3 Ways to Know if Your Newsletter Is Working

You've been meticulously crafting your newsletters and other email campaigns. They take hours to put together.

You choose each article and piece of content carefully.

You pick the right images to go along with your message.

You are SO proud of the copy you put together.

It's all done, double-checked, tested and you got the nerve to schedule it or hit send.

Then....you wait.

Wait for what you're not sure.

The money rolling in. The knocks on your virtual door to hire you. The order numbers ticking up and up and up.

If that's you: AMAZING!

Or maybe you want your emails to start earning EVEN MORE.

MORE MONEY!!! Yes, please!

That's why we're doing this, right?

You've been pouring all of this work, dedicating all of these resources to your email campaigns, and you're just not sure if it's what your audience wants or makes them want to buy.

Don't worry. I got you on this.

 

 

 

Here are the THREE WAYS TO KNOW IF YOUR EMAIL CAMPAIGNS ARE WORKING.

GOALS

Most people pay 100% attention to the open rates of their emails to understand whether or not their subscribers are still engaged and interested in their email content.

Yes, email open rates are a good barometer to judge whether or not your list is engaged, but they're not the end of the story. There are a number of factors that I've covered in other emails/blogs that determine an open rate.

So what do you pay attention to instead? Well, it depends on your goals for your email campaigns.

Most businesses do not have clearly defined goals for their campaigns, so measuring them becomes difficult.

If goals for your emails are more orders and you see a high click-through rate but no orders, then you know something fell short.

If the goals for your email campaigns are to build brand trust and visibility, then open rates would be an excellent way to measure whether or not people like your content. If your open rate stays steady, you're doing something right. If it starts to drop, then something else is going on that needs to be looked at.

MICRO-SURVEYS

Asking your audience's opinion about your brand is HUGE ask. One that needs a lot of incentive for your audience to feel compelled to let you know how they think.

That's why you see either 5 stars or 1 star reviews. People need to be motivated to take the time to write out a review. If they really LOVED the experience, they'll shout it out. If they really HATE the experience, they'll FOR SURE shout it out.

Try creating micro-surveys embedded in your content.

You can ask a question like, "How did you enjoy this?" with an image of a smiley face and an image of a frowny face.

Those faces can link to a simple landing page on your site with the words "Thanks for the feedback!" Make sure they're two different pages though. The copy can stay the same.

You can measure the success of the content by how many people clicked each link.

It's not perfect, but it'll give you a snapshot of how your content is performing.

 

UNSUBSCRIBES

Don't take it too personally, but people will unsubscribe from your list.

It's just part of being a person in this world. People are going to float away eventually for reasons that usually have nothing to do with you.

HOWEVER, if you see a jump in the amount of people unsubscribe from your email, then it's time to take notice.

If it's more than your steady trickle, then something is up with your content.

That's your three ways of knowing if people are into your email content.

The more people you have your list and the more often you send, the more you'll be able to see trends and notice when something seems out of whack. Once you have a baseline, you'll be able to see the bumps that tell you when something either worked really well or not at all.

YOUR HOMEWORK:

Look back at your last 3 months worth of email campaigns. What trends do you see? Average open rate? Average clickthrough rate? Average unsubscribe rate?

Best Alternatives to Mailchimp

It's not secret that I dislike Mailchimp. Talk to me for 5 minutes and I'll tell you why.

We don't have five minutes, so I'll go ahead and jump right in.

1. The templates ARE NOT flexible.

You are at the mercy of their templates every time you design an email.

Want to have a row of 3 images instead of 2? Oh, no big deal, then you're gonna need to redesign that email in a totally different template.

Yes, seriously.

I have been here and HATED it.

 

2. The automations aren't super great either.

Want an email automation that actually DOES what you want it to? Prepare yourself for hours of hacking your way through alternative routes to get it done.

(and don't get me started on their segments)

 

3. Only ONE form per list.

If you have multiple forms that you want to custom tag your audience so that they all go on the same list, forget about it. You only get one FORM.

Many other email service providers provide you with limitless forms that all can go to one list.

BEST ALTERNATIVES TO MAILCHIMP:

TOP RECOMMENDATION: ActiveCampaign

Plain and simple, ActiveCampaign will get you the biggest bang for your buck.

You can segment your audience very easily.
The automations are in an actual visual map instead of a confusing list (*cough* Mailchimp *cough*).

Their email template builder is SUPER flexible.

AND you can track website behavior of your contacts to see what they’re browsing before they buy.

They do not have a free version, but if you’re serious about email marketing for your business, I HIGHLY recommend investing in a tool like ActiveCampaign.

I use it for my own business and have migrated several clients over to it who also love it.

BONUS: They have a tiered package that offers a CRM (Customer Relationship Manager) that can help you keep track of your sales pipeline if you’re a service-based business.

Check it out

BEST FREE VERSION: Mailerlite

Mailerlite offers visual automation flows and beautiful, flexible templates.

Their segmentation is robust enough to create personalized experiences for your email subscribers.

AND their automation is a beautiful visual flow that is incredibly user-friendly and gives you options for creating truly optimized automation strategies.

Check it out

BEST FOR E-COMMERCE: Klaviyo

If you’re selling products online, Klaviyo is incredible!

I’ve worked in top dollar Email Service Providers that can’t do what Klaviyo does.

It harvests your customers’ purchasing data and can predict when they will order next. It’s so cool!

It integrates with most retail and e-commerce platforms.

For real, if you’re planning to sell products online (or at a brick-and-mortar store) check it out.

Check it out

***full disclosure: I am an affiliate for all of these services. I receive a small commission for anyone who signs up for these services through the links above.

Something is better than nothing

Last week, I was on a call for with the Beta group of my course Email Marketing Like a Boss. We were talking about that week's lesson on planning content.

As we were chatting about a very common and natural fear of putting content and creative work out into the digital world, I remembered the advice I give everyone when they go through a workshop with me.

Something is better than nothing.

Let me say that again.

Something is better than nothing.

For all of my perfectionist friends, this might resonate with you more than anything.

When you're paralyzed with sheer overwhelm of all of the possibilities of offers and programs and content you're putting out there.

When you're trying to find the exact right word for the feeling you want to convey or the pain point your customer is experience.

When you're making yet another tweak to that design or photo filter.

When you're about to hit the send button on that email but your finger pauses over your mouse or just above your smartphone screen.

It's doubt creeping in.

Fear that no one will respond to your offer or content.

Fear that someone will catch you playing the expert.

Fear that someone will read your words and wonder how you've managed to get this far in the world.

Fear that someone will see your design and wrinkle their nose at the imperfect alignment of your fonts.

I hear you.

I see you.

I am you.

That's why I repeat it over and over again.

Something is better than nothing.

When you get trapped into that perfectionist loop, you get paralyzed.

And what inevitably happens? You close your eyes and click send (and the world doesn't crumble) OR you frantically hit the backspace key to delete every word you just poured over.

When you give in to that fear. You don't even try.

You don't even try to fail.

And the failure is the good stuff. Those are the tough lessons that teach us what to try next or what to tweak.

And with everything you send or schedule, you get a little bit more confident. You get a little bit more sure of what you're doing. You find one more thing to improve on the next time.

Your first try is not going to be as pretty as you'd like it to be.

You gotta let that go.

Just do something. Anything. Let yourself fail and try again.

That's how you put creative work (like emails) out into the world and connect and get better.

If you need someone to cheer you on, I'm here.

Emily

A Productivity Hack That Only Takes a Minute

I'm interrupting your regularly scheduled email inspiration/tip for some productivity advice.

I know you want to learn from the master over here.

And by "master," I mean shiny object syndrome expert.

Oooo a new tech tool!?!? Wait. Where did the last 2 hours go?

But seriously, here's a tool I keep forgetting about and rediscovering. It's like a tiny treasure I keep from myself and then remember when I get the overwhelms.

AND it only takes a minute to set up.

INBOX PAUSING

Whaaaaaaaaaaat!? I know.

If you're like me and keep your email inbox up at all times (because everyone will scratch their eyeballs out if you don't respond to their email in 30 seconds), then you know how distracting it gets.

I installed Boomerang for my Gmail and G suite emails and it comes with INBOX PAUSE.

If you don't know what Boomerang is, it's also its own productivity hack. It can send back emails that you sent that the recipient didn't respond to. It can also schedule emails in your inbox.

SO COOL.

Weirdly, I mainly use it for the Inbox Pause feature.

When I'm trying to focus, I flip on the pause switch which defaults to 2 hours.

I know what you're thinking. Why not just close out your email?

When I'm trying to dig through my emails for one tiny detail that I cant remember, I end up losing time because OH LOOK ANOTHER NEW EMAIL. It's NEW! It's SHINY! Must read it!

You know that song and dance.

And for all of you Outlook users, there's a similar function. It's called "Work Offline".

Seriously, it's a game-changer.

Check Out Boomerang for Gmail
How to Work Offline in Outlook

Boost your open rates on the very next email you send

 

Week 2 into Open Rate August and we're ready for the least sexy email hacks you've come across.

Last week, we talked about what an email open actually means.

(Reminder: OPEN RATE = # CONTACTS SENT THE EMAIL/# OF UNIQUE OPENS)

Brands tend to have a reactive approach to open rates.

They're the first line of measurement we look at to figure out what's going wrong in an email program.

Are people opening our emails?

Well, our open rate is under 15% so that must mean we're not doing enough to get our list to open.

Write a better subject line!

Get more people on the list!

Sprinkle a few emojis in there!

Don't get me wrong.

Those are all essential email strategy tactics. They work if deployed well.

But they're a waste of effort if you're not looking at the QUALITY of your list.

Ooph. I just brought up something new here.

    EMAIL LIST QUALITY!

    What does that have to do with open rates?

    Well, kids, gather round for story time.

    I was talking to someone about a lead generation campaign they were running and they weren't getting very good results. They wanted to know why.

    When I hear this kind of problem, my first question is, Where did your leads come from?

    They bought a list.

    (AH! So many sad tears!!!!!)

    Why do we keep thinking this kind of short cut will work!?!?

    If people have never heard of you before and they get an email in their inbox (if it makes it past the SPAM folder), WHY would they open it?

    And if they open it, why would they engage with it?

    Paid/rented lists are the worst on so many levels.

    Email marketing is the highest revenue-generating marketing channel for a reason.

    People give you permission to send them emails.

    They encountered our brand and said, Yes, I would please like more information.

    If you provide them the opportunity to opt-in and then give them value, they will keep opening over and over.

    BUT I know you aren't the type of person who would take this kind of short cut.

    SO let's say all of your contacts have given you permission to email them. (HOORAY! ?)

    Does that mean they are opening all or even any of your emails?

    NO.

    Sorry to say this, but people either get bored with your brand, they move on, or they never opened an email to begin with.

    I know you're churning out the good stuff week after week. To have someone just say they don't want it anymore is a real bummer.

    Hopefully, they'll be the grown-up and unsubscribe from your list.

    Most of the time, they just ignore you and keep deleting until it's New Year's and they're ready to do some inbox cleaning because all of the deco-organizing blogs out there are saying CLEAN UP YOUR LIFE AND YOU WILL BE IMMEDIATELY HAPPY.

    So why does it matter if people stop opening your emails and don't unsubscribe?

    (Ready to come full circle?)

    YOUR OPEN RATES GO DOWN.

    Let me ask you this. When's the last time you cleaned your list?

    Was it around the same time you scrubbed out the vegetable drawer in your refrigerator?

    (Don't be embarrassed. We've all done it.)

    So here's the real deal about list cleaning.

    Removing aged contacts will not only take out the dead weight from your email list (and increase your open rates), but it will show that email clients like gmail, outlook, hotmail (does anyone still use hotmail?) will see that you have a higher percentage of open rates which makes them happy.

    They'll be less likely to serve your emails to the SPAM folder.

    Also, smaller list sizes might keep your contact down enough to avoid a price increase from your email service provider.

    It's a win Win WIN.

    YOUR HOMEWORK:

    Check your list to see who isn't opening. Have they ever opened an email from you? Have they not opened an email in the last 3 months?

    Once you find those folks, make the hard choice to unsubscribe.

    Some people hate unsubscribing.

    But every relationship needs boundaries. Set yours now and move on with your big, beautiful open rate.