3 Email Marketing Secrets That Will Make A Real Difference

For the past 17 years I have watched countless online web companies and gurus sell list building courses or programs on how to get rich with email.  And oddly enough, most of the content published is still pretty relevant.  A few things here and there have changed with the advents of social media marketing, but for the most part the core concept is the same. Build opt in pages and funnels, drive traffic to it and then follow up via email. Very simple indeed. What’s been largely lost upon modern main-stream email marketing are the 3 email marketing secrets that I reveal in this article. In my experience, these have the single largest game changers for me in my email marketing efforts.

There’s one thing that has really changed a lot. And that’s the attitude of email service providers such as AWeber, GetResponse, iContact, etc. AWeber, GetResponse and perhaps other 100+ companies now offering email marketing services have continued to become less tolerant to what I call rookie mistakes, or just plain bad decisions.  It’s harder than ever now to get into the inbox with Gmail. And there is a dizzying array of variables taken into consideration when you send emails (Google controls over 50% of all email delivery now). So if Google doesn’t like your email service provider, forget about it, you’re toast.

There’s still no shortage of gurus and list building systems you can purchase to help you make email marketing a cornerstone of your income. However, there’s a HUGE lack of enlightenment on how to navigate the rocky waters of email service providers so that you can scale up email, stay safe and really go big (and stay big). But the email marketing secrets you will be let in on in this article will help you do just that.

You have to remember that email service providers love people who mail branded newsletters or product updates, not aggressive affiliates or online marketers who really push the envelope on re-marketing or promoting random offers or affiliate type stuff. So what’s the solution for those guys that aren’t brands but that use email to make serious money? The simple answer is common sense, but not everyone has that. So the next logical question is, how do you ramp up big email lists using your funnels or opt in pages, email them virtually worry free and still stay out of trouble?

1 – Don’t put all of your eggs in one basket

The cardinal mistake that I see over and over is the same – people relying on one company for all of their email marketing needs. Newsletters, promotions and everything in between going out from the same company or system. That person goes from making $5,000 per week to $0 when their account is terminated for virtually any number of reasons.

You see, Sally down the street who sells homemade crafts can get away with this. But marketers who are serious about follow up sequences, selling more of their products, selling other products or just creating a serious sense of urgency to larger audiences, well, you should likely be with a minimum of 3-4 different email service providers. Each servicing a specific, individual separate purpose.

2 – Clean & Validate Email Addresses

Everyone wants to run on the cheap with as little marketing expense as possible to get those big fat profit margins from their email campaigns. But the new reality is that if you aren’t cleaning and verifying your leads before they get to your email marketing platform, you’re a ticking time bomb. It’s not a matter of if it will happen, it’s a matter of when.

For example, Listflex Software has over 20 optional checks and filters that run against every lead.  Bots, spamtraps, malformed emails, bogus emails and the list goes on. When you are trying to stay in the good graces of your providers, not a single email should ever get through that is a “known complainer” or an obvious bot or spam trap. Clean and validate your data better than anyone else and you will sleep a lot better at night knowing the email revenue is going to keep on rolling.

If you are someone who buys leads, you wouldn’t fire the pixel on bad leads that you flag and don’t accept. This saves you a boatload on lead cost AND creates less headaches with your Email marketing platform.

3 – Never Have A Clickable URL That Doesn’t Go To Your Website First

There are countless reasons not to make this foolish mistake.  But here are a few big ones.

  1.  Domains provided by tracking companies like affiliate networks and such typically get hit hard by marketers, and thus are more likely to get flagged for spam or hit promotions folder with Gmail and others. By sending it through a domain you own and manage first, this can be controlled. Email Service Providers are well aware of the problems affiliate URLs cause for email marketers and their respective company.
  2. You should always be offering new services of value that are in line with your lists interests.  Assuming the promotion matches your lists interests, build a new page on your personal website that shares a few paragraphs on why the service or product is cool and why they should try it.  Then, of course, linking from there directly to the service. This builds your brand, adds value to your site, adds credibility and increases the likelihood of them coming back again.
  3. Now that you are driving people to your site first, you have the ability to easily split test to see which offer version or which offer in general is going to convert best. Most companies have different landing pages for you to test, or they will create them for you. When you are in control, you can watch stats closely by simply rotating 2-3 versions of an offer. Or, you can run multiple offers for a niche to see which one provides you the best returns (note that your website content needs to be more on the generic side if you are split testing different offers entirely).

If done right, you can scale up email marketing to the moon using the email marketing secrets above. Common sense strategy with your website, data cleaning and list management will pay dividends for years to come if you don’t get greedy.

Scaling up email is a marathon, not a race. Put the pieces together you need to create monster lists for your own products & services, or to promote others. Work with Listflex to organize, clean and validate leads before they ever see the light of day with your Marketing Platform and you’ll be one happy camper.

If you have any questions, just post them below and I will make sure you are taken care of.

Oh, and if you are wondering what it looks like when you have all of the above pieces working together in unison, this screenshot is a clear indicator. Common sense email marketing techniques paired with real consumer value can yield you some pretty cool returns.

 

email marketing secrets slow scale up

 

Scott Heistand.

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