If you’re an online seller, you know how important it is to keep your email list engaged. But what do you do when they stop buying?
When an online seller notices that their email list isn’t working, they face two options: either keep trying new strategies or figure out what went wrong with the previous one.
Here’s how to diagnose when your email list isn’t working as well as it should for you:
- Your open rate is less than 20%
- Your unsubscribe rate is higher than 1.5-2%
- You’ve sent offers/promos to your list and had a click through rate lower than 1%, and you’ve generated no sales consistently for the last 30 days
When this happens to you, it can be due to a couple of reasons:
- You haven’t emailed your list for months, then all of a sudden you start emailing them and expecting an immediate response (sales or taking action)
- Your email list isn’t resonating with the content you’re sending them
- You’ve only been emailing promotions and offers to your list and no value-add content your customers would get excited about
- Or, you aren’t emailing them consistently so your email list doesn’t recognize your name/business when they receive your emails
Whatever causes your list performance to decline over time is likely a combination of the above.
Over time, your email list can be one of your brand’s biggest assets. When done well, your email list can account for up to 20% of your monthly revenue.
… and right now that might feel like a pipedream because you can’t seem to sell anything to your list.
The first thing you should know is that this is completely normal.
The second thing is that with some TLC, your email list can start to work for your business.
In this article, I’ve put together a step-by-step recipe for what you can do to improve your list performance to turn it from a time suck, to your biggest asset.
From the Pros -> Email marketing should be seen as email nurturing. People that have joined your list (subscribers/customers), are there because they want to hear from you.
When your email list stops converting to customers, it’s time to clean your list, get new subscribers in, and make sure the content you send out is something your community can get excited about.
At the end of the day, when a list becomes stale, I’d focus on bringing in another reason for them to get excited. New product releases… A live product tour of your product on Instagram, etc.
If you’re using Klaviyo for your email marketing:
- Create an Engaged segment – anyone who’s opened any email in the last 30-days
- Create an Unengaged segment – anyone that hasn’t opened any email in the last 60-days
- Create a Sunset Flow to ask people to unsubscribe if they’re no longer interested in hearing from you
- Send a campaign to the “Unengaged” segment asking them if they still want to be on your list
“Happy February,
As we get on into 2022, the team and I are very excited to reveal new product releases and things we’re doing behind the scenes for our VIP members (you!).
That being said…
I noticed you haven’t been too active in our community recently. If you’d like to continue to receive communication from us, please click the button below.
If not, you can unsubscribe using this link.
[button] Yes, I want to continue to receive exclusive offers and news from you”
If they stay subscribed, give them a 10% to use toward their next purchase as a thank you. If they unsubscribe, so be it.
- Send a campaign to your “Engaged” segment that is not focused on selling them anything.
“Happy February,
As we get on into 2022, the team and I are very excited to reveal new product releases and things we’re doing behind the scenes for our VIP members (you!).
That being said – I want to make sure you continue to stay excited to hear from us.
We’re working on a content plan we’re really excited about.
But I’m curious…
Is there anything you’d like to see more of from us? What would you like to learn more about?
Thank you in advance for your feedback”
- Once you get a few responses back, 2-3 days later send a follow up email to your Engaged segment sharing some of these amazing content ideas with them
- Commit to a consistent email schedule of 1-2x a week, and start delivering content they can get excited about. You should have a healthy mix of value-ad, then an offer. Think of 1x a week newsletter to share behind the scenes, about the artist, or any content that helps improve your customers’ lives. The second email can be your featured product of the week.
If you’d like to learn more how to get email to work for your business, here are a few of my favorite resources on the topic:
What’s the Best Email Marketing App for Shopify?
3 Ways to Revive a Cold Email List
3 Ways to Get More Revenue From Your Email List
How to Build An Email List (0-10K subscribers)
Love, Khierstyn
Founder LaunchandScale.co
