You’ve got the knack of creating opt-in offers that sizzle and attract subscribers like flies to honey. And now you’ve got your first subscriber (or 10, or 100) and you’re ready to take on the world.
But what should you send these people who’re signing up to receive emails from you?
If you’re new to the game, sending something to your email list can be terrifying. It’s made even worse if you don’t have a clue what to send. So, you send nothing.
The problem is, if you don’t send anything there’s not much point in having an email list.
You also can’t just send your latest blog posts. You have to stand out. But how?
Here are 11 different types of emails to send to your email list that will help you nurture your list and increase your revenue:
1. Welcome Email Series
What should you do with your subscribers after they sign up for your email list?
You’ve created a converting opt-in – a free course or download that solves a real problem for your reader.
Your readers are falling over themselves to sign up for your email list. They get your freebie, love it, and they eagerly await more from you.
But, the next thing they get is a blog post sent via email or a launch email for an affiliate product. You’ve missed your chance to make a big impression.
Many bloggers and entrepreneurs create great email opt-ins but then they drop the ball in the follow-up.
New subscribers are highly engaged – the open rate on welcome emails is 58%. They saw something they liked in your content and now they want more! This is your chance to keep them engaged and turn them into raving fans with a stellar welcome email series.
A welcome email series is usually between 3-7 emails with a goal to:
- Introduce your brand to your reader
- Build a personal connection with your reader by sharing personal or customer stories
- Provide unexpected value
- Ask your readers to do something for you
2. Launch Emails (Your Own or Affiliate Product Launches)
Let’s be honest – we want to make money from our email lists, not just grow them for the fun of having a large list. Your email list is one of the best ways to reach your target audience who are interested in your products, and it’s an effective way to add customers to your business. Customer acquisition via email has increased 4X over the last four years.
Growing an email list of targeted subscribers means that you have a warm audience to launch a new product or sell your existing products to.
When launching, you send a series of emails to warm up your audience to the product, provide value, case studies, answer questions, tell personal stories, and offer limited time discounts.
3. Personal Stories and Behind-the-Scenes
Authenticity is increasingly important for brands that want to appeal to a millennial audience. Up to 84% of millennials distrust traditional advertising and corporations are also facing a lack of trust.
Sharing personal and behind-the-scenes stories helps to humanize your brand.
If you have a larger business and it wouldn’t make sense for you to share your personal stories, you can share your customers’ experiences instead.
4. Tips and Tricks (Quick Wins)
Want to impress your readers and turn them into fans? Send them a tip that will help them achieve a quick win.
Not only will your reader be able to celebrate their win, they’ll also grow to trust you as a source of quality information.
Also, by giving your readers something of real value, the principle of reciprocity means they’re more likely to purchase from you in the future.
5. Special Occasion Emails
Every day’s a holiday, and you can celebrate each one with your subscribers! There are the traditional holidays like Christmas, New Year’s Day, Father’s Day, and Mother’s Day. There are also shopping holidays like Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
We also can’t forget about all those wacky holidays like Popcorn Day (January 19, if you were wondering) and Ball Point Pen Day (June 10). Celebrating one of these days that fits your business can be a fun way to show up in your subscriber’s inbox with a relevant sale or offer.
6. How Can I Help You? / Survey Emails
The average email list decays at a rate of around 22.5% per year. Email addresses change and so do people’s interests over time.
Keep up-to-date with your subscribers and what they want to see from you by sending them an email to ask how you can help them or what they want to see next.
There are several ways to do this:
- You can ask them to reply to your email.
- You can create a survey in Google Forms and ask them to complete it.
- You can create a one-second survey by adding links in your email that tags your subscribers with their response when they click it. This serves a double purpose of helping you segment your subscribers by interest.
7. Highlights and Roundups
Are you stuck in the “competition” mindset and think sending your subscribers to another blogger or entrepreneur’s content is a bad idea?
Here’s the thing: your readers know that there are other bloggers out there. But they don’t have time to follow everyone. If you can steer them towards quality content that’s worth their time, they’ll appreciate it – and you.
Curating the best content in your niche cements your reputation as someone who’s on top of the latest news, and it also builds trust with your readers that you’re serious about giving them value.
Amy Lynn Andrews does this with her “Useletter,” sending out curated emails each week to her subscribers.
8. Send Previews and Teasers of New Products/Launches/Rebrands
Launching a new product? Or going through a rebrand?
Keep your email subscribers in the loop by sending previews, hints, and teasers about what’s next for your business.
This helps keep them engaged and giving them behind-the-scenes glimpses into your business builds up trust and adds intimacy to your relationship.
9. Discounts, Offers, and Free Things
Want to increase your sales quickly? Offer a discount to your email list.
Send them an email letting them know about a special coupon code or price change on your products.
If you’re considering starting a new service or have a coaching position to fill, make the offer to your list first. Chances are there’s someone on your list who will jump at the chance to work with you.
Finally, have you made a new freebie? Send it to your list! They’ll love getting your newest content without having to go find it in your resource library or subscribe again just to get it.
10. Review/Testimonial Request
Don’t have a product to sell yet? But you still want to show social proof on your website?
Ask your readers if they’d be willing to provide you with a testimonial or a review about how valuable your free content has been to them.
11. Re-Engagement Email
The typical email open rate is around 30%. That’s a lot of unopened emails.
What do you do about subscribers who aren’t opening your emails?
First, you need to identify them. Your email service provider should make it easy to see which subscribers haven’t opened up the last 5-10 of your emails.
You might be tempted to delete these subscribers immediately, but hold off. Run a re-engagement campaign first to see if you can bring them back.
A re-engagement campaign consists of 2-3 emails that should:
- Have a subject line that stands out.
- Ask the subscriber if they want to stay on your list and to click a link if they do.
- Let your subscriber know you’ll remove them from your email list on a specific date.
HubSpot does a great job of using humor to re-engage their subscribers. And it’s effective. Their email has a click-through-rate of 16.4%, 583% higher than the industry benchmark.
Wrapping It Up
Are you still at a loss for words when it comes to emailing your subscriber list? Didn’t think so!
With these 11 types of emails, you’ll have your email schedule full. You’ll also be top of mind for your subscribers, and produce raving fans who buy your products and share your content with their social media circles.
Over to you – have you ever been stuck for what to send to your subscribers? How did you overcome that block?
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