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If you have a business, you know how important your email list is. Email has an average of $38 ROI on $1 spent! Isn’t that crazy?

Sometimes, making the most of it can be tricky though. None of us wants to feel spammy or sleezy when emailing people with our offers and products. After all, we all are signed up for multiple newsletters and we know the feeling, right?

Today we want to talk about the 5 ways to transform your email list and use it to build meaningful relationships with your audience without making them want to unsubscribe. We want to challenge your way of thinking about an email list and inspire you to get more personal and purposeful with it. 

Invite

The very first element we invite you to transform is how you invite people to your list. 

Are you purposeful and clear with your intentions?
Do you word your email opt-ins in a concise way?
Do people know what to expect from you? 

Make sure you tell them exactly what they’re getting and then follow through. Nobody wants to be tricked into signing up just to be a part of a sales funnel without any value for them. Which takes us to the second point…

 

Serve

The main reason most newsletters feel spammy or sleezy is because there’s not enough serving and giving value, and way too much selling and expectations, don’t you agree?

When you sign up for a freebie you’d preferably get a freebie, some tips on how to use it and even a few more links to resources you might like. You may want to hear from the person who created it and read one or two stories you can relate to, don’t you?

When you serve your audience before you make an ask (a.k.a. sign them up for your launch sequence) they won’t feel like you simply want to sell to them. They will feel like they’ve got some much out of you, they want to hear more of what you have to offer.

 

Be personal

We always urge our clients to include a Name field in their opt-in forms. This simple thing will make it possible for you to include your subscriber’s real name in the email. 

Instead of: “Hi!”
you can greet them with:  “How you’ve been, Kassey?”

 

You can even use their name later within the content of the email, which makes them feel like you’re talking to them and not just any other person on your list.

This is not the only way you can get more personal though. Try including a survey in your welcome email, asking people where they’re at in their journey and what sort of content they’re interested in. Your email marketing provider (like ConvertKit) should then allow you to tag those people depending on which link they have clicked – signing them up for another, personalised email sequence you prepared.

This could look like this:

1. A person signs up for your list to get 15% OFF your skincare products.
2. They get an email with the code immediately.
3. The next day, they get a welcome email where you talk about your brand and its mission.
   Within that email, you ask them what’s their skin type – or better yet give them a link to a quiz you created to figure that out (try Interact for that!).
4. Once you know what’s their skin type, you automatically sign them up for another email sequence serving them tips and promoting your products perfect for their skin type. You can include a few emails here to make sure they get value for weeks to come and get used to seeing your brand name in their inbox.

This type of sequence can be all pre-set and automated so you don’t have to do a thing while creating an amazing experience for your subscribers. They feel cared for and get content curated specially for them. 

Does it feel spammy? You tell us!

 

Meet them where they’re at

Nobody wants to get emails about stuff they do not want to read about. We’re all too busy as it is. But if it’s something you’re really interested about? Something that speaks to you and your unique situation? You will definitely find a few minutes for that, especially if it gives value or helps to solve your problem, no matter how small.

Meeting people where they’re at may mean using a quiz to help them figure out what’s their skin type or asking if they’re a beginner or a professional in makeup.

Then, depending on whether they want to learn basics or are looking for professional training, you can serve them content that will suit them well. 

Curating content to your subscriber’s unique situation makes it not only easier to sell to them when it’s launch time, but makes the chances of them unsubscribing so much lower.

[et_bloom_inline optin_id=optin_16]

 

Know your end goal

As with any funnel (and this is what an email list really is), you need to start with an end goal and work your way up to figure out what it should include. When you know you want to sell more of your products, you can think of ways of converting warm audience (who have only heard about your brand) to people who are ready to buy. 

Your email list is a way for you to create that relationship and warm them up to your offer even more. Whatever you include in the content of your emails, make it consistent with the end goal you’d like to achieve.

Sometimes it might mean creating an email sequence that takes 2 months to finish, but by the time they do go through it they would’ve known your brand well and got served so much value they are ready to buy.

 

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Is building an engaged email list full of potential customers tricky to you? It can be simpler. With purposeful strategy and tools like Interact and ConvertKit you can use your list to build meaningful relationships, serve your audience and sell more of your products, without worrying about the algorithm changing (unlike Instagram!).

Want to see a quiz in action? See what Brand Personality are you.