Email marketing is powerful and effective. You are able to connect with your audience where they live, work, and browse. Each message can help strengthen your relationship with your prospect and convert sales. Managing all the steps needed to create a profitable email marketing system can be overwhelming, but that’s where a good checklist can make a difference. This checklist covers every step you need to turn your email marketing goals into successes.
Creating Your Opt-In
Your opt-in is the piece of content that motivates readers and visitors to sign up for your email list. It can be anything from a coupon for your products or services, to a home study course.
- Research your audience. What problems are they facing that you can solve with a download?
- What topic should you focus on? What topic might be easiest to address in a download and provide the most value for your prospect?
- What product format works best? Options include print content, video, audio, or perhaps a combination of formats.
- Do you have to create your product from scratch or are there existing products that you can modify or brand to suit your audience?
- Are you creating your product yourself or outsourcing the task?
- What’s the goal? Once people download your opt-in, what steps do you want them to take? How can you include a call to action in your opt-in to maintain the momentum?
- Creating Your Follow-Up Messages
Once people subscribe to your list it’s important to begin connecting with them right away and leveraging their attention and awareness. These initial messages are called follow-up messages.
- You’ve created your “thank you” message, thanking your new prospect for subscribing.
- You’ve written the next few messages to be automatically delivered to your new subscriber. They’re:
- Informative
- Branded with your voice and style
- Goal oriented (You have a call to action within them)
- Identify the delivery schedule. When will the messages be delivered? How far apart?
Identifying Your Autoresponder
Choosing your autoresponder. There are dozens of autoresponder services to choose from. You can even use a WordPress plug-in to manage your email marketing. Some of the top-rated options include:
- Aweber – http://www.aweber.com/autoresponders.htm
- Mailchimp – http://mailchimp.com/
- Infusionsoft – http://www.infusionsoft.com/
- iContact – https://www.icontact.com
- Constant Contact – http://search.constantcontact.com/index.jsp
- VerticalResponse – http://www.verticalresponse.com/
You’ve compared my options based on:
- Ease of use – Consider free trials and demos.
- Compatibility with current technologies.
- Features – For example, can you email documents or do you have to redirect to a webpage? Do they provide analytics? Can you segment your list and/or send follow-up messages based on behavior? Can you schedule messages?
- Price – Many start out free, but increase in monthly price as your subscriber list grows.
Using Your Autoresponder
Once an autoresponder has been chosen, there are a few steps to take.
- You’ve customized your opt-in form and embedded it on your blog and/or website.
- You’ve customized your confirmation message.
- You’ve uploaded your follow-up messages and scheduled them to be delivered at your predetermined intervals. For example, one message might be delivered two days after the thank you for subscribing message, and then the remaining messages might be spaced a week apart.
- I’ve tested all of your links to make sure they work.
Your Email Marketing Content
There are content decisions to make including:
- You know what type of content you’re sending to subscribers. You’ve explored the options, including:
– Updates from your blog
– Fresh content
– Company news
– Special promotional messages
– Other_____ - You’ve determined what the message will look like. You’ve explored the options, including:
– A simple text-based message
– Adding images to grab attention
– Creating a branded email newsletter
– Other______ - You’ve created a schedule to deliver consistent messages to your subscribers. This is a schedule that fits your current:
– Marketing goals
– Available content creation time and budget
– Audience’s preferences (your messages are not received too often or too spaced apart)
– Promotions/launches - You’ve identified or created a system to:
– Research monthly content
– Create monthly email content
– Upload monthly content to autoresponder
– Test messages to make sure links work and messages appear the way you want them to
– Review analytics
Use this checklist to keep track of everything you need to do in to create an email marketing strategy and plan that is both profitable and efficient.
How to Outsource Your Profit Generating Email Newsletter to Your Assistant – click the ebook below.
