Welcome to our weekly column by Blogger Babes co-founder Ponn Sabra. Check back every Monday for the tips and tricks you need to take your blog to the next level!
As I mentioned last week in my inaugural Blogger Babes columns, building an email list is a neglected but crucial marketing tool for fashion bloggers, and something you can capitalize on almost immediately. Don't know where to start? Check this list of 25 email marketing tools by aeroleads.
I rarely see an email opt-in option on fashion blogs. RSS email subscriptions don't count—I’m talking a complete email management and autoresponder system. So for my second column (read the first one here for 6 marketing principles you need now), I'm going to lay out the benefits of starting an email list, stat.
You own your list.
You have 100% access to it no matter what. Social media, on the other hand, can change privacy or user settings at any time. If you depend solely on social media to build a customer list, you are at risk of losing your ability to communicate freely with your target audience. You don't have control over any social media sites.
Your email list allows you to communicate with a targeted audience.
These individuals are more likely to pay attention to what you have to say, simply because they opted in to your list to begin with.
You can drive traffic where you want it to go.
You can use email to drive your audience to Twitter, Facebook, or other social media sites, and especially to your own blog. You’re not at the mercy of search engine traffic alone. For example, if you have a new sponsored post with a brand you really want to impress and work with again, you can share the news with your list. Ask them to read, comment, and even share this post as a quick favor to you.
Your message goes directly to your subscriber’s inbox.
They opted in to hear from you, so you have their permission to share and communicate with them directly in their own private inbox!
You can share news quickly.
Email is a quick way to communicate newsworthy content to your audience. If your industry has a new plugin coming out, you can let your subscribers know before it goes live to the public. Remember, speed trumps everything. For example, say you get a tip there’s a first-come first-serve e-invitation to a private grand opening for a new boutique in town. You want all your family, friends, and fans to join you before all the spaces are full. Email them this time-sensitive alert before your competitor or colleague does.
Almost everyone has email.
Not everyone is on Facebook or Twitter. There are still those strong souls who refuse to be on various social media sites. They either don’t trust or don’t want to be a part of the latest craze or online fad. However, most of these people own and live faithfully by their email accounts.
You will build trust.
An email list allows you to build a friendly relationship with your subscribers, causing them to have more trust in you and your brand.
Selling through email is expected and accepted.
Unlike on other platforms, such as social media or blogs where we expect more content than advertising, subscribers assume there will be discounts, gifts, coupons, and even sales coming their way. The more email subscribers you have, the better your success rates will be. Most successful bloggers will agree “Money is in The List”—your email list, that is!
Email is active and interactive marketing.
Social media, on the other hand, is passive marketing. Your blog and social media sites—although known to be interactive and in real-time—still require you to publish, post, and comment yourself first, then sit and wait for others to like, share, or respond. But once someone opens an email, they took action and are likely to act upon your suggestions, recommendations, or advice.
Track your emails. You can view your open-rate and click-through-rate when and where they occur.
Your blog will be more attractive to potential brands, PR companies, sponsors and advertisers.
Marketing professionals are aware of the benefits of an email list, and while blog statistics and the number of social media followers are impressive, the pros find appeal in bloggers with an established or growing email list. These bloggers can accurately measure click and response rates, and thus, they have an exact measure of return on investment (ROI).
You can create automated ecourses.
You can make a 7, 10 or even 365-day ecourse that automatically sends a themed-tip or activity. You set it up once, and it automatically sends to subscribers whenever they subscribe. Add links to your related blog posts throughout the ecourse, and you can drive captured leads to your blog anytime of the day or night. No matter when your subscriber discovers you, they will receive the same ecourse you preset many days, weeks, months, or even years ago.
Tip: Always send at least a 7-day ecourse, because marketing research shows that 7 is the magic number. When a person is exposed to a brand 7 times, they will finally buy or act upon your recommendation.
Email marketing is not as overwhelming as social media.
The numerous social media marketing tactics (plus the inability to track success and conversion rates) overwhelm many brands, companies, marketers, and even social media gurus themselves. Tracked email marketing statistics are much more straightforward, as well as easy to understand and implement.
An email inbox is a less distracted arena.
A social media website is crowded with all sorts of messages. Once an email comes in, it remains there until you open it. With the enormous amounts of posts coming in on Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, etc. your messages can easily get buried and they’ll be hard to rediscover. Email inboxes have much better search options to dig up old messages.
People read their emails more immediately.
If someone misses the live comment on social media, and it doesn’t get shares to bring it back to the top of your feed, your reader may never see the great content you wanted to share.
Email subscribers have a higher attention level.
As explained briefly of the difference between social media and email marketing above, the mindset of a person reading your blog versus your email varies greatly too. For example when people read blogs, many times they’re in a research-mood. They consume a lot of content, clicking from one link to the next…and away from your blog they go. People researching online search frantically for immediate answers to their questions. They don’t necessarily come to your blog to enjoy your content—though we’d all love to believe that.
Reading email is seen as much more personal. Outside of spam, most people’s inboxes are filled with emails from family, friends, brand-discounts, news, and hopefully, your opted-in email list! When you write your emails correctly, addressing them with their first name and using copy that looks, sounds and feels personal, you create a mood that makes your reader want to click and read from the subject line to the postscript. [More on this topic below]. You can also configure your settings to show your personal email as the sender, and ask subscribers to reply directly to you for comments, questions, and feedback. This personal touch is apparent to the receiver, and she’ll appreciate your thoughtful message. You can write to that one person and make her feel like you’re writing directly to her alone, rather than writing to a mass email list. It’s not easy, but learning how to develop this kind of email builds the quality list you want to achieve.
Email builds your credibility.
You have a unique opportunity to offer original content with a defined purpose that seems exclusive and more private than on your blog. You can build your reputation as an authority figure by sharing more professional work in your emails. At the same time, you can write more personable messages to build that trust and respect you need to become a treasured authority blogger.
Email is easy.
Everyone knows how to send and reply to one, so there’s less of a learning curve to get people on your email list than other forms of online marketing, like social media or even commenting on your latest blog post.
Building and growing your email list is necessary for your success as a blogger. The ability to build and grow relationships with people who are interested in you and your brand is crucial and should not be underestimated. Subscribers care about what’s going on in your life and the products you recommend. They opted in for this kind of information, education, and inspiration.
These benefits listed above are an excerpt from eGuide 3: Why Bloggers Need an Email list, presently sold for $7.
So, what are you waiting for? Go create your email list now! Already have a list? I'd love to hear how it works for you. Please weigh in below!
Thanks for the insight and details on creating an email list. I guess I always assumed that people already receive too many emails and that another one for the blog would be spammy. Is there any advice as to how often to send?
Thanks!
-Stefanie
http://www.thestylesafari.com
Hi Stefanie.
Hopefully my article changed your mind. 🙂
I recommend at least weekly. However, other bloggers are extremely successful with multiple times a week and another does it daily. No matter what frequency you choose, be consistent so your subscribers’ expectations are met.
Ours is daily.. obviously. And we get subscribers who get antsy when their shoe doesn’t arrive on time!
I couldn’t agree. I think of my email list as a sacred tribe with which I share my posts and news immediately.
I even had a cute pop up installed prompting visitors to subscribe. I highly recommend it!
Melody
Hi Melody.
That’s great news! Yes, some people are definitely very successful with a pupup, popunder, etc. My best advise is to test and track results always!
Thanks.
How do you set up an email list?
Laura
fbl-savvy.blogspot.co.uk
Hi Laura.
You will need an email management system.
Thanks so much for sharing this with us.
My pleasure Sandile!
it sounds great in theory…but in reality? for some reason bloggers normally don’t use mailing lists as it seems annoying for the readers!
http://fashionpeekaboo.com
Hi Anastasia.
I’m sorry you feel it’s only a theory, because in practice email marketing remains the top internet marketing method to date (beyond social media). Although this is 2013 article, there’s dozens of 2015 articles in a quick google search http://www.forbes.com/sites/capitalonespark/2013/10/01/why-email-is-still-more-effective-than-social-media-marketing/
Also, as noted in my debut column https://heartifb.com/marketing-principles-fashion-blogger/, email marketing is not used heavily or successfully in the fashion blogging world. However, I’m determined to have all fashion bloggers to re-think this effort.
For example, in today’s column (yet to be published) I give a wildly successful email optin release of Cupcakes and Cashmere http://cupcakesandcashmere.com/decor/cupcakes-and-cashmere-at-home-book-giveaway
While many do not consider Emily a fashion blogger anymore, I think the Lifestyle/DIY blogger field [for example, A Beautiful Mess http://abeautifulmess.com/ (although I think they can optimize their optin more effectively…yet, their newsletter is incredible] is ahead of fashion bloggers as they strategically finding ways to montenize and build a readership more effectively.
Hopefully, you’ll reconsider and possibly be among the minority profiting from having an email list. 🙂
I only recently started sending out newsletter and from all indications, it’s a great direct way to reach people most of whom ordinarily wouldn’t visit your blog.
I’m still building readership but in the long run, I intend to make it into an exclusive group of people who’ll be the only ones to have access to, well, exclusive news, lol.
Barbara
www.barbara1923.com
Lagos, Nigeria
Awesome news Onianwah!
Keep it up…hopefully you’ll report back and be a case study for us! 🙂
All laughing aside…I’m serious! 😀
I never had an email list on my blog. I’m starting a new on Google’s Blogger platform. Can anyone tell me how to set an email list on that platform?
Hi Melissa.
It doesn’t matter what blogging platform you use, you just need an email management system.
But, since we’re on the topic: you definitely need to get off of Blogspot and move over to WordPress asap. There’s simply NO comparison. 🙂
Absurdly long Question (I’m sorry)-
I started my blog on WordPress.com, migrated to WordPress.org using the importer, and still have the subscriptions from my original site (to which I occasionally get new subscribers and don’t get my new updates).
1) Is there a way for me to migrate this into one of the options you suggest then go from there? I find that not many people click to subscribe to my blog, as the wordpress option is rather obscure and off to the side.
2) I think something more in your face would be utilized more, like the popups when you first visit a page to like them on Facebook as I’ve started to see more frequently. What do you think?
Thank you in advance! I’m a Blogger Babe btw and your info has been tremendously helpful so far. I set a goal of 1000 views for this month (as per your suggestion) and am only 50 away!!!
Hi Sian!
First, I’m responding from the bottom up:
1. That’s SOOO awesome about nearing your goal, which I helped set…to say I’m humbled is an understatement. GO Blogger Babes! When you reach it, please email us [email protected] and share this milestone-met as a testimonial! YAY!
2. Like with everything: try, test and track and repeat. Yes, popups, popunders, etc. all help in converting subscribers, so go for it!
3. This is why using one of the email management systems is better as you “own” your subscriber-list. You can export a CSV file, if/when you change services. The problem is all systems have double-optin to assure you’re not a spammer and whenever you move you do lose subscribers along the way…that’s what you’re seeing. So my advise always is to invest in the best email service you can afford and want to use now. Next, accept that you will lose subscribers along the way–that’s okay.
Becoming a self-hosted WP blogger is much better for you for the long-haul so you’ll regain the lost subscribers soon enough!
Thanks again Shian…your questions wasn’t as long as my answer. 😉
I’ve been hearing about the email list for blogs, but haven’t been able to wrap my mind fully around it as a fashion blogger. It makes perfect sense to me if one’s blog is about cooking, DIY, entrepreneurial ventures, or giveaways, but for a fashion blog? I’ve always seen email lists being for interactive things or traffic you want to drive to your site. But it feels to me (for a fashion blogger), to be similar to the ‘share’ function on Facebook. Though I’m open to listening and trying things as email lists ARE one of the top marketing tools (and I’m still a tiny little drop in the blogging pond). Thank you for this article!
I think its important to have this and easier way for people to get updated 🙂 http://bauchlefashion.com