Why You Need an Email List & How to Create It
Published
“But nobody reads emails!” “My inbox is already too full!” “I hate getting more email!”
You’ve heard all this before. Five years ago, I would have agreed and told you building an email list and creating an email newsletter was a waste of time. It was going out of style. It was fading to Instant Messaging and social media platforms. It was antiquated. Well, I fully admit that I was wrong. While social media sites come and go, even the influence and reach of Facebook and Twitter ebb and flow, for the foreseeable future, email remains the most effective way to reach an audience – an audience that wants to hear from you. Here are three reasons why you need to start building an email list:
1. People Read Email
According to Forrester Analytics, 91% of U.S. customers (people who are online to buy things) use email daily and more than 70% of them read email first thing in the morning. The number of email users worldwide is projected to reach 3 billion by the end of 2020.
2. Email Converts to Sales
According to Campaign Monitor, the delivery rate for an unboosted Facebook post is less than 5%, while the delivery rate for an email is 75%, and an email is six times more likely to generate a click-through than a tweet. Anik Singal, founder and CEO of Lurn, Inc, reports that email marketing for Black Friday / Cyber Monday deals converted ads to sales at double the rate of social media. For more statistics on this, see WriterNation/EmailStats
3. You Own It
This one is key. Everything you post on social media is no longer owned by you. Instagram owns your pics. Twitter owns your tweets. Snapchat owns your snaps. They also own your followers. Whereas you own the copyright on everything you write, film, design in your email. You also own the list. If you move from Facebook to Instagram or Snapchat, you can’t take the followers with you. You can with your email contact list.
Ways to Build Your List & Create a Killer Email
Whether you’ve published twenty books, ten books or no books, now is the time to start building your list. Don’t think because you don’t have anything to sell it’s too early to start building your list. It’s never too early or too late. Start now. To get you going, I’ve included some tips below.
- Use Mailchimp. It’s the easiest to get you started and its free for the first 2000 contacts. The analytics are good. It has A/B testing and segmented lists. And it has automation. Other email providers to check out are ConvertKit, AWeber and Constant Contact.
- Create a killer landing page. This is where you tell the reader what they’ll get out of signing up with you. How often you’ll send them news and what type of things they can expect in your email. Here’s mine for reference.
- Post it everywhere. Make sure your website has a subscriber link. Mailchimp has a pretty seamless plugin with WordPress. Even if you don’t use WordPress, the URL for the landing page works on any website or blog. Pin a tweet or Facebook post to the top of your profile. Put the link in your signature block and on every piece of paper swag you take to conferences, meetings or retreats.
- Offer a freebie. For signing up with you, what special something can you offer? The possibilities are endless: deleted scenes, extra chapters, checklists, planners, calendars, access to a closed Facebook Group or Instagram feed.
- Automate the first three to five emails. Once someone signs up and confirms their subscription (*always require confirmation to be in compliance with Anti-Spam laws), send them a thank-you and a link to the freebie. Within 24 hours, send another note welcoming them to the email news and give a longer introduction to yourself and any news they should know as they embark on this journey with you. A week later, send the first email.
- Create a Killer Email. Whether you use a newsletter format or simply an email is up to you. The difference in Return on Investment is negligible until you start segmenting lists and selling different items, and I’ll post on that next month. What really matters is what the reader gets out of it. They’ve already told you they want to hear from you and they dig what you’re doing. So, now offer them information they can’t get elsewhere. Some ideas:
- Progress reports on the current work in progress
- Event announcements
- Photos of your research or interviews
- List of your favorites (books, authors, movies, plays, music, etc…)
- Promotions and/or Giveaways
- Backstory (you know all that stuff you wanted to put in your book but your agent made you take it all out)
- Quotes and Questions
- ALWAYS put in a Call to Action (buy the book, attend the event, respond to a question)
If you still have questions, find me on any of my social media sites. I’m standing by to help!
Peace & Prose!
Jen
Jennifer Lovett Herbranson is the founder of Writer Nation, a podcast and Facebook group dedicated to helping writers market their work.
With 17 years communications experience, she regularly writes on social media, internet marketing and face-to-face publicity.
She currently lives in South Korea and travels around Asia for fun.
You can find her on her Website, Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest: @jennylovett
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