5 ways to consistently make money from your email newsletter
Email marketing can, when used correctly, be a significant source of income for a small business.
The marketing software company Emarsys reported that 81% of small businesses use email as their primary customer acquisition channel.
With email playing such a huge role in the marketing process, it is important to work out how to maximize revenue from your list. Effective strategies typically use a number of methods for generating income, ensuring different segments of the audience are catered to.
So how can you effectively generate income from your list?
1. Upsell Offers
Upselling is a process of promoting additional offers to customers. Commonly, these offers are more expensive than the original purchase, but that isn't always the case.
After a customer makes an initial purchase, they are often in a buying mood, so more likely to buy. However, they may decide against a purchase at that moment. You can, though, track the purchases and add customers to an email list designed to promote the upsell offer further.
Using a variety of marketing techniques, the customer might then decide to invest in the extra product.
2. Cross-Sell Products
Cross-selling involves promoting complimentary items to the original purchase.
Somebody buying a guitar, for example, may also be interested in a guitar case, extra strings, and a training course. These items are closely linked to the main purchase, so there is a good chance the customer will be interested.
Just as with an upsell, you can promote these at the time of purchase. However, ongoing emails are a great way to ensure you maximize conversions.
3. Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate promotions can be used sporadically within an email newsletter.
Subscribers won't want to be inundated with pitches, but occasional offers mixed in with relevant content will work. It is important to choose offers that will resonate with your subscribers, avoiding anything that won't be of value to people.
Additionally, make sure you check out the products thoroughly so that you can back your recommendations fully.
4. Advertising & Sponsorships
As your list grows in size, companies may look to sponsor you. Sponsorship normally involves a link at the top of the newsletter, used to increase brand awareness.
Alternatively, you could make some additional revenue through advertising. The advertising could appear within the newsletter, though you may want to avoid this during a product promotion.
You could also link to a blog post that is monetized through advertising.
5. Joint Ventures
A joint venture can be used to promote products and also grow your list.
Effective joint ventures usually work when you can find someone in a closely related niche, without directly competing with you. A joint venture partner can promote your products, helping to increase your income.
You could, though, form a small group of partnerships where the goal is to increase the overall list size by offering a free incentive.
Email may not get the same level of attention as newer marketing strategies but it does offer consistent profitable results.
When you can engage your subscribers, they will keep on opening your messages and clicking links. Taking a diverse approach to promotions can ensure subscribers don't start ignoring your marketing, with the result being a high return on investment.
If your newsletter is not producing the profits you would like, consider how you can use each of these strategies within your own business.