For the past three years I’ve been working on building an email list, and I’ll be the first to tell you it’s been slow and steady.
No overnight success story here, despite my years of experience working with email marketing. Especially as there’s a big lesson I’ve learned along the way while working on other people’s email marketing.
Quality over quantity is what matters most to me given the type of business we run. Every single one of those email addresses is a person, so you having a list of 250 people isn’t “small” – it’s kind of awesome, as you’d never be able to have all those people to your house for a party.
What matters most about your email list isn’t the size, it’s what you do with it. How you show up and deliver value and connect with each of your subscribers so they want to stick around. (And if they leave, they’re doing you a favor because that means they’re not a fit anyhow.)
It’s taken three years to build my list from zero to over 10,000 subscribers and it’s been no small feat. In reviewing my list growth, I noted a few key things that people don’t really talk about enough when it comes to list building.
#1. Churn is Inevitable With List Growth
While our current list size sits at over 10,000 subscribers, we’ve added way more people than that over the past three years. Why?
People unsubscribe. List building doesn’t go in a straight line. We’ll hit a certain size, then we clean out unsubscribes and our number goes down and we need to “replace” those people to hit the previous number.
There are a lot of reasons people are going to leave your list, and it’s okay. Most times, an unsubscribe isn’t personal, it’s just that someone wants a cleaner inbox; they are ready for something else; or they’re in a different season of their business.
But you need to keep in mind as you’re looking to grow an email list that often times to get to your goal, you need way more than X number of people to make that happen.
#2. List Building is About a Relationship
You can have the best content in the world to attract new subscribers, but you need to realize that wooing them into handing over their email address is just the start.
Your opt-in is just the first date. You need to have a plan to get them oriented to your list and what to expect, while continuously delivering value. The very first place to do this is by creating a nurture funnel, which is a series of emails that people receive following your opt-in to get to know, like and trust you.
A funnel may seem like a lot of extra work, but when someone subscribes, they are excited and they like what they see. So you have a chance to wow them and create a relationship with them. But if you just send the PDF checklist and peace out, they likely aren’t going to remember you the next time you email them.
Your nurture funnel is a critical part of ensuring that they know what to expect and actually look forward to your content as they know it’s not cluttering up their inbox, but actually valuable.
(And if you need help with planning a funnel, you can check out Funnel School right here at a special intro price.)
#3. Facebook Ads to Grow Your List Faster
Confession. The first two years of my list building was definitely more focused on organic growth through social media and other promotion. My list only really started to grow faster when I threw Facebook ads into the mix.
Over the past year, I’ve spent considerable time and energy on Facebook ads, with some absolutely amazing results with a low cost per lead, direct leads that turned into clients and many new students for our Inside Scoop Academy Schools.
But I’m not going to tell you that it was easy. It wasn’t. Facebook ads are a mix of strategy, art and a bit of science. There’s a million variables at play, but they are entirely manageable if you learn the basics and some smart shortcuts along the way.
I’ve watched too many people jump into Facebook ads with no idea what they are doing only to find themselves in the middle of a straight up disaster.
If you’re going to use Facebook ads, you need to take the time to learn to do them right. It may seem like you don’t have time and “whatever, I can figure it out”, but the reality is you’ll save yourself time and money in the long run by investing up front.
Which is why I’m super excited that my buddy Farideh is hosting a webinar especially for you next Thursday, September 16th: Nail Your Facebook Ads – Three Strategies the Pros Use to Grow Your List and Sell Your Products Online.
Farideh is a launch strategist and an absolute master at Facebook ads. I’ve learned soooo much from her and she’s eliminated some serious learning curve for me, so you won’t want to miss this.
Plus, she’s going to be sharing strategies that are working right now. (Not tired ones that are a year old and everyone’s doing.)
You can click here to sign up, or click on the image below. See you on the 16th.
