Email Marketing Strategies & Trends for 2018

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There are many people within the online world that are really missing out because they are not implementing email marketing within their business. There are also a lot of people that are doing it incorrectly, and another batch of marketers that are simply over investing their energies into email marketing campaigns without having an adequate base of website visitors for it to make sense.

Email marketing has a time and a place in your business, and to truly achieve the best results you need to understand where it fits into your current business.

In this post I am going to be walking you through the top email marketing trends of 2018 and hopefully help you decide where you should be putting your focus, if at all, within the email marketing world.

Importance of Email Marketing to ALL Business

The value of an email marketing campaign is that it allows you to connect with a particular audience over and over again.

Let's think about it in the context of the offline world. If someone comes into your store, and they leave without buying something, you never have the opportunity to connect with these people again. You also have no opportunity to market products to them they were interested in or looking at, and offer valuable or useful information.

By collecting their email address, it gives you the capability to reach out and connect with your audience potentially forever. Notice how I said "potentially". If you don't treat them well, you are not going to be able to capture their attention. People get a TON of email every day and if you are just another "spammer" that is constantly shoving promotions in their face, then you are not going to reap the rewards of having an "email list" in the first place.

For those of you that are new to the Email Marketing space, this is what the fundamental process of email marketing looks like in the context of affiliate marketing.

1. Person Visits Your Website

2. Person Joins Offer in Exchange for Email

3. You Have the Capability to Email This Person and Promote & Build Relationship

4. You Can Potentially Sell & Earn for Lifetime of this Person

That is the process, in a very much simplified form. But the more complex you make things, as with anything in the online business world, typically the less success you will achieve (as you will be in a constant state of overwhelm).

The key to success with any audience, in particular with an email list, is building trust. That is what I would like to discuss next.

Trust is Your First Focus, But How Do You Build That?

Your first focus with your business and your email marketing campaigns in 2018 is trust. Without trust it is impossible to truly have a long-term and engaging in relationship with your list, and without that long-term relationship you are going to generate far less revenue.

There is an old cliché that, it is 6 times easier to keep an existing customer than it is to create a brand new customer. The same goes for email marketing. If you have someones trust, it is much easier to recommend another product and service to that person and generate additional revenue. A single person on your email list through time could equate to $1,000's in revenue....if you treat them well.

The beautiful thing about email marketing is that you have this ongoing contact and communication with your subscribers. These people are HUMANS though, they will respect you if you respect them. Never lose sight of the human element within the online world, sometimes it is easy to forget and to turn your business into a process. Don't.

The best way to gain the respect is to offer value over and over again on ratio of 3:1 minimum. By this I mean, you should be offering at least 3 times the value to your audience for every time you consider promoting anything to them. So every promotional email should be preceded by at least 3 value only emails.

If you do offer this level of value, any product or service you recommend will come across as a "friend" recommendation. They will trust you and your opinion and will buy at a very high rate through your recommendations as a result.

Remember that trust is very easy to break. It can take years to build trust, but in one event you can break all of it. You never want to attempt to take advantage or "sell out" your audience by recommending something that you don't fully believe in. It will not only be obvious, but if people get screwed over as a result of this then you are going to feel the adverse impact on your brand and your bottom line.

Treat every email you send like it will be your last. If you don't, it may be the last email many on your list ever get from you (as they will unsubscribe).

Don't Get Fooled into The "Funnel First Strategy"

There's a lot of misinformation out there in the email space these days. This surrounds the idea of funnels and people are conflating what these really are. People, in particular newbies, view a "funnel" differently than what it really is, email marketing.

There are all sorts of high ticket courses, expensive funnel software programs, and people pushing the idea of "funnel first" (before traffic), and that is a completely backwards approach. You want to take the complete opposite approach. You want to build "traffic first" and then work the other way around.

The funnel first strategy can definitely work but with one big clause. You have to know your niche inside and out. You need to know what sort of traffic converts and you should have a lot of experience with email marketing first before you go funnel first within any niche.

Unfortunately, some people are buying funnel software (usually anywhere from $99 to $249 per month), then you are required to get an autoresponder (to manage email) on top of this which will run you anywhere form $20-$100 per month depending on the service.

Then you are required to someone get traffic. The first place they go, Facebook Ads. Well this may have been a good strategy several years ago when FB ads had very little competition, but you can expect traffic costs to be much higher than they have ever been.

Expect the cost per click to be around $0.50, so for $100 you are going to get around 20 unique visitors to your website where you will need to recoup those costs in order just to break even.

They don't understand their audience, they don't comprehend email marketing, and they certainly are not equipped with the proper foundation to build a sustainable business. Because of this, MOST people that head the funnel first strategy end up losing a great deal of money (typically $1,000's).

And forget about Google Adwords or Bing Ads. They do not allow "funnel software" landing pages, they will simply disapprove any ads that link to pages built using these types of software and if it is a recurring issue they will suspend your account. Not good.

So, establish a brand. Which is establishing a long term business and as you start to scale your traffic, integrate a game plan for email marketing. You can leverage many of the autoresponder platforms (which allow you to create squeeze pages on your site) for less than $50 per month when you are ready.

That is the ideal approach. Once you have conversion data and truly comprehend your niche, you can get crafty and start testing "funnel second" strategies. If you are new to the online world you can expect to shell out several $1,000's (and likely lose all of it) to the monthly software fees and advertising spend.

Data Segmentation is Going to Continue to Improve

All email subscribers are not equal and they should not be treated the same. There are many action-based software tools out there that you can leverage to segment your lists based on the behaviours of your email list. Many of the top autoresponders are really focusing on the simplification of this segmentation and building it directly into their services.

For example, here are some common "list segmentations" that are very useful in streamlining your marketing and sales processes.

  • On click, add to new list
  • On purchase of an item, add to new list
  • On view of a particular page, add to a different list
  • On actionable behaviour add to a different list

Actions and behaviours can be ways to organize your customers and your email list so that you can personalize and offer them a much more relevant and customized experience. Understanding data and the tools in which you can get more sophisticated with your email lists is going to continue to advance in the year ahead.

I actually anticipate the fall out of some of the longest standing autoresponder companies. If they don't keep up to the segmentation needs of email marketers, they are going to lose ground to the newcomers to email technology world (some of them are offering brilliant services).

Delivery Rates. They Need to Get Better.

Most autoresponders boast a 99% delivery rate, but they are actually boasting a "send" rate. I know firsthand that these data points are far from accurate and these companies are no different from some budget hosting companies claiming 99.9% server uptime. We know all to well that they are going down much more frequently than that.

In recent years, many of the more reputable players in the email marketing space have moved away from allowing certain types of traffic. This includes "opportunity", "investments", and "weight loss" and of course anything related to prescription drugs, gambling, and adult content (which haven't been allowed for obvious reasons).

The reason? These types of audiences get caught by spam filters on email clients (gmail, yahoo, hotmail, aol, etc), and worse yet, it can lead to the blacklisting of the IP's that the emails are being sent from. This results is a poor delivery rate by the autoresponder company, and as an email marketers, less emails reaching your subscribers. Unfortunately this is happening with a lot of frequency and it is not getting reported ethically back to you, the customer.

So the quality of service you choose and what sort of businesses they allow to use their services will determine your own delivery rate. The same as "shared hosting"...if you are on an email server with another customer that is breaking the rules and triggering spam filters, your email delivery rates are going to suffer as a result.

In 2018, you are going to see a much greater focus on delivery rates as well as companies out there ranking sites with REAL data on how good/poor their delivery rates actually are. There needs to be more accountability and there will be.

Know What You Are Doing! (+ a Month of Live Classes)

Please, before you build a list understand what you are doing. Too many people get an autoresponder, get a form on their website, and then hope and pray someone will join it. Then when they have a subscriber list, they throw spam and constant promotions and them (and ultimately don't experience any success as a result)

There are many things that you need to understand if you ever plan on building a successful list.

  • How to create a high converting squeeze page
  • Creating relevant pitches
  • Proper positioning of forms on your page
  • Whether or not to use pop-ups/unders, slide overs, or static opt-ins
  • Maximizing your revenue through a quality thank you page
  • Maximizing your first revenue
  • How to properly set-up a follow- up sequence
  • Keys to building trust with your list
  • When are the best days and hours to send email
  • How to segment and properly manage lists
  • The Value to Sale Ratio
  • How to make a proper email pitch
  • Utilizing broad cast emails
  • Time sensitivity, and integrating bonuses
  • etc

And this is just brushing the surface!

It is one of the most common confusions I get these days with newcomers to this business, people are so concerned about when they will be building a list, but they don't realize that a list won't matter if they don't have a brand, they don't have a source of traffic, and they don't full comprehend their audience and the idiosyncrasies that make them "tick" (and convert).

We actually have a month of training through March, 2018 that I want to recommend to you on email marketing. All Premium members can attend and this is going to cover everything from the basics, to the much more sophisticated elements of creating successful email marketing campaigns.

Live Class #1: Email Marketing 2018: 1st Steps to List Building (Replay)
Live Class #2: Email Marketing 2018: Sending Your Blog Posts (Replay)
Live Class #3: Email Marketing 2018: Opt-in Strategies (Register Here)
Live Class #4: Coming Soon..

If you have ever been interested in email marketing and wanted to leverage EMAIL as a way to create a long term and sustainable income (which it absolutely will), then you will definitely want to attend the March 2018 events. There are going to be 4 live classes in total on this topic and over 4 full hours of training (plus Q & A periods each week).

I hope you have found my 2018 email marketing strategies & trends insightful. Many of you are likely more than ready to get rolling with email marketing campaigns and this is foundational knowledge that ALL affiliate and internet marketers should have in their repertoire.

And of course if you have any questions about anything I have covered here or the email marketing space in general, please leave them below and I will be more than happy to help you out.

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Recent Comments

273

Thanks Kyle. This post is very informative as usual.
I was also hyped up about list building but I realised soon enough you cannot just build a list without really knowing what to do.

So, I put it away for when the time is right.

I would've loved to join the live classes, but that will be 3.00 AM Saturday morning at my local time. Replays for me then. :)

Nick

This is just coming at the same time that I have been considering email marketing. Thanks so much Kyle for this great info. I now know that I am not yet ready for email marketing for my site yet but I will be attending the training to learn about it so that when I do implement it, I will at least have an idea of what I am doing, lol. Thanks again for sharing. :)

Carl

It is good to understand the processes, it is knowledge that you will be able to add to your skillset and utilize for many years to come in your online businesses Carl.

It is never too early to learn this stuff, sometimes it is just a bit early to implement it.

I have been waiting for a meaningful training session on email marketing and this looks like the one!

Unfortunately I don't get to see the live broadcasts very often due to the showing being at 1am UK time but I always set aside 1 hour or so on Sunday afternoon to watch the replay and that is what I will be eagerly waiting for on this series.

Thanks for this Kyle - I am really looking forward to it.

Terry

Excellent, yeah, the replays will definitely be available the next day! You can also watch them as many times as you like as a Premium member.

Thank You for this breakdown Kyle. As a newbie, it it refreshing to see you actually took the time to explain how it works. I was one of those people who was told get a funnel! Get a funnel without anyone explaining, that there is a time for it and a place. It's not a bad thing but it needs to be done correctly. (Maybe the majority didn't know either) So I really wasn't sold on the idea, I just felt like I needed more information.Can't wait for your class! Thanks!:)

That is the problem. Often times the people telling you to "funnel up" don't understand either, they are simply trying to sell you some software or some high ticket course, because well, they make money doing so.

You are going to learn PROPER email marketing with Jay's training and I know you are really going to enjoy it.

Yes! Thank you Great Teacher!.:)

Email Marketing is building trust. I like the spirit and this is what it should be. Many things I have to learn.

When it comes to trust will not responding to the emails of companies whom I don't know will lead to trust ruin when they wanted to talk to me in terms of their product but I ignore their communications?

From this blog, I can imagine how to properly email marketing should be done. Although I didn't engage within yet, it will be a guide from the experienced affiliate marketer to be seriously considered.

I have been putting in the hours going through the boot camp building my new brand website and I am pleased with everything I am learning.

I find there are never enough hours in a day to do everything I want to do and even end up counter productive trying to move forward faster than is humanly possible.

I am overwhelmed with all of the information going through my head and can not get my ideas implemented fast enough.

My primary business has suffered due to my efforts to learn how to build a great website and integrate email marketing.

Unfortunately, I fell victim to a few of the unethical marketers trying to put this all together.

The silver lining is, my refusal to give up when I was drained mentally, emotionally, spiritually and financially has given me experience and resources valuable to helping my candidates learn what they need within months for a few hundred dollars not years and several thousand dollars.

I have a commitment every Friday these trainings are scheduled for.

Will they be recorded and available for premium members to listen to later?

Every training session that Jay runs is recorded, and others from Kyle have been recorded, so I guess the answer is yes it will be recorded.

Answer is just based on observations.

Hope all goes well for you.

Thank you Steve

Yeah, you don't need to do everything and you certainly do not need to implement email marketing prior to you being ready and having time to do so.

Email marketing, if done incorrectly, can actually detract from revenue as you will be moving people from potentially purchasing something from your site, to a list. If you are not effective with your marketing within that list, then there is going to be a breakdown and less revenue overall will result.

And yes, they will be recorded and you can listen and watch them as many times as you like.

Thank you Kyle.

OMG... what a coincidence! I'm just struggling with SumoMe Plugin and don't know how to get my email form I created there to show up on my post. I started early this morning and still not working. I have looked on the tutorials here on SumoMe but they are different versions.

Can't wait to watch this Friday.

Thanks Kyle!

Yeah, and if you are adding things like SumoMe to your website without already have a consistent source of traffic, you are jumping the gun.

Hi Kyle good point. What call to action should I do if I want to offer a checklist from my post?

Your post on email marketing Let me look at marketing strategies I have an autoresponder and trying to write newsletter that subscribers will read and also I need a capture page, This will improve targeted audience if they decide to give me their email I also want to know how to get email list from marketers like Udimi that have solo ads another one hqsoloads.com and sending out the right emails that people will respond to, Well I can't wait to be apart of this coming Email Marketing 2018 Video Training Thank you for your post Kyle

Solo ads, generally speaking are a complete waste of money. They are a scam, and should be avoided. That is not email marketing, that is paying people to spam their unresponsive list.

WOW! Thank you for posting this Kyle, I really needed to read this. This is probably one of my biggest struggles right now with my websites and I do agree that I don't fully understand it. I do need to get other things in order though before I can truly start leveraging email marketing.

I'm getting back into the habit of consistency and posting content again on a much more consistent basis so that I can start building up my traffic again.

I actually do have a sign up form on my website and one of the things I do remember Jay mentioning in a past live video class regarding email marketing is that he has it setup to where anyone who is subscribed to his email list, will automatically get sent his latest posts or updates on his website.

I've learned to implement this as well, but the problem is I'm not really getting any signups, but again I know that is pretty much due to traffic or my lack thereof of it. I will definitely attend this class so that I can get a better understanding of email marketing especially in the year of 2018.

Awesome to hear and yeah, you shouldn't over-invest your time and energy into email marketing until you have a sustainable source of traffic or a budget to drive traffic to your website.

It is a matter of spending your time productively on tasks that will drive traffic/revenue to your business, like content, and avoiding things like email marketing until you have traffic.

WOW, Kyle! This is GREAT! Everything included in this post is so timely for me. I have been studying the art of email marketing for awhile now and am more than ready to implement it to my business.

I have a WA promotional site that I just designed with content, side links, an About Me page, etc. I now want to set up the email subscription page with an introduction video next to it (that I will be creating, too).

I also just completed an eBook as a Giveaway for signing up for a subscription newsletter.

So, when they click the initial link, it will take them to the email subscription page with the video. They watch the video and fill out their information and click another link. This sends the eBook to their email and brings them to my custom-designed WA page.

When I build my list, how often should I email them? Daily? Weekly? Every other day?

What I'm also fuzzy on is, if they create a Starter Membership, how will a recurring email help?--Just by continuing to give them helpful tips and maybe lead to others signing up?

I have huge goals set for Vegas and want to perfect my site as well as possible. Any other suggestions?

Thank you so very much for all this wealth of information! Again--WOW! Love the photo, too!

You should email them regularly, you need to realize that people get A LOT of emails on a daily basis, and if you email them one per week or two weeks, it feels like forever.

In the early stages, you want to hit your list almost every day, build up the trust and value. Through time though, you might be moreso on a weekly or bi-monthly schedule, that will come down to what you have to say to your audience.

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