Lessons

Lesson Info

The Power of Email for Craft Businesses

So I always think of blogging as kind of a passive medium you are waiting for the block, the reader to come find you and read your stuff, whereas email is a lot more proactive, you decide you're going to send it and you know that it's going to end up in people's in boxes and you can't make people read their e mail, but people are way more likely to read an email that's in their in box, and they are to remember to go to your website even if they've subscribed through some service or they've bookmark that they're just not going to remember in the same way that everybody goes her inbox and reads it. So what I mean, when I say email list, I want to clarify this first ism it's, their software that will manage this for you. This is not about you having a contact list in gmail or yahoo on the software I use is male chimp, but people also like a weber and then there's a few more expensive options for when your list gets bigger. But on my link to mel ship in the resource guides, you consign up ...

it's free under a certain amount of subscribers, and so what it does is that you create your list, you say this is my list, I'm gonna send two for me it's coffee, business people and they will give you a form it's a little piece of code you can put it on your website everybody who comes in your website just types in their email address hits enter mill trump saves it all on your list when you're ready to send an email you go in, you compose an email they have a whole process to spa q through you send that email to those people who have said I want to get your e mails that's it you don't have to manage when somebody wants to unsubscribe every email has a little unsubscribe button they can do it when people want to add themselves to the list they can do it you have all matters of forms you can put it all over your website you can have a link to the form that you share on twitter, facebook so when I talk about an email list I'm talking about a list that's managed by the software that people are signing themselves up for now we're going to talk about how to get people on the list and how to make them really happy that's that's what we're about to cover now so that's just so that you all understand what I mean when I say email list um yeah so you should not be managing your contact list in gmail or yahoo because you will get marked a spam and people won't get your e mails anymore oh, so the power of email email is great because it lands in people in boxes, and people open their email. Um, but the thing that really makes it work is that people signed themselves up. So this whole customer path thing actually, like, first kind of thought of the metaphor because people kept think of like, dragging their people to their product, right? But with your email, that person took one step towards you on their own. You didn't do anything, you didn't push him, you just gave them the space on your web site to do it now you might have done a lot of things to make it easy to make it enticing, like you might have cleared the path and made a beautiful and strong it with rose petals and been like, I love you come this way, but they took the step, they decided to do it and that's, what gives it all the power is because if they want to be there, everybody there willingly gave their email address to you. This is the very first step that they've taken to you to get your website. Maybe someone random sent them to it, and they didn't actually know what they were doing, maybe what they were clicking around, just out of curiosity, but clicking is like the most how about that? Said yeah, the most passive thing you could possibly dio right? We all just click kind of endlessly, but by giving somebody your email address, you're like I like you so much. I like your product so much I'm willing to let you come into my most personal inbox and tell me about you, and this is kind of the hardest things for my students to remember, and you might have struggled with this, too, which is maybe you don't have any mill ist that you get freaked out that people don't want to hear from you or I know quite a few people who have started a list, they have people on it and they're afraid to send messages, nothing to be afraid of. These are people who have willingly said, tell me about your stuff. This is different than everyone else on the internet. These are people who want to hear from you, and I cannot say that enough these people want to hear from you, they want to hear from you, they have signed up specifically to get your e mails, so when you don't send e mails to people, you are not giving them what they asked for you first have to get that planted it firmly in your head before we go on, ok, people want to hear from you so I have a I don't think we're there yet. So in the workbook on page thirty six, I have a template for inviting customers to email list because the first people that you want tio, get on your list are the people who already love your work so you can send them just a one by one. Send them an email to say, hey, I'm starting to send out reminders if you'd like to get it signed up here. There's a template you can use on page thirty six of your workbook toe. Ask your customers let's. Talk about how you get subscribers on your list. There's many, many ways these are just a few examples of things you can do when your very first building your list. First one is to invite all customer. She can use this template and kind of change it so that it it suits you better, but once people buy, when you have your list set up once people buy and your thank you note, let them know say, thanks so much for buying it. You expect to get it this state if you'd like to hear more about my and then you fill in the blank with what you'll be sending. Sign up here and give them a link for them to sign up. You can do this automatically and etc. I think it lets you editor thank you. Message a lot of shopping carts lets you automatically send an email. You can also do it if you especially what yourselves volume is low sending out one by one say thank you so much. I want to send you a personal message name s so that they know it's personal uh, I'm sending e mails now that are about and then you tell them what they're going to get out of it. Please sign up here that super easy and people are already they've already spent money on you, so now they're really ready to hear from you, you know, they've already decided they just love you. So another way is to create a gift for subscribers. This is called an opt in which it means it's the thing that you get once you opt in to this list, we're going to talk about how to create this, but this is an easy way to get people to want to sign up. For example, when you sign up to my list, you get a free many e course that talks about how to be an explorer of your business. That way, when I say if you'd like to sign up for my list, I can then say, because you'll get this thing that she'll get so just makes it easier for you to talk about. It also makes it easier for somebody to understand the value of giving you their email address it's another way is to him, but the but the sign up form, front and center it makes sense, right? If you want people to sign up, you have to tell them you want to sign up when we talked earlier about the priorities of your web site that it was to either make a sale or it was to bring people closer. So that means that what's your web site looks like it should be making it easy for them to buy. And the very next thing that secondly, easy to do is sign up for newsletter list, and I'm calling it newsletter email interchangeably, but they're not the same thing, which we'll talk about a minute basically have the sign up everywhere. The next way is to take it everywhere. So how many crafters get their initial sign? Ups is when you go to a craft show or you go and you teach a class which totally failed to do today is bring a clipboard with just like a space for their name. And their email address and everybody who comes in your booth I often gave ten percent off today if you sign up for my email list and I tell them like you're going to get lessons on how to use this yarn or something and they would sign up and then I would go home and I would input it into that system. So all of these like newsletter software I've been talking about there's a very easy place to click add subscriber and you add the men but that is you will run into people all the time who want toe who want to know more about you signed them up for your list ask them for their name and email address so you know what I contend you my free whatever that gift is, just give me your name and email address and on and I do when I go home and then of course linked to it you know you share links to your block. Post your new products on twitter, facebook, instagram, even to the same thing. You can share the link to your side and form in all of those places you can do it in your profile and you can also just do it in regular tweets not everybody who's following you sees everything you do at all times, they might like to know that you're offering a free gift of people sign up and then the last address and I have is to give them a reason to join now so what I mean by that is that, like, in the very beginning, I helped live q and a sessions on the phone, and you would get all that information about how to die a win if you sign up for my email list so it's, the gift you're getting is a you'd ask me any of your questions for as long as he wanted tio on the phone and you had to do it, though, because there is a time limit, you know, like, I'm gonna hold this because of the constraints of time and space continuum you have to join by this state in order to get the details for that q and a session. So if you can have a natural, not fake, not made up at a national reason for them to join like maybe they'll get ten percent off the next craft show you d'oh. Maybe they'll get a coupon that's just good for the month of july, but by giving them a reason to join now, it keeps them from waiting too long. So do we have questions about how to get subscribers to your list? We have come in on the chat room w wants to know your thoughts on a pop up when you arrive on the home page and rather than having that length there now is it annoying for people to get that pop up because I know you said kind of have it front and center, but is there much when it comes to having these opt in forms? Yeah, so it's such a tricky question because opt ins statistically work really well sorry stopped its pop ups work really well and getting subscribers, but it depends on who your audience is. So one one thing I just I just saw recently on twitter, where someone said, you know, when it comes to pop up to treat others like you would want to be treated if pop ups make you click away every time, then don't do a pop up on your web site because you're going to eat your own website rate like if this is all about creating a path to your home and you're a good hostess, you gonna treat the customer like you want to be treated? Now I see pop ups that I signed up for when they seem appropriate to where I met, you know? So what I you khun there's so many options you can make them pop up after the person's totally read through the post, so they're all the way at the bottom and it can be triggered to be like five seconds after they hit this point in the page they get a pop up to me that makes more sense what I personally hate is when I land on the website because I'm going to read a article and I can't even get to the article because it pops up also, it annoys me when it happens on my mobile device for my ipad because a lot of times you can't ex out of it, so there are options pick if you're going to do a pop up, pick up pop up like widget or app that will let you choose when and where to offer it because they're absolutely ones that will say, you know, it doesn't show up on me. A small devices doesn't show up on small screens, issues about the end of the post of the beginning of the post of the midpoint after five minutes, there are all these different ways to change it, so I would say go with what makes sense to how you feel. But I also think that we're talking about it being appropriate if you sell a crafty product and your, you know, there's something like urgency about a pop up, it feels really urgent, and unless your branding is about like urgency, I don't think it makes a lot of sense, like so where you see a lot of pop ups or in the internet marketing world, learn how to make more money now right like that something has an exclamation point, but you're very unlikely you're crafty business as an explanation exclamation point at the end of it you know it's it's just not that likely to happen, but pop ups do really work for many businesses, but they don't work if your people a or not that tech savvy and b would be really annoyed like it's just kind of turned people off and I hope that helps yeah, that helps and we have another question from emma ruth jones jewelry and they say I've been offering fifteen percent off in my etc shop if people sign up to my email list but it's not really generating any e mails with a time limit help this to have you people have more incentive to sign up so a time limit would help like maybe fifty percent off for the next ten people or fifty percent I don't know what percent she says t fifteen not fifty's a lot yeah, no that's crazy don't do that unless with profit margins you could limit it to a number of people you could limit for a number of time, but the thing that I would ask is have people seen it so it can be frustrating that's actually okay, so the next point is it takes time right could be very frustrating for you to think I haven't opt in and it's not working but it just be that not enough people have seen it you know and that maybe only five people have really had the option to join so you know if one hundred people have seen it and nobody has and that statistically relevant if two people have seen it and neither one of those two did that's not enough numbers up for you to really know what's working and what's not but what I'd suggest is is actually incentivizing her past customers asking her past customers you get fifteen percent off your next purchase because those people want to buy where is general visitor to your website doesn't yet know they want to buy so fifteen percent off doesn't mean anything maybe give those people something that will help them get ready to buy like a guide to using your thing or a guide to working with your product or a guide to taking good photos that will look good in a in a necklace you know or like five photography tips for next vacation that way those strangers sign up because they're going to learn something versus they're going to get something off they don't even know that they want so is all about getting it what they want but it does take time it takes everyone time and everyone starts zero so like if you're a zero or even if you've been at zero for five years that's okay, you can make small changes and slowly built do you have a question? Yeah, as far as like the etc shot people can favorite your shop where they can favorite an item would you recommend or stay away from maybe e mailing that person throughout cnn saying, hey, I notice you favorited my item I'm having a cell, you know, four people subscribe to my email list do you think that would annoy people that have favorite in your items? What do you think that could benefit you that's a tricky question because I think that it depends on so I don't know enough about the activity of people who favorite things on nazi do they just go? And they just favorite everything they see that they like, because in that case, that person isn't really love your things specifically, they just saw it and like it, it made me want to remember it or do people favorite like, very rarely, you know, I don't know the answer to that, so I'd say it depends on what they want from it. You could absolutely try it. I mean it's. So if you reach out to two or three or five people and say that item that you favorited is going, that item is going to be twenty percent off to subscribers I'd love to send you if keep on sign up here um and maybe you won't even know we're right, but I would really make it specific so that they know you're not sending out a mass email yeah, when you do any of this trial with it because there is people on etsy thatjust favorite like crazy and then there's the people that actually genuinely like your stuff so right and that's that's like a great you're either thinking about the whole customer path to because they've taken a teeny stop your favorite ing is like the smallest possible step you could you know what I mean? And so it's hard to know if they would be ready, you're open to it, but you could try it if someone's you promised not to beat yourself up if no one accepts it because it doesn't mean you suck and it doesn't mean you've done something horrible it's just a neck sperry mint yeah, it was one of the desperate appearing right no eso it's different to say I want to let you know this item is going to be twenty percent off to those who are on my list that sounds very casual versus so I saw you like this do you want to buy it? Because if you wait your price, your fright e teo you say to send an email or etc message but you prefer email is it okay to send it to their email that you get off of its he like this. Okay, so that's okay? You know, yeah, I think if you so see a customer right and you do not use their email to sign them up, right, right? You just let them know about it. It's ok, but I think sending one email to an email address that they've provided to you tow ask them and then don't mess with him again if they respond, but the reason why I prefer email tau ceti messages because most buyers aren't obsessive, etc users are and once the most many, so they don't check their fc messages like anti seller does I mean, I don't ever, you know, I log on to buy some things and then I don't even know I'm giving him a joan folder sometimes, right? Exactly. And so if I have to log into etc to then reply to you, I'm just annoyed with you, you know, because it's not something I was going to do already, so the email is makes just a lot more sense, you know, for that for that user. So we talked a little bit about using email to connect with people. I did want to specify the difference between a actually think we're going to talk about this the difference between a newsletter and sending emails a newsletter is all about you it's like I was into the christmas news that are like this is what my family did and we were here and my son is amazing. So even though people talk about email newsletters what they what you want to keep in mind is that you're creating something for your customer that has information that they want to know about we're going to get deep into creating content that connects but before we do I wanted to see kind of a big subject of their questions we should hit no right now I think people are people are sharing their experiences with betsy and I think your comment about the people who how to contact him through the messages one person here says that my experience on etsy is that people who are going to buy by people who are going two favorite rarely end up buying so trying to get those people who show some activity on etsy converting them into actual customers that's sort of what this discussion is right now in the chat room yeah, well that's good I'm glad you guys are helping each other that makes me happy. So I do want to say just one thing about creating email to connect and so I said that like signing up giving me your email address mean that you've actually taken a step you've invested a little bit a little piece of your inbox in me and what you hope toe learn from me or buy for me, and so you need to honor that commitment that they've already made view that's how I think about it, they just made a tiny commitment to you. I want to get your e mails open those if you send those to me, so you want to honor that commitment by being more often to them and by recognizing this is not just to strangers on the internet who might be clicking your link. These are people who are invested in you actually care to hear more. And so that means you and honor that commitment by sending regular messages, and we'll talk what I mean about regular in a little minute, but, you know, we were saying how people get afraid to send messages because I think they're going to bug them soon they send very sporadic messages, but that's not honoring that commitment that that person made to you if you don't show up regularly for them and you also want to write directly to them, and we will hit on this over and over, like we talked about yesterday talking directly to your right people in their language that's what you should be doing in your email because, you know, even more about this email sign up than you do about the random visitor to your web site because, you know, they want to hear more, and that tells you something about them, their person who's interested in what you have to sell. They're interested in what they found on your website so you can write more specifically to a person who has shown more interest than someone on your blogged who hasn't shown any interest. They're just randomly reading it, and then you also I always think about it is like, so you've taken a step towards me, so we're in a tiny, deeper relationship like it's, a little bit deeper than what's on my block, and people always talk about how to know what ship on my block. What should I put on my newsletter? And I say, think about the commitment they've made so your block post, we talked about it being evergreen, being able to revisit it again and again, like what you can get out of hand spun yarn, how to style your wedding posts that are very educational that even a stranger could then see your value. Where's your newt, your email subscriber! Likes you and you can give them things are a more timely like my creative life cross starts tomorrow because that message is more ephemeral. The email gets deleted it's not like they're going to revisit again and again but also give them stuff that's a little deeper like you could tell more of your story or you could go into deeper description of something you could talk about maybe on your block, he said. I have this new product and it's going to come in these five colors and excited but maybe he sent an email that talks about how you sourced this applies for it or the process you went through to learn more about how you were going to make it or something like that he's enemy because that's a person who already you know they want to know more about you so you can feel a little freer to tell them more about you and give you you know they're interested they signed up they told you, hey, I'm interested and that'll especially help if you feel ah little standoffish about writing personally on your blogged and what I mean by personally is just like sharing like this curse headscarf came about by mistake it's a story you shared yesterday you might not feel comfortable saying to the internet that you made a mistake but you could write about in an email letter and it's a lot more it's not gonna be on the internet for everybody to see. But b it's more like you're letting them in a little bit. And people love that that's. Part of the come closer is they want to come closer. But you have to let them in. And this is a process of learning what will work and what you're comfortable with.