The most important online asset for your business is your e-mail list. If you want to be successful selling webinars, classes, e-books, and other info products online, you need to be laser-focused on building and communicating with your list.
In most of the businesses I have run, the primary way that I sell my info products online is by selling directly to my e-mail list. If you want to be successful selling to your list, though, there are a few things you need to do to keep your e-mail subscribers happy and primed for your products. Here are the 5 ways I ensure that my e-mail list is ready to buy what I have to sell:
#1: Get in Touch Right Away
In a recent article, I talked about how to get people to sign up for your e-mail list. Growing your list needs to be your top priority when it comes to online marketing. Once someone signs up for your list, you want to get in touch with them right away… don’t wait for a few days or a few weeks to start sending the e-mails.
If you wait to start communicating with your subscribers, you risk having them lose interest or forget that they signed up for your e-mail newsletter. As soon as someone signs up, send them a welcome e-mail that includes the lead magnet (e-book, webinar, etc.) that you promised you would send them in return for subscribing. Then send them an info-packed e-mail every day, at least for the first few days after they sign up. This will get them used to hearing from you.
Remember, you don’t need to manually send out these e-mails. Set up an autoresponder using a service like AWeber. If you’re wondering what to say in your introductory e-mails, you can simply introduce your readers to your story and expertise, and follow-up with a few articles you have written. Or, try out the “Soap Opera Sequence” e-mails recommended by Russell Brunson in Dotcom Secrets.
#2: Communicate with Your List Often
The number one problem that new entrepreneurs have when it comes to their e-mail lists is that they don’t send out enough e-mails. If you want your subscribers to trust you and rely on you as THE expert in your field, they need to hear from you regularly.
Similarly, if you want your readers to buy from you when the time comes, you need to make sure you have provided tons of value to them ahead of time. If the only time people hear from you is when you having something to sell, they aren’t going to jump at opening your e-mails. You want to make sure people enjoy reading your e-mails so much that they can’t help but read them as soon as they come in.
One important thing to note: if you send out lots of e-mails, you will get unsubscribes. That’s ok. People who unsubscribe from your list are not your target customer. They’re not going to buy from you anyway. So, don’t be afraid of unsubscribes. Send out great content, and do it regularly.
#3: Have a Unique Voice
People get tired of getting the same types of e-mails over and over again. No matter what industry you are in, chances are that most marketers in that industry are sending out e-mail newsletters that have a similar tone and voice. If you want people to remember you and read what you are sending, you need to make sure your voice stands out from the pack.
Having a unique voice can mean being an expert in one unusual niche within your industry, or developing a distinctive persona, or having a unique writing style.
For example, there are tens of thousands of voices in the internet marketing space (people who want to teach you how to make money online). Pat Flynn has built a persona as the ultimate nice-guy marketer who will show you everything he is doing so you can do it yourself. Steve Larsen has built a persona that exudes loud energy (starting his videos with an earth-shattering “Boom!” and selling t-shirts that say “Capitalist Pig”). What’s your unique voice?
#4: Make Your E-Mails “Must Read”
If you want to be able to sell to your e-mail list, you need to make your e-mails “must read” for your subscribers. This means making your e-mails so valuable, and the content in them so good, that people can’t wait to open what you send.
Remember, when it comes to your e-mails, value is not necessarily the same as length. Sure, you could send out 8,000 word articles that are filled with in-depth information, but you could just as easily be sending out short 200 word tips twice per week that people can put into practice immediately. For example, Seth Godin has over 1 million subscribers for his daily e-mail newsletter, and regularly sends out articles that are less than 200 words… and his audience hangs on his every word!
Make your e-mails “must read” in your industry by sending out the best content you possibly can on a regular basis.
#5: Sell Stuff Regularly
It may sound counterintuitive, but if you’re not selling stuff regularly then when you do try to sell something, it will be harder to gain traction. You don’t want your e-mail subscribers to think of you solely as a free source of information… you want them to know that you also have premium content that they can buy, for a price.
The idea is to use your e-mail newsletter to whet their whistles, build trust, and prove your worth. Your readers will think, “Wow, if he’s offering all of this great stuff for free, imagine what he is offering in his paid courses?”
My recommendation is that you include sales materials in your e-mails at least once per month. This could mean launching a new product every month, or simply including an offer to a previously-created product every month. Make sure you keep selling your webinars, e-books, and online classes. You want to get your readers in the habit of buying from you… the more you make offers (and deliver on the sales promises you are making) the more people from your list will become regular customers for your paid content.
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