I built my list to grow my business… when do I sell to them? How often?

Featured Download: In The Perfect Email Send Schedule I show you the best days and times to email to get higher open rates. Download it here.

Transcript:

I’m Christina Ethridge and I help entrepreneurs double their email open rates.

Over in the Email for Entrepreneurs Facebook group, Carolyn said her struggle is…

knowing when to “sell” them on my products

Thanks for your question Carolyn!

There are actually 2 ideal ways to do this (and yes, you should have both happening in different funnels into your list).

The first way is when you have a freebie that people opt-into, they get the freebie via email and then they go right on your main list and that main list gets a weekly email that does not sell.

It makes a connection and gives value.

Then, every 6 weeks or so, you invite them into a launch / sell list (by offering them a freebie that solves a problem).

Then, you sell in the sell list for a period of time.

Whether it’s a full launch or a flash sale, doesn’t matter. It’s just a period of time (like a week) to that sell list.

The other way is by having people when they first opt-in to a freebie, go right to what is commonly called a “trip-wire” on the thank you page of the freebie.

If they purchase that “trip-wire” then they go right to your core offer on the thank you page of the “trip-wire.”

The key is that whether they purchase or not at any of these steps, they still go to your main list where you’re sending a weekly connection focused email.

Both of these funnels rely on the weekly connection email and a good lead magnet delivery sequence.

That said, start with the simplest one which is a freebie to build your list, the email sequence to deliver that freebie and a solid weekly connection email.

Add on complexity and layers as you move forward in your business.

You’ve got this Carolyn!

Featured Download: In The Perfect Email Send Schedule I show you the best days and times to email to get higher open rates. Download it here.

Is there a right way (or a wrong way) to clean up my email list?

Featured Download: In The Perfect Email Send Schedule I show you the best days and times to email to get higher open rates. Download it here.

Transcript:

I’m Christina Ethridge and I help entrepreneurs double their email open rates.

Recently in a FB group I am in, someone was asking for…

Any advice on cleaning up email lists so I’m not paying for non-active subscribers?

Well, I have some advice for you…

Setup an automated reconnection campaign (often called a re-engagement campaign) that is 1-2 emails.

That campaign is triggered when a subscriber has not opened OR clicked an email you’ve sent in the last 90 days.

See, engagement is someone opening OR someone clicking (sometimes opens don’t register which is why you also want to find people who clicked).

Some platforms are trying to tell you that opens are NOT engagement and they’ll tell you that it’s because open tracking is inaccurate.

Well yes, it can be inaccurate but not because people opened, but rather, because in some cases the open isn’t tracked (so it shows as Unopened).

Which means that a tracked open is legit.

So run an automated 1-2 email reconnection campaign to weed out your inactives so you aren’t sending email to people who aren’t opening.

You’ve got this!

Featured Download: In The Perfect Email Send Schedule I show you the best days and times to email to get higher open rates. Download it here.

Is it the email platform or is it you?

Featured Download: In The Perfect Email Send Schedule I show you the best days and times to email to get higher open rates. Download it here.

Transcript:

I’m Christina Ethridge and I help entrepreneurs double their email open rates.

Over in the Email for Entrepreneurs Facebook group, Claudia said:

I recently made the move from MailChimp to ConvertKit and my open rate took a dive.

I’m sorry to hear this has been a struggle for you Claudia!

First and foremost – It’s not the provider!

Without knowing first hand about your list, I can only tell you why that can happen…

• You didn’t fully clean your list before switching so that you were only sending to the most active people from your new provider
• You didn’t set up a DKIM with your new provider (basically making sure you’re actually sending from YOU and not “via” your provider)
• You jumped right in to sending something salesy
• You continue to send salesy emails that people aren’t interested in

See, when you switch providers, if you start out with any of these and you get immediate low deliverability and opens, it just stacks on top of each other… in other words, your past actions dictate your future results.

So if you’re making a switch from one provider to another, make sure to get these things set up before hand.

And, the biggie…

You’ve got to stop pitching and start serving. This is the foundation to it all.

You have to focus on 1:1 conversations and creating and building relationships with your email community.

If they aren’t opening, it’s because you aren’t trying to have a relationship with them, you’re just trying to talk at them.

Claudia – you’ve got this!

Featured Download: In The Perfect Email Send Schedule I show you the best days and times to email to get higher open rates. Download it here.