If your goal is to not annoy your email subscribers, sometimes that can hold you back from sending emails altogether.
Is that what’s keeping you from hitting that send button? Let’s fix that today.
I hear it all the time… “Kate, I want to send emails but how do I do it and not annoy my email subscribers?” I see you. You get pumped up, full of ideas and you’re excited about emailing your list and then … something comes up. The doorbell rings, the dog needs a manicure, you need to organize your spice rack first. What it comes down to, what’s keeping you from hitting that send button is a mindset block.
Those annoying gremlins inside of your head start to pop up and you start questioning everything:
- Am I going to annoy my email subscribers?
- What if they’ve already heard all this before?
- Maybe it’s the wrong time?
- I don’t want to feel like a dirty rotten spammer face!
- What if I suck?
- What if everyone unsubscribes?
The big elephant in the room is that people get too into their heads when it comes to email marketing.
You’ve been told that it’s the number one most important thing you can do in your business ever and because of that, make it this huge gigantic THING and it doesn’t have to be that way.
Maybe you’re afraid that our tiny list of 100 people is going to get even more minuscule because you’re worried that 10 people might unsubscribe when they get your email. Or you’re afraid that someone is going to go keyboard commando on you and send you a hate email… which to be honest, most of the time when people do that it’s because they’re having a horrible day.
So let’s talk about how to not annoy your email subscribers.
#1: Remember that being on your list is a privilege
Being on your list is a privilege. That’s where you share your best stuff, right? Flip the internal script in your head that says you’re lucky to have them. Instead, remind yourself that it is your choice to have them on your list. You can remove them at any time.
Like a velvet rope at a swanky nightclub, you only want the right people in.
One of the biggest mistakes people make when growing their email list is letting riffraff take up space in your subscriber list. Having pumped up subscriber numbers with people who aren’t interested in what you talk about is a pointless ego trip. Having the wrong people on your email list makes you feel nervous to send emails because deep down you know that they don’t care about your topic.
You don’t want to grow an email list of vegans if you are going to be talking about hamburgers. On the other hand, when you have a list of people who are as passionate about your niche as you are and they are hungry to learn what you are talking about, sending your emails just got a whole lot easier.
Remembering that being on your list is a privilege is going to help you tenfold. We are only allowing you people who want to hear about the things that we enjoy talking about. Annoying your email subscribers is not going to be a problem when you have the right people on your list.
#2: Keep Your Content Relevant
In order to not annoy your email subscribers, stay on topic. It’s when someone signs up for information on one thing and then you’re talking about something completely different that makes people annoyed.
If you are growing your list with a freebie about how to start a blog but all of your emails are about sales funnels, you’re going to annoy your email subscribers. No one wants a bait and switch, even if it isn’t done intentionally.
What if you want to start talking about something new? Just let your people know. We all grow and evolve over time and that’s completely normal. When you let your email subscribers know that you’re pivoting into a different topic, that gives them the choice to decide to stay with you or not.
If you talk about multiple topics, you can let your new subscribers know in your welcome emails like:
“Hey I know you signed up because of (topic) but I want to let you know what else we talk about …”
Or
“The reason I talk about A is because it’s a big part of B.”
Or
“Just like you are a multifaceted person and you’re interested in a lot of things, so am I. You’ll get emails about Topic A, Topic B, and sometimes even Topic C.”
Staying relevant to my email subscribers is why I don’t email my entire list when I’m launching my products. I only send sales emails to people who have raised their hands to say that they are interested. I might casually mention my launch in a weekly newsletter but other than that, the rest of my email subscribers have no idea I’m even launching. That’s where segmenting your list comes into play.
Segmenting your list is easy to do with every single email service provider.
You can send an email that says “Hey if you’re not interested in hearing about this topic or promotion, click here”. Then, all you need to do is have a page on your website that says thanks them for letting you know, like this one that I use.
If you’re not sure how to segment your list, just contact your email service provider and they will point you in the right direction.
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#3: Make Your People Feel Like a Badass
This is one of those things that I cannot say enough. You want to make your people feel important. Like you get them. Like their struggles are real and valid. That they deserve badges of honors for even trying. Be proud of the fact that your email subscribers actually decided to try.
It’s about making your person feel seen, heard, understood, and vindicated.
That is why people who are in Love Your List get such illogical results. They learn in my course the concept of making your email subscribers feel like a star.
Making your subscribers feel like a badass doesn’t mean you have to be constantly motivational or super high-energy all the time. You don’t have to rah-rah your people or feel like a phony. It just means being empathetic and really understanding where your people are coming from.
For example, the reason why you created this amazing chicken recipe collection is because you know all too well the struggles of the “what’s for dinner” argument. You’ve been there when the rest of your night is blown because you and the rest of the house are fighting about what to eat. You know what it’s like to try to convince the kids to at least eat three bites.
When you get down to the nitty-gritty and take time to understand what’s really going on behind the scenes and in the minds of your email subscribers, you are going to make your people feel like a badass. You understand their struggle because you’ve been there.
That’s why I like sharing my faults and talking about the lessons I learned the hard way. Sometimes being in business is hard. There’s a cycle of trying and failing and trying and failing and (you guessed it) trying and failing again. I go through the same struggle. When I let my email subscribers know what I’m trying and what I’m failing at, it lets them know they are not alone. And that they are awesome just for trying in the first place.
#4: Be Consistent
The most logical tip for how to not annoy email subscribers is to be consistent. So whether that means emailing your list every single week or once a month, be consistent. Going radio silent for months on end and then deciding to email your list every single day is a sure way to annoy your email subscribers. I cannot tell you how annoying it is when it’s Black Friday, and all of a sudden all these randos that I never hear from are popping up in my inbox.
Regularly sending out relevant, useful, and engaging content is a fundamental missing piece of your marketing puzzle. That’s why I created a list of what you can send this month for you.
If you’ve missed last week and then you look up and realize that it’s already Friday and you may as well wait until next week to email them… but then the next thing you know it’s Wednesday again, what do you do? Just email them.
When it’s been a while and you need to reignite that passion to your list, there are a few things you can do to ease back into their inbox. The most important things to remember are to keep your content relevant and make your people feel like a badass. And always remember that being on your list is a privilege.
Yes, some of these people are going to leave because they’re like “Who is this rando in my inbox?” but other people (the ones who are your real rock stars) are just going to be happy that you’re back. Don’t let the people who are going to leave or call you a spammer face or ask you how you got their email hold you back from the people that are just happy to see you again.
#5: Treat People Like People
I know this one sounds like a no-brainer but a surefire way to not annoy your email subscribers is to treat them like people. That means you are writing to them, like a person. Like they are your best friend or a friend who is really into the topic that you’re into but just a little behind you on their journey.
If you haven’t been consistent and haven’t emailed your list in a while, address it. Take ownership. Put your email subscribers first and knock their socks off with some super relevant content. Then, at the end of your email, acknowledge the fact that you haven’t emailed them in a hot minute.
“Hey, if you’re wondering how I got your email in the first place. It’s because you signed up for (lead magnet)”
When it comes to selling your products or services, put yourself in their shoes. It’s not necessarily that your list isn’t interested in your offerings, they might just need some more information, they may have some unanswered questions or are focusing on some fears that you haven’t addressed. If you’re a Love Your List student, we cover this in the Building Big Buck Buyers bonus module.
People’s buying cycles are different. Some of your people are going to be your quick-starts. They always buy early. They know what they want and don’t mind handing over their money if you have the solution to their problem. However, there are other people who are nervous about buying anything, especially when it comes to the online marketing world.
Understand their fears. What are they saying to themselves? What are their stumbling blocks?
- “Am I going to fail again?”
- “I don’t want to waste $500 on a course if it’s not going to get me the results I want.”
- “Can I do this?”
- “What if this doesn’t work for me?”
Make sure you’ve got testimonials to calm their fears. Include FAQs for the people who need more information. Take a video walking people through exactly what they get on the other side of the buy button. Prove to your people that you will put in every failsafe as humanly possible in your product. Let them know if they stumble, you’re going to help them get back up and try again.
It’s all about treating your people like actual people. People with laundry piling up. People with kids who won’t take their nap. People who are afraid of failing again. People who have bought products before that didn’t live up to the hype.
By understanding where your people are coming from, you’re not going to annoy your email subscribers.
Pay attention to the next email you get that you find annoying. I guarantee you that you’ll find that either they are missing that relevant factor, they are treating you like a number instead of a real person (who is also a badass) or they are just being generic and not putting much effort in their emails.
So let’s go ahead and recap on how to not annoy your email subscribers:
#1. Make sure the right people are on your list in the first place because being on your list is a privilege.
#2. Stay relevant. If you’re going to go off the beaten path a little bit, let your people know. Just be honest.
#3. Make people feel like a badass.
#4. Be consistent. If you miss a week, hop back on that horse and send that email.
#5. Treat people like people. Write your emails like you’re writing to a friend.
