Having an engaged email list and being able to communicate with them effectively is one of the most powerful money making opportunities available to E-commerce entrepreneurs today.<\/span><\/p>\n Why is this?<\/span><\/p>\n Because when you own your email list, you own a virtually free way that you can communicate with and sell to your customers.<\/span><\/p>\n This is incredible. Let\u2019s look at the \u201cpre-internet\u201d days to show you why.<\/span><\/p>\n Back before the internet existed, you had to purchase lists of customers\u2019 postal addresses in order to sell them things.<\/span><\/p>\n Famous copywriter Gary Halbert writes about this in his book,<\/span> \u201cThe Boron Letters.\u201d<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n Gary writes that there are different levels of value when it comes to a list of customers. For example, a list of general addresses is almost completely worthless. The same goes for a list of completely random emails.<\/span><\/p>\n A list of addresses in a wealthy zip code is only slightly more valuable, and it’s still almost worthless. A list of addresses in a wealthy zip code that have bought in your specific industry before is a lot better. Things get even more juicy if the list includes people who have purchased recently.<\/span><\/p>\n The famed copywriter states that the most valuable list of customer addresses is composed of wealthy customers that have recently and repeatedly bought from<\/span> you.<\/span><\/p>\n This is exactly what your email list can look like.<\/b><\/p>\n Think about it: if you simply record the email addresses of each person who buys from you, you have an opportunity to win repeat business from them. All you have to do is show them that you have offerings that are similar to what they purchased.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The main difference that email marketing has with direct response mail marketing is that <\/span>email marketing is almost completely free. <\/b><\/p>\n It’s hard to overstate the value in this.<\/p>\n Direct response copywriters like Gary Halbert would have to factor in the cost of printing and sending their letters to customers into their advertising.<\/span><\/p>\n With email, you don’t have to pay for anything other than an email provider. <\/span><\/p>\n Email providers, by the way, are very cheap. You can have a list of customers in the tens of thousands and it will only cost you $200 a month to email them.<\/span><\/p>\n Make no mistake – Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and other social media sites can be a valuable source of driving new business for your eCommerce site.<\/span><\/p>\n However, all of these social media platforms have one critical liability:<\/span> you don’t own them.<\/b><\/p>\n That means if the owners of these platforms decide to the change the terms of use, you can be shut out from connecting with your customers.<\/span><\/p>\n For example, Facebook used to be an absolute gold mine for reaching your customers through organic non-paid posts. Then, they switched up the algorithm and made it so that your organic Facebook posts only reached a tiny fraction of your audience.<\/span><\/p>\n Imagine if this sort of thing happened, and your entire business was built through Facebook. <\/span>You would lose your revenue and your customers almost overnight.<\/b><\/p>\n On the flip side, with an email list you are in almost complete control of contacting your customers.<\/span><\/p>\n If you own a large email list, and you have the ability to sell to your customers, you can build a business completely based off this email list.<\/span><\/p>\n Famous comedian Kevin Hart recounts in his <\/span>autobiography<\/span><\/a> how his team did exactly that.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n While all of his competitors were looking to promoters and comedy clubs (AKA other platforms) to get exposure, Kevin and his team would collect email addresses at the beginning and end of each of his shows as he toured the USA.<\/span><\/p>\n The result?<\/p>\n Kevin\u2019s team was able to cut out the middleman and book shows on their own. This gave him <\/span>much higher profit margins<\/b> as a result.<\/span><\/p>\n Soon enough, comedy clubs came to Kevin asking him to perform, because they knew he had an active customer base that he was able to get in touch with at a moment\u2019s notice.<\/span><\/p>\n The middleman in e-commerce is Amazon. While Amazon is great, if you sell directly to your customers through email, you\u2019ll make much higher profit margins.<\/p>\n The take home point of this section?<\/span><\/p>\n You’re leaving a lot of money on the table if you\u2019re not collecting email addresses. <\/span><\/p>\n The details of building an email list are a little outside the scope of this article. Here\u2019s a <\/span>free course <\/span><\/a>that can help you out.<\/span><\/p>\n However, we\u2019ll give you the 80\/20 version. <\/span><\/p>\n Simply make the homepage of your website an <\/span>email capture page, <\/span><\/a>and give your customers something juicy that entices them to sign up.<\/span><\/p>\n For example, if you sell home lawn and gardening equipment, give your customers access to an ebook showing them how to keep weeds out of their lawn without expensive weed killers.<\/span><\/p>\n The second part of the \u201c80\/20 email collection strategy\u201d is to require customers to give them your email address when they buy from you.<\/span><\/p>\n Now, let’s get into the nitty-gritty of actually using email marketing to drive revenue once you have a list built up.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThe business that knows its customers the best, <\/span><\/i>wins.\u201d –\u00a0<\/span><\/i>Andre Chaperon, \u00a0email marketing guru<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n The foundation of effective email marketing is knowing your customers inside and out.<\/p>\n Email guru Andre Chaperon is the king of email copywriting for this reason. In <\/span>his courses<\/span><\/a>, Andre stresses doing customer research and then segmenting your customers accordingly.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Segmentation is the process of dividing your email list into specific sub-categories so that you can send your customers emails that are directly relevant to their needs.<\/span><\/p>\n Let\u2019s illustrate this through an example of what happens when you DON\u2019T segment. <\/span><\/p>\n Imagine that you have an e-commerce business selling pet supplies. You aren\u2019t segmenting, so you send your email to every person on your list.<\/span><\/p>\n This is a problem. Because then you’re sending out emails concerning dog treats and dog toys to customers on your email list that only have cats.<\/span><\/p>\n That\u2019s a quick path to making your customers ignore you.<\/span><\/p>\n Once your customers\u2019 trust and attention have been lost, they\u2019re extremely hard to regain.<\/p>\n The solution?<\/span><\/p>\n Use an autoresponder funnel that has the explicit purpose of segmenting your customers.<\/span><\/p>\n An autoresponder is a series of emails that is setup to automatically go out to customers in a predetermined sequence after they’ve signed up for your email list. <\/span><\/p>\n Combining segmentation and autoresponders allows you, in the words of Andre Chaperon, to send <\/span>\u201cthe right email, to the right person, at the right time.\u201d<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n Using the pet supply example, you can have an initial email that gives your customers guides to different pets. Or, you can simply ask them to click on a link showing what pet they own if you don\u2019t have these kinds of resources yet.<\/span><\/p>\nThe History of Direct Response<\/span><\/h2>\n
Email Is Cheap<\/span><\/h3>\n
Why Email? Why Not Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Etc<\/span><\/h3>\n
The Benefits of Direct Customer Contact<\/span><\/h3>\n
Getting Started on Building An Email List<\/span><\/h3>\n
Overall Strategy: Segmentation and Autoresponders<\/span><\/h2>\n
An Email Marketer\u2019s Best Friend: Autoresponders<\/span><\/h3>\n