Ideally, architects of houses design rooms to meet the needs of the people who will live in the house. Feng shui, originally a Chinese method of moving houses according to such factors as rain and micro-climates.
If you love words and want to read all day and make money doing it, this episode is for you. Jennie Nash, book coach and founder of Author Accelerator, joins me to discuss what is a book coach and who is best suited to become on. For more details and to watch Jennie’s companion video, go to https://www.bookcoaches.com/marketingmentor. We’d love it if you write a review, subscribe on Apple Podcasts and sign up for Quick Tips from Marketing Mentor.
Once you select your email marketing provider, you have everything you need to send awesome emails.
There’s only one thing left to do: get started! The sooner you start writing and sending emails, the sooner you can build lasting relationships with subscribers.
That means writing engaging email campaigns is incredibly important. But who has the time and energy to write and send consistent emails at the most opportune time for each subscriber?
Autoresponders save you time and energy
Next to you, autoresponders are the hardest-working member of your team. They work tirelessly for you, never take PTO, vacation, or even a lunch break.
Why is that? Because autoresponders are email messages that you set up in advance to send automatically at a time interval that you set. You have control over the number of emails sent in a sequence and when they are delivered. Some autoresponders may only have a single thank-you email, while others may have multiple emails in a sequence depending on the campaign’s purpose.
Autoresponders can ultimately save you time and energy. It lets you connect with your audience around-the-clock, convert leads into customers, turn customers into superfans, and drive serious results via email. And it does all of this while you’re busy doing other important things, like running your business.
But there’s one big catch: your email campaign needs to include the right emails in the proper order if you want to reach your goals.
Wouldn’t it be nice if you could easily import a proven, tested campaign from an email expert into your AWeber account with just a few clicks?
Well, you can!
12 best autoresponder email marketing workflow template series that work (and why)
We created pre-written autoresponder email marketing campaigns with fill-in blank templates to get you started.
Adding any of these pre-written automated email campaigns into your AWeber account will save you time and allow you to market your business 24/7.
It is super easy to set up: pick your favorites, copy the Campaign Sharing Code, click the import option, and paste in the code. Your autoresponder campaign will upload into your AWeber account in seconds.
Then, all you need to do is personalize the email template included in each autoresponder by filling in the blanks, and hit activate. Voila — you’re done!
Example of a pre-written email with fill-in-the-blanks
Welcome Series Campaign
A welcome email series is the first step to building a lasting relationship with your audience. It’s a great chance to introduce yourself and allows you to build a relationship with your subscribers right away.
Welcome emails can also have a significant impact on your business — in fact, they can generate 320% more revenue per email, 4 times higher the open rates than other emails, and 5 times higher click-through rates than promotional emails.
Use this automated email series to welcome new subscribers to your list and begin building a relationship with them.
A lead magnet — a.k.a. freebie or incentive — is what you give someone who visits your sign up form or landing page to entice people to join your list and provide their email address.
This automated email marketing workflow will deliver your lead magnet to your new subscribers immediately after joining your list. It will give them your lead magnet and start to build an awesome connection with you and your brand.
On average, 7 out of 10 shoppers will abandon a cart by leaving a product or service in a website shopping cart before they complete a purchase.
But the good news is that if you follow up with those people, there is an incredibly high potential for those individuals to become customers. In fact, over 40% of abandoned cart emails are opened.
With this campaign,, it is easy to send an abandoned cart email with a promotional offer to encourage a website visitor to become a loyal customer.
An email mini-course is a simple series of automated emails that deliver educational or instructional content. Online courses provide valuable instructional content that people need to learn and grow.
But, you don’t need to pay for extra software or find a new service to teach with an email course. Deliver your lessons by importing AWeber’s autoresponder Mini-Course Campaign.
If you’re a course creator, a free 5-lesson email mini-course is the perfect way to show off your expertise, build a relationship with new subscribers, and then promote your paid course at the ideal time. This campaign will help you do just that!
Want your audience to fall in love with your blog content?
This automated campaign will show off your best blog posts, so subscribers keep coming back for more.
Use this automated email series to welcome new subscribers to your blog and build a relationship with them. Plus, it will welcome people to your email list and promote your products or services.
Content that is relevant to subscribers’ interests can translate into increased engagement and conversions. How important is personalized content? 72% of consumers say they only engage with personalized messaging.
Personalized dynamic email content allows you to tailor your email messages to each subscribers’ interests without needing to create multiple versions of an email. You can pull in variables like subscribers’ geographic locations, their associated tags, and personal information.
Use this automated marketing email series to introduce dynamic content in your automated campaigns.
Are you selling a digital asset online, or have you thought about creating one?
Digital products are often easier to create and distribute than physical products. Their digital format means you can distribute your product to your customers quicker and more cost-effectively.
Use this automated email series to provide on-demand access to a recent buyer.
When you digitally deliver your products to the customer, you have a great opportunity to give them information on how to use the products and point them in the direction of additional resources they might find useful.
If you’re a fitness trainer, one of the best ways to showcase your value is through a freebie. This lets you build your email list and give potential clients a taste of your personality and fitness expertise.
It can be a short video, a one-page tip sheet with your favorite exercises, or even healthy recipes you can make in under 30 minutes.
Just add a sign up form to a one-page landing page that you can share on your favorite social channels or website.
Use this automated email series to generate leads and welcome them to your mailing list with a free piece of content.
A five-day fitness email course educates, delights, and helps you build stronger relationships with your subscribers.
When you use email automation to deliver an email course, you help make your subscribers’ lives easier by providing information they need in digestible steps, which helps you build trust with your subscribers and keep them engaged over time.
Creating an email course might sound a little daunting at first. But anyone can do it, and AWeber makes it easy by guiding you with fill-in-the-blank prompts to create your Fitness email course.
We started you off at five days, but you can adjust the length as needed.
Whether you’re a personal trainer, health coach, or nutritionist, keeping in touch with customers and prospects is one of the best ways to grow.
Generating customer leads is essential to growing your fitness business, but converting those leads to clients is how you build your revenue. One of the best ways to market to potential customers is through email.
Check out this made-for-you, single-message campaign specifically designed to put your best offer in front of your loyal readers with promotional content like discounts and special offers.
Email is one of the best ways to promote your podcast. Did you know that email is 40 times more effective at acquiring new customers than Facebook or Twitter?
As you build your email list, you have a valuable asset that you can promote a paid product (either yours or an affiliate product that you earn a commission), a service, or a sponsorship opportunity.
This automated campaign will show off your best podcast episodes, so subscribers keep coming back for more.
Plus, it will welcome people to your email list and allow them to find out your favorite episodes, upcoming shows, and more!
Your travel blog is your customers’ go-to destination for travel tips, vacation ideas, and ways to save money. But to take advantage of your resources, your readers have to remember to visit your site for updates.
Make it easy on them by sending your favorite travel blogs to your subscribers via email to drive your blog’s views.
This autoresponder email series has tons of opportunities to show off some of your favorite photos, memories, and travel tips for all aspiring explorers.
AWeber Shareable Campaignsgives you the ability to add another email marketer’s pre-built, successful email campaign into your account in seconds. Think of these automated campaigns like blueprints that you can easily tweak and customize before sending it to your own audience.
On the other hand, you can share your best campaigns with the click of a button, too. For each campaign, AWeber’s platform will generate a unique code that you can hand out to others.
AWeber’s Shareable Campaigns will help you automate your email marketing faster than ever before.
Here are some ways you may be able to use Shareable Campaigns
Marketing agencies and consultants: Easily pass along essential and useful email flows to your clients or team members’ accounts.
Franchises and teams: Share campaigns across accounts, so all messaging is on-brand. Emails will share a consistent look (the same templates, imagery, fonts, and colors) and voice and tone.
Marketing experts, bloggers, or educators: Do you teach others how to incorporate email into their marketing funnels? Share automated campaigns with your students or clients so they can get started with email automation.
AWeber Advocates: Create a Shareable Campaign as an incentive to drive new referrals to AWeber. Simply share your Campaign code with your audience, along with an AWeber sign up link with your Advocate ID attached. You’ll receive a recurring 30% commission for anyone who signs up for an account with your advocate link.
Sending emails can feel intimidating at first. It may even cause some “email anxiety” (yeah that’s a thing). But sending emails doesn’t have to be complicated or scary if you follow some basic email marketing best practices.
As you go through this list of best practices for email marketing, you won’t see guidelines about how many emails you should send, or how long your email needs to be, or the optimal length of a subject line.
The truth is, that while these are all great and important questions, the answer to these questions is different for every company. You can only answer these with email testing (which by the way IS a best practice).
No matter what your business is or what industry you’re in, some tried-and-true best email marketing best practices can only help guide you to success.
1 – Create automated email campaigns
Email automation allows you to send the right message to the right people at the right time without having to set up and send one-off emails every time.
A perfect example of an automated email marketing campaign is your welcome email. Studies have shown a welcome email can generate 320% more revenue per email, 4 times higher open rates than other emails, and 5 times higher click-through rates than promotional emails.
In addition to the welcome series, you can set up email automation campaigns for:
Cart abandonments
Thank you for your purchase or download or sign up
Confirmation of an opt-in
An event based trigger like an anniversary or birthday
If a customer hasn’t opened an email in several months, you can trigger a “We miss you” message
While automated email campaigns can save you time and lead to higher results, it’s important not to set it and forget it. You should still monitor the performance of your automated email series and find ways to test so you can improve your email performance.
2 – Segment Your Email List
Email segmentation is a way to break up your list into smaller, more targeted groups, based on a specific set of criteria.
When you segment, you can send more personalized and relevant content or offers to customers based on similar interests, geographic location, purchase history, and so much more.
Plus, it leads to a higher open rate, click rate, and conversation rate. And more importantly, higher revenue. Some marketers reported as much as 760% increase in revenue.
Which of the two following examples do you think would trigger more foot traffic?
In this example, if I know Diane’s location preference is in Springfield and she’s previously purchased Martha Stewart products and LEGO’s, then this personalized email will resonate much more than the more generic example.
Email personalization allows you to create more targeted emails that stand out in the inbox. You should be personalizing everything in your emails from the subject line to the actual email content to the offer itself.
4 – Create Engaging Email Content
The purpose of your emails is to get people to read them so they can take the desired action. So obviously you want to create an email that is compelling and engaging. For some people that’s easier said than done. If you’re like me, then writing doesn’t come naturally, but don’t worry. AWeber has resources to help you write amazing emails.
5 – Have a Call to Action
Most emails need to have a call to action. Think of the result or action you want your subscriber to achieve, now call it out. Sure you will occasionally send an email that doesn’t require a call to action (or CTA), like a thank you email, and that’s fine.
For those other emails you need to have some form of a call to action. This could be a CTA button or hyperlink which directs subscribers to your website to read a blog, sign up for an event, or make a purchase. Other types of call to actions could have the results of driving traffic into a physical location.
Plus, you can get creative with your CTAs. Don’t feel like you can only use “click here,” “read more,” or “shop now.” Check out how shoe store DSW phrased its call to action in an email promoting a “buy one get one” offer:
6 – Use Confirmed Opt-in
Setting up a signup form on your landing page or Facebook page is a great way to grow your email list. But once they sign up, send an email to confirm their email address.
Getting a subscriber to verify again that they want to receive your email is a great way to improve your delivery rate. And since they confirmed their email address, you know they really wanted to sign up. This should make them more responsive and lead to higher email engagement.
7 – Do Not Purchase an Email List
If we had a megaphone for this point, we would use it. Never purchase an email list. Sending emails which people didn’t provide their permission for is considered spam — not to mention illegal.
When you use a purchased email list, you’re setting yourself up for disaster. Since these people didn’t opt-in to hear from you, they begin to mark your messages as spam. This will lead to lower delivery rates and your emails will start to go straight to spam folders where they will never get seen or open.
AWeber, among other reputable email marketing service companies, will not allow you to import a purchased list.
8 – Clean Your Email List
Cleaning your email list should be viewed as addition by subtraction. By removing contacts from your list who have not opened your email over a specific period of time, you will receive better open rates. How? Because you’re only sending to those subscribers who are really interested in your product or service.
You also reduce the risk that an inactive subscriber will mark your email as spam, which could negatively impact your delivery rate.
It is recommended that your email list should be cleaned at least once every six months.
9 – Do Not Use a No-Reply Email Address
Have you ever received an email from a noreply email address? It looks something like this – noreply@domain.com.
You should never be sending an email with a noreply address. And the reasons are obvious:
It increases your chances of being labeled as spam
By not allowing your customers to reply to your email you are creating a poor customer experience
Instead of having a reply email address as noreply@domain.com, have it come from an actual person or customerservice@domain.com. Either way, to ensure your customers questions are answered in a timely manner, make sure you have someone actively managing this email address.
10 – Test Emails Before Sending
Proof-reading your email is a critical step before pressing “send.”
Part of this process should be sending yourself a test email before scheduling your email. I recommend setting up a pre-flight checklist, where you can check all elements of your email to make sure it’s in good shape to send.
Send yourself a test email and check for these important email marketing elements:
Email is rendering properly
Images are loading
You have alt text for your images (for images that don’t render this will tell the reader what the image is about)
There are no spelling mistakes
Your hyperlinks and call to action buttons take you to a live page
It looks good on both laptop and mobile
11 – Analyze Your Email Marketing Stats
But how do you know your emails are working? By looking at the data. One of the most important email marketing campaign best practices is to understand how your emails are performing.
The most important email marketing performance data you should look at are:
Open Rate
Click Rate
Delivery Rate
Opt Out Rate
12 – A/B Split Test Your Email Campaigns
Anyone can create a marketing email that gets opened and clicked. But if you want to create a truly remarkable email experience for your customers, you need to split test.
I hear all too often, what should I test? Well, with an email service provider like AWeber, you can and should test everything.
Here are a few email test ideas to get those creative juices flowing:
Different subject line messages
Image vs no image in the email
Different color call to action button
Time of day
Short subject line vs long subject line
Short email message vs long email message
Who the email is from – a person’s name, customer service, the name of your company
Testing will ultimately help you understand your customer better, which will lead to a better experience.
Remember, once your test is done, analyze your stats.
Email marketing is not rocket science. And once you start following these email marketing best practices, I’m sure you’ll see even more success growing your business — and have some fun in the process as well.
Take Your Email Skills to the Next Level
I get it, running a business is like working two full-time jobs. Sometimes it may be a challenge to dedicate the time and energy into marketing your business. We’ve made it a little easier for you with this guide: “How to grow your business with email marketing”.
Starting a new business or a side project is always exciting. But knowing where to start can sometimes be confusing.
Many people think they need to build an elaborate website with your story, products or services, blog, and other navigable pages before anything else. It’s what makes the idea feel “real.”
And while that can feel like a concrete first step, the truth is your time and money is better spent building relationships, networking, and setting up the necessary infrastructure for your business.
The process of building an entire website can be time-consuming and costly. But, there are benefits to having an online presence — especially if your goal is to sell products or services. So how is this done without a website?
Enter landing pages.
They let you build an online presence without spending the time or money on fancy website building tools.
Plus, they give you the ability to test new ideas and products to see if they’re viable before jumping in full time.
Not familiar with landing pages? Watch the video below and read on to learn what they are, why you need one, and how to get started.
What is a landing page?
A landing page is a single webpage that drives visitors to take one, specific action. It intentionally limits where visitors can navigate, because it is built to get people to take an action, like subscribing to your email list or buying your product or service.
On the other hand, a website is made up of several web pages and provides all the information potential customers need to know about your business. The purpose of a website is to encourage visitors to navigate around the site to learn more about your products and services.
A landing page can be part of a website, but you also don’t need a website to have a landing page. The key difference between the two is the ability to focus your visitors’ attention on the action you want them to take.
Landing pages always include a sign up form to collect subscriber information, such as email addresses, names, interests, location, and more. But, as you can see from the image below, landing pages can include so much more as well.
Why do I need one?
Not only do landing pages allow you to cost-effectively build an online presence while testing your idea, they give you the opportunity to drive traffic and begin building your email list.
Encourage sign ups to your email list a number of different ways:
Tell your story and introduce your business
Promote events
Offer visitors value in a lead magnet, like an ebook, guide, or giveaway
Promote webinars
Offer exclusive discounts
Ultimately, the goal of a landing page is to get visitors to take one specific action that signs them up for your email list. But remember: when visitors give you their email address, they are trusting you to send them valuable, relevant, personalized content. They’re inviting you into their inbox and believe that what you offer them will help them achieve some desired end state.
You can also use the sign up process on your landing page to learn more about your new subscribers. Customize your landing page opt-in form to include custom fields and then tag them based on what you think they’ll be interested in, so you can send them segmented, personalized content.
5 tips to create a landing page that converts
Write like a pro. The best landing pages are clearly written to address visitors’ problems and offer a solution. Plus, your landing page copy should be written directly for your unique audience. Check out these writing tips from some of the best conversion copywriters in the industry.
Use proven templates. Templates can help you save time and money by offering writing prompts that help you communicate your value professionally. AWeber has 26 templates just waiting to be customized for your business. Here’s an example of one we built to help you promote your products:
Put the reader first. The best performing marketing copy does one thing really, really well: it focuses on the benefits of a product service to the customer, rather than specific features. Challenge yourself to write your landing page using the word “you” more than “we” or “I.”
Incorporate highly-visual, interactive content. Including relevant, embedded videos on your page can increase conversions by 86%. But with AWeber, you can embed all sorts of visual content, like podcast episodes, surveys, location maps, music, social content and so much more.
Use one call-to-action, and only one call-to-action. Including more than one offer on your page can decrease conversion rates by 266%. Keep it as simple for your visitor as possible and encourage them to take one, very specific action.
How to get a landing page
While other third party landing page tools can be expensive and time-consuming to learn, AWeber’s Landing Page Builder is completely free and uses the same drag-and-drop technology from the email message editor.
Plus, it’s already integrated with AWeber’s email marketing. People who sign up on your page are automatically added to your AWeber email list. Plus, tag subscribers through your form so you can segment your list and send highly-personalized content.
Sign up for AWeber Free today to get unlimited landing pages and access to 26 beautiful, professionally designed templates.
Want to learn more?
We put together a guide to help you build professional landing pages that get your business online fast and cost-effectively.
As Founder of Really Good Emails and design agency Fathom & Draft, Matthew Smith — otherwise known as “whale” on social media — breaks down email design in a way anyone can understand and implement.
In this episode of The FWD: Thinking Show, Matthew shares his thoughts on the most important elements of email design, how to simplify design using an approach called “design golf,” and how to create an email structure that helps you do more in less time.
Episode summary
Matthew Smith believes email design is a tool for relationship building.
And while design can feel intimidating to small business owners who don’t have formal education or experience with it, Matthew shares that it doesn’t have to be complicated at all.
“Email design systems are like legos. Think of each component — the typography, spacing, headings, and paragraphs — as a building block to build your template.”
This approach to design allows you to create a scalable process that lets you send beautiful emails without a designer faster. And when you move faster you can be more efficient and increase your profitability.
Additionally, Matthew shares that simplifying your email design can be one of the best things you do. He talks about the concept of “design golf” as a system to help you determine if you have too many design elements in your email.
Legos and golf? This episode sounds too fun to read about. Click the button below to listen to the episode now.
9:03: Not a designer? Here’s what you need to know about design
10:50: Play “design golf” to optimize your email design
13:20: Email design best practices to make your email easily scannable
16:43: How do email design and email copy work in harmony?
18:30: Some super cool ways to use AMP for Email to make emails interactive
21:10: Email is a relationship builder through every phase of the customer journey
26:15: Let’s put this myth to rest: plain text vs. HTML emails
29:00: What design elements you should split test in an email
34:15: Mathew’s best advice for new small business owners
Learn more about Matthew Smith
Matthew Smith is either two wily bear cubs stacked in a trench coat or a full grown man—some days it’s hard to tell. He runs Fathom & Draft and Really Good Emails, two businesses born from his obsession with designing the relationship between customer and organization. He’s worked directly with clients like Walmart, Seth Godin, Gates Foundation and MIT to blatantly name drop. All of this feeds his talks on design, emotional intelligence, email, business, the euphoria of Japanese Ramen, and The Golden Age of Email—it’s coming, so strap on your spam pants and brace yourself.
Plus, be sure to follow and connect with Matthew on Twitter: @whale.
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The good news is: Because people are spending so much time in their inboxes, you have an opportunity to make a big impact.
The bad news? More emails = dwindling attention spans.
You’ll need to get creative to break through the clutter of emails that loiter in your subscribers’ inboxes.
We’ll show you how to create an email newsletter that will keep your subscribers interested. Whether you want to improve your current newsletter or are researching ideas for your first one, these tried and true email marketing practices are sure to help.
(The most FUN way to succeed with email marketing? Everyday Email, a FREE email course. You’ll get 30 short, easy-to-follow tips sent directly to your inbox for 30 days.)
What makes the best email newsletters?
What are the best email newsletters made of? Captivating copy, engaging visuals, and a clear call-to-action, right? Well, yes, but there’s more to it than that.
The number of emails flooding inboxes these days is staggering. According to DMR, the average person will get 121 emails per day (which is roughly 44,000 emails per year). That’s a lot to read.
Due to the sheer volume of emails people receive daily, it’s crucial to cater to your target audience.
So how do you ensure your emails are the brightest in the inbox? How do you know what newsletter content ideas will get read?
1. Give readers what they didn’t know they needed
The inbox is a sacred space. It’s a direct line into the lives of your audience and potential customers—so whatever you send should be of the highest quality.
Yes, creating an email newsletter free of grammatical errors and broken links is important. But providing actionable, helpful information to readers is also important. Bonus points if you provide knowledge or insight on something they didn’t know they needed. You want to build a relationship with your subscribers with great content — rather than pushing for a sale every single time.
For example: If you’re a business development coach looking to expand your newsletter readership, including extra content that your audience cares about (like a template or eBook or one of these 22 Brilliant Lead Magnets) is a good idea.
2. Encourage communication and request feedback
You wouldn’t walk into someone’s home with a megaphone and start blasting orders. So don’t do it in a subscriber’s inbox, either.
Not only will your subscribers feel as if you are speaking directly to them, but their feedback will be invaluable to your business.
3. Keep readers reading with great newsletter copy and even better design
You can have the best written newsletter copy, but if it’s hard to read, it can be tough to get readers to stick around. We’re not suggesting that bad design mutes stellar copy, but striking a balance between the two is key when creating a quality email newsletter.
Take photo company Artifact Uprising for example. They’re a visual company, which is clearly communicated across all marketing materials. In the example below, they stick with large, eye-catching images and bold, monochromatic colors.
But they don’t rely solely on bold, featured images. The copy, although simple, packs a punch — and it’s hard to resist clicking on the single CTA button to learn how to create your own beautiful photo book.
The copy and images in this example work together to tell a story. This is not a long email newsletter, but it didn’t need to be. It’s chock full of value (an “insider’s guide” and “tips and tricks”), and that’s what resonates with readers the most.
4. An email that reads well will be well read
Design doesn’t just mean pretty pictures. This is where readability comes into play. If you want readers to digest your content, make it easy to do so.
The Daily Carnage is a great example of strong layout and organization when it comes to email. It’s text-heavy, but in the best way. Bullet points, subheadings, and colorful call-to-actions make this email newsletter easy (and enjoyable) to read.
As with any writing, when it comes to the layout of your email newsletter, place the most important information at the top. Dwindling attention spans mean it’s critical to include important information first. The secondary details and other non-essential information come next.
If you see a block of text in the body of an email newsletter, what’s your first reaction? Delete? Scroll past? Chances are if you wouldn’t read it, neither would your subscribers.
Breaking the copy up into digestible paragraphs or bullet points will help your readers understand the message while saving them eye strain. The goal is to make the copy scannable, which is tough to do with large blocks of text.
An easy way to break up chunks of text: Use a zigzag or “z” pattern in your template. This design arrangement helps readers continue to move their way down an email, engaging with the imagery and content along the way. Think of it like a path for your reader to go down. It helps them make it to the end! (Inside AWeber, use the Flat-white and Gibson templates, which have alternating sections built in.)
Not sure what to write in your emails? We created a free course — What to Write in Your Emails — that comes with 45+ email writing templates!
5. Leverage your lists correctly
Segmentation is an excellent way to make your email newsletters more effective and to grow your customer base. According to the DMA, segmented and targeted emails generate 58% of all revenue.
With email segmentation, you can create lists of customers based on specific parameters you set and then customize campaigns for each.
For example, let’s say you want to target customers who have bought from you once but have not been back since that purchase. You can create a list of these customers and deploy an email campaign that works toward a sale conversion goal.
Rewarding customers for past purchases, sharing sale information, or encouraging customers to tell their friends about your brand are a few of the things you can do with a segmented list. Or you can categorize customers based on their email behavior (who opened/didn’t open an email). Then, you can target each list differently, either educating them further on your business, or incentivizing them to buy with a unique offer.
Understanding what makes your lists unique is the key to using them effectively and seeing the ROI of your email newsletters over time.
6. Treat your subscribers as individuals — not a nameless, faceless list
Before you send an email, stop and think about your list. No, not the size of your list. But the individuals on your list.
Like Chelsea, who reads your email during her 45-minute train commute to work.
Or Victor, who opens your email while he’s in the grocery store checkout line.
Or Kate, who scrolls through her inbox as her newborn son sleeps on her chest at 2 a.m.
Stop writing to a faceless crowd of subscribers. Instead, write to the individuals on your list. When you write to a single subscriber, they come alive in your mind. Your writing will go from drab to engaging. Generic to targeted. You’ll solve his or her problems. You’ll put the perfect product in front of him or her. You’ll make them want to open your next email.
And all your subscribers will feel as if you personally wrote the email to each of them. This is one of the most effective ways to find success with email marketing over the longterm.
How to best structure your email newsletter
The second your readers open your message, they immediately decide whether your email provides them enough value to act on your call to action or not.
The following three techniques show you how to structure your email newsletters so you provide clear value from the very first second.
1. Make your text scannable
As much as 77% of your subscribers may open your emails on their mobile devices, which means they’re looking at your content in the palm of their hand. Long blocks of text that force your readers to scroll and scroll create a bad user experience. That’s why you should break up your email copy into shorter, easier-to-read chunks.
Be concise (skip the run-on sentences, wordiness, jargon, buzzwords, and overly-difficult terms)
For multiple articles, include only the first paragraph of each, and then link to the rest of the story
2. Include links for credibility
Adding research, data, studies, and quotes to your content is a compelling way to validate your points. However, you should always link to your reputable sources. If you mention a company or public figure, link to their web site.
Linking when appropriate has several benefits:
your emails earn an extra layer of authority
your readers get the extended value of the linked content
it’s a best practice on the web! When someone refers to your business or content, they should link to you, too.
3. Focus on one call to action
Choice is the enemy of conversion. If you give a person too many options, it makes it difficult for them to make a final decision, according to psychologist Barry Schwartz, who named this phenomenon “the paradox of choice.”
Want your readers to take an action inside your email (like sign up for a webinar)? Then point them to that one specific CTA with a large button (all other instances can be hypertext links). You shouldn’t try to get them to also redeem a coupon, join your Facebook group, and book an appointment all in the same email. Your content should walk a subscriber down one path — don’t give them multiple paths to choose from, or else you’ll see little to no success.
When creating an email newsletter, it’s easy to focus on either design or content. But the truth is: Both design and content are equally as important to the success of the campaign.
In fact, if an email includes too many images and not enough text, it can become problematic:
Emails marked “image-only” may end up in the spam folder due to email service providers like Gmail filtering and blocking them.
Subscribers may have disabled image viewing/downloading in their email settings.
Depending on the internet connection and browser version, images can take longer than text to load. Subscribers may delete the email before the images have time to load.
So how can you be sure to strike a healthy balance between design and content in your email newsletter?
Let’s look at a few newsletter examples and break down what works well.
Design & Layout in Email Newsletters
1. Use the template that matches your goal
Are you sending out a discount code to new customers? Launching a new product? Announcing a huge end-of-the-season sale? There are many email templates to choose from, which can feel overwhelming at first. (AWeber has more than 700 mobile-responsive templates that you can use. Create your account today!)
The question is: Which one will be the best for the job?
For example, if you’re an AWeber user who wants to send a new discount code to new subscribers to show your appreciation and to get them to try a product, you might want to select a template that clearly indicates your message. Here’s our “announcement” layout that you can customize for your business and brand.
This Nike email does an excellent job of showing readers the detail of a product through visuals and copy:
2. Be bold in your image selection
Images do more than get your brand noticed, they elicit emotion. With images, you are able to set the mood and tone of your email before subscribers even begin reading.
This email from The North Face is a perfect example of stunning imagery at work. Not only does the image showcase the products (waterproof rain gear), but the striking contextual image captures attention immediately:
3. Utilize alt text for images
When you include images in your messages, they may or may not always display in the email clients they were sent to. That’s because many email services will disable images in messages that are sent to their users, unless the user actually verifies that they do indeed want to see the images.
Alternative text is helpful in these cases. When an image doesn’t load, a line of text will appear that describes what should be there.
Take a look at this email from Hotels.com where images were blocked, but the use of alt text was implemented.
And here’s what it should actually look like:
Now, you may be wondering, “Is including alt text worth my time?”
Absolutely. Forty-eight percent of mobile clients will block images by default, according to the email testing platform called Litmus. If you set up alt text, the description will appear where the images were supposed to go. If you don’t, your reader will only see blank boxes.
Alt text is also important for your subscribers with visual or certain cognitive disabilities. They may have a screen reader that will read the alt text to them so they get a full understanding of what’s included in your message.
If you are using AWeber’s Drag & Drop editor, click here to see how to set up alt text for your images.
Pro Tip: Not all images need alt text. If your image is purely for the aesthetics of the email, be sure to set an empty alt text value for the image.
Be bold with your photos — but also limit how many you use in an email. Text-to-image ratio is how much text there is in comparison to images in your email.
There’s no such thing as the perfect “text-to-image ratio”, but most people stick with 60 percent text and 40 percent images.
Here’s why it’s important not to rely too heavily on images:
“Image-only” emails risk going to the SPAM folder since email service providers like Gmail, Yahoo! and Hotmail tend to filter and block them.
Images may be ‘turned off’ as default by viewers or by their email client, which means that some of your image-based navigation elements or CTAs (like buttons) may not be visible.
Images can take longer than text to load based on browser and internet connection. A subscriber may leave the email before they’ve seen all the content.
5. Leverage contrast and whitespace
When designing your email, be sure to consider contrast and whitespace.
Images that contrast in color are not only impactful and interesting to look at, but they help ensure readers can see the images, too. Including a healthy balance of whitespace is also a design best practice that can make reading your email easier for subscribers.
Take these newsletter examples from Peloton, Flock, and Headspace. All three newsletter examples use contrasting images and include enough whitespace to make for easy reading.
6. Keep design focused on the end goal
The email design should also be a path that leads the reader toward your ultimate goal (the CTA). To give you an idea, here is an example from Moo, a custom print and design company.
This email design works for converting readers to customers because:
Follows a simple “Z” pattern layout, which means it easily moves your eyes in a zigzag that alternates text and images, and includes a CTA in at each “point” of the pattern.
Consists of minimal elements and concise writing for a streamlined look.
Includes visual examples of each product to minimize the use of long chunks of text and to show off their array of products.
Creates defined sections for each product with the use of thin dividers.
Contains lots of white (or in this case, blue) space to draw your attention to the images.
Incorporates large “call to action” product buttons (i.e.: Shop Postcards) for easy navigation to their website.
7. Use big headlines and header images
You may have the world’s best headline, but if it drowns in a sea of text, no one will notice it. That’s where “visual hierarchy” comes in. You want the most important information in your message to get noticed first. Choose an increased font size and bolded text for your headline. It makes the main message in your email stand out.
Large header images evoke emotion. You’re attempting to make an connection with the viewer in the first few seconds after they open your message. The image sets a mood (happy! sad! angry!) or conveys a state of mind (hunger! relaxation!).
Above are three drastically different emails that give each individual brand a unique feel, predominately through their use of photographic header images. (Inside your AWeber account, use the Breve or Wane template to get started with a large header image.)
Don’t have a big budget or an in-house photographer? Here’s how to create amazing custom images for your emails, social posts, ads, and websites on zero budget.
Email Newsletter Content Tips
1. Make it personalized
Customizing your email newsletters per your target audience is the secret to success.
Thanks to email segmentation, we can categorize subscribers with specific parameters and organize them into lists. Every email created should have the audience’s interests and needs at top of mind.
Customizing emails go a long way when done correctly. AWeber user and personality test company Truity has seen increased open rates as a result of their personalization efforts, including personality type-specific messages, like the one below aimed at its a specific personality type — ENFP subscribers. Truity uses the “digest” layout in AWeber’s Drag and Drop Email Builder for its newsletters, giving it a streamlined, cohesive look every time it hits your inbox.
One question that marketers hear often is “how long should my email be?” The answer is, there is no right answer. Both can help you accomplish your goal and communicate your message. (Try different formats with your audience to see which ones they prefer through A/B testing.)
The InVision Weekly Digest is concise writing done right. Punchline copy delivered in an easy-to-read format.
Whether you choose to create an email that’s short and sweet or something long-form, one thing stands true for both: Make it easy to read.
This rings especially true for long-form content. As we mentioned above, having a large block of text in the body of your email doesn’t do anyone any good.
Break things up into short 2-3 sentence paragraphs or use a bullet point format to convey your message.
Ann Handley — AWeber customer, author, and founder of Marketing-Profs, sends a bi-weekly email newsletter, Total Annarchy. It always begins with a long story. However, Handley does an excellent job of taking a ton of valuable information and presenting it in a digestible way.
3. Make your emails count
Trust is hard to gain (and easy to lose) when it comes to engaging with your customers. If someone has given you permission to his/her inbox and has opened your newsletter, it’s your time to shine.
Providing value-packed content to your subscribers is a key component in seeing a positive ROI on your email campaigns besides to growing your customer base.
WouldYouRather (WYR), another AWeber customer, does this well by making every email engaging and interactive:
What’s more: WYR follows up with the results every week so subscribers can see what other people on their list chose (who won: compliment or a $100 bill) and why. They ask for the reasoning behind the choices made to share some insight into the human decision-making process.
Bottom line: If your content is not providing subscribers information worth their attention, leave it out of the email.
4. Special offers can lead to purchases, if done correctly
Promotional content can yield successful results, too. This is an integral part of business for those in the eCommerce world, as well as for those promoting events and selling tickets.
We see this executed well in this simple, to-the-point email from AWeber user and the band Phish:
5. Be a stickler for grammar (if you aren’t already)
Mistakes happen, but if grammatical errors are consistently popping up in your email newsletters (or any of your marketing materials for that matter), you run the risk of losing your credibility, customer trust, and money.
Have an editor or a coworker with a trained eye look at the copy before adding it to your campaign. Be sure to have them check it again after you finish building the email.
If you’re an AWeber customer, it’s easy to edit copy even after you’ve entered it into your template.
Email Newsletter Content Ideas
1. Repurpose your best legacy content
Repurposing older, high-performing blog posts in your newsletter is a great way to source content, save time and drive new traffic to your best work. Consider using your evergreen content (the type that isn’t time-sensitive), such as how-to information and answers to frequently asked questions.
If there’s any recent industry news that your post could tie back to, even better. Add that fresh spin to your legacy content in your email newsletter to emphasize its timeliness and importance.
2. Interview an industry thought leader
Interviewing an expert in your field is a great way to entertain, educate, and engage your readers, while adding a fresh perspective to your email newsletters.
Ask the thought leader to promote the interview to their own audience so you can reach new subscribers to add to your email list. Just make sure you add a sign up for your newsletter inside the interview so people know how to join!
3. Feature loyal readers and customers
Just as you can interview and feature high-profile thought leaders within your industry, try doing the same for your loyal readers.
In many cases, your readers might better relate to the success story of a person who doesn’t have as much klout as an influencer. Their success might feel more attainable, even if it’s not on the same scale as an influencer.
Need a quicker way to feature customers? You might want to consider sharing user-generated content from your subscribers, such as social posts.
In Paleo Pete’s email newsletter, he shares Instagram images tagged by his readers.
4. Add videos and interactive content
Most email clients — like Gmail and Outlook — won’t play video within a message, so you have to link to a hosted video outside of your email.
But you can include links to videos that look like you could play them within the email. It’s a creative way to deliver motion pictures and get your readers to click and watch.
The examples below are grouped by category so you can find what’s most relevant to you.
Newsletter Example: Blogs
Leading with a strong image and captivating copy is a sure-fire way to keep your subscribers reading. The example (hey, that’s us!) below does just that:
(Gain a competitive edge:Subscribe to AWeber’s newsletter. Get essential tips and news about email marketing sent weekly to your inbox.)
Newsletter Example: Local and small businesses
Showcase your products or services with an email template that is visual and text-friendly. This email from Moo does a great job of highlighting a product sale in a colorful way that is not only on-brand but also eye-catching.
Newsletter Example: Podcasts
Podcasts tend to cover a lot of information during each episode. What better way to create a centralized place where listeners can do further research, learn more, or read up on guests than with a summary email?
This email from Smashing Magazine includes a table of contents that make jumping sections a breeze. With an organized layout and plenty of space for a recap, this format is perfect for podcasts.
Newsletter Example: SaaS and Software Companies
Providing value to your subscribers, in whatever capacity that may be, is crucial to keeping them interested.
Including helpful content like this “How to Use Instagram Stories Templates” guide from Later is a great way to provide value. This also shows subscribers you know what you’re talking about.
Newsletter Example: Non-Profit Organizations
The Human Rights Campaign knows how to welcome new supporters. This email not only includes a thank you note, but it also outlines how supporters can take further steps to help the campaign.
Newsletter Example: Product and eCommerce
Like the SaaS example above, product and eCommerce companies can provide value with actionable content, all while keeping things fun and interesting:
Now it’s your turn
With all this good information, now you’re ready to knock out your next email newsletter. Maybe you’ve selected your template, but aren’t quite sure what to include in each section.
No problem. We’ve broken down what the layout of your email newsletter could look like.
Paragraph 1 – This is a great place to summarize your company and explain why you’re great. Be sure to include the most important information in this section. If you’re sending a welcome note to new subscribers, add details on how often they can expect to receive your newsletter.
Paragraph 2 – Leverage your template by selecting bold imagery that is not only on par with the content of your email but also with your brand.
Paragraph 3 – Time to let your writing chops shine. The goal of your email will most likely determine the length of your copy. It’s important that your email reads the same as the rest of your marketing materials, so keeping your brand style guide close is a good idea.
Building Your Email Newsletters
Your email newsletter is your opportunity to inform, educate, and connect with potential customers. Your subscribers have granted you permission to show up in their inboxes whenever you please — so now it’s time to get to work.
Let’s recap what we just learned:
Providing value-packed content to readers is essential when it comes to the success of your campaign. Formatting your email for readability will make or break your click-through rates.
Leveraging your segmented email lists correctly through customization will increase your ROI.
Creating an email design that is eye-catching and functional will keep subscribers reading.
Writing attention-grabbing copy that communicates your message goes a long way.
Want to get started on your next email newsletter? Sign up for AWeber Free to get started with email marketing at no cost!
If you are among the 70% who struggle with Impostor Syndrome, this episode is for you. Dr. Valerie Young, the leading expert on the topic, joins me to discuss why it afflicts so many men and women (especially creatives) and what you can do about it. We’d love it if you write a review, subscribe on Apple Podcasts and sign up for Quick Tips from Marketing Mentor.
Before it hit shelves, F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby was almost titled The High-Bouncing Lover.
Doesn’t have the same ring to it, huh?
Writing your email subject line is a lot like choosing a book title: You have to get it right, or people may never open it — no matter how fantastic the content is inside.
One of the most common questions we hear is: “what do I write in the subject line of an email?” Many people wonder how to write perfect emailsubject lines.
While there’s no single formula to create the best subject lines for email marketing, the following battle-tested guidelines will get you pretty close to perfect. They can help you make your messages even more appealing to your subscribers.
Apply them to your email subject lines, and you could be the next Fitzgerald of the inbox.
(Looking for an email service provider that lands you in the inbox — and not the spam folder? Get AWeber Free today! We have 20 years of industry-leading deliverability!)
Email Subject Line Best Practices
Your subject line can single-handedly make or break your entire email campaign. We put together this list of best practices to help you create attention-grabbing subject lines for your email marketing campaigns.
Personalize your email subject lines
Here’s some emails I recently received:
Did any of them make me feel special? Not particularly.
Many years ago when companies first started using first name personalization, it worked. It grabbed your attention. But now, variations of “Hello {!firstname_fix}” have become the norm in email marketing, not the outlier. Because of that, it’s lost its novelty.
But that’s not the type of personalized email subject line I’m talking about. To truly create an email subject line that gets attention, you need to make the content unique to that individual subscriber.
You need to go above and beyond to connect with each customer. You can do this by personalizing your message based on location, past purchase behavior, and content they’ve engaged with. Think of what information you have on your customers. Now use that to create a personalized experience for them.
What if I took the same email blast subject lines examples above, but made them personalized based on my experiences with those brands?
Now that made a difference.
So what’s the best way to accomplish this? With your next email subject line best practice – segmentation.
How to use segmentation
At AWeber, we recommend segmenting your audience and sending each segment tailored messages with unique subject lines.
“You can craft an open-worthy email by appealing to an individual’s interests. People enjoy emails relevant to their wants and needs,” says Shayla Price, a B2B marketer.
Here are some ways to do just that:
Ask questions on your sign up form. Then use that information in your email subject lines. For example, if you write a fashion blog, you can ask your subscriber for his or her favorite color when they sign up to your mailing list. Then, you can send them emails based on their color choice — like “15 gorgeous [color] dresses under $50.”
Send location-based emails. Traveling to a conference? Speaking at an event? Meet up with your subscribers in different cities. “We’re in [city] next week! See you there?”
Retarget subscribers. Did a subscriber abandon a product in his or her shopping cart? You could send an email like “Forget something? Here’s a 20% off coupon!” Or did a subscriber not follow through on an action, like registering for your webinar or workshop? Use that info to tailor their next message. “Only 12 hours to sign up for [event]!”
Create urgency in your subject line with FOMO
Fear of missing out — or FOMO — is a powerful psychological driver of email opens and engagement. Email subject lines that create a sense of urgency, scarcity, and exclusivity can boast a 22% higher open rate.
This can be done by giving your subscribers a deadline to accomplish an action.
Here are some other effective FOMO email subject line examples:
Avoid spam triggers in your subject line
Email spam filters are triggered by specific words, phrases, and symbols in your subject line and email content. AWeber uses a content filtering tool called SpamAssassin™ to help you avoid content filtering. This tool is widely used by internet service providers (ISPs) to filter incoming email.
By clicking on that score, you can instantly view the content in your messages that are triggering the SpamAssassin™ ruleset.
So what are some words, phrases, and symbols that are red flags to spam filters? There are a ton, but here’s a few to give you an example:
Excessive punctuation like multiple exclamation points!!!!!!! or ellipses ………
TYPING IN ALL CAPS
Symbols like “$$$” and “*****”
Phrases like “cheap,” “cash off,” “incredible deal,” “satisfaction,” “winner”
Also, as many as 69% of email recipients report email as spam based solely on the subject line. Make sure your subject line doesn’t come across as spammy to your subscriber, too. This will happen if your subject line is deceiving in any way, such as leading with “RE:” when it’s not an actual reply to an email.
Be direct in your subject line
Skip the wit, wordplay, humor, rhymes, or puns in your subject lines.
Stick with straightforward headlines instead. These “boring” subject lines convert extremely well. That’s because they explain the value inside the email. The readers know exactly what to expect from the message and the benefits they’ll receive from opening it.
Here are some straightforward email subject line examples:
But there’s one catch: Your messages have to consistently provide value. If your messages fall short of their promised value, your subscribers will feel cheated. Then, good luck getting them to open your messages moving forward.
However, if your emails are constantly packed with important, personalized content, your audience will open your emails — no matter what the subject line says.
Ask questions to pique curiosity
There’s a reason most television season finales end with cliffhangers: Humans crave nice-and-neat endings. So when you don’t give it to them, they’re unsettled. They have to know what happens next, and they’ll tune in the next season for closure.
Use this craving to your advantage. Fuel your subscribers to open your emails by injecting curiosity into your subject lines. You can ask a question:
Jo at Copy Hackers: “Are you missing these 3 copy techniques?”
Men’s Health Daily Dose: “Will Creatine Boost Your Gains?”
Or promise an answer inside your message:
Jessica Stansberry: “You should be going live ___ times per month! [open for the answer]”
Sophie Gray: “This is the ONLY Reason You Should Workout”
Litmus recommends around 50 characters. Yes Lifecycle Marketing says emails with subject line up to 20 characters have the highest average open rate, unique click rate, and click-to-open rate. An analysis from Retention Science found that subject lines with 6 to 10 words results in the highest open rates. And Return Path advises using 61 to 70 characters.
So in reality . . . it depends. (Sorry, I know that’s no one’s favorite answer.) Every industry — and audience — is different.
But here are some important things to keep in mind when you’re testing various subject line lengths — no matter what industry you’re in:
Do most people open your emails on desktop or mobile? It’s estimated that over 67% of readers are opening their emails on a mobile device. If you find your list trending toward mobile, too, then aim for short email subject lines (35 characters or less).
Is your preheader text cut off? If so, will your subject line still make sense without it?
Are there words you can cut to be more concise or clear?
At AWeber, we use emojis in our messages every so often to pack a punch, or to shorten a subject line. For instance, we might use a 💡 instead of writing out the word lightbulb to keep the entire subject line visible on mobile devices.
Some emojis look very different from one Internet Service Provider (ISP) to the next. So don’t forget to test your emails in various ISPs like Gmail, Hotmail, and Yahoo!, too. Here are 3 Ways to Test Your Emails Before Hitting ‘Send.’
If you choose to use emojis, beware: Emoji usage in marketing messages is on the rise. So there’s a chance your emoji may not stand out as much as you’d like. Our advice: Test them with your readers. See if your readers act positively to emojis through increased open rates.
What’s next?
There’s no single formula for writing the most successful email subject lines. But if you mix-and-match the subject line rules and tips above, you’ll be able to optimize your open rates over time and come up with a formula that works extremely well with your audience.
To find out which types of subject lines your audience likes best, run an A/B split test. Leverage what works, then test again. The type of subject line that works for your audience today might not be as effective six months from now. Watch your open rates closely so you can adapt and improve.
Want to try out a new subject line today? Log in to your AWeber account to get started. Don’t have an AWeber account yet? Get AWeber Free today!
I’d love to hear from you, what was one of your best eblast subject lines that worked?
Post written by contributing writer Marijana Kay and Sean Tinney
Plus, advertisers are willing to spend more on the medium, with podcast ad spending expected to hit $354 million this year.
Want to capitalize on all this growth? Then you need to grow your podcast audience.
How to grow your podcast audience
It seems like almost everyone has a podcast or knows someone who does. It is easier than ever to launch a podcast right from your bedroom or dining room. However, amazing content alone is not enough to make a living as a podcaster.
You need to first build a loyal following. But talking to your followers through your podcast is not enough to create a lasting long-term relationship. You need a way to talk with them when your podcast is available for download.
Email Marketing has the highest return of any marketing channel
Email marketing for podcasters is an incredibly powerful tool. It’s a direct link to your fans through a channel that you own. No algorithm can take away from you. You can regularly communicate with your audience about show updates, tease upcoming episodes, tell them about products you have created, request feedback from listeners, and so much more.
This is one of the best ways to promote your podcast. Why is this such a strong channel? Simple, email marketing has the highest conversion rates of any marketing channel. In fact, email is 40 times more effective at acquiring new customers than Facebook or Twitter.
Plus, it is one of the best ways to make money from your podcast. As you build your email list, you have a valuable asset that you can promote a paid product (either yours or an affiliate product that you earn a commission), a service, or a sponsorship opportunity.
“Most podcasters are focused on their feed numbers — how many downloads they have. But what they really need to consider is how many subscribers to their email list. Every show that is in the Fable and Folly Network has a newsletter. The newsletter is the mechanism that we send out to get people to take action: shop at our patron shop or become a patron of the show.“
A newsletter is a great way to share your story and why you have a passion for your podcast. Take them along on your journey with behind the scenes images and show notes. Don’t be shy about who you are. They already like you. A newsletter is a perfect way to build a personal connection with your subscribers and keep them coming back for more podcast episodes.
Just be careful not to be too promotional before you build a relationship with your subscribers. You want your first series of emails to be incredibly valuable, so your readers continue to open and engage with you and your content.
AWeber has pre-built email campaigns for podcasters
Want your audience to fall in love with your podcast? Set up an automated welcome series to greet new subscribers. Not sure what to write or how to set it up? AWeber has a pre-built three emails in a campaign that you can import into your AWeber account.
Example of one of the campaign emails
All you need to do is import the account from AWeber’s campaign marketplace. It is super easy to import. Check out the video included in this blog to see how you can import the campaign in a matter of seconds!
Podcast email marketing example from Fable & Folly
Use lead magnets to grow your audience
One of the best ways to collect email addresses is to provide something of value— also known as a lead magnet. A lead magnet is a piece of content that is a viewable or downloadable piece of content that your follower receives in exchange for providing their email address. The lead magnet can be anything: a tip sheet, a pamphlet, even an exclusive podcast episode.
Podcast lead magnet example from Fable & Folly
The Fable and Folly show “Civilized” promotes a bonus podcast episode that is only available if you sign up for their newsletter.
“I don’t just tell people to listen to my podcast or sign up for my email list. I invite them to get a bonus episode of my interactive adventure series. In my thank you email, I include a link to access the bonus material.”
Sean Howard, Fable and Folly Network podcaster
The perfect landing page for podcasters
Good news: you don’t need a website to launch a podcast.
In fact, you could promote your podcast, collect email addresses to build your list, and distribute your lead magnet all within a landing page.
But not all email marketing and landing page providers are created equal. Podcasters have unique needs, and some providers will address your needs better than others.
“It’s really rare and amazing to find a company like AWeber that reaches out to the small independent podcast creators. And isn’t just there at their shows, but actually supports our community and reaches out to see if we need help and solve problems. I don’t have any other vendor that does that.”
Sean Howard, Fable and Folly Network podcaster
AWeber includes a professionally designed landing page and a pre-built email campaign built specifically for your unique needs.
The AWeber Podcast Landing Page is an easy to use drag and drop landing page template that can easily be customized. With this landing page, you’re all set up to promote your show, grow your follower base, and even offer additional content or an affiliate offer to increase your revenue.
Smart Content Feature for Podcasters
AWeber’s landing pages include our new Smart Content widget that supports some of the most popular podcasting platforms like Spotify and Stitcher. The Smart Contentelement lets you embed a podcast right onto the landing page so listeners can engage with your podcast right on your landing page.
With the AWeber Smart Content feature, you can transform your landing page into a dynamic and interactive experience for your podcast listeners.
A few of the podcaster providers that you can connect to your landing page using the Smart Content element include:
Spotify
Stitcher
Art19
iHeartRadio
Libsyn
Simplecast
Himalaya
Buzzsprout
AnchorFM
RadioPublic
Acast
Soundcloud
Plus, when you have a fully customized landing page, use AWeber’s Smart Designer to create an email template to match.
Drive traffic to your landing page with social media
Once you have your lead magnet and landing page, it’s time to consider additional channels to start driving traffic to grow your list.
Your future followers are on social media. It doesn’t matter the topic — you will be able to find prospective followers on social media. Social media is a fantastic way to attract a new listener, but you still need to drive them to your landing page.
AWeber makes it easy to post your landing page on your social media. Simply go to the landing page setting in your AWeber landing page. Click the social sharing tab and fill in the page title, page description, and social sharing image.
AWeber social sharing option
Why share your landing page rather than a link to your podcast in Spotify or Art 19? Because you need a way to regularly communicate with your followers. In order to do that, you need to turn social media users into email subscribers.
Building a podcast audience takes a strong marketing strategy and the right tools. That’s why AWeber offers these tools in one platform. Email marketing — when combined with a compelling landing page, lead magnet and multiple marketing channels — can be the difference between a successful podcast and one that becomes stagnant.
Big chain stores have Black Friday. Online stores have Cyber Monday. But there’s two more holiday shopping days you might want to pay attention to this year when planning your emails – Small Business Saturday and Giving Tuesday.
Both Small Business Saturday and Giving Tuesday are all about doing good within our own communities. And by raising awareness of the holidays among your audience, you’re promoting more than your own business — you’re also doing right by others.
Why participate in Small Business Saturday and Giving Tuesday?
Often overshadowed by their larger siblings Black Friday and Cyber Monday, Small Business Saturday and Giving Tuesday have a lot to offer those who know to pay attention.
Small Business Saturday is meant to encourage consumers to shop at their local, neighborhood stores. And shopping locally makes a big impact not only on the shop-owner, but on the entire community.
Meanwhile, Giving Tuesday was created in 2012 as a way to encourage people to give generously and donate to nonprofits and causes. In fact, people donated more than $511 million and mentioned #GivingTuesday on social media more than 20 billion times in 2019.
It’s about more than donating money, though. Giving Tuesday can mean volunteering at local organizations, doing a small act of kindness, raising awareness of causes or issues you care about through your voice, or giving your own time and resources if you have a special skill to offer someone.
Plus, Giving Tuesday is a great time for nonprofits to capitalize on seasonal giving. With email marketing, nonprofits can segment their audiences based on donation level or involvement with the organization. In fact, one nonprofit was able to grow its subscriber list 500% with AWeber’s targeting and segmentation tools.
And, Giving Tuesday is a great way to kick off a time of year where giving back to the community and helping those in need is at the forefront of our minds.
So what can you do to raise awareness and get your audience to participate?
How to educate your subscribers about Small Business Saturday and Giving Tuesday
Create an email marketing campaign
Email is one of the most effective ways to communicate with your audience this time of year. To make sure your subscribers don’t miss a thing you’re doing this holiday season, we recommend sending a 5-email campaign:
Email #1: Give your subscribers a heads up as soon as you can, letting them know about your special offers on Small Business Saturday and how you’ll be participating in Giving Tuesday.
Email #2: Send a reminder email about a week before the holiday shopping weekend. Make sure to include the date, your specific offer, and everything they need to know about your sale.
Email #3: Send an email on Small Business Saturday. Let your subscribers know about your promotion and how much you value their support on Small Business Saturday.
Email #4: Send an email on Giving Tuesday. Let your audience know about a cause you care about and encourage them to donate or volunteer.
Or, you could even lead a volunteer group and let your audience know your store will be closed so you can spend time giving back to your community. Consumers want to support brands who give to others and do their part to make their community a better place.
Email #5: Say thank you. Segment your list and say thank you to those subscribers who supported you during Small Business Saturday or Giving Tuesday.
Your last email is also a good opportunity to follow up with an exclusive offer. Focus on ways to provide ongoing value to your customers through discount codes, guides, courses or other types of content that will help them.
The holiday shopping season is a busy time of year. Save yourself time later by writing your content and scheduling your social media posts on Twitter, Instagram or Facebook ahead of time.
Pro tip: Be sure to use the hashtags #ShopSmall and #GivingTuesday to increase your chances that your posts get seen.
Content Marketing
If you have a blog, now’s a great time to ramp up your blog content. Sharing your brand story is a great way to incentivize people to shop this Small Business Saturday or donate to a cause you care about on Giving Tuesday.
You could even run a contest for charity. Encourage your audience to give back to a cause they care about, post it on social media, and tag your business for a chance to win something special. Or, you could offer to match donations or give a certain amount if you reach a fundraising goal.
In-Store
While many shoppers are more likely than ever to take their shopping online due to COVID-19, it’s possible your store may still see some foot traffic.
Make sure to promote your offers with store signage to encourage shoppers and passersby to take advantage of your special discounts (but be sure to remind them about social distancing guidelines and indoor patron limits).
You can also run a donation drive on Giving Tuesday. Collect non-perishable food or home goods to bring to a nonprofit’s collection. And be sure to take lots of photos along the way so your customers can see how big of a collective impact they helped you make.
Liliana Armwood 