them. And that because they are your client you’ve included them in the list — if they’d rather not get your emails, they’re welcome to unsubscribe.
Ways to meet different groups within your list
Within your list (Mailchimp calls it an Audience), you may have different groups of people. Or, as people sign up for your email, you may want to group them differently than your customers.
Mailchimp makes this easy with Tags and Segments. We recommend tagging clients vs. non-clients to start. Non-clients would be people who have not purchased your service/product, but signed up to get your email.
Last, have fun with it
Early on, a lady I worked with had this for her tagline “A fun approach to serious business”… People want to get relevant, useful information. Add a smile or chuckle to your email and dish up a tasting email that will leave people waiting for the next helping!
As always, if you’d like to get started, but this is a bit overwhelming, we’re here to help — just ask 🙂