THE EMAIL GROWTH SHOW EPISODE 142
Today we’re diving into what to actually send to your email list, the do’s and don’ts of email communication, when to sell and when to nurture, personalising templates without losing your unique voice, and tips to minimise unsubscribes. There’s a lot to cover, so let’s get started!
Click play to listen to the episode here:
What To Actually Send To Your Email List?
First thing is first, I want you to remember that the people on your email list are just that – your people. You are building a beautiful relationship with every email that you send them and they want to hear from you! I like to imagine all my subscribers in a room with their hands up, saying “yes Kylie, please email me!!” because that is literally what they have done when they’ve opted in and joined your email list!
That’s what I want you to imagine each time you send an email!
But how often do I email – and what do I send?
I want you to commit to sending a consistent weekly email to your email list – and when I say consistent, I don’t believe it has to be at 11am every Tuesday, but consistent in the way that every single week, regardless of what else is going on in your life, you’ll send an email to your list. That kind of consistency builds trust – which is what we’re trying to do with the subscribers in our world. We want to be trustworthy, dependable, reliable… and this is how we do that!
That brings me to the next question that always gets asked – what do I send?
First and foremost – I have to say: don’t overthink this.
There are different types of email content you can send which I’m going to cover here BUT first I want you to know, there are no rules!
Send what you want to send.
- Feel like teaching something – do it.
- Feel like selling something – go for it.
- Feel like sharing a personal story or update – you know I love those.
I repeat – send what you want to send.
Let’s talk in a little more detail about your options though – in case you’re like, Kylie – this isn’t helpful. I don’t know what I feel like sending – I got you.
Here are some examples of content types that you can send, that is proven to effectively engage your list (if done well!)
- Welcome Emails: The first email sent after someone subscribes to your list, setting the tone for your relationship. High-performing welcome emails often include a personal introduction, what the subscriber can expect, and the link again to the resource or product that they purchased or opted into.
- Educational Content: Emails that provide valuable information or teach something that your ideal client wants to learn. This could be in the form of tips, tutorials, guides or lessons learnt. These types of emails are great as they position you as the expert and builds trust with your subscribers. Also, if you’ve been interviewed on a podcast or had some other PR feature that relates to the topic, don’t be afraid to share the link to it in the p.s – continue building yourself up as the expert. If you have a program or offer that is aligned with what you’re teaching, don’t be afraid to sell at the end or include a link to a waitlist in the p.s – you don’t have to stick to just one type of email, you can mix them up or combine them in one – as long as the purpose and intent is clear.
- Behind-the-Scenes Emails: I LOVE these – and I think because we’re all so curious about what is really happening behind the scenes – not the highlight reel that is shared on Instagram – your audience will love these too – and feel connected on a deeper level to you and your brand! These emails can include the behind the scenes of your business operations, your team or the making of a product or service.
- Launch Emails: I really only do ‘lazy launches’ where I’m releasing new offers or services to my email list – and that’s all. I don’t generally post to social media or do big live events or webinars, unless it feels fun for me. When I launch just using email, I do use a more traditional launch email sequence, which for me spans over 4-5 days and does the normal cart open and cart close. This is how I make majority of my income as an online business owner, especially when my main offer is a reoccurring membership.
- Personal Stories & Testimonials: Sharing success stories, customer testimonials, or case studies will help your ideal clients feel inspired and relate to others on the same journey as they are. These emails create emotional engagement and can motivate action – great to use when we’re leading up to a launch!
- Roundup Emails: I love these when done right! Share a collection of curated podcasts, products, services, tools or articles with your email fam. Not only can also bring in affiliate income if you use affiliate links (please make sure you disclose them!) but it also demonstrates your commitment to adding value beyond what you sell yourself – and can win you some big brownie points with others you want to collaborate with!
- Market Research & Surveys: I love using my email list to get feedback on an idea I have before I fully flesh something out! It makes sure that my audience feel heard and involved but also provides invaluable insights to help me lead my business and my offer creation!
Now keeping in mind that there are no rules – send what you want to send – I would like you to make sure that every email does add value or provide a point of connection in some way. Testing different types of emails and tracking their results is always a good idea – be the scientist of your business – and monitor open rates, click rates, conversion rates and replies. For a PDF that outlines all of the email marketing KPI’s you should be aware of, head to bit.ly/emailmarketingkpi and
What About Selling vs Nurturing?
You’ve probably heard a lot of people tell you – you have to nurture your list before they’re ready to buy.
I kind of call bullshit on that.
Now there is such a thing as ‘pre-launch’ so if you’re planning to launch something to your email list, they do need to know about it a bit beforehand. So using the 4-6 weeks beforehand to make sure you’re sharing things with them about the up-coming offer, in conversation. You might ask for their input as you create graphics, or share a case study about a student you’ve helped in the same way. There is no sell though – other than a waitlist if that feels good for you! This is important to start to plant the seed that your offer and what you do might be able to help them too.
Otherwise I believe that every email should be selling something. It should have a call to action, asking them to do something.
It might not be something that’s paid. Perhaps it’s to listen to your latest podcast episode, read your blog post or join a waitlist. Even a reply or DM on instagram all counts. In my mind, every email should ask them to do something – it’s up to you what that something is.
So, if you’re focusing on building an authentic relationship with your list, you don’t need to worry about whether you’re nurturing them enough. I promise that you are. Just make sure that you’re selling enough, because from my experience, that’s where most business owners fall short – and then wonder why they’re not converting from their emails or making enough revenue in their business. People can’t buy if you don’t sell to them.
How Do I Get An Email Template To Still Sound Like Me?
I love this question – and I love a good email template – but there is a way to personalise them to make sure that you don’t loose your unique voice, and end up sounding like AI. No one wants that!
My approach with this is to think of an email template as a framework, a structure to follow – but add your own tweaks to them. When you read it, does it sound like you? Is this something you would say to a friend over a cup of coffee or a wine? If not, you need to work on it some more until it does.
- Remove any words that you wouldn’t use.
- Tell your own personal story at the start of the email, doesn’t need to be long.
- Personalise with the subscriber first name at the start and throughout the email – where it makes sense.
- Read it out loud and make sure it sounds like YOU!
What Can I Expect When It Comes To People Unsubscribing?
Firstly, it’s part of the game we start to play when we say yes to email marketing!
The good news?
As a standard, you can expect 1% of your email list to unsubscribe every time you send an email. That email could be the best email that’s ever been written – and 1% will still unsubscribe. Knowing that helped me a lot because suddenly that’s what I was expecting and so when less than that left, I counted it as a win!
Now today we’ve talked about what to send your list and how often to send emails to them – but how do you make sure you’re landing in their inboxes to start with? This is what we’ll be chatting about next week – Email Deliverability and the best practices you can follow so you stay out of that spam folder.
Action Steps You Can Take Today:
- Commit to sending one email a week to your email list. Doesn’t need to be at the same time or on the same day, it just needs to be weekly.
- Decide what kind of content you want to start sending and write the darn email.
- Plan out your launch and make sure you are including some pre-launch content 6-8 weeks before you want to open your cart.
- Start to track your analytics – open rates, click rates, unsubscribes, replies and conversions. Grab the Email Marketing KPI guide to help you here: https://bit.ly/emailmarketingkpi
… and remember, if you want support with any of this, come and join me and 250+ other women in The Email Growth Club! For just $27 a month you can get live coaching from me, on demand trainings, tools, templates and 24 hour support throughout the week.
We’d love to have you – here’s the link:
Click here for more info and to join The Email Growth Club today!
Love this post? Save it for later:
Full Transcript:
Kylie Kelly [00:01:00]:
Welcome to this mama means business. I’m so glad you’re here. Welcome back. I’m your host, Kylie Kelly, and I’m so excited that you’re joining me for episode 142. Now, if you caught our last episode, you know we unpacked the beginnings of email list building. Today, though, I wanna take things a step further. And in line with my goal for this podcast, I wanna go deep on this topic so that you can feel more confident when you’re emailing your list. So today, we’re diving into what comes after the initial setup.
Kylie Kelly [00:01:28]:
We’re gonna talk about what to actually send your email list. We’re going to talk about when to sell and when to nurture. How you can personalize email templates so that you don’t lose your unique voice. And tips to minimize unsubscribes. Now, there’s a lot to cover. I would grab a pen and paper if you wanna take notes or you can head to the link in the show notes for a blog post that outlines everything that we’re chatting about today. Let’s dive on in. Firstly, what do you actually send your list? Now, first things first.
Kylie Kelly [00:01:55]:
I want you to remember that the people on your email list are just that. Your people. You are building a beautiful relationship with every email that you send them and they want to hear from you. I kind of like to imagine all my subscribers in a room with their hands up saying like, Kylie, yes. Please email me. Because that is literally what they have done when they’ve opted in and they’ve joined your email list. Kind of feels a little bit weird. But if that works, I want you to imagine that yourself every time you send an email.
Kylie Kelly [00:02:21]:
For me, at the moment, my email list is sitting around 6,000. Imagine 6,000 people in a room with their hands up saying like, Kylie, email me. Send me that email. And for yourself, like, insert the number that you have on your list, even 200 people in a room. That’s a lot of damn people. Right? So let’s start imagining these numbers as people because it’s a really powerful reframe to help you realize that this is consent based. They want you to email them and might help you get over that thought if you’re worrying about sending an email or annoying your list. Now let’s talk about how often you should email and what you should send.
Kylie Kelly [00:02:55]:
I want you to commit to sending 1 consistent weekly email to your list. Now, when I say consistent, I don’t mean 11 AM on a Tuesday. I don’t believe you need to be that rigid. I know my life doesn’t allow me to be that structured. I have 2 little boys. Life gets crazy. But we’re going to be committed to send an email every week. Whether that’s on a Monday or whether that’s on a Friday, I really don’t give a shit.
Kylie Kelly [00:03:16]:
But it’s gonna be once a week so that we can build trust with our list. So regardless of what else you have going on in your life, send an email to your list once a week. That kind of consistency builds trust, which is what we’re trying to do with the subscribers in our world. We wanna be trustworthy. We wanna be dependable. We wanna be reliable. And this is how we do that. So once a week is your goal.
Kylie Kelly [00:03:37]:
Now, the next obvious question is like, what the hell do I send? Right? I’ve been there with you. Don’t worry. 1st and foremost, I have to say this. Don’t overthink it. There are different types of email content that you can send, which I wanna cover in detail. But I want you to know first that there are no rules. Sometimes I think we think there are. And I’m a rule follower, a people pleaser through and through.
Kylie Kelly [00:03:58]:
So I like rules. I like to know how to exceed them. I like to know what that expectation is so I can be the high achiever and get the A plus. But when it comes to this, there is no rules. This is your business. This is your list. You get to decide what you send. Send whatever the fuck you wanna send.
Kylie Kelly [00:04:14]:
If you feel like teaching something, do it. If you feel like selling something, go for it. If you feel like sharing a personal story or an update, you know that I love to read those. Like, send the damn email. So I repeat. Send what you want to send. Now, for those that are like, Kylie, this isn’t helpful. Like, I don’t know what I feel like sending.
Kylie Kelly [00:04:31]:
I got you. Let’s talk in detail about some of the options. So I wanna go through 7 different types of emails that you can consider sending to your list. Again, in line with what you wanna send, what feels good for you. Now these email types are proven to engage and build trust with your list if they’re done well. So I know that they will be a great addition to your email marketing game. Okay. Are you ready? Number 1.
Kylie Kelly [00:04:53]:
Welcome emails. Now I know that feels kind of obvious, but the welcome email is the first email that you send after someone subscribes to your list. It sets the tone for your relationship. So what I like to do when I’m thinking about this is, obviously, people opt in through various ways. If they’re opting in for your freebie or a digital product or something, they’re gonna get that deliverable email. It’s not that email I’m talking about. It’s the one that comes next. It’s the one that actually sets the expectations for what it’s gonna be like to be in your It lets them know a little bit more about your personality.
Kylie Kelly [00:05:24]:
It’s a bit more of a personal introduction. And then I always like to put in that email as well the link for the thing that they signed up for again in case they misplace that first email. Right? So, again, welcome emails, not the initial email when you’re delivering something, but that second email that they get that really introduces them to your world, really sets the tone for the relationship going forward. Now these welcome emails, the deliverable email that goes first and the second email, often get the highest open rates, the highest click rates, the highest engagement. So we wanna make sure that we are putting our our best foot forward. Now if you need more help with this, if you wanna make sure that those welcome emails, are you putting your best foot forward, if you still would like more detail on what this would look like, make sure you either reach out to me on Instagram. Send me a DM. I’m just at kyliekelly.
Kylie Kelly [00:06:10]:
Or send me an email at hello@kyliekelly.com and let me know. And I can do a separate podcast all about this for you. So number 1. Welcome emails. Number 2. Educational content. Now these are emails that provide valuable or teach something that your ideal client wants to learn. That is the main thing to take notice here.
Kylie Kelly [00:06:29]:
Your ideal client wants to learn. So this could be in the form of tips, tutorials, guides, or lessons learnt yourself. These types of emails are great as they position you as the expert and they build trust with your email subscribers. Also, I wanna add if you’ve been interviewed on a podcast or if you’ve had some other PR feature that relates to this topic, don’t be afraid to share the link to it in the PS. Continue to build yourself up as the expert. Alternatively, if you have a program or an offer that is aligned with what you’re teaching, don’t be afraid to sell at the end or include a link to the waitlist in the PS. You don’t have to stick to just one type of email content that we’re talking about now. You can mix them up or combine them into 1 as long as the purpose and the intention is clear.
Kylie Kelly [00:07:12]:
As long it is really clear what you want them to learn or what you want them to purchase. Right? So again, educational content. Think about tips, tutorials, guides or your own lessons learned based on something that your ideal client wants to learn. Number 3. Behind the scenes emails. Now, I fucking love these. And I think it’s because we’re also curious about what’s really happening behind the scenes, not just like the highlight reels that get shared on Instagram. And let me tell you.
Kylie Kelly [00:07:37]:
Your audience will love these too and feel connected to you on a deeper level, which is just priceless. So these kinds of emails can include behind the scenes of your business operations, your team, the making of a product or service. I love to share when I’m in offer creation because not only does it validate the idea that I’m coming up with, the thing that I’m creating, and it’s something that they want, they’re way more likely to purchase it because they feel like they’ve had input, that they’ve been a part of the process, that they’ve been creating it alongside you. So don’t be afraid to share the messy middle. Share the parts that you might not think people are interested in because I can guarantee you that they are. And also if you’re comfortable sharing the behind the scenes of your life. Right? Share when you have hard moments. Share when you have big wins.
Kylie Kelly [00:08:27]:
Like, all of it is welcome. And it’s really gonna deepen that relationship that you have with your subscribers because we want people to feel that they are a part of our business. They are our closest friends. They know us through and through. Because when they can feel like that, when they can know, like, and trust you, then they purchase from you. Then you actually can give them things that help them and they buy. Right? But we need to make sure that we are really developing that relationship so that when it comes time to buy from you, it’s a no brainer. Now talking about buying and selling, I wanna talk about launch emails as number 4.
Kylie Kelly [00:09:00]:
So I really only do lazy launches which is when I’m just releasing new offers or services to my email list and that’s it. I don’t generally post to social media. I actually kinda hate it. You will find me in the DMs on Instagram, but that’s the main place I hang out on social media. So I don’t generally post anything there. And I don’t do big live events or webinars unless it feels fun for me. If I have like a burning desire to like go live and teach something, yeah. I’ll put on an event.
Kylie Kelly [00:09:26]:
But I won’t do it in a way that is then leading into a big launch. That is just not something that feels authentic to me or fun for me. So when I launch just using email, I do use more of a traditional launch email sequence, which for me spends over 4 to 5 days and does a normal cut open and cut close. So again, I said for me, it needs to feel good for you. So think about what you’re comfortable with and know that this will change over time. So you might start just doing little flash sales. Maybe it’s like a 48 hour flash sale where you get comfy sending 3 emails in 48 hours. And then you’re gonna make it longer.
Kylie Kelly [00:10:01]:
I will say that I don’t think any longer than a week feels too long, especially for the business owner energetically. It takes a lot of effort and energy to launch. Even if it’s a lazy launch, it still is your heart and soul out into the world hoping people buy from you. Right? So even energetically, anything more than a week, I think is too long. For me, 4 to 5 days is the sweet spot. Cut open. Cut close. Cut close day I’m sending 3 or 4 emails on that final day and then I’m calling it done.
Kylie Kelly [00:10:28]:
Now this is how I make majority of my income as an online business owner, especially when my main offer is the Spotlight Club that’s a recurring membership. So I get that recurring monthly revenue. Outside of that, it is when I want to put on little workshops or I want to do one off things. If I need extra income for the month, perhaps I’ll do a workshop. Perhaps I’ll do a get it done week. Perhaps I’ll do some kind of little live series or sell a template or something else. But just know that as an online business owner, there are so many ways to make money. Money is out there to be made.
Kylie Kelly [00:11:00]:
And so I think sometimes we think that there’s a right or a wrong way to do it. The right way to do it is just the way that feels good for you. So don’t get in your head about what it has to be that you’ve got to send this email on day 3 and then follow it up with this one. There’s no rules. It’s what feels good for you and what resonates with your email list, with your ideal clients that are wanting to purchase from you. So I always like to think and this is a little bit of a tangent, but I always like to think of my launches kind of a launch behind. I know that sounds confusing. Let me clarify.
Kylie Kelly [00:11:29]:
When I’m launching something, I like to always think that this isn’t for this launch. This is actually priming people for the next time I launch. So I like to repeatedly launch the spotlight club. Right? I’m always emailing about the spotlight club, and I always think that it’s not for that person right now. So it releases the expectation to make a fucking $1,000,000, not that I’ve ever made that, but, you know, to make a lot of money on one launch. And instead, I’m like, you know what? My list is at all different stages of the buyer’s journey. Some have just joined and don’t really know me yet. Some have been on my list for 2 years, almost 2 years that I’ve been doing this.
Kylie Kelly [00:12:01]:
Right? And they’re ready and primed and wanna be in like yesterday. Perfect. Those people will jump in. The others are taking notice. It’s creating awareness when I launch. So even when you have a launch that might fall flat on its face, I’ve had those too, but even when you have a launch, you’re sending out the emails, people are opening it, they’re clicking but no one’s buying. It’s not a waste. It’s not a failure.
Kylie Kelly [00:12:22]:
It’s simply priming that list so that the next time that you launch, they already know about it. They know what’s included. They know how it goes. They’re ready to jump in. So you’ll get more conversions the second time. So don’t feel defeated when it might not happen the first time. Sometimes it takes multiple launches to get people in. People have different ways of spending money of buying things.
Kylie Kelly [00:12:42]:
Some people are more emotional like I am. Some people like to wait until the 11th hour. Some people take time to know what they want. So just because it doesn’t work the first time, please don’t give up. The difference between success and failure is perseverance, is persistence, is consistency. Okay. So that was number 4. Launch emails.
Kylie Kelly [00:13:00]:
Number 5 is personal stories and testimonials. Sharing success stories, customer testimonials or case studies is going to help your ideal clients feel inspired and relate to others that are on the same journey that they are on. So these emails create emotional engagement and can motivate action. Great to use when you’re leading up to a launch. So in a minute, I’m gonna be talking a little bit about the pre launch phase because I do believe in that pre launch in warming people up before an offer if you can. And these personal stories and testimonials are perfect to drop in and out while we’re getting ready to launch a product or offer. I also love to just throw them in for fun. Right? So I think sometimes as well if I’m like, shit.
Kylie Kelly [00:13:39]:
I don’t know what I wanna say this week, but this person had an amazing win. I’m just gonna share it because I feel like online business is special business in general. But online business is hard as fuck sometimes. And it can be really hard to stay positive. It can be really hard to feel like we’re making progress and we’re working towards our goal and we’re getting there. So even just sharing with my list an inspirational story of somebody that’s actually experienced a win can just be what they need. Right? So sometimes it’s nice to share them without an ulterior motive just to say like, hey. It might be hard for you right now.
Kylie Kelly [00:14:08]:
Let me share what Sarah’s been through and where she is now. I’m not selling you anything. But I just wanna encourage you that this could just be around the corner for you too. Number 6 is roundup emails. So I love these when they’re done right. So I often share the resources from the premium members of the spotlight club with my full list. It’s part of, like, the bonus that they get for being a VIP member, if you will. So these roundup emails share links to their free resources.
Kylie Kelly [00:14:32]:
So it’s helping them grow and build their own email list. But these roundup emails are literally just a collection of curated podcasts, products, services, tools, articles that you’re sharing with your email family. Right? So not only can they bring in affiliate income, if you use affiliate links, please make sure you disclose them. But it can also demonstrate your commitment to adding value beyond what you sell yourself. And that can win you some really big brownie points with others that you might wanna collaborate with in the future. So I’ve had some members in my spotlight club do these beautifully around Black Friday or even like a monthly theme. So it might even be like a freebie Friday that they do once a month, and they’re sending out links to people’s freebies that they found and are obsessed with that they wanna share. Things like this can just be a beautiful way of, like, giving back and, like, showing up the way that you like others to show up for you plus loving and nurturing all over your existing list.
Kylie Kelly [00:15:24]:
So imagine getting a list full of all these incredible free resources that might help you in your journey. Like, it’s just a beautiful way to show them that you love them and that you’re not always trying to sell to them. Plus, it really gets your click rates up in your email analytics because people then start on the links that you are sharing with them. Even though those links aren’t going to your website, they’re still links in your email. I will say don’t do this too often. So once a month, once every 2 weeks, if you’re emailing consistently or a lot like I am, is fine. If you are sending too many roundup emails, it could get flagged as spam. We’re gonna be talking about email deliverability in the next episode next week just to round this conversation out.
Kylie Kelly [00:16:01]:
But one thing with spam is there’s no black or white do this or don’t do this. It’s just things that all get taken into account to then figure out whether you go get to the inbox or you end up in the spam folder. If you send emails consistently with a lot of links, that is one of the indicators that could go against you. So if you’re going to do these roundup emails, stick to once a month, once every 2 weeks. Or alternatively, you could do a page on your website where you have all the links and you’re just then linking to your website in that email. So few different options but I wanted to flag that because I don’t want you to be sending every couple of days an email out with all these links and then get flagged as spam because I know that you were not that. And then number 7, the last one here is market research and survey. So I love using my email list to get feedback on an idea I have before I fully flesh something out.
Kylie Kelly [00:16:49]:
A good example is I wanna do a live event at the end of the month that I’m using to actually level over my spotlight club members. And I had 2 ideas. It was either going to be like a lead magnet makeover where I help them turn lead magnet that’s not doing very well into something that’s highly converting. So talking about the lead magnet itself, the landing page, the copy, the graphics, all the things to make sure it starts to convert. Or I was thinking about doing a session teaching people how to batch out a month’s worth of email content at the start of the month so then they don’t need to think about it obviously until the next month. But I wasn’t sure which one. I wasn’t sure what people wanted. So I’ve posted it in the Slack channel for the spotlight club and I sent it out to my list and them to vote.
Kylie Kelly [00:17:29]:
And I’ve been getting lots and lots of feedback telling me what people are most interested in. Because even though I think I might know, I could be totally off the mark. Right? So using your list in this way again makes them feel like they’re involved, makes them feel like they’re a part of it so that if you go to sell something they’re more likely to buy. But it also gives me valuable insights and helps me lead my business and offer creation in the right direction. Okay. So that was a lot, Right? Make sure if you want the full list and the detail that I talked about, go to the link in the show notes for the blog post and it is all listed out there. But just to lightly recap, we talked about welcome emails. We talked about educational content.
Kylie Kelly [00:18:08]:
We talked about behind the scenes emails, launch emails, personal stories and testimonials, roundup emails and we finished off with the market research and survey content. So I hope that’s helpful. Know that there’s options, right? Keeping in mind that there are no rules. Send what you want to send. Just make sure that whatever email you’re sending to your list does add value or provide a point of connection in some way. I always encourage my members and clients to test different types of emails and their results is always a good idea. Be the scientist of your business and monitor your open rates, your click rates, your conversion rates and your replies. Now, for a PDF that outlines all of the email marketing KPIs and standards that you should be aware of that you should be tracking.
Kylie Kelly [00:18:51]:
If you head to bit. Lyemailmarketingkpi, you can grab that free PDF. I’ll also put the link in the show notes. But this can be a really helpful resource to have beside your computer and just keep an eye on what your open rates are, what your click rates are, your conversion rates and your replies as well as go through some of that terminology that might feel like another language because I get it. It used to feel like that way for me too. So again bit. Lyemailmarketingkpi, all one word, will get you to that PDF. All the link is in the show notes below.
Kylie Kelly [00:19:25]:
Now, you’ve probably heard a lot of people tell you that you have to nurture your list before you sell to them. I just wanna call bullshit on that. I believe every email should be selling something. It might not always be a paid product, but it should always have a clear call to action. Perhaps it’s listen to your podcast. Perhaps it’s leave a review. Perhaps it’s to join a wait list or read a blog post. Every single email should be asking them to do something.
Kylie Kelly [00:19:47]:
It’s just up to you what that something is. Now, I do want to say that there is such a thing as pre launch. So if you’re planning to launch something to your email list, you do need to know a little bit beforehand. So using the 4 to 6 weeks before you have a planned launch, make sure you’re sharing things with them about the upcoming offer. Right? In conversation. You might ask for their input as you create graphics or share a case study about a student that you’ve helped in the same way. There is no sell though. It is just planting seeds about what you have coming up.
Kylie Kelly [00:20:17]:
You can share the link to a waitlist if that feels good for you. But that is as much as I want you to do. This is so important because it not only creates awareness of this thing that you’re about to sell. Right? But it also helps them envisage what it might be like if they say yes to it. What it might be like if they purchase it from you, how it could change their life. And they could see the same transformation as past clients or past people that you’ve helped. So if you’re focusing on building an authentic relationship with your list, you don’t need to worry about whether you’re selling or nurturing or not nurturing enough or selling too much. No.
Kylie Kelly [00:20:49]:
You don’t need to worry about any of that. There’s no rules. There’s no percentage to follow. There’s nothing like that. I promise that you’re nurturing them enough. If you’re sending them content like we’ve just been talking about, you are looking after them. You’re making them feel like they can know, like, and trust you. Just make sure that you’re selling enough because from my experience, that’s where most business owners foreshort.
Kylie Kelly [00:21:06]:
And then they wonder why they’re not converting from their emails or why they’re not making enough revenue in their business. People cannot buy from you if you do not sell to them. So make sure that you are selling in every single email. Again, it doesn’t have to be a paid offer. But make sure you are inviting them into things, to listen to things, to download things. Because the more that they interact and engage with you, the more likely they’re gonna build that relationship where they do know, like, and trust you. And they’ll be ready then to buy from you down the road. Road.
Kylie Kelly [00:21:32]:
So make sure you are not one of these people that don’t sell in your emails. We need to change that straight away, especially if you’re a business and you want to make money. Now, as we wrap this episode up, I hope that you have gotten lots of juicy value from this. I wanted to just talk a little bit about email templates and unsubscribes. Now I get asked all the time, especially in my membership because I have a lot of email templates available for them to use. How do you use an email template so that it still sounds like you? And I love this question. And I love a good email template. But there is a way to personalize them to make sure that you don’t lose your unique voice or worse end up sounding like AI.
Kylie Kelly [00:22:07]:
No one wants that. So, my approach with this is to think of an email template more as a framework, a structure to follow, not a copy and paste. Add your own tweaks to them. So when you read it, does it sound like you? Is this something that you would say to a friend over a cup of coffee or a wine? Right? If not, you need to work on it some more until it does. These are the steps that I generally follow. I will copy and paste it into my ConvertKit, right, into my email. And then I go through. I remove any words that I wouldn’t use.
Kylie Kelly [00:22:33]:
I remove any links or anything, any emojis that just either aren’t working or don’t fit, don’t I would never use. Right? Like, take it out. I then try to tell my own personal story at the start of an email. It doesn’t have to be long. Often, I use email templates when I’m promoting bundles or summits or I’m collaborating in some way, and I’m promoting it as part of that. And so I love to share a story about how I know the bundle host, how I’ve connected with the summit host before, what’s coming up and why I’m excited about that collaboration, what resources I just can’t wait to get my hands on, and why. Why is that important for me right now? Why am I focused on that type of Pinterest marketing? Or why I wanna try to improve my copywriting? Like, whatever the reason is that you said yes to this collaboration, try to give a little bit of context. Try to let them behind the curtain and let them know why.
Kylie Kelly [00:23:18]:
Tell your own personal story at the start of the email. It can just be 2 or 3 sentences. It does not have to be long. And then personalize it with the subscriber first name at the start and try to use it throughout the body of the email as well where it makes sense. Don’t go and put Sally at the start of every sentence because it’s gonna feel weird and Sally probably won’t appreciate it. But instead, where it feels normal and where it feels right. And then read it out loud and make sure it sounds like you. I don’t know about you, but reading things out loud changes everything.
Kylie Kelly [00:23:44]:
Because when I’m reading things in my head, I’m a skimmer. I skim over things all the time. I’m quite a fast reader and I love reading and so I skim. Skim, skim, skim. Miss things all the time. So when I slow down, which as you can probably tell by the speed that I talk is hard for me, when I slow down and when I read an email out loud, I pick up on things all the time. Even things where punctuation is needed or where a space is needed or where I should’ve started a new sentence. All of that matters because that’s how your subscriber is gonna read the email too.
Kylie Kelly [00:24:12]:
So, again, when you’re using an email template, use it as a framework and then follow those little tips to make sure that it still sounds like you. Remove any words that you wouldn’t use. Tell your own personal story at the start. Use the subscriber name where you can and where it makes sense. And then read it out loud and make sure that it sounds like you before you hit send. And then lastly, let’s just talk a little bit about unsubscribes. So firstly, it’s a part of the game that we choose to play when we decide to do email marketing. Unsubscribes is the nature of the beast.
Kylie Kelly [00:24:40]:
Now I used to take this really personally. I used to almost have an emotional breakdown every time people unsubscribed because I’d be like, Oh my gosh. Why did they leave? What did I send? What did I say wrong? They don’t like me. And it was hard. It was hard to get over this. Now with a larger list, thankfully I’ve moved past it, but what helped me back then is realizing that as a standard, 1% of your email list will unsubscribe every time you send an email. It could be the best fucking email in the world and 1% will unsubscribe. So we can’t take that personally.
Kylie Kelly [00:25:09]:
And knowing that 1% number, standard expectation, right, means that we can then look at those numbers a little bit differently. So as my list grew, let’s say when I had 2,000 people on my email list, 1% would be 20. Oh my gosh. I just had to Google that. 1% would be 20. So if I only had 15 people leave, I’m cheering. I’m, like, standing on top of that mountain with a bottle of bubbly going like, yes. Only 15 left.
Kylie Kelly [00:25:32]:
I expected 20. So knowing that number changed everything for me in the way that I’m looking at my unsubscribes. It’s one thing to say like, oh, they’re not the right wanna hear from us. But it always sucks when people leave. It’s never gonna feel great when people leave our list. Right? Let’s just say that the way it is, the truth behind it. But knowing that 1% is normal makes it feel better when it’s less than 1% that’s unsubscribing. Because then you can go like, yes.
Kylie Kelly [00:26:05]:
I’m under that. Fantastic. Right? It just really helped me. So I want you to know that as well. So 1% unsubscribing every email is normal. Now I also wanna say, if you have an email sequence where you start to sell in the email sequence, if you’re a part of a bundle with cold traffic, you are gonna have more unsubscribes at the start. So when I’m in a bundle, of course, there’s people that come into a bundle and just want the free shit and then they piss off. Right? Like, that is normal.
Kylie Kelly [00:26:31]:
You’re always gonna have that. It’s not a representation of a bad collaboration or that your resource sucked or anything like that. It’s just that those people don’t wanna stick around. So that’s fine. We’ll let them go. Knowing and focusing on the people that stay. Knowing and focusing that those ideal clients that came in through the front door and went into the lounge room and took a seat and they’ve settled down and they’re in and they wanna hear from you. They’re the people that we wanna focus on.
Kylie Kelly [00:26:55]:
Also, when you start to sell to people, you’re gonna see people unsubscribe. Like, that that is fine. That is normal as well. And I would not be worried as long as it doesn’t go crazy. It’s normal to have a little bit of a spike. So let me give you an example. But I have my kickstart your email challenge as a resource I was putting into a lot of bundles. And on the back end of that challenge, I start to sell the spotlight club because it’s the perfect next step for someone.
Kylie Kelly [00:27:20]:
So because of that, the first few emails that they get about the challenge, they love. I still get some unsubscribes, but generally speaking, they love. When I first start to sell, the unsubscribe rate spikes to something like 2.4%. Do you know what? I’m okay with that because I still know that, well, the 98%, right, that opened that email stuck around. And that’s what I’m going to focus on. So just know that these numbers are normal. Just know that people are gonna come. People are gonna go.
Kylie Kelly [00:27:46]:
The main thing is is that we’re looking at the people that are still there. And we are making sure that we’re doing things to add more people to our list all the time. That brings me to the spotlight club, obviously. So if you’re not a part of the club, I wanna invite you in. So inside of the spotlight club, I help people grow their email list really fast. And we use relationship based strategies to do that. Summits, bundles, freebie swaps, podcast guesting, all the good stuff. All the stuff that’s actually fun and doesn’t fucking include social media because I hate social media.
Kylie Kelly [00:28:13]:
So it’s a really fun way to actually grow your list and focus on something that works. So the link is in the show notes. I would love to invite you in. It’s just $19 a month or you can upgrade to the premium tier if you do want more support. All of the information is on the sales page. But, honestly, if you were struggling with this and if you wanna focus on email lists this year, I would highly, highly, highly, highly recommend and strongly urge you to come and join us so you can get support to make this happen. I cannot tell you how much my life has changed since my email list has grown. Grown.
Kylie Kelly [00:28:43]:
I used to have a service based business that was very up and down. And 1 week would be eating baked beans and the next week would be going out in the towns. It was very much as revenue rollercoaster and that did not feel good for me on my nervous system. Now that I have an email list, it is much more sustainable. It is much more reliable. It is just a little bit safer. It just feels better. If that sounds good, come and join me.
Kylie Kelly [00:29:05]:
I would love to have you and I’d love to help you make that a reality for you as well. So I also wanna say I hope that you found this super valuable. Again, the link to the blog post is in the show notes. If you do wanna wanna go and check it out so you can make some more notes yourself, please do. And if you want that KPI email marketing PDF, the link is also in the show notes for that or just head over to the bit. Ly/email marketing kpi link to grab that as well. Alright, my loves. I hope this is helpful.
Kylie Kelly [00:29:29]:
And next week, we’re gonna be talking all about email deliverability because what is the point of putting all of this work into our email marketing if we can’t land in people’s inboxes? So again, it is gonna be a must listen episode. Please leave me a review in the show notes if you’ve gotten anything out of this, and I can’t wait to see you again next week. Alright, my loves. I’m cheering you on. I’ll talk to you soon. I put my heart and soul into this podcast recording and editing them all myself. So there is a really simple way you could return the favor if you would leave me a review. Head on over to Apple, Spotify or wherever you listen to your podcasts and let me know how I’m doing.
