Your questions answered...(following up)
Yoooooo...
I got some phenomenal questions over the last couple of days about email. Actually more questions than I was expecting and I'm still wading through some of the later ones.
The big takeaway though - y'all can't work with cookie cutter, "rule of thumb" strategies. Your questions are nuanced and as with all questions of importance....context matters.
I answered them all individually (actually I'm still working on some of them) but here are 3 I wanted to share with everyone.
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What would you say is a good first step and/or something key when nurturing a list that is used to constant discounts?
Great question, it's time to break the cycle (or should I say downward spiral?) It's not going to be an easy task but it'll be totally worth it.
First thing is don't stop cold turkey. Ease them off the discount wagon. You have to raise the brand value and connection, instead of lowering the price.
Start by sprinkling in emails that are like little treasure troves of insights, fun behind-the-scenes peeks, and handy guides. Try sharing stories, customer wins, and maybe a secret or two about your products.Throw in some surprise exclusive content, early bird peeks – make them feel like they're part of a special club.
Before you know it, your emails will be less about discounts and more about building a community that's hooked on what you have to say.
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What are your favourite list growing strategies that don’t rely on traffic from paid ads?
Paid ads, ha!
No really, I don't know any other consistent ways to get traffic that buys....especially for a product that doesn't solve a problem. I.e. toy cars. Are people out there searching for "toy car for display on my desk"? I mean, maybe, but probably not at the kind of scale you can get with paid ads.
Giveaways usually attract freebie seekers but I absolutely love how these guys do an insanely high value bi-weekly giveaway for customers, which is a game changer: https://80eighty.com/
- Is there a point where your email list is “big enough”? Or does it always need to keep growing?
OMG, a list is never big enough, you have to keep it growing to offset list atrophy.
BUT there's always a caveat... when your list is small and dedicated, they'll be super responsive and engaged. When your business grows bigger and your products diversify, the list becomes more diverse so it's harder to keep them interested.
That's why you want to think of ways to segment subscribers by interest, so you can keep engagement (and shopping) high.
- How can we figure out what our product needs to improve on?
A two part answer for you!
First, just ask. Get a survey going out in a flow to everyone who buys, and time it so that the customer has a chance to receive their order, use your product, and get results (or not, but hopefully, yes).
Second, sometimes this isn't the right question. There's a lot that can impact a customer's experience with the brand and usually product developers etc are really focused on the product. There's a really good chance that product improvement isn't going to significantly impact your biz growth (unless it's an early iteration and you are expecting to make changes).
Other things that impact whether people stick with you are their experience with support, the shipping timeline, whether their expectations were met, etc.
Do step 1 and survey your customers, you'll find out where your bottle neck(s) might be. Don't assume it's product.
WHEW
That's all the time I have for today. My fingers are starting to miss the keys. (All typos are mine and mine alone.)
Side note: I actually wrote this email during tonight's EEL implementation session. I am confirdent when I say...There's absolutely no better way to get email done than by showing up and getting peer pressured by this group of amazing emailers.
If this helped, give me a virtual thumbs up by clicking something - it proves to gmail that you like it here.
Clicking is caring,
Nichelle
P.S. This was a blast but answering your questions by email is pretty limited. I almost always have follow-up context questions. If you want to get personalized, in-depth answers to your email q's - the 2024>2023 workshop is gonna be the place for you. It's only open to EEL members, so if you want in, just clickety clack the link and join us.