OCTOBER 10, 2023

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Welcome to The Tilt, a twice-weekly newsletter for content entrepreneurs.

What To Do When You’re Ready To Sell To Your Email List

Your audience members hand over their contact information in exchange for some free content – a newsletter, an e-book, a podcast download, a template, etc.

You know you’ll monetize the list, but your audience may not realize it – until you make a direct request.

Entrepreneur Christina Nicholson (today’s featured content entrepreneur below) discovered that when she launched an email-only selling promotion this month. After sending free weekly newsletters for over a year, she opted to send a daily email for one week to promote her higher-end media mentoring product.

After several days, one subscriber wrote: “Stop spamming people with all these solicitations.”

How do you sell to people who opted in for your free content? Here’s some advice from what we and Christina have learned.

Don’t make promises you can’t keep. It can be tempting to attract subscribers by saying something like, “Your contact information will never be sold.” When you do that, your audience hears, “I’ll never get an email from someone trying to sell me something.”

Even if you don’t have any intention now, you may later opt to sell sponsor-dedicated emails to your subscribers or sell your company to a third party (and they’ll definitely want your subscriber list.)

Start small. Before you send dedicated selling emails, add calls to action (CTAs) to your existing content. Christina added a PS note in her weekly newsletters where she made mention of her services and programs to let readers know she could help them more personally.

Test your promotions. Research what your audience wants before you market to all of them. Are they ready to make a big purchase where you provide a lot of value? Or are they more likely to opt for an entry-level product at a lower price point?

Christina says her product launch email series earned a 40.18% open rate and a 0.5% click rate. She didn’t achieve her sales goal. “It’s because the price point was a little too high ($797, including a $200 discount) to sell via an email campaign alone,” she says.

“My messaging wasn’t hitting correctly. At the end of the day, if you have traffic from the right audience and you're low on sales, then you're not saying something right,” she says.

Disrupt only a little bit. Keep your traditional publishing schedule and content when you add promotional outreach. You don’t want your audience to think you’re now all about selling and are no longer providing valuable content.

Christina sent her weekly newsletter on Thursday, as usual, mentioning her new program and its weekly bonuses. On the other days during launch week, she sent a promotional email. People who had clicked to the sales page received an extra email on Friday before the discount expired.

Show proof. Just because you tell them your new product is good doesn’t mean they’ll believe you (they probably won’t). Use your landing page to explain what the product is and how they will benefit from it. Include comments from people who already have used the product (that’s where beta testers come in.)

Expect people to get irritated. Before you launch a sales email series, update your opt-out options for subscribers. Add a choice to opt out of sales emails. That leaves your subscribers an opportunity to continue to receive your content – and, later, they may be ready to respond to a soft call to action incorporated into your value-oriented content.

Revise accordingly. Christina’s email series wasn’t the first time she sold the program. The last time, she did it live and answered questions from people in real time. “I wanted to try a more hands-off approach, and I learned it didn’t work the way I planned,” she says. Next time she launches an email-only selling series, she’ll offer her lower-priced ($37) course so people can commit less time and money for the product.

– Ann Gynn

Supported by

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Entrepreneur: Christina Nicholson

Biz: Media Maven​

Tilt: Public relations for marketers and business owners from a former television personality

Primary Channel: LinkedIn (23K), podcast​

Other Channels: Facebook (22K), X (14.7K), YouTube (4.23K), Instagram (1K), website​

Time to First Dollar: 1 month

Rev Streams: Consulting, courses, affiliate marketing

Our Favorite Actionable Advice

• Hire independent contractors: Hire team members as needed for projects to alleviate your workload and stress. It is easier to add and reduce team members when they are contractors. It also reduces business stress because you don’t have to deal with tax deductions for employees.
• Invest in yourself and your business: Learn everything you can for free, but don’t be afraid to spend more than you think is comfortable if the end result pays off. Just make sure to follow through to get the maximum value.
• Prioritize your time: Set a schedule that benefits your business and time. Prioritize the business essentials (operations, content production, etc.) Consider a task-focused schedule, such as Monday = podcast day, Tuesday = content production, Wed = business items, etc.

– Marc Maxhimer

​Read Christina Nicholson’s story.​

Know a content creator who’s going full tilt? DM us. Or email tilt@thetilt.com.

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• This week on Tilt Your Business: A Mastermind for the Creator Economy, we talk about Joe’s blueprint on how to quit your job. Starts at 12 p.m. US EDT Tuesday.
• ​CEX2024 Call for Speakers is now OPEN. We are looking for original talks that will help content creators build audiences, drive revenue, and refine processes. Submit today!​
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