If you’re thinking of making money through an online business, email marketing is a really powerful tool to help you do that.
You see, your prospects may not be interested in what you have to sell right now because they might still have questions about the product or they feel like it’s not for them. Then they just leave you and move on to someone else.
Email marketing allows you to always be with them even if they decide to leave you. That way, you can continue to try and convince them that a product (or two) can actually solve the problems they may be facing.
Not only that, you have the opportunity to sell them additional products that might solve other problems they didn’t think they had!
If all this sounds good to you, read on because I will show you what email marketing is, how it works, and how you can get started with it as a beginner!
What Is Email Marketing?
Email marketing is sending emails to potential customers (leads) in your email list in order to convince them to buy a product from you or the seller. Email marketing is powerful because you can continue to convince your leads to buy even if they left your website and/or forgot all about you.
Basically, email marketing gives you the chance to show how beneficial the product that you’re selling really is. That way, they might realize that the product really can solve their problems.
Once their doubt is shattered, they will buy the product you’re selling or promoting and you make money.
It all starts with an email list which contains emails of your leads. Leads are basically the same as prospects or potential customers. Leads are interested in what you have to offer but are not quite ready to buy just yet.
With email marketing, you can get some of those leads to become paying customers relatively quickly.
Quick Example of Email Marketing
If none of this made sense to you, let me give you an example.
Let’s say John is having trouble managing his money. He searches on Google to find Jane’s blog where she is promoting a course put together by Dave Ramsey, a financial instructor.
John isn’t sure whether he should buy this expensive course. As he continues looking, Jane is offering a free money saving guide that can only be obtained by giving her his email. John puts in his email and receives the free guide. Afterwards, John leaves Jane’s website.
Hours later, Jane sends him an email. In the email, she explains to him a guy who struggled with impulse purchases. When this guy went through Ramsey’s course, he said he felt grateful because, now, he has a better knowledge of when to spend and when to save.
John shares the exact same problem this guy had before he bought the course. He also enjoyed the free guide Jane gave him earlier. So John decides to click the link in Jane’s email and buy Dave Ramsey’s course. Jane now has a buyer and John feels better after buying the course.
And it was all because Jane asked for John’s email! As you can see, email marketing could very well be the missing piece of the puzzle for your online business. Therefore, never overlook email marketing!
How Does Email Marketing Work?
Now that you know what email marketing can do for you, let’s figure out how all this email marketing stuff gets done.
Most of your email marketing work happens in special email marketing websites. There, you can manage your email lists and write your emails.
Getting New Leads to Your List
But how do you obtain a customer for your email list? Well, you need to give people a good reason to join your email list!
Remember, with an online business, you’re trying to solve a customer’s problems. So, to get them to your email list, you need to offer something that can solve their problems for free. This something is called a lead magnet because it attracts new leads to put in their emails.
Jane offered John a free guide on how to manage his finances, so that was Jane’s lead magnet. There are different kinds of lead magnets, like exclusive articles or blog posts, exclusive videos, ebooks, mini-courses, and more.
To offer your lead magnet, you advertise about it in your website or video or wherever your traffic is coming from. Then you provide a form where the reader or viewer has to put in their email to receive the lead magnet. This form is called the opt-in form while others may call it a lead capture page.
Once they put in your email, you now have a new lead in your email list and a bunch of emails will be scheduled to be sent to that lead automatically.
Automating Your Emails
Now how can you send emails automatically? This is done through a special program called an autoresponder. Autoresponders come with many of these email marketing websites, so that’s virtually not a problem.
Basically, the emails you want sent to your leads are pre-written, meaning you write them all ahead of time. Then you set up your autoresponder to send those emails in a sequence. That way, the moment they become a lead, you send them the email with the free lead magnet they came for.
Then the next email might tell about a product that can improve their situation even more. And the next email might talk of a different product that could solve a similar problem they may have.
By sending them multiple emails, you’re giving your lead some time to consider the product you’re offering and imagine the product actually helping them out. With enough patience, your lead might be convinced and suddenly they will be tempted to buy.
They will then click your link (or affiliate link), go through checkout and buy the product. After that, everyone wins! The customer wins because their problem is finally solved and you win (and the seller wins) because money has been made!
Sending Broadcast Emails
Another amazing feature of email marketing sites is the ability to send emails to your list on demand. These emails are known as broadcast emails. So what can broadcast emails do for you?
Let’s say a new product in your niche has just been released. If you do your research on the product quickly enough, you can be one of the first people to make sales on that product. Just tell your email list that a new product has been released that you believe can help them.
Tell them what benefits they can expect out of the product and what makes it truly worth buying. Then just hit the Send button. Imagine that very email going to hundreds of potential buyers! It’s really like push-button money!
In a matter of just a few hours, they could be buying this new product and you could be making at least $100 before the day is even over!
There’s another powerful way to use use broadcast emails, but I’ll share that by the end of this article. In the meantime, you’re probably itching to get going with email marketing, so read on!
How to Get Started with Email Marketing
Hopefully, by now, I was able to explain to you what email marketing is and how it works. Now let’s go through the steps you need to take if you’d like to get started with email marketing to help with your online business.
Before I get to the steps, though, I’m assuming you already have products to sell: either your own products or someone else’s products if you’re an affiliate. Either way, if you have something to sell, you’re all set. But if not, either create or find at least one product to sell. That’s how you’re going to make money.
Now, to keep things simple, we’ll divide the process into three simple steps.
- Set up your lead magnet.
- Invest into an email service and autoresponder.
- Prepare the bunch of emails you want to send.
Let’s go through each of these steps in detail.
1. Set up your lead magnet.
Remember that the lead magnet is what gets someone to enter their email and join your email list. The lead magnet is something valuable that you’re giving away for free. It can be pretty much anything from an exclusive blog post or video to an ebook that they can download for free.
Whatever you choose to give away, make sure you create it and polish it well. Pretend that your lead magnet is something special you’re going to be selling. You want your lead magnet to be as pleasing as possible.
If you’re not sure how to create your lead magnet, I have a few resources for you.
- Canva.com – With Canva, you can put together ebooks for absolutely free.
- Udemy – You can start a free mini video course using Udemy. This article contains a section on Udemy that can help you get started with it.
- iWriter – If you’re not sure how to write a good blog article, you can pay someone else to do it for you. Just tell them what topic you want them to delve into and they can put your article together for you.
2. Invest into an email service and autoresponder.
So now that your lead magnet is ready to go, the next step is to invest into a website that will allow you to start an email list and send emails automatically.
There are many such email marketing websites available, such as Aweber and GetResponse, that get the job done right at a pretty fair price. I have provided a list of the best email marketing services here in case you’re interested.
How much you pay will depend on how big you want the list to be and what features you want. Typically, as a beginner, you can start an email list free for 30 days. After the trial, you can have a good-sized email list with an autoresponder for around $15-$30 a month, depending on the provider.
As you choose your email marketing provider, you want to make sure that you pick the plan with an autoresponder. Otherwise, you’re stuck with sending emails to your leads manually, and I doubt you want to make sending emails a daily chore. So go for the wonderful autoresponder!
3. Prepare the bunch of emails you want to send.
Your Thank You Email
The final step is to prepare the emails that you want automatically sent. Remember the goal of email marketing is to provide a lead magnet and promote a product to get your lead to buy it.
The first email you want to write is your thank you email with a link to the lead magnet you promised. In this email, you should thank your lead for entering your email and say something like “Here’s the free guide (or course or article) I promised you.”
And, of course, provide the download or access link to your lead magnet. If you miss this part, that is a negative impression to your new lead, which could possibly lead to them unsubscribing from you! And you don’t want that.
Set up the thank you email to send right after the lead signs up, no delays!
Your Series of Emails
Now prepare a series of emails promoting the product you’re selling. Every day of the week, you can share a testimonial, provide product benefits, or give tips related to the goal of the product. The idea here is to convince your lead that the product you’re selling is the answer to their prayers.
Here’s an example of 5 days worth of emails about the product.
- Day 1: you can introduce the product, say what it is, and why you believe it can help them. Leave one or two copies of your sales/affiliate link to the product you’re selling.
- Day 2: you can share a testimonial about the product. Introduce your lead to the person who found the product helpful and quote a portion of their testimonial that gives the best impression on the product. Again, leave your link to the product somewhere in the email.
- Day 3: you can give at least five free tips to help your lead solve the problem they may be facing, the same problem that your product aims to solve. After your tips, let your lead know that, if they’d rather have a quicker or easier solution to their problem, that they should consider buying the product. Once again, provide your product link.
- Day 4: you can provide more positive benefits to the product you’re selling. For example, share some hidden features of the product that a lot of people might not know. Or you can provide them with a product review through an article or YouTube video. Don’t forget your link to the product.
- Day 5: your final series email, you want to make the final call to buy the product you’re trying to sell. You can use the scarcity technique where the lead needs to feel like they got to buy the product or they are going to miss out. In your email, use phrases like “last opportunity”, “final call”, or “time is running out” to push your lead to make that purchase. Remind them one last time of what they could miss out on if they don’t buy the product. And again, remember that link to your product!
TIP: Don’t forget you can also use broadcast emails to sell a new product to your list. Once a new product comes out, research it right away, then send your leads an email with your product link. In a matter of hours, you could be making at least $100. Now that’s making money on demand!
Now, if you’re an affiliate for that product, make sure that the link in each of your emails is your affiliate link! Otherwise, you cannot make money as an affiliate using email marketing.
And that pretty much does it for the three steps to get started with email marketing as a beginner. Honestly, it really can’t get any simpler than this! Keep in mind, though, it may be simple, but it might not be easy. So make sure you’re ready and you’re confident before you actually get going!
Final Words
So, with that being said, that’ll do it for this complete beginners’ guide to email marketing. I hope this article gave you a fresher idea on what email marketing is, how it works, and how you can start making money with it in your online business.
Hopefully, reading this article made you see that email marketing really is powerful. And you can do more than just sell products through email marketing. You can also use email marketing to promote your content!
If you write a new article on your blog or upload a new video to your YouTube channel based on the niche of your audience, you can send a broadcast email to your email list, letting them know that you published a new piece of content! And just like that, you will get a boost of traffic to your new content.
This traffic boost will signal to search engines about your content and make them rank it more easily. As a result, more people can see your content through search and add to your traffic! Now, if you ask me, that is power!
Email marketing is a valuable asset to any online business that should not be overlooked. So get started with email marketing and let the power of emails and automation help your online business succeed!