3 Excuses For Not having an Email List That You Need to Stop Using
We still speak to far too many people who think that they don’t need an email list or that it’s too much work to set up and maintain and it won’t be worth it. Firstly, we think all businesses who want to grow need an email list. Secondly, it doesn’t have to be that much work to set up and maintain. And thirdly, it’s worth it!! So here are some reasons why you should have an email list and you should stop making excuses.
1. I don’t need an email list because my business is on social media
Not all of your emails will be opened by everyone, but most people will see them come into their inbox. I know from personal experience that I don’t open all of the emails from businesses that I’m subscribed too but I do see that they are there. Then, when an occasion arises when I need what they do, they are in my mind, I go to them first to have a look. If I just followed them on social media there is a high chance I wouldn’t even see anything they put out for ages because I don’t scroll for hours on social media but I do clear my inbox every day and I know I’m not unusual in that. So, if I was just relying on following them on social media I would probably forget about them.
Also, just because you’re on social media and perhaps getting likes, are people actually taking action? In the last 30 days we have had lots of likes and comments on our Instagram posts but only 6 clicks through to our website as opposed to 145 clicks to the same things from our emails. That’s a massive difference. Lovely little comments from your social media friends might feel nice but on the whole they aren’t doing much, but traffic to your website is much more likely to lead to sales (as long as it’s a good website).
2. I haven’t got time to nurture an email list
I have spoken to a number of people recently who are putting off creating an email list because they don’t want something else to be creating content for. Nurturing an email list doesn’t have to create a lot of work for you. We send out a weekly email, but you could send out a monthly one, and we use it as a way of sign posting our subscribers to content that will be useful that we would be putting out there anyway. We include our weekly blog post, we tell them what we will be discussing on our weekly Facebook and Instagram Live and then we tell them of anything else we have going on that is useful or relevant to them.
So, each week it takes about half an hour to write, proof read and schedule. Which is very little work for the benefits we see. A lot of our members were on our email list for a while before they joined, so it’s worth that 30 minutes of work a week.
3. I don’t know how to use the tech
We also know of a number of people who are worried about using the tech to start an email list. A lot of the email marketing systems out there are very simple to use and have guidance on using them. We personally recommend MailerLite and ConvertKit but it depends on what you want from the system.
Depending on how tech savvy you are, there might be a bit of a learning curve but anything that’s worth doing normally needs a bit of work or you could hire a Tech VA to help you out and show you the ropes. Don’t give up before you have tried. If you’d like a bit more guidance on this then get in touch and we can recommend some fab people to help you.
No more excuses
Now we have got the excuses out of the way, it’s time to see how much more successful emails are at generating leads for your business. Campaign Monitor’s Infographic makes it very clear why you should have an email list but this doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be using social media or online advertising in some way. It just means you shouldn’t rely on it and it’s a good idea to have a way of marketing to people that you have more control over.
To help you create a fantastic landing page to get people signing up to your list, check out our mini course.