The Email Marketing Show

We're joined today by one of our members, Dan Greef. Dan runs a gluten-free, keto, low carb, low sugar (or rather, no sugar) bakery. They make cakes and sweet treats that won’t spike your blood sugar levels. Today, Dan shares his experience with email marketing and tells the story of how he made a whopping £9k in just ONE day, sending simple emails and using the strategies we teach inside our membership, The League. We had a few mic-drop moments in this interview. Are you ready to find out how Dan made awesomeness happen from his email list? SOME EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS: (0:09) Want to get more sales from your email marketing? Grab our Click Tricks.(3:26) Fancy a 14-day FREE trial with Keap? (4:37) How Dan got started with email marketing. (7:18) What did Dan's email marketing look like before he joined The League?(11:20) What happened when Dan joined The League?(15:36) What impact did email marketing have on Dan's business?(19:40) How does Dan feel about his email marketing now?(24:04) Dan's future plans for his email marketing. (26:14) Does Dan's email marketing take up too much of his time? (31:33) Subject line of the week.How Dan got started with email marketingWhile Dan started his business from his kitchen table a few years ago, things drastically changed for him during the lockdown, when orders started coming in thick and fast. Dan now has dedicated premises and staff. Like Kennedy, Dan is dyslexic and finds public writing terrifying. So email marketing was the last thing Dan ever wanted to do! Before he got started with email marketing, Dan used to do frequent Facebook lives and in January 2021 he'd started running paid ads. But with a fairly low-priced product (the average spending per order being around £27), Dan realised this model wasn't sustainable for him. With regards to his email marketing, Dan would do what most people do - send out broadcasting emails. They'd be full of pictures and offers and not have much in there other than a big flashy BUY button. But when he found our podcast and then started learning our techniques, everything changed. That's when Dan realised he loves email marketing! What did Dan’s email marketing look like before he joined The League?Every Friday Dan does a special restock sale, so he sends out an email to tell his list what’s in the restock. Like many others, Dan wasn't keen on emailing more than once a week - he was worried people might unsubscribe. He had a fairly big list, and he didn’t want to lose what he calls his 'email collection'.And Dan admits that back then, he would have lost a lot of people if he'd started emailing more. Because all he was sending out were sales emails, where he'd say what new flavours were coming out. Dan had nothing else to say. But now he does - and not because his life has changed, but because he realised he can say things. Email marketing has given him a voice. Before he joined The League, Dan had a few automations set up, but (to his admission), they were salesy. Now his emails allow him to build rapport with subscribers and have conversations. And people are more likely to buy from him because they’re no longer just buying a product – they’re buying from a person.Marketing, Dan tells us, shouldn't be about asking people to buy things. That's what Dan was doing, and that's why his email marketing wasn't working. But Dan later realised that in order to be successful, he needed to change his mindset. Because email isn’t a marketing technique – it’s a communication technique and a community builder.Pretty awesome stuff, right?What happened when Dan joined The League?Dan joined The League in the summer of 2021 and spent the first few months watching our videos and learning. Soon enough, he started to experiment with sending out emails twice a week and adding some personality into them. His early emails didn’t do much, he says, but they helped him learn the way.When Dan decided to put his prices up, he was terrified. He thought his list wouldn't react well. But after getting some advice in one of our coaching calls, he decided to use one of our campaigns to approach the price increase. Instead of apologising and being on the defensive, the campaign allowed Dan to bring his customers with him. Dan explained why the prices were going up (to pay for the ingredients), and customers loved his honesty and the respect he showed them. That's why they went with him. Dan's sales increased because the campaigns allowed him to build trust, rapport, and honesty. And these are the basis of any relationship, which is why his campaigns were so successful. We have to remember that email marketing is not us vs them - it's about taking the subscribers on a journey with you. We don't need to convince people to buy what we sell. It’s not some sort of arm wrestle where the business needs to convince the customer to give them money. As business owners, we're on a journey. And we need to take our customers with us, just like Dan did. The sooner we realise that, the better. People are on Dan's list because they want to enjoy sweet treats but also continue with their lifestyle and healthier eating. Dan is providing the solution to their problem while being completely transparent. In our business, for example, we use the idea of radical transparency. It's about telling people the truth. It’s selling by telling the truth. And in a world where levels of trust are so low, it’s an idea that works.[thrive_leads id='8822']What impact did email marketing have on Dan’s business?After joining The League, over time, Dan implemented our Getting To Know You sequence and then our Time Lord campaign and made a whopping £8,809 in 13 days! Also, in November 2021, when he increased his prices, Dan made £9k in one day!!! Of course, it wasn’t just the one email that made the money. It was the fact that for about a month and a half, Dan had been building to that point. By implementing a few key campaigns, Dan made almost £20k in one month.And we love Dan’s success story because cakes (and food in general) are traditionally sold through smell – you attract your customers into your shop from the street with the amazing aromas of your food. This is one of the fundamentals of selling food, and you can't do that on the internet!So if Dan can sell cakes that people can't smell by sending simple emails, we know that the same strategies will work for others. And on top of that, Dan sells low-priced products, which shows you don't need to be selling some super expensive product or service for email marketing to work for your business. Whatever you're selling, you can do that through email marketing by building rapport, showing your personality, and emailing a little bit more often. We don't teach anything that's technically difficult. It's all about understanding the psychology of email and building on that. How does Dan feel about his email marketing now?At first, Dan used to think that what sold his products were the photos of his cakes, so that's what he put in his emails. But now, Dan is using his emails to talk about personal urgency. Can his customers wait any longer to make the changes they need to make in their lives?Dan has now reframed what he does in his mind - he's not just selling cakes. He’s giving people the option to have a better future. So his emails are no longer full of pictures of cakes. Instead, they ask people where they want to be in life. And that subtle change has made all the difference. So if you're selling a course and no one’s buying, Dan says, that’s your fault. Because what you need to be doing to sell is to tell people how you'll take them from where they are now to where they want to be. And email is the perfect medium to do that. It has allowed Dan to change the way he's communicating with people.The action that had the most impact on Dan’s results and email marketingDan’s one piece of advice when it comes to email marketing is to think about the things that happened to you in the last 24 hours, break them down, and then share them with your list in your daily emails.This simple process will be transformative, Dan says. It certainly was for him because email marketing now accounts for 55% of Dan's business. He recommends you talk about a story (something that happened to you) and be authentic and genuine. Dan's future plans for his email marketingAt the moment, Dan only emails his list once a day and not as often as he'd like. So he's now working towards starting a campaign to integrate storytelling from his customers and share their success stories (just like we're doing with his story here!)Also, Dan plans on segmenting his list in the future, in order to be able to send a more varied message. In a room full of different people (from friends and family to complete strangers), you wouldn’t talk to them in the same way, Dan says. So segmenting his list will help Dan have more authentic conversations with his subscribers. Does Dan's email marketing take up too much of his time?Is email marketing a burden for Dan? Quite the opposite, in fact! At first, Dan says, the thought of doing anything is quite hard. But Dan’s timetable is based around his children, so quite often, instead of sitting down for an hour pondering about what he’s going to write, he’ll find himself utilising the small pockets of time in between other responsibilities. So typically Dan will think about what happened to him in the last 24 hours to find inspiration for an email. If that doesn’t work, he’ll use our template for generating ideas, and that will often give him a story to tell. Dan has a Google Doc where he first writes the story down. He then puts it in his email sender, and only at the end of the process, he adds a first line to the email and a subject line.Don't be scared of losing subscribersDan’s top tip is to just do it. When we first start emailing, he says, we have this idea that we’re somehow in front of a big panel of judges. But nobody really cares about your emails or if you’re doing them badly! So just try new things. You won't make a fool out of yourself. Dan had quite a big list, and he was worried about changing tack and losing people. And he did – he lost about 200 subscribers in a week, but then he gained 600 in the following two weeks. You get the right people coming in, and the ones who don't like you much will leave. And that's okay.Dan took the stance that this is his email list, so he’ll share whatever he wants to talk about – if people don’t like it, they can join someone else’s list. And this works. Because people who like you will stay, and they'll become loyal.Will email marketing work for you?If you're still wondering whether email marketing will work for you, this is the little gem Dan left us with. He told us that he's not actually selling cake at all.(Wait for it).Cake is what pays the bills, Dan says. What he's selling is a movement that changes our take on sugar. He’s trying to change the way we see the world by providing "diet cake". In essence, Dan helps people make a change in their lives.And once he was able to switch his mindset to this, his marketing changed. Now Dan is focusing on what he’s trying to achieve for the individual, for society, and for the bigger picture. And once you change that perspective, the cake is actually way bigger than an actual piece of cake!The key is to see what you sell as the solution to the vision, the dream, and the idea. And suddenly you're changing things at a massive level. But if you only think about the product you sell, then you'll always limit your vision for what you’re trying to achieve.Subject line of the weekThis week’s subject line is simply the merge field for the first name the subscriber registered with (whatever that might be). This is so simple, but it works. We always teach about something we call "the seed email". It’s a very short, sharp, to-the-point email that goes out first in a campaign to grab your hyper responders and send them in the direction you want to send them to. So it’s about saying something like, “We’re doing a training. Go check it out!”And if you’ve come across us talking about the one essential email template that everybody needs to have in their business (which is the one that goes out by accident if you forget to fill it in), this is the subject line for that email too. And it’s good because it just sits there – it doesn’t mean anything. Interesting, right?Useful Episode ResourcesAbout DanIf you want to connect with Dan, you can find him on his website. Dan also hosts a podcast where he talks to people about cutting back on sugar and carbs. Related episodesUsing Email Marketing to Build a Profitable Business – a Success Story from a Member of The League. How Sheila Went from the Starting Blocks to Total Clarity – an Email Marketing Case Study. Product Launch Emails – Success Story with Kay Peacey. FREE list of the top 10 books to improve your email marketingIf you want to write better emails, come up with better content, and move your readers to click and buy, here's how. We put together this list of our Top 10 most highly recommended books that will improve all areas of your email marketing (including some underground treasures that we happened upon, which have been game-changing for us). Grab your FREE list here. Join our FREE Facebook groupIf you want to chat about how you can maximise the value of your email list and make more money from every subscriber, we can help! We know your business is different, so come and hang out in our FREE Facebook group, the Email Marketing Show Community for Course Creators and Coaches. We share a lot of training and resources, and you can talk about what you're up to.Try ResponseSuite for $1This week's episode is sponsored by ResponseSuite.com, the survey quiz and application form tool that we created specifically for small businesses like you to integrate with your marketing systems to segment your subscribers and make more sales. Try it out for 14 days for just $1.Join The League MembershipNot sick of us yet? Every day we hang out in our amazing community of Email Marketing Heroes. We share all of our training and campaigns and a whole bunch of other stuff. If you're looking to learn how to use psychology-driven marketing to level up your email campaigns, come and check out The League Membership. It's the number one place to hang out and grow your email marketing. Best news yet? You can apply everything we talk about in this show.Subscribe and review The Email Marketing Show podcastThanks so much for tuning into the podcast! If you enjoyed this episode (all about how our member Dan Greef made a whopping £9k in one day from sending simple emails) and love the show, we'd really appreciate you subscribing and leaving us a review of the show on your favourite podcast player.Not only does it let us know you're out there listening, but your feedback helps us to keep creating the most useful episodes so more awesome people like you can discover the podcast. And please do tell us! If you don't spend time on email marketing, what do you really fill your working days with? We'd love to know! 

In today's special episode, we want to share some strategic-thinking processes to help you decide whether your messaging should change in a crisis. When something big happens in the world, and it affects everyone on a large scale, it can seem like everyone has a strong opinion on it. So how can we make the decision about what to change? And should we, at all? There's no right or wrong here. This isn't about us telling you what you should or shouldn't do. It's not even about us telling you what we think you should do. It's simply to help you decide what's right for you, your personality, your business, and your customers. It’s about helping you have more information to make the decision. Because the choice is yours, and so it should be!SOME EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS: (x:xx) The two types of content you can share in a crisis. (x:xx) Does what's going on affect you?(x:xx) Does the crisis affect what you teach and what you sell? (x:xx) Does it affect your audience?(x:xx) Do you have anything to say?The two types of content you can share in a crisisWe think there are two different types of content you can choose from when it comes to your email list or your social content. These are:Supportive content. This could be something as small or simple as putting up the flag of the country, an image or a video, or sharing information. It’s content in support of the cause.Escape content. In a time of trauma, or when things can be difficult for people, we all need some sort of escapism to support our mental health or our family's health to allow us to carry on. That escape is something your brain needs, in order to have some recovery time. So escape content is any type of content that allows people to think about something different - to give their minds a rest.And the great news is that you can change which type of content you share as time goes on or as things unfold, your learning progresses, and you gain more knowledge. You can switch things around or mix your content up based on what feels right at any given moment. So if you're wondering whether your messaging should change in a crisis, this is something to bear in mind.Kennedy, for example, has a strong background in entertainment, so he’s much more inclined to provide content that helps people escape. When people go and see him live, he makes them laugh – he helps them relax and recharge so they’re more equipped to make the hard decisions that need making in their own life or business. Providing escape content taps into his natural ability. But this particular piece of content you're reading, for example, is one that allows us to support our audience.So to help you decide what to do, how your messaging should change in a crisis (if at all), and what type of content to share, we put together some questions for you to consider.Questions to help you decide whether your messaging should change in a crisis1. Does what’s going on affect you?Of course, any type of crisis will affect us all - mentally and emotionally, if not physically. Are you and your audience lucky enough to be somewhere out of conflict? Or is this having a direct impact on your life?This is where you have the opportunity to choose whether you want to shine a light onto the people who are being affected or whether you want to continue to provide that escape. Because as this situation unfolds, there are still people who will be going to the theatre to watch a comedian who'll make them belly laugh. There are still people who are going to the cinema and watching films. That's all still happening – the world doesn't pause.Decide how to use your platformIt's easy for us to think that because we have an audience online and a platform (whether that’s your social media audience or your email list, for example) we have a moral right to use that platform in some way when something like this occurs. But it's important to be careful. The fact you’ve built a platform only means you’re good at harvesting an audience – at running ads and getting people to opt-in for something of value, or posting content that encourages people to follow you on social media, for example. It doesn’t mean you suddenly have to turn into a politician!We've all built an audience (large or small) around the thing we’re passionate about and are experts in. That doesn’t mean you need to be an expert in politics if that’s not what you do. We certainly aren’t, and no one should expect you to be one either. People aren’t coming to your Instagram to get the latest breaking news about a crisis. So remember that the pressure is off – you don’t have to have the answers.  You don't have to be the leader of the voice. You can decide to show support if you want to, or you can continue to be the escape.Do you want to bring this crisis into your content? Once you’ve worked out if the crisis affects you, you need to decide whether you want to bring it into your content or not. This will help you decide if and how your messaging should change in a crisis.If it affects you directly, you might not want to bring it into your content. And that’s a choice you have. Just because something’s directly affecting you, it doesn’t mean you have to talk about it. Because you might not feel it’s appropriate when it’s a part of you. You have the choice of what you share.There are things about our lives that we don’t talk about – personal things that we decide to create a boundary around. And you get to make that choice about your own content.2. Does the crisis affect what you teach and what you sell? The second question that could help you decide whether your messaging should change in a crisis is whether the situation affects what you teach and sell. It might impact the content you teach, the way you teach it, the frameworks you use, or the things you share. If the crisis affects any of these aspects of your business, think about whether you want to share content about it because of how it impacts you. And if not, that’s totally fine.3. Does it affect your audience? In order to understand whether the crisis is affecting your audience, you might need to take a deep dive into where they are based. One of the things we talk about a lot is gathering as much data as possible on your audience - in the nicest possible way, of course. If you know where your audience is based, and there’s a particular part of the world that’s affected, then you can identify these subscribers on your list, for example.And then you have a choice. If you want, you can segment them out of your marketing completely. Truthfully, what you’re offering right now might not be as important to them as what's going on in their life. So by taking them out of your marketing, you are actually supporting them. If your entire audience is in that part of the world, you might choose the support route, rather than the escape route. But if you only have a subsection of your audience in the affected areas, you might find that everyone else may not want to see content about what’s going on in the world. Sure, they want to be kept abreast of the information. But there are dedicated channels (such as the news) where that happens. They’re not looking for that kind of information in the email list where they signed up to learn how to play the piano or how to do baby yoga, for example. So for these people, the escape mechanism might be more appropriate. They still need these other products or services, and someone has to provide them.So when trying to decide whether your messaging should change in a crisis, think about how it affects your audience (if at all). And then decide if they need to continue on this path with you and what you’re going to do about it. Something we're doing, for example (and we're not saying you should, too - unless you want to) is to stop charging our Ukraine-based clients for their membership. Remember, it's about making decisions based on what you know about your audience.4. Do you have anything to say? If you're offering your support, and you're doing this by showing that you stand with your audience, great. But if you have something more to say, is it researched? We need to make sure anything we share is fact-checked because the last thing you want to do is add fuel to something when you haven’t done your full research. So it’s important to be careful. And fact-checking isn’t always easy, because there are many ways numbers and information can be skewed.And if you don’t have anything in particular to say, then it’s completely okay to be the support or the escape for your audience. As we said, you can choose one route and stick with that, or switch between the two. You can sprinkle one over the other – be mainly support and every now and then, pop some escape content in there. Or be mostly escape and then do something supportive from time to time.Be yourself while being sensitive to the situationAt the end of the day, what matters is that we are all sensitive to the situation. This doesn’t mean we have to tread on eggshells. You can still relax and be you, just like we’re doing right now. You can share how you feel (if that's your style) and equally, you don't have to share how you feel. Whatever your style is, you can show up in that. The key thing to remember is that this is your business, your brand, and your voice, so never feel you have to share something you're not comfortable with it. If you don't understand it, if you don't think it's right, and if you don't see how it fits with what you're doing, then you don’t have to share anything.And don’t listen too hard to anyone who says you should or shouldn’t talk about it either. With a great platform comes great responsibility. So you have to decide what the right way to handle your audience is. What’s the right thing for you to support them or allow them to escape? Remember that everyone, for the most part, is doing their best.Think about your audienceThese situations are constantly developing and changing. So it's always difficult to even process your own understanding and feelings while you’re coming to terms with what's happening. And it’s the same for your audience – their feelings are going to change and their emotions might be heightened too.Just be careful with how you step forward and perhaps consider the questions we suggested to help you make decisions in your business. Things like, do you have to pause your launch or will you continue with it? Do you have to check your automated email campaigns to make sure you’re not accidentally saying the wrong thing? Or that you’re not pushing your audience away?Hopefully, what we shared today will help you look at what you’re doing and make the best decisions you can make based on the information you currently have. And that's all you can do. You get to decide whether you're going to provide support or escape content for now.

How many email marketing sequences do we need for our business? What are the critical email campaign examples you should have in place?We're Kennedy and Carrie, and here are the 7 email campaigns we think every business should have.Ready to take notes? (And, most importantly, take action?)SOME EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS: (0:38) Want to carry on with the conversation? Join our FREE Facebook group. (3:04) Take action - build one campaign at a time. (5:07) Why are campaigns with multiple emails more effective? (12:40) 1. A delivery sequence. (15:40) 2. A welcome sequence. (19:23) 3. A direct sales sequence. (22:37) 4. A content-led sequence. (27:57) 5. An objection handling sequence. (33:19) 6. A risk reversal sequence. (34:20) 7. A subscriber engagement sequence. (39:01) Subject lines of the week.[podcast_subscribe id="7224"]Take action - build one campaign at a timeThe email campaign examples we're giving you here are the ones we think you must have in your business, but don’t get overwhelmed by this advice. Build one campaign at a time and then improve them later because you cannot optimise what doesn’t exist!We cannot predict perfection, so we should stop waiting for it - we can only polish our progress. So don't wait to start your email marketing until you have all the sequences fully written, optimised, and reviewed. You'd be delaying action and creating a noble obstacle. Just get something out there because, with email marketing, you’re building relationships with people. We need to stop acting like every email is a performance!Why are campaigns with multiple emails more effective? Some campaigns could have as few as one email, but you can add as many emails as you want to a sequence. Some of our campaigns are made up of up to 30 emails - it depends on what they are and what they do. A sequence of multiple emails will always outperform one single email. That's because none of us is getting a 100% open rate on our emails (not even Google!) Even if you’re getting a healthy 40% open rate, 60% of your subscribers are still not seeing those emails.Also, we are all inspired by and connect with different things. If you tell someone that a particular offer is expiring soon, they might buy because they're motivated by loss. But the same email might not work for someone who's motivated by different things. Instead, you might be able to get their attention by offering a bonus, for example. Having a sequence of emails in a chain with time delays between them always outperforms a singular email.Why you should pre-write and automate your email campaignsWe recommend you pre-write and automate your email sequences because, that way, they’ll perform for you no matter what's happening in your life or business. Having automated email sequences gives you flexibility. Your pre-written emails are an asset - not a liability!If you spend time sending out broadcast emails, you can never use that email again, and you won’t get that time back. But if you write your emails into automated campaigns that every subscriber in your list will receive, you're building an asset that’s going to serve you time and time again. Automated campaigns are effective not only because they help you make sales, but also because they allow you to deepen the relationship with your subscribers (or help you re-engage them). It depends on the point of the campaign.The key is to build your email campaigns as an asset that compounds and serves you for as long as you need it to – not just for the time it takes you to do the work. When you write and schedule emails, you have the systems and automations already in place. And they keep working for you even when you can't, for whatever reason. Write your emails when you feel your boldest and bravest self, and pre-programme that content to go out regardless. That way, your emails will do the heavy lifting for you. They can act as a staff member, i.e. a hugely powerful asset in your business that allows you to keep going when you can't.So what are the 7 email sequences you should have in your business?1. A delivery sequenceYou need a simple, engaged sequence that delivers whatever people want to download from you. Even if you’re giving away that product for free (i.e. a lead magnet), treat it with reverence – don’t undervalue it because it’s free. People will decide on the value of something based on how you treat it. They might not be paying money for it, but they're giving you their email address. And data is currency. So show people that what they get in return is valuable to them.Remember that you need a delivery sequence for every product (free or paid-for) that you give out. Send people what you said you'd send them, and keep hyping that. Don’t even refer to your lead magnet as a freebie, if you can avoid it. Because people paid for it with their data and attention. And once they download it, you want them to ask you what’s next.If you're getting started, a delivery sequence is the easiest email campaign to put together. You don’t even have to write it all in advance either. A grandfather of this industry, Jimmy D. Brown, used to say that every Tuesday and Thursday he'd set his alarm and spend 30 minutes adding one email to every one of his sequences. Before long, he had hundreds of emails. So start with one because you can’t improve on what you don’t have.2 . A welcome sequenceThe delivery and the welcome sequence aren’t the same thing. You may have several ways for people to get into your world (i.e. different lead magnets, challenges, webinars, etc.) You want different delivery sequences for each lead magnet, but you only need one welcome sequence. Our Welcome Sequence (the one we teach inside The Email Hero Blueprint) is called the Getting To Know You sequence. No matter how someone comes into our world, they go through the same welcome sequence. It’s highly optimised, everyone gets it, and you don’t have to create a new one every time you launch a new lead magnet.The first email of your welcome sequence should bridge the gap between how people got on your email list and what’s going to happen next. This is an important step because for most people the transaction is completed once they've downloaded your lead magnet. They ‘paid’ through their email address, and any emails they get from you after that are a nuisance and a surprise! So in the first email of your welcome sequence, tell them what's going to happen next. Use that email to position the ongoing emails and resell them on something valuable – this isn’t an apology!Also, give them a whole bunch of ways they can connect with you on different platforms (such as your social media or your podcast). While your delivery sequence is transactional, your welcome sequence leads people into the relational territory.3. A direct sales sequenceThe direct sales sequence is conversional, in that you're starting the process of converting subscribers into becoming paying customers. This is where you tell people what you sell and how you serve.This campaign helps you address the people who come into your world with an urgent need for a solution to their problem. Your job is to help them, so don’t push this stage down the line. The last thing you want to do for these people is to disengage them by pushing some irrelevant content down their throats.Even if people need more information before buying, you still want to introduce them to your core offer. So be clear on what you sell, on the solution you have, and the problem it solves. You'll find that rabid (urgent) buyers will buy at this stage - this campaign is for them.[thrive_leads id='8822']4. A content-led sales sequenceYour content-led sales sequence is for the people who need more information. They’re more cautious buyers - perhaps because they've been burnt before. This isn’t a content value-based sequence by the way – we’re not just entertainment in someone’s inbox! It’s a content-led sales email campaign. Ultimately, your goal is to offer people your solution (just like in the direct sales campaign), but now you're doing it through a content sequence. It’s not content for content’s sake - it’s content that needs to set up the sale.Why? Because we want to make sales, of course, but also because we don't want to distract our audience and add more overwhelm to their lives. People are coming to you with a specific problem they believe you can solve. So don’t start talking about irrelevant topics! If they wanted more content or overwhelm, they'd still be browsing the Internet. They want clarity. So your job is to prove that what you have is unique and interesting and is going to help them. You're going to do that by teaching them something small but tangible that gives them a quick win and makes them more willing to join your programme. You could share a video to teach them something, for example. Whatever you share, start with content, and then move into making an offer. This is what a content-led sales sequence is.Don't make people feel like they're being beaten over the head with the message to buy. If that's all you say, why would they want to stick around and pay attention to your emails? Give them value. Even if they don't buy from you now, they’ll still be in a better position than where they were before. They have more understanding and some ideas they can go and implement.But if they do buy at this stage, they're a more educated and qualified buyer. Overall, this campaign helps you reduce return rates, refund rates, complaints, and customer service instances. Because your content helps them understand if you’re right for them.The best thing yet? You don't have to create new content specifically for this campaign. Just grab something you already have and repurpose it to use it inside your content-led sequence.5. An objection-handling sequenceYour objection-handling campaign is for people who, for whatever reason, haven't bought yet because they have an objection of some kind. They may be wondering if your solution works for them or if they can afford it. So your objection handling campaign has two jobs:Find out what the objection is. A way of doing this is to run a survey and ask.Overcome the objection. You want to turn that objection into the reason why they should buy.One of the biggest objections we get from people before they join our progamme is that they’re not good writers. So we tell them that’s exactly why they should get all frameworks for the email campaigns they need. Also, we have this notion that a 'well-written' email is one that our high-school teacher would approve of. But those tend to be the worst-performing emails! They may be well-written, but they tend to come across as cold and inauthentic - like they weren't written by a human being. They feel disconnected from reality and don’t have emotions.Instead, you want to write how you talk – with all the expected imperfections. Why? Because when people read your emails they do something called subvocalisation, which means they hear your voice in their head while reading. If you’re not a good writer, write exactly how you speak. And if it means you’re going to dictate your emails first and then tidy them up later, that’s what you'll do.Remember - take people's objections and turn them into the reasons why they must. It’s a simple mindset shift and a different way of motivating people.6. A risk reversal sequenceThe next email sequence you need to have in place is a risk-reversal campaign. Lots of people get scammed or burnt by solutions that don't end up being what was promised. You want to give your audience the guarantee that what you're selling is great and will work for them. So your risk-reversal campaign has the job of reversing, removing, or reducing the risk that your programme might not work.You do this by offering your product at a low cost or by giving a free trial, for example. Or maybe you could invite people to attend a coaching session or participate in a group call. You’re showing people that the perceived risk doesn’t exist.7. A subscriber engagement sequenceThe last email sequence you want to have in place is a subscriber engagement sequence or re-engagement sequence. This is important because you can't help the people who are disengaging from your emails! By not opening or interacting with your emails, they're also damaging your sender's reputation, which is your ability to get your emails delivered to all the people who want to receive them.So look for people who are disengaging with your emails, put them through a re-engagement sequence, and try and bring them back from the brink. If they don't, let them go. Unsubscribe them and keep your email list clean.It may seem scary but think about this example. If you were speaking at an arena to an audience of 20,000 people, but 18,000 of them were talking amongst themselves or going in and out of the venue, would this be good for you? What would happen to the 2,000 people who are present and engaged? You wouldn't be able to fully focus on them!A disengaged audience isn't good for your business or for the people who want to pay attention and buy from you! You can only serve the people who choose to be there. So release the ones who don't want to be there and focus on the room. Those other people can always come back later - you're not closing the doors for good. But right now you’re not serving them, so let them go.Join The Email Hero Blueprint If you’d like to get your hands on the exact frameworks for these 7 email campaigns (plus many more email sequences that will get you results), go check out The Email Hero Blueprint. You can use tried and tested frameworks and launch them must faster than you would if you had to create them from a blank page.[thrive_leads id='8854']Subject line of the weekThis week’s subject line is “Slides for today’s masterclass”. This one came about as Kennedy was teaching a webinar and wanted to evoke people’s curiosity and remind those who hadn't registered yet to go and do so. The subject line works because it's intriguing and engaging – it gives a little peak behind the scenes. It's a fresh angle you can use to remind people you’re running a masterclass or a webinar. So check it out!Useful Episode ResourcesRelated episodesTemplate For Email Marketing Campaigns.How To Run A Smashing Flash Sale With One of The Best Email Marketing Campaigns In The World.Perfect Timing? What’s The BEST Time To Send An Email For Maximum Impact?FREE list to improve your email marketingIf you want to write better emails, come up with better content, and move your readers to click and buy, here's how. Here's a list of our Top 10 most highly recommended books that will improve all areas of your email marketing (including some underground treasures that we happened upon, which have been game-changing for us). Grab your FREE list here.Join the FREE Facebook groupDo you want to chat about how you can maximise the value of your email list and make more money from every subscriber? There's a way! Every business is different, so come and hang out in our FREE Facebook group, the Email Marketing Show Community for Course Creators and Coaches. You'll find a lot of training and resources, and you can talk about what you're up to.Try ResponseSuite for $1This content is sponsored by ResponseSuite.com, the survey quiz and application form tool that we created specifically for small businesses like you to integrate with your marketing systems to segment your subscribers and make more sales. Try it out for 14 days for just $1.Join The Email Hero Blueprint Want more? Let's say you're a course creator, membership site owner, coach, author, or expert and want to learn about the ethical psychology-based email marketing that turns 60-80% more of your newsletter subscribers into customers (within 60 days). If that's you, then The Email Hero Blueprint is for you.This is hands down the most predictable, plug-and-play way to double your earnings per email subscriber. It allows you to generate a consistent sales flow without launching another product, service, or offer. Best news yet? You won't have to rely on copywriting, slimy persuasion, NLP, or ‘better' subject lines.Subscribe and review The Email Marketing Show podcastThanks so much for tuning into the podcast! If you enjoyed this episode (all about the 7 email campaign examples you must have in your business) and love the show, we'd appreciate you subscribing and leaving us a review of the show on your favourite podcast player.Not only does it let us know you're out there listening, but your feedback helps us to keep creating the most useful episodes so more awesome people like you can discover the podcast.And please do tell us! What do you really fill your working days with if you don't spend time on email marketing? We'd love to know!

Do you batch your emails? Can batching improve your email marketing? Does it make the process any easier or quicker?We’re Kennedy and Fifi, and these are some of the questions we answer in this podcast episode because we’ve all been there - staring at a daunting list of emails to send, not knowing where to begin.Let's go!Useful Episode ResourcesRecent episodesWarning: 6 Lies Your Email Marketing Platform Is Telling YouHow to Come Up With Your Next Email Campaign (Without Overthinking It)The Surprising Thing That REALLY Impacts Your Email Deliverability.FREE list of the top 10 books to improve your email marketingIf you want to write better emails, come up with better content, and move your readers to click and buy, here's how. We put together this list of our Top 10 most highly recommended books that will improve all areas of your email marketing (including some underground treasures that we happened upon, which have been game-changing for us). Grab your FREE list here. Join our FREE Facebook groupIf you want to chat about how you can maximise the value of your email list and make more money from every subscriber, we can help! We know your business is different, so come and hang out in our FREE Facebook group, the Email Marketing Show Community for Course Creators and Coaches. We share a lot of training and resources, and you can talk about what you're up to.Try ResponseSuite for $1This week's episode is sponsored by ResponseSuite.com, the survey quiz and application form tool that we created specifically for small businesses like you to integrate with your marketing systems to segment your subscribers and make more sales. Try it out for 14 days for just $1.Join The Email Hero BlueprintWant more? Let's say you're a course creator, membership site owner, coach, author, or expert and want to learn about the ethical psychology-based email marketing that turns 60-80% more of your newsletter subscribers into customers (within 60 days). If that's you, then The Email Hero Blueprint is for you.This is hands down the most predictable, plug-and-play way to double your earnings per email subscriber. It allows you to generate a consistent sales flow without launching another product, service, or offer. Best news yet? You won't have to rely on copywriting, slimy persuasion, NLP, or ‘better' subject lines.Want to connect with Fifi?Fifi is a personal brand and visibility coach who works primarily with introverted coaches and impact makers. She helps quieter people – those who have ideas they want to share with the world but struggle to put them out there. Fifi empowers them to find a way to share in a way that aligns with who they are. You can find Fifi on her website.Subscribe and review The Email Marketing Show podcastThanks so much for tuning into the podcast! If you enjoyed this episode (all about the psychology of marketing and the 9 things we use in all our email campaigns) and love the show, we'd really appreciate you subscribing and leaving us a review of the show on your favourite podcast player.Not only does it let us know you're out there listening, but your feedback helps us to keep creating the most useful episodes so more awesome people like you can discover the podcast. And please do tell us! If you don't spend time on email marketing, what do you really fill your working days with? We'd love to know! 

How can you write better emails? Do you think your emails are boring? Do you need to be funny? Or should you try and be more interesting? And if so, how?We're Kennedy and Carrie, and we're sharing the little things you can do to make your email marketing less boring.Ready? Then buckle up!SOME EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS: (0:30) Want to carry on with the conversation? Join our FREE Facebook group. (3:05) Make everyday life sound interesting. (4:35) Take people on a journey with you. (10:27) Stay relevant to your audience. (13:37) Deliver value (and selling is value!) (17:37) Send emails using your name (not your company's). (18:41) Show up regularly and don't shy away from expressing opinions. (22:37) Tell stories (and start from the action). (26:16) Join The Email Hero Blueprint.(26:33) Subject line of the week.Useful Episode ResourcesRelated episodesEVERYTHING You Need To Know About Email Marketing And Storytelling To Write Emails That Sell Like Crazy.Email Marketing Success: How Isabelle Lesschaeve Made An Extra $10,000 With Our Paparazzi Flash Sale Campaign.Tap Into The Mind-Blowing Power Of Familiarity Exposure Psychology In Your Emails To Boost Sales In Your Business.FREE list to improve your email marketingIf you want to write better emails, come up with better content, and move your readers to click and buy, here's how. Here's a list of our Top 10 most highly recommended books that will improve all areas of your email marketing (including some underground treasures that we happened upon, which have been game-changing for us). Grab your FREE list here.Join the FREE Facebook groupDo you want to chat about how you can maximise the value of your email list and make more money from every subscriber? There's a way! Every business is different, so come and hang out in our FREE Facebook group, the Email Marketing Show Community for Course Creators and Coaches. You'll find a lot of training and resources, and you can talk about what you're up to.Try ResponseSuite for $1This content is sponsored by ResponseSuite.com, the survey quiz and application form tool that we created specifically for small businesses like you to integrate with your marketing systems to segment your subscribers and make more sales. Try it out for 14 days for just $1.Join The Email Hero Blueprint Want more? Let's say you're a course creator, membership site owner, coach, author, or expert and want to learn about the ethical psychology-based email marketing that turns 60-80% more of your newsletter subscribers into customers (within 60 days). If that's you, then The Email Hero Blueprint is for you.This is hands down the most predictable, plug-and-play way to double your earnings per email subscriber. It allows you to generate a consistent sales flow without launching another product, service, or offer. Best news yet? You won't have to rely on copywriting, slimy persuasion, NLP, or ‘better' subject lines.Want to connect with Carrie?You can find Carrie on her website or at Fully Leveraged Business. Subscribe and review The Email Marketing Show podcastThanks so much for tuning into the podcast! If you enjoyed this episode (all about how to write better emails that aren't boring) and love the show, we'd appreciate you subscribing and leaving us a review of the show on your favourite podcast player.Not only does it let us know you're out there listening, but your feedback helps us to keep creating the most useful episodes so more awesome people like you can discover the podcast.And please do tell us! What do you really fill your working days with if you don't spend time on email marketing? We'd love to know!

So you started sending more emails to your subscribers and now you're getting 'hate mail'. That's right - some people are replying with complaints and negative feedback. And how do we deal with those? Laura Belgray, the founder of Talking Shrimp® and co-creator of The Copy Cure with Marie Forleo, has been a professional writer for over two decades and has won big awards for her work. In this conversation, she tells us everything we need to know to turn problems into opportunities.Because she is The Queen of turning haters into sales. Want to know how it's done? Let's hear it from Laura. SOME EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS: (0:25) Want to get more sales from your email marketing?(3:33) Fancy a 14-day FREE trial with Keap? (4:07) Can Laura hold her own on a skateboard or did she appear in the Sesame Street theme on TV?(6:09) What kind of 'hate' emails does Laura get?(8:25) What to do when you receive emails from 'haters'. (11:29) Let go of the people who aren't interested in buying what you sell!(15:22) How to turn 'hate email' into a piece of content to support your launch.(20:37) How to turn 'hate emails' into evergreen content.(23:35) 'Haters' are like hecklers - they just want significance.(28:34) Subject line of the week with Laura Belgray.Want to get more sales from your email marketing?We put a little something together for you – it's really cool and it's FREE (yes, we're nice like that). If you want to make more sales from your email marketing, you need those clicks on the things that you're selling!So we've got 12 creative ways to help you get more clicks in every email you send. It's a FREE download, and it's called Click Tricks. You can grab it here. The kind of 'hate emails' Laura gets  One thing we have in common with Laura is using stories as a way of communicating with our audiences. Sure, that makes us a little vulnerable because when you share stories and experiences from your own life and people don't like them, their 'hate' can be directed towards you. So what kind of 'hate' are we talking about here? Oh, let's see. Laura was told her emails were lame and totally sucked, for example. Or that she emails too much and she should 'slow her roll'. And even that people are trying to unsubscribe, but there's no link (an absolute lie!)Sometimes these comments are so ridiculous that they're easy to brush off. But sometimes they sting. And Laura admits she's sometimes tempted to write back and be reactive about the situation. But...There's a better way to do things. What to do when you receive emails from hatersThe right thing to do, Laura explains, is to avoid responding straight away. Don't defend yourself - don't waste your time telling people why they're wrong. It’s okay to lose these 'haters' from your list because they're not the people you want!Instead, Laura does something constructive - she will showcase these comments. She’ll take a screenshot, copy the words, put them into an email and social media posts, and she’ll share with her audience. She might admit she was hurt by the negative comments sometimes, but she’ll also talk about why what people say is wrong and share value with her audience in the process. And do you know why her audience loves it when she does this? First of all, people like to see how we handle things we’re afraid of - things that might happen to them too. Because if you're someone who emails often and is good at this, you'll get these sort of emails too. Truth is - the better you are at something, the more people are going to 'hate' you!How sharing 'hate' emails with your audience impacts youIt's also interesting for people in your audience, Laura says, to see how a person they respect handles the process to turn problems into opportunities. And when you admit that negative words have an effect on you, it's relatable and comforting to your audience. Equally, if you show why you're not bothered by these comments, there will be people on your list who can relate to that.When people in your audience see you handle criticism well, they rally around you - they get on your side and defensive on your behalf. If the ‘hater’ is complaining you sell too much, you might have people react by buying! Because they're on your list to buy from you, and they'll prove it to you by buying your products or services. Let go of the people who aren't interested in what you're sellingLaura knows that the more you email, the more you sell. The more you get your message out to people, the more people you'll help or delight. So by emailing more, you're creating such a positive effect that it’s worth the trade-off of losing some 'haters'. Because the more emails you send, the more unsubscribes you're going to get. But, as we always say, unsubscribes are a good way of cleansing your list. The people who leave are people who don't want to hear from you - they aren't interested in what you have to say or sell. So you don't want them on your list! Because if they're not going to buy or even open your emails, they're clogging up your list. Letting them go is a cleansing process for your list. Let's remember that people on your list who don't open your emails affect your deliverability. So let them go! How to turn a 'hate email' into a piece of contentWe asked Laura how she frames the negative comments she receives from her subscribers and turns them into something of value. To answer our question, Laura shared an example of someone who got in touch with her to say she was sending too many emails (we called this guy Bob).She took a screenshot of Bob's email, quoted it into one of her emails and told her audience what she said back to him. She told Bob (and her list) that when it comes to email marketing, more is more - especially if you're launching or selling something. Laura backed this up with a graph that showed that the more emails she sends, the more products she sells. And it’s that frequency of emailing that made her a $1 million yearly income! So she’s going to keep sending emails. And Bob is of course welcome to get off the ride. When the 'haters' reply backDo you know what happened next? Bob actually replied back! He said he'd been schooled by Talking Shrimp and humbly accepted Laura’s rebuttal. Fantastic, right?The best thing is that this happened in the middle of a launch of one of Laura's courses - one that teaches the art of emailing. And this whole thing with Bob was so apt that it helped her sell the course! Because when Laura pointed out that sending more emails generates more money, more people realised they needed the exact product she was selling. This was a perfect example of how Laura made more sales using hate email. But she uses these kind of emails all the time - even when she isn't doing a launch. She uses these emails to make her audience feel better about 'haters' and to educate them on how to handle and process criticism.You are not for everyone!Because it's important we all remember we're not for everyone - no one is. There'll always be someone who wants you to do things differently.But you don't need to change anything.It's like the analogy we like to use of people on your email list being guests who come into your house. When they come to you, they need to abide by your rules. And if they don’t like the décor or the furniture, you’re not going to change it for them! Because this is your house. So you run your list the way you want to run it.How to turn your 'hate emails' into evergreen pieces of content Laura will always re-use 'hate emails', especially if they got a good response. If the emails are time-bound and include copy along the lines of “this happened to me today”, she’ll tweak them to say “last time I launched, this happened to me,” for example. This helps her make the emails more time-sensitive.But emails from haters make for great content, whether they’re during a launch or not. For example, someone once criticised Laura for having a typo in an email. And Laura pointed out that copywriters aren’t copy editors – they make typos. But this doesn't mean they can't be trusted or aren't professional! So Laura created an email with the subject line “the typo that ruined my career”. And of course, the point was that a typo didn't ruin her career!That was a great example of everyday content – not something she'd only share during a launch. Because anything can be turned into a piece of content.'Haters' just want significanceThis conversation with Laura also reminded us of what happens in the stand-up comedy and entertainment worlds with hecklers. Hecklers are people who want a bit of significance.It's the same with email marketing. When Bob got a reply from Laura, he probably had his heart filled. He felt important because he was spotlighted and pointed out in the audience. He got significance.  Of course, that doesn't mean you should reply to everyone. Laura, for example, has a customer service manager who will often take care of these types of emails and reply to people. Laura will sometimes reply to public comments though, like those on a Facebook ad for example, in order to show a public record of her responses. And she might screenshot those exchanges and use them as content.Subject line of the weekA subject line that Laura uses with every launch is “DUDE”. This was an email about getting a testimonial from a guy who's on Laura's list who is also an awesome email marketer - Chris Orzechowski. He emailed Laura a fabulous response to a course he’d bought, telling her how much he made from the first email he wrote after buying the course. Laura showcased this testimonial but also the fact she got an email from a guy. You see, Laura has a lot of women on her list and proportionately fewer men. So getting a testimonial from a guy was exciting – she now calls these testoster-monials. And she thinks having testoster-monials on her sales page makes a huge difference. Because it's all about representation. It's about how as consumers we like to see faces that look like ours - whether it's our race, the colour of our hair, or our gender. So the email talked about the importance of showcasing different kinds of people on your sales pages. Brilliant, right? Useful Episode ResourcesAbout LauraIf you want to connect with Laura, you can find her on her website or on Instagram. You can also grab Laura’s free guide to subject lines here – it’ll give you 33 non-sucky subject lines for emails that always get opened, plus proven templates to write your own.Related episodesWhy You Shouldn’t Worry About Your Unsubscribe Rate. The Surprising Thing That REALLY Impacts Your Email Deliverability.Why You Need to Avoid These Email Marketing Mistakes. FREE list of the top 10 books to improve your email marketingIf you want to write better emails, come up with better content, and move your readers to click and buy, here's how. We put together this list of our Top 10 most highly recommended books that will improve all areas of your email marketing (including some underground treasures that we happened upon, which have been game-changing for us). Grab your FREE list here. Join our FREE Facebook groupIf you want to chat about how you can maximise the value of your email list and make more money from every subscriber, we can help! We know your business is different, so come and hang out in our FREE Facebook group, the Email Marketing Show Community for Course Creators and Coaches. We share a lot of training and resources, and you can talk about what you're up to.Try ResponseSuite for $1This week's episode is sponsored by ResponseSuite.com, the survey quiz and application form tool that we created specifically for small businesses like you to integrate with your marketing systems to segment your subscribers and make more sales. Try it out for 14 days for just $1.Join The League MembershipNot sick of us yet? Every day we hang out in our amazing community of Email Marketing Heroes. We share all of our training and campaigns and a whole bunch of other stuff. If you're looking to learn how to use psychology-driven marketing to level up your email campaigns, come and check out The League Membership. It's the number one place to hang out and grow your email marketing. Best news yet? You can apply everything we talk about in this show.Subscribe and review The Email Marketing Show podcastThanks so much for tuning into the podcast! If you enjoyed this episode (all about how to turn problems into opportunities and 'haters' into sales) and love the show, we'd really appreciate you subscribing and leaving us a review of the show on your favourite podcast player.Not only does it let us know you're out there listening, but your feedback helps us to keep creating the most useful episodes so more awesome people like you can discover the podcast. And please do tell us! If you don't spend time on email marketing, what do you really fill your working days with? We'd love to know! 

Did you know we started an email marketing agency? If you didn't, you're about to find out why we started one, who it's for, and how it could help you.So if you're curious to find out whether we could take care of your email marketing for you, read on (or click play to listen!)SOME EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS: (0:10) Want to get more sales from your email marketing? Grab our FREE download Click Tricks.(3:38) Fancy a 14-day FREE trial with Keap?(4:37) Why we stopped our first email marketing writing agency.(6:55) Do one thing at the time (but not forever).(11:00) It's about delegation - not abdication!(14:10) The minimum viable version of our email marketing agency.(15:47) Why we only work with specific types of businesses.(18:26) Who is our email marketing agency for?(21:21) If you're interested in working with us, check out our application form!(23:22) Subject line of the week.Want to get more sales from your email marketing?We put a little something together for you - it's really cool and it's FREE (yes, we're nice like that). If you want to make more sales from your email marketing, you need those clicks on the things that you're selling! So we've got 12 creative ways to help you get more clicks in every email you send. It's a FREE download, and it's called Click Tricks. You can grab it here. Why we stopped our first email marketing agencyNews flash! We've just started an email marketing agency. But this isn't even the first time we've done this! In fact, we used to have an email marketing agency, but we closed it down. You see, when we first started this business, having an agency was the logical thing to do. So we did. We'd work with clients, plan an effective strategy and implement email marketing campaigns for them. But there was a downside. We wanted to help more people than we had time to. Plus the investment was prohibitive for small businesses and course creators. And those were the very people we wanted to help because we have a background in creating online courses. So to help more people we created our membership, The League. This is where we help course creators, coaches, membership site owners, and other small businesses to do their own email marketing. So we went all-in on the membership and moved away from the email writing agency.Do one thing at the time (but not forever)We very much subscribe to this idea of doing one thing at the time. But that doesn't mean you do just that one thing forever! We love The League, but we also believe that in business you have to take the time to do one thing right and then move on. This is how we get so much done - separately and together - in our businesses. We do one thing, get it up and running quickly, get it refined (that means automated or systemised), and then move on and do the next thing.We like to use the analogy of a circus performer spinning plates. It can look like mayhem at first. But the way they do it is very systemised. They get one plate spinning until it's perfect and then move on to the next one. Once they have all the plates spinning, they just need to give them a little wiggle to keep them going.It's the same for some of the bits of our businesses. We have people in charge of parts of our businesses and will jump on a meeting once a month to check how things are. So here's a key lesson we learnt - get one thing going and do it quickly. If it doesn't work, you can close it down and move on and do something different.So now that we have our membership up and running, and we've systemised that process, we know when to turn up for our deliverables to serve our members, and we're ready to move on to the next thing in our business, which is how to help people who want an affordable way to have their email marketing taken care of for them. Remember it's delegation - not abdication!The fact we're happy with where our membership The League is (at its core) doesn't mean we're leaving it behind! Quite the opposite! We’re constantly working to improve it and add to it. We never take our eyes off it - we'd never abandon it. Delegation or systemisation doesn't mean abdication – you can’t close your eyes and assume a plate is still spinning. Because if you do, sooner or later, you’ll hear the sound of that plate on the floor. And you don’t want that.So when we first started planning out our email marketing writing agency we were super clear about the fact we wanted to deliver good results and a great quality product for our clients. But at the same time, we still wanted to run and serve The League, produce our podcast (The Email Marketing Show), and fulfil our other existing commitments. These were our conditions. The minimum viable version of our email marketing agencySo the first thing we asked ourselves when we started putting our email marketing agency together was to work out what the minimum viable version of it looked like. In the past, we’d been guilty of building huge elaborate processes that took lots of work, time, energy, and efforts to then realise we didn't want to run that business.And the first thing we wanted to make sure of was that we had writers who would create marketing emails and take care of email marketing campaigns for our clients. Thankfully, because we have paying members, students, and customers who are certified in our frameworks, techniques, strategies and processes, we have some incredible writers at our disposal. In other words, we have amazing people who do email marketing day in and day out and love it! So we began building our team of writers to get our fulfillment piece in place in order for us to focus on growing the business rather than working in it. We'll do the discovery and sales calls with prospective and new clients to find out what you want. And then we'll tell you how we do it and sign you up if we seem like a good fit for each other.We only work with specific types of businessesWhen we kicked things off with our email marketing agency, we created a sales page where we ask people to apply for a call. We're selective about who we work with - we want specific clients who want what we deliver, in the way that we deliver it, and in our timeframe. So there's a specific application process people need to get through before they get on a phone call with us. And that's because we don’t want to waste your time if we can't help you.If you head over to our sales page, you'll find a video of us introducing ourselves. We tell you what we do and who the agency is for. We talk about the problems we solve and the way we do it. You'll see that we lay it all out very openly without any mysteries - we’re completely transparent about what we do. And if that sounds like something you want help with, you can go through an application form which asks a few key questions, including what products and services you offer. And we ask that because if someone operates in an area we have no experience in or aren’t sure whether we can’t get results (like real estate, for example), we won’t work with them.What's also key for us in terms of the clients we work with is that they've already proven that their product sells. Because email marketing is going to amplify what they’ve already proven. And if someone doesn't have a proven product yet, 100 times nothing is still nothing! So we want to make sure we're not just taking people's money and not get a result. We want to give clients the best chance of getting the best results from what we do.Who is our email marketing agency for?It’s for anyone who wants to use email marketing in their business but doesn’t have the time, inclination, or patience to learn it and do it themselves. And that's fine! We have things in our business that we don't do ourselves - like social media or paid ads, for example. We choose to outsource these areas and tasks to the experts so we can double down on the things we’re good at. And for us that’s email marketing.So if you don't want to learn email marketing because you want to focus on delivering your product or service, you can still utilise email marketing in your business. And while you double down on the stuff you're good at, our email marketing agency can take care of email for you.  We have a formula that works for certain types of businesses at certain stages. We teach it over and over inside The League and know it works. If you're happy to learn it and implement it yourself, then our membership is the place for you. If not (and you still want results and turn subscribers into paying customers quicker and faster than any other strategy), then our agency can do it for you. We have the formula and the experienced writers, which is why we know we can offer these amazing advantages to our clients.So if you think you’re ready and would like us to take hold of your email marketing, build your email engine, and do your weekly emails, go ahead and fill in our application form. You can find it here.Subject line of the weekThis week’s subject line of the week is “I am begging you [First Name]”. The hook of the email was around the fact that your subscribers are never going to beg you to start emailing them! So on their behalf, we are begging you to send emails to them. Because they are interested in hearing from you! But also, this particular email we're referring to was sent out to drive traffic to an episode of our podcast - Product Launch Emails – Success Story with Kay Peacey. In our chat, Kay talks about the resistance she had to emailing subscribers. So we used this story as the hook of our email. And this helped us fix a problem we had in our business. Because we used to send emails to get people to go and listen to episodes of the podcast, but those never performed well. Until we started writing them using the exact frameworks we use for all of our other emails. And this proves our frameworks work! So here’s an extra little lesson for you. Cool, right?Useful Episode ResourcesRelated episodesProduct Launch Emails – Success Story with Kay Peacey.7 Ideas for Building Your Email List in 2022.Why Email Marketing is at the Top of the Digital Marketing Trends for 2022. FREE list of the top 10 books to improve your email marketingIf you want to write better emails, come up with better content, and move your readers to click and buy, here's how. We put together this list of our Top 10 most highly recommended books that will improve all areas of your email marketing (including some underground treasures that we happened upon, which have been game-changing for us). Grab your FREE list here. Join our FREE Facebook groupIf you want to chat about how you can maximise the value of your email list and make more money from every subscriber, we can help! We know your business is different, so come and hang out in our FREE Facebook group, the Email Marketing Show Community for Course Creators and Coaches. We share a lot of training and resources, and you can talk about what you're up to.Try ResponseSuite for $1This week's episode is sponsored by ResponseSuite.com, the survey quiz and application form tool that we created specifically for small businesses like you to integrate with your marketing systems to segment your subscribers and make more sales. Try it out for 14 days for just $1.Join The League MembershipNot sick of us yet? Every day we hang out in our amazing community of Email Marketing Heroes. We share all of our training and campaigns and a whole bunch of other stuff. If you're looking to learn how to use psychology-driven marketing to level up your email campaigns, come and check out The League Membership. It's the number one place to hang out and grow your email marketing. Best news yet? You can apply everything we talk about in this show.Subscribe and review The Email Marketing Show podcastThanks so much for tuning into the podcast! If you enjoyed this episode (all about why we started an email marketing agency) and love the show, we'd really appreciate you subscribing and leaving us a review of the show on your favourite podcast player.Not only does it let us know you're out there listening, but your feedback helps us to keep creating the most useful episodes so more awesome people like you can discover the podcast. And please do tell us! If you don't spend time on email marketing, what do you really fill your working days with? We'd love to know! 

Today we have Sheila FG on the show, who is part of our membership, The League. Sheila helps podcasters and event owners find sponsors for their events. She's been in business for years, but it's only recently that she started creating products for her business and pivoting into coaching and consultancy. This is a fantastic email marketing case study of how Sheila got started and got results by emailing her list. Ready to find out how your business could transform, too? SOME EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS: (3:16) Fancy a 14-day FREE trial with Keap?(6:49) Sheila's email marketing before she joined The League.(10:35) The changes Sheila implemented when she joined The League.(13:04) How Sheila's business has changed since she started email marketing.(14:29) How Sheila feels about her email marketing now.(16:10) The things that made the biggest impact on Sheila's email marketing.(17:51) What's next for Sheila's email marketing? (18:30) Has email marketing become a full-time job for Sheila?(19:58) Can email marketing work for YOU?(21:30) Subject line of the week.Sheila's email marketing before she joined The LeagueLike many people in business, Sheila only started thinking about her email list a bit more seriously when she started selling products. Before that, she wasn't sure what to email her audience about. She didn't have a framework, and, in her own words, she felt awkward. She didn't know what her subscribers would want to receive from her and felt uncomfortable with the idea of only sending promotional emails. Plus, with some big-name digital marketers and speakers on her list, she suffered from Imposter Syndrome too. Why would they want to hear from her? After all, Sheila was only just starting out in the email marketing space while they were seasoned and established.Before joining The League, Sheila would typically put together a sponsorship package and email the event out to her list of sponsors from her Gmail account. She didn't use marketing automation at all, and she found the back-and-forth communication time-consuming and not efficient at all. She'd lose track of conversations, and it felt a lot like 'busy work'.The changes Sheila implemented when she joined The LeagueThe first thing Sheila did when she joined The League was to start sending regular emails. Although her emails don't go out daily yet, she emails frequently. She has a Google Doc where she saves any ideas for email newsletters and enjoys finding topics to talk about that have a business lesson behind them.Another thing Sheila started doing was to include links in her emails - something she’d not done before. She now adds multiple places to her emails where people can interact with her, including in her signature. That way, all the areas of her 'marketing machine' now feed to each other. For example, her email list feeds into her Facebook group and vice-versa. She'll often share a post in her Facebook group encouraging people who aren't on her list to join, so they can receive her daily emails.Sheila also implemented automated email campaigns, and she loves that. Once they're done, she doesn't have to worry about that side of things.  How Sheila’s business has changed since she started email marketingNow, Sheila has people joining her list that she doesn’t recognise – she has no idea where or how they found her. Plus, she gets responses or questions from her subscribers. That's led to actual conversations with people, and it's great for Sheila to know that there's someone out there reading and taking notice.How Sheila feels about her email marketing nowSheila now wants to get more marketing campaigns in place in order for her email marketing to run on autopilot. She also wants to start tagging her subscribers to gain more clarity on who's on her list, what they do, and where they are in their journey with her.Sheila's email marketing may still feel like a work-in-progress, and she admits she has a long way to go. But she feels a lot better about it. She says email marketing is now fun work because she can see results almost immediately - there's a progression there. Now that she's using email campaigns and automation, she can spend more time focusing on growing her business.What had the biggest impact on Sheila's email marketing? Taking action and being consistent is what gave Sheila the biggest results. In particular, she noticed how well her email list and Facebook group work together by sending people from the group onto her list and vice-versa. But also, getting responses from people was a game-changer for Sheila. Out of everything she's learnt and implemented since joining The League, Sheila would advise anyone who's getting started with email marketing to prioritise emailing consistently every day. "The more you do it, the easier it gets," Sheila says. Consistency also helps with generating regular conversations.Adding links to your emails is also important to help you figure out where you get more clicks, Sheila says. That way, you can work out what works for you and build forward momentum, rather than just sending something out into the ether and not knowing whether it’s going to work or not.What’s next for Sheila in her email marketing?Now that she's happy with the work she's done on the product side of her business, Sheila wants to focus more on the sponsorship side. She knows now that she has topics to write about, so she's planning on adding her sponsors' database into her email marketing system. And that will help her become more consistent with her emails.Has email marketing become a full-time job for Sheila? When Sheila first started out, she thought sending out regular emails would take forever. But she soon realised that like we always tend to do with something new, she was overcomplicating things. When she started doing it, it became clear that she could quickly write an email and move on to the next thing. Once you get into it, it's not as overwhelming as you may think! There are so many things we could do or ‘should’ do in business, but it’s important to tackle them one at the time. It’s a bit like watching a person on stage spinning plates. They start with one, and only when that plate is spinning do they add another, and then another, and so on.Email marketing is very much the same. Get something going consistently and then you can add something else to it. All you need to do, from time to time, is to go back and check that the original plate is still spinning and doing what it’s supposed to do for you.Can email marketing work for YOU? It's okay for us and for Sheila to do email marketing, right? But will it work for you? We asked Sheila, and she confessed she had the same fear. At first, she didn't think people would want to hear from her. She felt like she was spamming them. But then she told herself we’re all human.If you can figure out who the people on your list are and what they’re looking to learn, you can sprinkle that into your emails and make them interesting, engaging, and funny. Because regardless of what you’re selling, we’re all human, aren't we?Subject line of the weekSheila’s subject line is “Clear enough for you?” It sounds a little angry and confrontational, but the email was all about the fact that Sheila bought some salad cream in the States, and it had a white sticker stamped on it that said “USA date” to let people know how they should read the 'best before date'.Inspired by that story, Sheila sent an email to her list talking about how everything seems clear to us when we’re inside our business. But is it as clear for the people on the outside? It's always worth remembering that there are things in our business or marketing that aren't clear for our customers, guests, or clients. So how do we combat that?Pretty neat subject line from our Sheila, don't you think? Useful Episode ResourcesAbout SheilaIf you want to connect with Sheila, you can find her on her website – Connected Sponsors.Related episodesProduct Launch Emails – Success Story with Kay Peacey.Using Email Marketing to Build a Profitable Business – a Success Story from a Member of The League. Who should not join The League of email marketing heroes.FREE list of the top 10 books to improve your email marketingIf you want to write better emails, come up with better content, and move your readers to click and buy, here's how. We put together this list of our Top 10 most highly recommended books that will improve all areas of your email marketing (including some underground treasures that we happened upon, which have been game-changing for us). Grab your FREE list here. Join our FREE Facebook groupIf you want to chat about how you can maximise the value of your email list and make more money from every subscriber, we can help! We know your business is different, so come and hang out in our FREE Facebook group, the Email Marketing Show Community for Course Creators and Coaches. We share a lot of training and resources, and you can talk about what you're up to.Try ResponseSuite for $1This week's episode is sponsored by ResponseSuite.com, the survey quiz and application form tool that we created specifically for small businesses like you to integrate with your marketing systems to segment your subscribers and make more sales. Try it out for 14 days for just $1.Join The League MembershipNot sick of us yet? Every day we hang out in our amazing community of Email Marketing Heroes. We share all of our training and campaigns and a whole bunch of other stuff. If you're looking to learn how to use psychology-driven marketing to level up your email campaigns, come and check out The League Membership. It's the number one place to hang out and grow your email marketing. Best news yet? You can apply everything we talk about in this show.Subscribe and review The Email Marketing Show podcastThanks so much for tuning into the podcast! If you enjoyed this episode (all about Sheila FG's email marketing case study) and love the show, we'd really appreciate you subscribing and leaving us a review of the show on your favourite podcast player.Not only does it let us know you're out there listening, but your feedback helps us to keep creating the most useful episodes so more awesome people like you can discover the podcast. And please do tell us! If you don't spend time on email marketing, what do you really fill your working days with? We'd love to know! 

How do you improve your email deliverability? What can damage your sender's reputation? How can you make sure your emails land in your subscribers' inboxes?We're Kennedy and Carrie, and we're here to share the truth about all the surprising things that affect your email deliverability so you can have better results.Ready?SOME EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS: (0:33) Want to carry on with the conversation? Join our FREE Facebook group. (2:21) What is 'email deliverability'? (5:06) The technical things that impact your email deliverability. (7:40) Using too many images. (9:49) More reasons for not using too many images in your emails. (13:55) Having little or no engagement with your emails. (16:26) Using 'spammy' words. (21:00) What can you do to improve your email deliverability? (23:03) Keep your list clean.(24:57) Subject line of the week.[podcast_subscribe id="7224"]What is 'email deliverability'?Let’s say this first - nothing will affect your deliverability like not sending enough emails! You can only improve your email deliverability if you send emails! No one gets them if you don’t send them, right?With that said, when we talk about deliverability, we refer to the ability to get your emails into people’s primary inboxes so they can see them, open them, and click the links inside them to go and buy your products and services.You can put great effort into learning how to write great emails with effective subject lines. But if your emails end up in people’s spam folders or are blocked altogether, you won't get any results with your email marketing. You need to ensure that your emails are delivered. So we're sharing the email best practices for you to bake into your everyday processes to improve your deliverability.For this, we assume the people on your email list have chosen to be there. This means you haven't gone onto the Internet and scraped email addresses or bought an email list illegally. The premise of this advice is that you do the same email marketing we do - i.e. opt-in, permission-based marketing. In other words, someone’s seen a good reason (such as a lead magnet) to join your email list, and they've voluntarily given you their email address and permission to send them emails. Because if not, when people start receiving emails from someone they don't know, they'll be quick to hit the spam button.The technical things that impact your email deliverabilityBefore you start emailing people, there are a few technical parameters you need to set up regardless of how big your list is or what niche you’re in. These are:SPF (Sender Policy Framework).DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail).And DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting, and Conformance).We’re not going into detail, but we suggest you research how to set them up or hire someone to do it for you. All you need to know is that setting these values up helps validate your reputation as a sender to ensure your emails are delivered securely and consistently. These parameters verify you can legitimately send emails from your website. They're measures that exist to protect people, so don't skip this step.If you’re in our Facebook group and have any doubts, come and ask. And if you are inside our programme, The Email Hero Blueprint, we have tech calls where we answer these types of questions.So what else impacts your email deliverability?1. Using too many imagesThings such as using large images or GIFs in your emails might impact your deliverability. But that's if you use them all the time. Think of deliverability as a scoring system. Doing something 'wrong' occasionally doesn't mean your email marketing is doomed! Most of the time, you'll be fine. You won't be immediately blacklisted and put in Gmail jail. Using images or GIFs here and there isn't going to hurt your deliverability if you're otherwise getting good engagement.However, regularly putting lots of massive images in your emails (especially if they’re not compressed and end up being sent as attachments) isn’t great for your deliverability. For the most part, you want your emails to be text and links. And this isn’t just for email deliverability. It’s also (and mainly) because emails that are sent by people don’t have lots of graphics or heavy layouts – that’s what business emails look like. We want to fall into the category of personal relationships here. We want our subscribers to focus on what we mean by the words we use in the emails – not the images.More reasons for not using too many images in your emailsAnother reason not to use too many images is that you don't want people to disconnect from your message because of the images you use. Say you’re telling a story about an awful chair, and you attach a photo of it. Someone who might have the same chair (or happen to like the image of the one you shared) might be offended and not connect with what you're sharing. Instead, you want people to use their imagination and decide for themselves what ‘an awful chair’ looks like. Let the words paint the pictures for you.Also, if you’re an e-commerce business that sells products, for example, you don’t want to put photos in your emails. The goal is for people to click on the links inside your emails, go to your website, see your products, and buy from there. Your emails have the job of getting people to click on your links. And people clicking on your links is a great indicator to Gmail that your emails generate engagement. So don’t give them everything in the email because if you do, they have no reason to click!An exception to that rule (and one we sometimes use) is to put a preview image of a video in an email that tells people that by clicking on a link, they’ll be taken to a page where they can watch a video. In that preview image, we’ll often include something curious like a thumbnail or an animated GIF. But that doesn’t take away from driving the click.Using images can also become a noble obstacle. If you’re waiting to publish an email because you first need to find the perfect image and then resize it etc., you may never send that email. And messy action is better than no action! So reduce friction wherever you can. Tell the story you want to share in the email, and let the sales page do the rest. Every additional thing you put in there can get in the way of people taking action.2. Having little or no engagement with your emailsThe next thing that affects email deliverability is the engagement of your emails. Are people paying attention? Are they opening your emails, clicking on the links, and replying?Opening emails is a good sign to Google – it shows people are there and taking some form of action. But people clicking on the links in your emails is a stronger engagement signal. It tells Google that your subscribers are interested in what you do - your emails must be good!The next best thing is people replying to your emails – that shows a greater level of human engagement. And while it's harder to get people to do this, forwarding your emails is an even better engagement signal. It tells Google that your content must be of great quality.Something we do in our Super Signature at the bottom of our emails is to say something along the lines of “If someone forwarded this to you, make sure you also get the next email”. This plants the seed in the readers’ minds that they can forward your email to someone else if they find it valuable. It's also useful because you're telling people what the next step is - what do you want them to do now? If you want people to forward your emails, tell them. Because inherently people want to be helpful - they just don't know what's useful to you.You can't generate engagement if you’re not emailing consistently or frequently enough. If you only show up out of the blue when you have something to sell, people are going to see through that. So don't be that person! If you haven’t sent emails in a while, don’t overthink it – just jump back in.[thrive_leads id='8822']3. Using ‘spammy’ wordsAnother factor that may negatively impact your deliverability is using words and phrases that are picked up by scam software. A lot of email platforms automatically do spam checks. For example, we use Keap, and certain words and phrases are highlighted as spam. It might surprise you, but “Netflix” is one of them! So it's not just your traditional 'naughty words'. If people mark emails as spam, and those emails have particular words or phrases in them, Gmail starts to pick them up as 'spammy'.However, let’s not forget deliverability works like a scoring system. If you generally have great engagement and a clean list, the occasional 'spammy' word isn’t going to hurt your deliverability. If you have a low spam score, you could, for example, get away with using the word “free” in a subject line with no issues. Think of your email marketing relationship with your audience as a friendship or even a dating relationship. You’re not expected to be perfect all the time! If you make one negative blip here and there, you’ll be forgiven.Also, don't look at email subscribers as data - they are people. You’re emailing humans who have raised their hands and said they wanted to hear from you. If you get marked as spam by the occasional person, don’t focus on that too much. Instead, keep serving the people who showed up and want to hear from you.What can you do to improve your deliverability score?The first thing you can do to improve your deliverability score is to show up more often (i.e. increase the frequency of your emails). Think of your credit score. If you never had credit before, your score won't be good because the banks don't know if you'll pay the money back on time. The same goes for emails. You want Gmail and the other providers to have a track record for you so they can see your past reputation.To do that, you need to build one. If you're not sending a great amount of emails, you’re not giving Gmail and the other platforms enough evidence about what type of sender you are. Gmail will want to know that when you send an email people open and click, reply, or forward, and generally don’t mark you as spam! So don’t be the person who only reaches out when you have a favour to ask (i.e. something to sell). People will be more likely to reach back when you’re showing up consistently.Keep your list cleanAnother thing you can do is to keep your list clean. Remove the people who are repeatedly not engaging with your email list. Before you do that, you can give them the chance to re-engage by putting them through a re-engagement campaign. But if they don't, take them off your list. If every time you send an email, lots of people on your list don’t look at your emails, Gmail interprets this as your emails not being good. And this negatively impacts your sender's reputation. So if someone hasn’t engaged with your emails in 60 days, give them a chance to re-engage. If they don't take it, unsubscribe them. This way, you'll be able to reach those who want to be reached.If you want access to these (and more) strategies to keep your email deliverability high, check out the details of our programme, The Email Hero Blueprint.[thrive_leads id='8854']Subject line of the weekThis week’s subject line is “Low power kicks”. The email had a good click-through rate, and it was about the fact Kennedy has been training in Muay Thai for about 18 months. The story in the email used the metaphor that in business and life (just like when training), you don't want to be kicking hard the whole time. Sometimes you have to use low-power kicks instead. The metaphor makes the whole thing more interesting. And people get to learn more about you. This helps you build a more three-dimensional picture of a real human being who’s out there doing stuff. So check it out!Useful Episode ResourcesRelated episodesStop Landing In The Spam Folder & Immediately Skyrocket Your Email Deliverability – With Brian Minick.Master Your Metrics – Unleashing The Power Of Email Marketing Analytics.How To Create THE Most Successful Re-Engagement Email Campaign (And Smash Your Sales Targets).FREE list to improve your email marketingIf you want to write better emails, come up with better content, and move your readers to click and buy, here's how. Here's a list of our Top 10 most highly recommended books that will improve all areas of your email marketing (including some underground treasures that we happened upon, which have been game-changing for us). Grab your FREE list here.Join the FREE Facebook groupDo you want to chat about how you can maximise the value of your email list and make more money from every subscriber? There's a way! Every business is different, so come and hang out in our FREE Facebook group, the Email Marketing Show Community for Course Creators and Coaches. You'll find a lot of training and resources, and you can talk about what you're up to.Try ResponseSuite for $1This content is sponsored by ResponseSuite.com, the survey quiz and application form tool that we created specifically for small businesses like you to integrate with your marketing systems to segment your subscribers and make more sales. Try it out for 14 days for just $1.Join The Email Hero Blueprint Want more? Let's say you're a course creator, membership site owner, coach, author, or expert and want to learn about the ethical psychology-based email marketing that turns 60-80% more of your newsletter subscribers into customers (within 60 days). If that's you, then The Email Hero Blueprint is for you.This is hands down the most predictable, plug-and-play way to double your earnings per email subscriber. It allows you to generate a consistent sales flow without launching another product, service, or offer. Best news yet? You won't have to rely on copywriting, slimy persuasion, NLP, or ‘better' subject lines.Subscribe and review The Email Marketing Show podcastThanks so much for tuning into the podcast! If you enjoyed this episode (all about the things that impact your email deliverability) and love the show, we'd appreciate you subscribing and leaving us a review of the show on your favourite podcast player.Not only does it let us know you're out there listening, but your feedback helps us to keep creating the most useful episodes so more awesome people like you can discover the podcast.And please do tell us! What do you really fill your working days with if you don't spend time on email marketing? We'd love to know!

Do you worry about your unsubscribe rate? Do you obsessively log into your email marketing software to check it and then panic over it? If you do, you need to stop that. Your unsubscribe rate is actually a good thing! Want to know why? Let's find out! SOME EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS: (2:48) Fancy a 14-day FREE trial with Keap?(4:10) Why you want to build a list of people who want to buy from you.(6:50) Your email marketing should be on your terms.(9:06) When people unsubscribe from your list, they improve your email deliverability.(10:00) Why you should aim to make a profit from your email list as a whole (and not look at individual subscribers).(12:30) Email marketing is about building relationships with people.(13:16) Why you want to keep your email list lean.(14:46) Look at people unsubscribing from your list as the ultimate way of niching down.(16:54) Why you want to create an environment of zero competition.(18:20) Subject line of the week.Build a list of people who want to buy from youWe know getting notifications that say people have unsubscribed from your email list is scary. But it shouldn’t be. Subscribers are not Pokémon – you don't have to collect them all!The truth is when people unsubscribe from your list they're doing you a favour. Because list building isn't about having the biggest list in the world. It’s about having a list of people who want to hear from you and buy from you. If they're not going to buy from you (ever), they might as well not be on your list! You don't need more friends. And you don’t need more people on your list that drag you down.In fact, that unsubscribe link at the end of your emails is useful. It's like a self-cleaning feature. This is your email list cleaning itself and telling you who’s not interested. Your subscribers are telling you that your business isn’t for them. And that's a good thing!Your email marketing should be on your termsBecause your emails are landing in people's email inboxes, it's easy to think you are interfering with their day - that you're being intrusive. But let's turn this around for a minute. Imagine your email marketing is your house, and you’ve invited people in for a cuppa.Effectively, you've put a thing on the internet (a lead magnet) that told people you send an email out as often as you do about the things you want to sell. If people want to receive that email, they’re welcome to come on in and make themselves at home. You’ll even put the kettle on, won’t you?And if at any point they don't like what they see in your house, they can leave. And that’s okay. In case they get so upset they email you to say you’re spamming them, you can always unsubscribe them. So don’t get attached to the idea you have to make their inbox a better place. Because sure, your job is to do good email marketing. And that should make someone’s inbox better for them, but only if they want to be there and they’re interested in what your emails are all about. But remember - this is your house. You invited them. And if they don't like it, they can leave at any point or you can unsubscribe them. So write your emails for you. Send the emails you'd like to receive and then build an audience of people who want those emails. This allows you to focus on serving the needs of the people who want what you have to offer.When people unsubscribe from your list, they improve your email deliverabilityDid you know that email unsubscribes improve your deliverability? That's right. Because instead of doing things that tell Google and the other search engines that your emails aren't very good, the people who don't want your emails just leave.It's when they stay and start doing things like not opening your emails, not clicking your links, or not engaging, for example, that you need to worry. Because that's when your open rates and your click-through rates go down.It’s a bit like having a sad person in the corner of the room at your party - they're bringing the atmosphere down for everyone. But if they leave, the mood of the whole party lifts again.And it's the same for your email deliverability. The minute the people who weren't engaging with your emails leave, your deliverability rate starts to increase. And that's a big win! Aim to make a profit from your email list as a wholeAnother reason why high unsubscribe rates shouldn't worry you is that we shouldn't look at subscribers on our list individually. So if you're running ads, for example, you can calculate your ad spend and the number of subscribers on your list and work out how much it's costing you to acquire one subscriber. And if that person unsubscribes, you now think you've lost that amount. Then you start focusing on the fact that if you emailed less or differently, then people wouldn’t have unsubscribed, and you wouldn't have lost money. But that's the wrong way to look at it! Instead, you want to think about how email marketing works as a bigger picture. So if you're spending $1,000 in ads to get 200 subscribers, for example, you now want to make that $1,000 back with all your subscribers collectively – not looking at them one by one. Don't aim to make every single subscriber on your list profitable. You make a profit from your list as a whole.  For example, we make $12 per subscriber per month. So if we had 200 subscribers, with our business and our setup, we could make $2,400 per month. If you spend $1,000 to acquire 200 subscribers, your job is to make $1,000 (and more) from those 200 subscribers as a whole. Because that's a much better way to see where your profits or losses come from. Email marketing is about building relationships with people Let's face it - people who unsubscribe from your list are not interested in what you have to say or sell right now. There’s no point in having a huge email list that you’re too scared of emailing in case they unsubscribe.The reason why you have email subscribers is so that you can communicate with them and build relationships to a point where they invest in you or buy something from you. So please get over the idea that emailing people is something to be afraid of! Because when you email people you build relationships. And that means that when they're ready to buy from you, they will.  Keep your email list leanAnother advantage of people unsubscribing is that it keeps your email list lean. And that allows you to reduce your email hosting costs. If you’re on a package with your email platform where you get 5,000 subscribers for a certain price, as soon as you go over that number, you’re going to have to upgrade.Because email marketing is such a high return-on-investment activity, the cost of upgrading is not massively prohibitive, but you still want to avoid overspending. And if some people unsubscribe and that allows you to stay under that threshold, you get to keep your costs low. Look at unsubscribing as the ultimate niching downPeople unsubscribing from your email list is the ultimate niching down. A lot of people think that if they send an email and 98% of people don't open it, it means their open rates are bad. Even if you could trust open rates as being true (which you can’t and shouldn’t), a 30% open rate, for example, is not bad at all! But what you need to realise (instead of focusing on open rates) is that not everybody's going to resonate with your style and message, which means that when people unsubscribe you get to niche right down. Every time you send an email, some people will leave. But as they get themselves off the list, you're left with the people who resonate with your style, with the kind of words you use, and with your message. The people who stay are interested in learning more about the thing you talk about, and they're specifically interested in learning about all that from you.Just like us, you’re not for everybody. And by getting rid of the people who are not interested in you or your thing, you get to niche down to the ones who are. And those are the most profitable people to have in your world.The environment of zero competitionOnce you niche down to the people who are interested in what you sell, you get to create what we call an environment of zero competition. You're no longer competing with other people doing what you do, because your people have decided that it's you – your style, your frameworks, your personality, your way – they want to learn from. You’ve created an environment of zero competition where no one can come and sweep them away from you.So if you want more of this – if you want to see more consistent sales from your email marketing, let us hand you our library of email automations and email marketing campaigns, training, and monthly group coaching inside of our amazing community - The League of Email Marketing Heroes. That's our monthly membership, especially designed to help you sell more of your courses, bring in new members to your programmes, and win more coaching clients with psychology-based email marketing.Subject line of the weekThis week’s subject line of the week is “Have you got a napkin?” and it worked because it’s a question. When someone asks you a question, your brain subconsciously switches into gear and either wants to answer or wants to know more – what is it all about and why do they want to know, for example?The premise of the email was around the fact we’d heard someone say that your business model should be so simple you could draw it on a napkin. If not, it means your business is too complicated. But if you get into the weeds of your email campaigns and funnels, it can all get quite complex. And our email talked about why it's important to have a good system for building your email marketing automations so you don’t lose track of what they’re doing. And we had just the thing to help people do that. Brilliant, right?Useful Episode ResourcesRelated episodesWhy You Need to Avoid These Email Marketing Mistakes.How to Email Your Abandoned Email List. Increase Your Email Open-Rates: 13 Email Subject Line Tips to Stand Out in An Overcrowded Inbox. FREE list of the top 10 books to improve your email marketingIf you want to write better emails, come up with better content, and move your readers to click and buy, here's how. We put together this list of our Top 10 most highly recommended books that will improve all areas of your email marketing (including some underground treasures that we happened upon, which have been game-changing for us). Grab your FREE list here. Join our FREE Facebook groupIf you want to chat about how you can maximise the value of your email list and make more money from every subscriber, we can help! We know your business is different, so come and hang out in our FREE Facebook group, the Email Marketing Show Community for Course Creators and Coaches. We share a lot of training and resources, and you can talk about what you're up to.Try ResponseSuite for $1This week's episode is sponsored by ResponseSuite.com, the survey quiz and application form tool that we created specifically for small businesses like you to integrate with your marketing systems to segment your subscribers and make more sales. Try it out for 14 days for just $1.Join The League MembershipNot sick of us yet? Every day we hang out in our amazing community of Email Marketing Heroes. We share all of our training and campaigns and a whole bunch of other stuff. If you're looking to learn how to use psychology-driven marketing to level up your email campaigns, come and check out The League Membership. It's the number one place to hang out and grow your email marketing. Best news yet? You can apply everything we talk about in this show.Subscribe and review The Email Marketing Show podcastThanks so much for tuning into the podcast! If you enjoyed this episode (all about why you shouldn't worry about your unsubscribe rate) and love the show, we'd really appreciate you subscribing and leaving us a review of the show on your favourite podcast player.Not only does it let us know you're out there listening, but your feedback helps us to keep creating the most useful episodes so more awesome people like you can discover the podcast. And please do tell us! If you don't spend time on email marketing, what do you really fill your working days with? We'd love to know!