Whether you are a non-profit, brick-and-mortar, service-based, or online-based business (I could go on and on), if you have content you want or need to share with your audience, you NEED to be emailing them.
But what types of emails should you send, and what could they include?
Let’s keep it simple. The two types of emails you should be sending to your email list are:
Nurture and Sales emails.
Want more detail on each email type? Keep reading.
Email Type One: Nurture Emails
These emails provide value to your audience while keeping them engaged and informed.
Here’s a quick way to explain what a nurture email is:
Remember us? We are thinking about you! We aren’t thinking about you buying something right now… we are just thinking about you and what we can give you in terms of advice, encouragement, or humor.
What type of content can be included in a nurture email? Here are a few content ideas:
Fun Updates or Behind-Scene Content: Share news about your business, events you are having, or behind-the-scenes looks at your day-to-day. Anything that puts the human side of your business front and center.
Think: I want you to get to know us! Let’s deepen this relationship.
Outsourced Content: This material is not from you, but you can provide insights and updates relevant to your audience and position your business as a thought leader. Anything “Big Picture” that aligns with your company. This can be an article you found helpful or content your audience should know about.
Think: We saw this; you should know about this, too!
Educational Content: Do you have tips or tricks that you can share to help solve your clients’ problems or FAQs about your business? Readers love to learn.
Think: This helps us, and it will help you, too!
Email Type Two: Sales Emails
Your business needs to make money. Sales emails help with that, and they can do it in various ways.
Another way to explain what a sales email is:
We have built a relationship with you and shared information about our products/services. Do you want to buy them?
What type of content can be included in a sales email? Here are a few content ideas:
Hint: these emails don’t have to be “salesy” to be sales emails.
Product Announcements: Introduce new products or services. Reminders or introductions of your products and services count, too!
Think: This product/service will solve a problem you have! Want to buy it?
Exclusive Offers or Limited-Time Promotions: Provide special discounts or early access to your email subscribers.
Think: What a deal on this product/service! Want to buy it?
Customer Stories: Highlight customer success stories! These testimonials will build trust and community, and they are a great way to feature user-generated content!
Think: This person had success; you can too! Want to buy it?
After reading this, you may ask yourself, how often do I send each type of email?
I can’t give you a specific amount for your business; it differs for everyone. Still, the commonly recommended starting point is the 80/20 rule: 80% Nurture and 20% Sales.
This ratio helps ensure that most of your communication provides value to your audience, which, in turn, helps build trust and maintain interest in your business! Then, when it comes time to send your sales emails to your readers, they are more likely to buy because they see your business as valuable overall!
In future blogs, we will explore these types of email more deeply, provide some of our favorite examples, and share some resources from our work in email marketing.
Is there anything you want us to touch on? Comment below, and we will do our best to include it!
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