Email marketing generally carries a bad reputation – most of us don’t even know where to start.

It can be scary but it doesn’t have to be.

That’s why we decided to put together a simple beginner guide to get you to your first 100 subscribers, quick! 

Email isn’t going anywhere. There are 70% of customers who think email will still exist in next 10 years.” – Litmus

Here’s a step by step guide on how to get started with email marketing. 

Choose An Email Provider

Choose an email marketing service provider based on your budget and goals.

Working hand-in-hand with an email marketing provider that’s right for your needs can  save you time.

Plus you’ll benefit from professional email templates and additional features that will help you create engaging email campaigns.

DO NOT buy email lists – quality over quantity.

Email marketing providers cost about the same in order to stay competitive.

Here is a list of basic starter plans to help you get started! They are categorized from low cost options to more expansive options.

Pick whatever suits you and your busines.

MailChimp continues to be the leading email provider out of all. 

MailChimp

FREE
FREE
Monthly

• 2,000 Subscribers
• 12,000 emails / month
• Multi-user accounts, Guides and tutorials, Email and Chat Support (First 30 Days Email Only), Email Campaigns, Landing Pages, Pop-up forms, Postcards, Google Remarketing Ads, Facebook Ads, Instagram Ads, Marketing Automation, Abandoned Cart, Product Recommendations, Order Notification, Welcome Emails, Date-based Automations, Segmentation and Targeting, Basic Reports, A/B Testing

Get Started
Popular

Sendinblue

Email Plan
FREE

• 300 emails/day
• Unlimited Contacts
• Mobile Friendly, Email Templates, Email & SMS Personalization, A/B Testing, Advanced Contact Manager, Customizable Sign-up Forms, Workflow Editor, Pages Tracking, Unlimited Automation Workflows (up to 2,000 contacts), Real-Time Reporting, Phone& Email Support, API & Plugins

Get Started
Email

Get Response

Email
$ 15
Monthly

• 1,000 Contacts
• 1 User
• Landing pages (Basic), Workflows, Tags, Autoresponders

Get Started
One Month Free Trial
12-mo. billed annually $12.30
24-mo. billed annually $10.50
Email

Campaigner

Starter Basic
$ 19
95
Monthly

• Up to 1,000 Contacts
• 24/7 Customer Support
• 50MB CDN Media Hosting, A/B Testing, Autoresponders, Geolocation, Social Integration, Exclusion Lists, Segmentation, Recurring Campaigns, Ready made Templates

Get Started
starter

Constant Contact

Email
$ 20
Monthly

• Unlimited Emails
• eCommerce
• List-Building Tools, Customizable Templates, Pop-up Forms, Tracking & Reporting, Image Library, 1GB File Storage, Marketing Calendar Email scheduling, Contact List Import, List Segmentation, Facebook Lead Ads, Apps & Integrations, Mobile App, 1 User, Customer Service Support, Learning Resources

Get Started
60 Days FREE Trail Available
6-mo. prepaid for $18
12-mo. prepaid for $17
Email

Now that you’ve picked a provider, let’s dive on into the nitty gritty of successful email marketing. 

Marketing To Do’s & Don’ts

Subject Copy

On average, there are 43.85 characters in an email subject line. – AWeber.com

Mobile Optimization

“80% of mobile users delete emails if they are not optimized for mobile.” – Email Monks 

Subscribers have high standards. Emails must be well put together, unfortuntely if something doesn’t look right people won’t hesitate to click the unsubscribe button.

Ask Permission To Drop In

First and foremost, ask permission to drop into people’s email inboxes!

There is nothing more annoying than spam emails.

Clearly paint a picture and set expectations so your audience has a clear understanding of what they are signing up for.

How many emails can subscribers expect in a week? What kind of emails will you be sending them? How will you serve them?

Include Contact Information

Add contact details of how they can get in touch with you – social media links, website, and phone number. 

Include an email signature. Email signature portrays professionalism and it provides instant brand recognition for your company. 

Email First, Social Media Second

Emails are checked everyday. Like it or not email marketing isn’t going anywhere.

“People are 2x as likely to sign up for email as to interact with you on Facebook.” – Constantcontact.com  

Social media following is rarely more important than email lists. The number of followers or friends doesn’t yield any significant advantage to your revenue.

If you want to take your business to the next level invest in email marketing instead.

Behind The Scene Works

How many times have you heard someone say; “People don’t like to be sold, but they love to buy.” – Jeffrey Gitomer.

Myself, I’ve heard this at least 1,000 times.

That’s why it is important to establish Know, Like, Trust principle right off the bat. People buy from people who they know, like, and trust.

It all comes down to letting your guard down and showing your personality to the world. The only way to do that is to share something about you and your business – vulnerability works.

People are more likely to purchase something when they feel they’ve invested themselves in a product or a service. Give before you receive – give your customers a reason to hit the subscribe button (give them hints that more sales are foreseen in future). 

TIP: Paint a story of what inspired your new collection.

Test Your Success

Email marketing is extremely effective in seeing what works and what does not. A/B testing is a great way to optimize your messages. 

We suggest starting small – test one thing at a time to get the best results. For example Personalization (“Mr. Hall” vs.”Peter”). 

Are you wondering how to A/B test? Most of the email providers have A/B testing included in their plans. 

Times

Email Results

There are 5 things you should know by heart if you are willing to give email marketing a shot. 

• Opens: Percentage of contacts that opened your email 

• Click-through rate: Do people actually engage with the content in your email?

• Bounce rate: Watch out for invalid email addresses, a full inboxes, or out of office statuses

• Spam: Individual reports your email as unwanted 

• Opt-out: Unsubscribers

Copy Length Matters

“An email is on average of 434.48 words which is approximately 3.3 minute read.” – AWeber.com 

How short or how long your email should be?

That ultimately depends on your strategy and your end goal.

New product introduction doesn’t need a long paragraph.

If you are looking to drive traffic to your website you should fill your email with valuable, relevant, and educational information that your audience can benefit from. 

Don’t Be Afraid To Sell

As an entrepreneurs, sometimes we have to create a ton of free content to acquire traffic to our website and build email lists. You have to find a fine line between selling and offering free content.

You don’t want to come off as sleazy salesman/woman or worse unworthy source because you don’t have have the guts to charge for your services.

Use Automation

Set up automated campaigns  and autoresponders to make your life hassle free. 

Image Oriented Emails

Image is gold. Images are effective in getting messages across in a convincing manner, especially when selling products online. 

Not only images help to convey messages in a unique way, they also help build trust in your brand.

Use Unique Voice

You need to have an authentic voice. The online world is filled with everyone wanting to be heard and acknowledged. In order to stand out and make an impact, you need to be yourself.

Don’t try to mimic someone else. You are more than enough. Use your voice to your advantage. 

“Speak to your subscribers as if you’re having a one-on-one conversation with them—write your emails for one person. Make sure to use this same type of voice throughout your other content: blog posts, social media, product descriptions, etc.”

Be Transparent

As humans we long for connections and shared beliefs. In order to compete with the best of the best you must adopt to belief-driven mentality. 

Figure out how you can connect with your audience on a whole new level – volunteering, donations or religion. 

Get To The Point

Don’t dance around the message you want to send. Keep your messages concise and use as few words as possible, if you can substitue images for words. 

Sign up and Start Serving

“Email marketing is the king of the marketing kingdom with a 4400% ROI and $44 for every $1 spent.” – (Campaign Monitor)

Email marketing continues to outperform other digital marketing channels including social media and paid channels.

Focus on providing value rather than longing for instant email fame.

What tactics do you use for email marketing now, and what you hope to implement in next year?