Hey fellow list-owner – got loads of good stuff this week for you.
Firstly, the feedback on our new format seems to be positive.
As a reminder, we had to revert to creating the issue post here and linking to it on an email, as our emails starting going to that dreaded Promotions tab.
The most embarrassing part was that we were working on an in-depth article all about – yep, you guessed it – email deliverability…
The good news is that for most of our readers, the new system is working, and our emails are back in their inbox.
Anyway, let’s get stuck into this week’s issue.
01: Free email course from Miles Beckler
If you’ve ever seen Miles’ stuff you’ll know two things.
- He really know his stuff
- You’re brainwashed into finishing this sentence: ‘Hi, Miles here from…’
He’s published his full members-only email course on YouTube to help all email marketers out there.
We’re always keen to learn more about our craft, and despite a combined 29 year’s experience here in the office, we still learnt new things.
The video is below, but it’s over an hour, so we suggest you save it in YouTube too.
02: UGC is coming to email…
UGC (User Generated Content) has been the lifeblood of Social for years.
If you think about, all of Facebook and Twitter is UGC – so how can it be used in Email Marketing?
We’ve seen some of the greatest marketers out there (hi Brian Kurtz & Bryan Harris) using UGC for both their broadcast campaigns and automated follow-ups, and we’re loving it.
The Email Monday report, published back in April predicted this, and is further proof that those guys know their stuff.
In that vein… do you fancy giving us some of your thoughts to use in the next issue?
03: List Growth Tool discounted for July
Wilco de Kreij is one of our favourite marketers at the moment. In fact, I want to buy him a t-shirt that says:
“Know who’s crazy and Dutch? This guy”
Not only has he been around for years, he’s a genuine guy who really wants to build great tools for passionate marketers.
We use his entire Connectio suite here are Convert Towers, but he’s got a 50% off deal at the moment on one of the tools in the suite – we think you’d be as crazy as he is to not buy it.
The deal is here. (No affiliate link – we just genuinely love his stuff)
Oh, and we use his tools to build our subscriber list and laser-target Facebook users with very specific offers.
04: COVID = browsers not buyers
If there’s any upside to these horrible times, it’s that our customers are sitting in front of a computer for more time than ever.
So you’d think that sales emails would have a brilliant response.
Wrong.
Hubspot have released data that shows that whilst marketing emails are positively welcomed by their users, sales emails are falling a bit flat.
And when you scan your inbox from March/April, the reason becomes obvious – callous companies were jumping on the pandemic as a way to push more product and lift more notes from your bank account.
I’m pleased that it’s backfired.
Companies who actually tried to help businesses (like Digital Marketer, who made their $295-a-month membership free during that time) have seen a huge uptick in new leads.
Whilst those companies who did the online equivalent of stockpiling toilet paper and doubling the prices are seeing long-term losses.
What can we learn? It’s the same as always. Help your customer to make a good buying decision, even if that decision is to go to a competitor.
05: Just for fun
It looks like the wearing of facemasks is going to be here to stay for a while.
We’re fully behind it, and there are some really ingenuous designs coming onto the market.
One of our favourite articles recently has been the ‘Which Celeb is behind the mask?’ that Metro published.
See how many you can get right.
That’s it for this week.
Next week, look out for a new deep-dive into list sanitation, a review of our favourite Email Marketing tools and a special offer we’re working on for you lovely subscribers.
Bye for now!
Al Elliott & the Convert Team