You need two emails to engage your audience and share your products. Use them to build and convert your list of interested people into loyal customers.
There’s a ton of content to write as an entrepreneur, but little is more fear-inducing than email marketing content. When you’re sending emails to your email list, you’re walking a fine line between turning your audience into engaged customers and alienating them with constant pitches.
Your email list is the bridge between you and your audience. It’s the most direct channel you have to both reach them and hear from them. And because they’ve opted into being there, you know they think that what you’re offering is valuable.
But what’s the best way to connect with them? How do you deliver content regularly that won’t disappoint them? How do you pitch to them without feeling icky?
The answers to those questions can be as simple or complex as you want to make them. In my opinion, the simplest way to start is with two basic email types.
In this post, you’ll learn the 2 types of emails that you need to know how to write: the value-driven email and the hard sell email. Together, these emails can keep your audience interested, build trust, and offer your products and services in a non-sleazy way.
1. The Value-Driven Email
Value-driven emails provide value to your audience for free. The people on your list gave you their email address in exchange for something, but that one freebie or promise of a newsletter won’t build a lasting relationship on its own.
Value-driven content can do a ton of amazing things for your business because you’re showing your audience that you’re there for them. You’ve gone out of your way to show up and give them something useful, asking for nothing in return. They see that you truly want to help them succeed and you’re interested in more than what they can give you. This builds your likeability factor—they like you because there aren’t any strings attached to your guidance.
Value-driven content builds trust, too. You’re giving them knowledge that they can use right away. As they learn from you and see results, they look to you as a leader.
It also gives you a “reason” to send something so you can show up in their inbox regularly. If you only talk to them once every few months, you’re not forming a relationship with them. They’ll see your email and think, Who the heck is this? And if you’re only showing up because you want something from them (i.e. their money), they’ll probably tune you out or unsubscribe.
It’s vital to write value-driven emails well because they should become the backbone of your email marketing content. Aim to serve them every time you shoot them an email, even when you’re pitching something.
It’s the easiest way to do that thing that every big-time entrepreneur urges you to do: get your audience to know, like, and trust you.
When you serve first, your audience is excited to see your name in their inbox. They become conditioned to open every email and see what you have to share. Then, when you’re sharing something they can pay for, they’re much more likely to convert because they know, like, and trust you.
2. The Hard Sell Email
It’d be great if we could just show up, be nice, and have people buy our products and services without us having to ask. At least, that’s how I feel.
Selling your stuff is hard because we all have a negative experience with being sold to. Maybe a salesperson was pushing you for a commitment before you’d seen all the options, or you got a cold call that felt sleazy and a little too friendly.
Whatever the situation was, I bet you’re thinking of something. And I bet the person selling to you ignored what you wanted or needed, dismissed your concerns, and was laser-focused on getting their spiel out and your money in their hand.
But what about the times when you’ve had a positive experience being sold something? They listened to what you wanted or needed, spent time explaining the options and how they might help you, and let you take some time to think about it if you weren’t ready to commit right away. You probably felt fine handing over a credit card. Maybe you were even excited to do so.
It’s important to separate our personal bad experiences from our own marketing. Sleazy selling comes from sleazy intentions. If you truly care about the people you serve, and you know that your product or service can do amazing things for them, then you don’t need to be pushy. You only need to explain the value, listen to their concerns, and let them know what you can do to help. If it all lines up, they’ll be thanking you for selling to them.
The hard sell email is the best way to connect your audience—who’s interested in you and your value—with your offer. This email is about bonding with them about the problems they’re facing and offering genuine solutions to get them where they want to be.
Draw the Bridge for Your Audience
Your email list is your direct connection to your audience, but there’s so much to keep up with that it’s easy to let “send regular emails” fall off your to-do list.
You need only two emails to keep your audience engaged and share your product or service with them.
- Value-driven emails show them what you know and get them to know, like, and trust you. You need to give value away for free before you can expect to sell something.
- Hard-sell emails are for laying out what you’re selling in a way that connects your audience’s concerns with how you can help them. If you’ve been consistently providing value and you can clearly illustrate what you’re offering and how it can help them even more than what you’ve given away for free, they’ll be happy for the opportunity to grow.
With these two email types, you can build and convert a list of interested people into loyal customers.
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