If you’re not using email marketing to keep in touch with your prospects and customers, you’re leaving untold amounts of money on the table.
And in a moment, I’ll share a quick story to show how much money you could be leaving on the table.
But first, if you’re not using email marketing, why not?
Here are 2 of the biggest myths about email marketing…
Myth #1. Email Marketing Doesn’t Work
You might think that email just isn’t effective anymore – that people aren’t going to open your emails and respond.
Maybe you see your own inbox and you see how many emails you get, and you figure there’s no way that people are going to read and respond to your emails.
Well, there’s a grain of truth here. Response rates are definitely down from 5 or 10 years ago. And they’ll probably keep declining.
But, let’s define success by the only metric that really matters: profits. Despite all the inbox clutter and declining response rates, email marketing can still be very profitable for you.
I guarantee that if you start sending out a regular email newsletter and running regular email promotions to your leads and customers (following our best practices), you will earn a profit on the tiny investment required to use email marketing. Most email marketing software programs start at about $15/m and some offer free accounts until your list grows to a certain size.
Myth #2. You’ll Make People Angry
You might be afraid that your prospects and customers will get angry with you if you start sending them emails. You might think the complaints will outweigh the increase in sales.
Well, it’s true that people will unsubscribe. And some people might get mad at you.
But how about this… What if you ran an email campaign and you got 1 angry response but you converted 10 prospects into paying customers — would you declare that a success or a failure?
Don’t make decisions based on emotions. You need to pay attention to the numbers.
How Sean’s 3 Emails Paid The Rent
Here’s a story to illustrate the power of email marketing, even if you are starting from scratch…
A couple years ago, my friend Sean (a chiropractor here in San Francisco) was just getting started in his practice. And he had just started renting a small office with a business partner.
He was getting new patients, mostly via referrals, and things were going pretty well. But then something unexpected happened…
Sean’s business partner moved out of town one day, with no warning… and he refused to pay his share of the rent, which meant that Sean needed to bring in extra revenue ASAP!
So, Sean called me up and, over a beer, we brainstormed how he could generate an extra ~$1,000 within a week in order to cover his ex-partner’s share of the rent.
My first thought was, “Sean, how about we run an email promotion — what kind of email list do you have?”
Well, Sean had accumulated a small list of about 40 contacts, between his patients and prospective patients.
I didn’t know what kind of results he might be able to get from emailing a small list of only 40 people. But we decided to give it a shot.
We put together a 3-step email promotion and within a a week, from sending just 3 emails to this tiny list of 40 people, Sean generated more than the $1,000 he needed to cover his ex-partner’s share of the rent.
Lesson #1: You don’t need a big list to make meaningful money with email marketing.
Lesson #2: If you’ve already accumulated a list of prospects and customers, and you’re not keeping in touch with them via email, you’re leaving big money on the table.
– Pete
P.S. Want more email marketing tips?
In our Step-By-Step Guide to Email Marketing, we share our best email marketing strategies and tactics.
This guide normally sells for $97, but you can pick up your copy for just $9.95 when you join Main Street Inner Circle during our 1-year Anniversary celebration.
(Hurry… This offer expires Sunday, March 31st.)
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