Successful Email Marketing With A Small Subscriber List

Getting email subscribers is tough.

Nobody wants another boring email filling up their inbox 😴

But the power of email can be worth the time and effort 1000x over if done correctly.

For example in my case, I have a newsletter sign-up designed to capture emails from people who have visited my website in hopes of converting them into a client.

It’s currently a very small email list (21 subscribers).

However, out of the 21 subscribers - 2 have converted into paying clients.

In addition, open rates are at 84%.

I want to break down a couple of pieces of the equation as to why this has been successful early on.

Reason #1 - My lead capture is on the first page of my website

There are countless financial advisor websites out there and you’d be surprised at how many fail to capture any contact information from prospective clients.

How many people do you think have visited your website that would be great clients, but they just need to learn more about your firm and what you do before they’re ready to work with you?

If you don’t give them the option to learn more before jumping into a meeting, they’ll find someone else who will.

An email address is valuable because it lets you communicate with a prospect long after they’ve visited your website.

It allows you to build trust, solve problems, and remain top of mind with prospective clients.

Action Item: Add an email capture to your website

Reason #2 - Automated email drip campaign

Now that you have a way to get someone’s email, you need something to send them.

An email drip campaign is simply a series of emails that get sent to people who subscribe to your email list.

In my case, I have 10 emails that are automatically sent out at specific times over the course of a month after a prospect joins the email list.

These aren’t stock market updates or investment commentary emails.

These emails are stories that relate financial topics to common problems millennials face along with providing information about Piertree in a conversational way.

Why is having a drip campaign important?

It creates consistency and predictable results.

If you’ve narrowed down your target audience to a specific group of people, you’ll learn what stories and emails resonate the most and you can alter the emails that aren’t performing as well.

You can also begin to predict your results because if you know that for every 20 email subscribers, one of them will schedule a meeting - you now know that simply scaling your email list will provide a positive return for your firm.

Action Item: Establish an email drip campaign

Reason #3 - Double opt-in confirmation

This may be the most important part because if people aren’t getting your emails, all of your work is disappearing into the abyss of spam or promotions folders.

I noticed this very quickly and knew I had to resolve this issue or my email marketing was going to go nowhere.

Personally, I use ConvertKit for my email marketing but I’m sure other platforms are similar.

When you’re creating an email campaign, there’s a default message that gets sent to new subscribers asking to confirm your email (below):

This email is simply asking someone to confirm their subscription and has a templated body of text.

Ask yourself - Would you search for this email and click on it after signing up for someone’s newsletter?

I don’t.

If I sign up for something and I get this email, I ignore it because I know they didn’t put the thought and effort into their UX. With this email being the first interaction with someone, it needs to stand out and leave an impression.

✅ Take the time to customize your subscriber message

How do you create something that people want to engage with?

1. Create a compelling subject line
2. Give something of value

This is what the intro to one of mine looks like:

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Why is this effective?

1. I restate the email list so they know what the email is from (Planet Piertree)
2. Free gift inside within the subject line
3. The ‘confirm subscription’ button gives them something of value
4. It’s focused towards my niche (millennials)

This double opt-in helps ensure that they want to receive the emails and also since they've engaged with the email, it’s more likely to show up in their inbox rather than spam or promotions.

Action Item: Create something of value and alter your email subscription confirmation

Reason #4 - Remaining top of mind

I’m sure you know it’s difficult to make people want a financial advisor.

However, you can be top of mind when they need one.

Email marketing allows you to remain in communication with people who have shown some sort of interest in you and/or your business.

Through drip campaigns, you can position yourself as a person who can solve your ideal client’s problems.

If you work with pre-retirees, talking about social security strategies or taking proper distributions will more than likely be a problem that comes up in these clients’ lives.

So by showing that you have the knowledge and ability to solve these problems (through consistent email marketing), you increase the chance they work with you when those problems come up in their lives.

Action item: Tailor your messages to your niche’s problems