An email list can be a powerful, sales boosting tool when you’re ready to launch your first
product. But how powerful depends, not just on the size of your list, but how engaged and primed to
buy your subscribers are. In this video, we’ll walk you through how to get engaged subscribers
that will be eager to buy once you launch your first product. Let’s get into it.
Welcome to “First sale to full scale” a 10 video series that covers the journey
from making your first digital product to running a full-scale online business.
If you’re thinking about making your first product, this video is a great starting point.
Ahead, we’re going to cover how to get subscribers to sign up for your newsletter,
how to keep them engaged, and how to get them excited to buy your product.
First, let’s talk about getting people to sign up.
Email is still one of the most exclusive and intimate places you can communicate
with someone online. That’s why most people don’t just give away access to their inbox. If
you want to earn people’s trust and convince them to subscribe, check out these 5 tips.
Think of your email list as a product This is foundational to having an email
list. Even if you’re not selling access to your newsletter, your subscriber is making an exchange;
access to their inbox for whatever value they might get by signing up.
When you think of your email list as a product,
it’s easier to consider the transaction from your subscribers’ perspective and
answer questions like who is my newsletter for and why would someone want to sign up?
Share your email list In order for someone to
sign up for your email list, they have to know it exists in the first place.
Don’t be shy about letting people know and make it easy for them to sign up.
Some great places to share are on the homepage of your website,
alongside helpful articles, and at the end of valuable social media posts. Position
subscribing to your email list as the next logical step for people who follow your content.
Set clear expections While surprises can be fun,
it’s best to give potential subscribers a good idea of what to expect when they sign
up for your newsletter. Be sure to answer these four questions:
Who is your newsletter for? What will subscribers get?
When will they get it? How often will they get it?
Doing this removes any ambiguity and makes it easier for the right person to want to sign up.
Offer exclusive or early access to content If you already create content, you can offer
early access to that content as an incentive for signing up for your newsletter. You can
also create exclusive content just for your newsletter subscribers, and you don’t necessarily
have to start from scratch. You could use an old article as a script for a video that you attach
in your newsletter. Or you could transcribe a podcast episode and share the highlights.
If you get creative, you can give your subscribers an exclusive experience
without having to do a bunch of extra work.
Create a lead magnet By far, one of the best ways to
attract new subscribers is to solve a problem for them with a digital product. It doesn’t have to
be a huge problem or a big product. It could be a checklist, pdf guide, short ebook, or mini-course.
With Podia, you can set up an automation so that as soon as someone signs up,
the lead magnet is waiting for them in their inbox.
There are lots of different ways to build an email list,
but hopefully using these 5 tips will get you the results you’re looking for.
Next, let’s talk about how to keep your subscribers engaged.
Getting people signed up for your newsletter is only half the battle.
Actually, it’s probably less than half. Because even if you have a ton of subscribers,
you’re going to have difficulty selling to them if you haven’t kept them engaged.
When we use the word engaged, we’re looking for people who open,
click, reply, and even share. To get subscribers to do that, follow these 5 strategies.
Send your first regular email within the first week
While you should send your lead magnet right away, it’s important that your new
subscriber receives your regular newsletter soon after signing up. It’s close enough to
when they originally signed up that they still remember what they were thinking and feeling
that led them to subscribe. Sending your newsletter within the first week
signals to them that they are now “in” and that you will follow through on your commitment.
That actually leads us to the next tip.
Follow through and be consistent with your newsletter
If you tell subscribers that you send a weekly newsletter every Thursday morning, it’s going
to be a lot easier to keep people engaged if you stick to that. People like predictability
and knowing what to expect makes it easier for people to feel prepared to respond or share.
Give special attention to your subject line
Great subject lines are like well-designed book covers. If I like the cover design, I’m going to
check out what’s on the pages. Many creators treat the subject line like an afterthought,
but it could make all the difference when it comes to people actually seeing what
you have to share. Follow these helpful guidelines for effective subject lines:
Use a tone that matches your audience relationship Avoid overused phrases or
techniques as they may be ignored Use words that work for search and filtering
Use the 5 “W”s and 1 “H.” Where, What, Why, When, Who, and How
Try to limit your subject line to between 50-65 characters
Check out this video for a more in-depth look at writing great email subject lines.
Deliver on the promise of your newsletter Earlier, we talked about thinking of your
newsletter like a product. If someone has given you access to their inbox in
exchange for the promise of valuable newsletter content, make sure to honor that transaction.
Encourage dialogue You don’t necessarily have to
do this in every email, but asking questions and encouraging responses can get you a lot
of valuable information about your audience. People won’t often reply unless they’re asked,
so make sure to ask a single question and let them know you value their response.
If someone does respond, make sure to reply and keep the conversation going if you can.
This is a fantastic way to learn more about your audience’s specific problems
and possibly discover a product you could sell as a solution.
Finally, let’s get your subscribers excited to buy your product
The right strategies can easily turn an engaged audience into an audience that’s
excited to hit the buy button. Check out these three tips for priming your subscribers to buy:
Let your subscribers be the first to know Even before you’ve started making your product,
let them know you’re building something for them. If you’re excited and eager to share it with them,
they’ll share your enthusiasm and want to be kept in the loop. You could even
let them know that there might be discounts for pre-orders or an exclusive beta version.
Share your process from the very beginning
Let them see behind the curtain as your building your product. This not only keeps
them mindful that you’ll soon have a product to sell but also allows them to offer valuable
feedback along the way which you could use to make the finished version even better.
Ask for feedback But don’t just rely on
people offering unsolicited feedback. Make a point to ask for specific feedback about the
product you’re building. Maybe you’re thinking about making a video course.
You could ask if you should just do slides, or if they’d prefer to see your face on the screen.
You could ask if they’d like some kind of online quiz or a worksheet they could print at home.
When people are able to provide feedback on a product in development,
it boosts their confidence that it will be an effective solution for them.
Hopefully, now you feel like you’ve got some good strategies for building your email list,
keeping subscribers engaged, and getting them primed to buy.
[Next] In the next video, we’ll talk about how to determine what your first digital
product should be. If you have any questions about the info we covered in this video,
don’t hesitate to leave a comment below.
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to miss any future videos. Thanks for watching and I’ll see you next time.