How to Make Money Sending Emails (Ultimate Guide)
We all recognize email as one of the top communication channels.
But, what you may not know is that you can turn email communication into a sustainable business.
Although the concept of email marketing is simple, the process has a lot of moving parts.
In this post, I'll tell you everything you need to know about making money online by sending simple emails.
I'll talk about:
How to build a list with free landing pages and forms
Best ways to monetize that email list
And powerful email copywriting tactics that will turn your readers into customers
Let's get started.
How to Make Money Sending Emails
Build an Email List
Building an email list is the very first thing you should be doing to make money with email marketing strategy.
One important reason why so many email marketers fail is that they skip this basic step.
The reason is obvious: Building an email list can take time and effort.
But, once you have a list of high-quality leads, you can monetize them over and over again.
How do you build a lead generation system?
Let's see.
Create a Free Lead Magnet
A lead magnet is typically an e-book, a video course, or anything that your target audience finds valuable.
Fortunately, creating a lead magnet doesn't have to cost anything.
You can use a free but helpful resource as a lead magnet.
For instance, you can convert an existing blog post into an e-book.
And then, offer that e-book as a free download.
Well, not completely free since anyone who wants to download this PDF will have to provide their email address.
Here's how you can design an e-book cover for free.
Go to Canva and sign up for a free account.
Once you're signed up, click on the “Create design” option at the top right corner of your Canva dashboard and search “Ebook cover”.
Clicking on “Ebook cover” will open a separate tab where you can select a pre-designed template and make the required changes.
As soon as you’re done editing, just download the Ebook cover.
Converting a blog post into a PDF is simple; just use the “Save as” option in Microsoft Word or Google Docs (Or whatever word processor you use).
Once your lead magnet is ready, it's time to collect some high-quality leads.
Collect Leads on Blog Posts
Blogging is one of the most powerful ways to collect the email addresses of people.
You can use a free email marketing tool like MailChimp or Systeme.io to create opt-in forms.
Most email marketing tools also provide engagement analytics to help you identify your best-performing content.
Design a Free Landing Page
Now, blogging isn't the only source of high-quality email marketing leads.
In fact, you can speed up the whole process by using a landing page.
The best thing is there are tools that let you design high-converting landing pages for free.
Systeme.io is one of them.
Here's how you can create a free landing page with this powerful tool.
Go to the website and click on “Get My Free Account”.
After you create your free Systeme account, go to “Funnels”.
Then, hit “Create”.
You’ll then be asked to name your funnel and select its purpose. Since we want to collect email addresses of people, we’ll go with “Build an audience”.
On the next page, you’ll be able to choose from a list of pre-built landing page templates.
These templates are almost ready to use, but you can make any changes you want.
Once you select a template, it’s time to select an “Automation rule” or a trigger.
So, click on “Automation rules” and select “Funnel step form subscribed”.
Now, whenever someone enters their email address in your form, they'll be added to your leads.
You can then use remarketing to convert them later.
To edit your landing page, you'll need to click on the “Edit page” option to the right.
Systeme.io has an intuitive editor, allowing you to design beautiful landing pages easily.
Create a Free Opt-in Form
You can also create a free pop-up or inline form on your free System.io account.
To create an opt-in form, just click the “Create step” option in your funnel.
A pop-up will appear. Just select the type of form you want to add to your web page.
Once you select a form template, just copy its script and paste it into your web page.
Now that you know how to build an email list, let’s talk about how to make money sending emails.
Make Money Sending Emails
Whether you're a small business owner with a growing email list or a complete email marketing newbie, you don't want to miss the next few sections of this post.
Cultivating an email list is like growing a vegetable garden.
Your garden won't yield any healthy lettuce or spinach until you give it some TLC (Tender Loving Care).
The same applies to your email list.
Today, we spill the beans on ways to earning money from your email list.
More precisely, we'll walk you through four techniques to monetize your email list and build a passive stream of income.
Here are 4 straightforward ways to make money online from emails
Send Your Email Subscribers a Tripwire
Properly implemented tripwires in email marketing can help you sell more of whatever you're selling.
A tripwire, for those who don't know, is a low-priced item offered to those who sign up for your email list. The premise behind the low-priced tripwire is that once customers try it, they'll be hooked on your brand and more likely to buy subsequent offerings.
As such, a tripwire's ultimate goal is to increase the number of people who enter your sales funnel.
At this point, you may send them nurturing emails designed to encourage them to make more purchases.
Your tripwire, of course, should be something that both your existing customers and new participants will love.
No matter how small your profit margins are or how cheap your tripwire is, one sure way to amaze your tripwire consumers is to consistently provide high-quality products or services.
Why? They will identify with your company more closely.
Also, if you put in the additional effort to bond your subscribers to your company, you'll be rewarded: a staggering 93% of brands say that customers are more inclined to buy from companies with whom they feel a personal connection.
You should go out of your way to make your tripwire consumers feel special and appreciated, treating them like VIPs and demonstrating your undying devotion to them.
If you keep this up for a while, you should start seeing a rise in conversion rates.
The average time it takes for a client to make a second purchase after the first interaction is 16 days.
The effectiveness of tripwires is, of course, much debated.
A cheap tripwire may be the ideal starter for your email list.
It's conceivable that a customer will become an avid supporter of your business if you actually assist them in resolving an issue and foster an emotional connection with your company.
This simplifies the process of upselling your subscribers, even if you're not selling your own items (which leads us to our next method of monetizing an email list).
Promote Affiliate Products
Promoting affiliate items to your email list might be the way to go if you're a time-pressed solopreneur or entrepreneur.
In affiliate marketing, you promote and sell other people's goods and services in exchange for a cut of the revenue
This relieves you of the responsibility of developing and managing your own product line.
If you want to succeed in affiliate marketing, it's important to promote goods that will really be of use to your email readers. In fact, this is true of all of our recommendations for monetizing your email list.
Your email content, even if it's as simple as sharing a list of your own favorite Amazon books, should be useful to your subscribers and address an issue or provide a benefit.
For instance, bloggers and YouTube creators redirect their audience to promoting affiliate products and make healthy commissions.
Plus, those two aren't the only ways to start making money with affiliate marketing anymore.
Other platforms and content types like podcasts are also being used to build affiliate businesses.
All you typically need to do is build an email list via your podcast, YouTube channel, or blog and direct them to your affiliate links.
But, make sure not to overpromote these offers; you want to make the affiliate product a natural fit for whatever you're talking about.
Stats suggest that 30% income growth is possible with a well-designed affiliate marketing campaign.
On the other hand, you might lose email subscribers if you don't provide them with the information they find useful.
In fact, irrelevant emails are the second leading cause of subscribers opting out of email lists.
These are some of the most popular affiliate marketing networks, so you should check them out if you're searching for affiliate marketing programs to join.
ShareASale
CJ by Conversant
Rakuten LinkShare
Avangate
Amazon Associates
If you're a beginner at affiliate marketing, try sticking with Amazon Associates in the beginning.
The affiliate program is relatively easier to join and you won't have a hard time converting your audience.
This is because people generally feel very little resistance while buying anything from Amazon since they trust it.
Plus, Amazon has tons of categories to choose from.
Other platforms like CJ and ShareASale are great for digital products.
In addition, get involved with an affiliate marketing program that makes sense for your product and target market.
Then, in the context of useful email content, market relevant affiliate items to your subscribers.
As a side note, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) requires that you declare any affiliate marketing or endorsement programs you participate in.
Seek Email Sponsorships
Email sponsorships are another lucrative option for email marketers to monetize their subscriber base.
Email campaign sponsorship is available from a number of well-known companies with sizable subscriber bases.
For instance, you can advertise to the eLearning Industry's email list by purchasing a one-time, unique email blast.
In spite of the fact that you may not have the name recognition of the eLearning Industry, you may still benefit from an email list.
Provided you have been consistently giving your subscribers useful information and have earned their confidence over time.
That doesn't mean you should let just anybody buy a subscription to your mailing list, either. Create a list of companies that your target audience may find useful in addition to your own.
If you consider yourself an influencer, or simply a blogger that publishes amazing posts on a particular topic, your audience trusts you enough to assist them in your niche of expertise.
You should compile a list of resources that may aid your email list's readers in a similar and supplementary fashion.
Before sending your email campaign to the majority of your email list, you may A/B test subject lines with most of the top email service providers like MailChimp, Benchmark, and ActiveCampaign.
The fact that 35% of email recipients read emails based on the subject line alone certainly justifies A/B testing your sponsor emails.
Be sure your email sponsor and your email subscribers are a suitable match.
Make sure to deliver email messages that are both useful and relevant to your audience's interests.
Be honest with your email subscribers and let them know you're being compensated for the sponsored email content by doing your research and including any necessary disclaimers.
Offer Your Email Subscribers Upsells and Cross-Sells
Like in-store upselling and cross-selling, email upselling and cross-selling may increase sales by encouraging consumers to buy more goods.
The only real difference is that instead of trying to upsell and cross-sell related products on the final purchase page, you'll be sending targeted email campaigns to certain customer subsets at specific times.
For the sake of argument, let's pretend some of your email list members have already spent $49 on a digital product,
And, let's say you're charging $997 for a higher-priced item that you want to upsell.
Now, assuming that you're an expert in your industry and have positioned yourself as an expert by providing great content to your audience.
To upsell, you need to do nothing more than sending a sales email sequence to a targeted subset of your client base.
You may use an upsell email to persuade subscribers to switch from the free to the premium version of a product.
For instance, Medium sends out upsell emails to its email subscribers, outlining the many advantages they'll get from switching to a premium plan.
You may also do a time-sensitive special that packages two related items together.
By sending out a series of emails, Evernote encourages its users to upgrade their plans and take advantage of a special offer for an additional six months on the more expensive tier.
There's no hard and fast rule that says adding more features to an expensive product is required for upselling.
You just need to provide first-rate service and a memorable experience.
Customers said they would spend an extra 16% if the service was much better.
Also, 68% of customers are willing to spend an extra 15% if they know they will have a positive interaction.
Avoid the pressure of making a complex, high-priced digital product.
Instead, put your email marketing efforts into providing excellent customer service and/or individualized onboarding as an upsell.
For the purpose of cross-selling, it is possible to suggest related items to your subscribers based on their past purchases, responses to emails, and other information you have collected about them.
Consider enrolling in a course that is offered only online.
If you want to make sure your online course buyers stick to their goals, you may cross-sell them individual coaching sessions through email.
For instance, if a large number of customers are in the market for coffee gear or a new brew, Methodical's skillful cross-selling of coffee and coffee-related items inside the same email might be a game-changer.
Let's get down to brass tacks, shall we?
Your store's checkout isn't the only place to upsell and cross-sell.
Email may be a terrific approach to persuade warm leads to make a purchase if you can discover a way to provide relevant items targeted to a specific set of your email list.
These were a few great ways to monetize email marketing.
But, in order to successfully convert your email readers, you'd need to know how to write effective copy.
How to Write Emails that Convert
14 sure-shot email copywriting tips to steal your target audience's attention and charm them to pay you:
Put aside your own goals and start focusing on the wants and requirements of your potential customers instead. Hone in on your ideal customer profile(s)
Clients won't enjoy you calling out the competition, and they can even start to doubt your honesty if you do
One thing that almost everyone enjoys is being complimented. Before getting into the meat of your email, it's important to acknowledge the prospect's previous triumphs and accomplishments. However, make sure your compliments come off as genuine; empty compliments are far more damaging than no compliments at all
Do not try to explain feelings or experiences that you do not have or circumstances that you do not have, since your readers will not believe you. Don't try to write about something you don't understand
Find out what issues most worry your customers. Find out what problems they're having and utilize that knowledge to frame your offer as a remedy
Nobody owes you anything, even your leads. Be courteous always
Don't worry about what you believe other people want you to write. Write down what you would say to that individual if you were having a direct conversation with them right now. This will make your email seem natural and unforced, and it will help you steer clear of clichés
Think about the customer's needs, desires, and long-term objectives
Insert queries. This is a tried-and-true approach to getting your email read all the way through without risking losing the reader
Verify the lyricism of your message by experimenting with various punctuation and inversion techniques, as well as phrase length, sentence structure, and the division of a few ideas into subordinate clauses. That was hard to read, right? Your content should be simple to read and comprehend
If you can provide suggestions for similar products in the same market, you'll increase conversions. Customers are more likely to take you seriously when you are open and honest about the alternatives you have
When your idea has a higher potential payoff, people are more likely to view it with suspicion. That's why it's important to include evidence and examples to back up your claims
Create a reasonable plan for the advantages you'll get. You shouldn't include anything like “$100,000 a year” in your writing. Make more reasonable short-term assurances, such as averaging above $8,000 monthly
The shorter your message is, the better. Send emails that your busy prospects will actually read by using cold email formulae like BBB (brief-blunt-basic)
Of course, you don't have to implement all these email writing tips at once.
But, it's a good idea to keep these best practices in mind while you write your emails.
Why Email Reigns Supreme in Digital Marketing
While the digital marketing landscape brims with an ever-expanding arsenal of channels, email remains the undisputed champion. It's the OG of online outreach, a trusted companion in every inbox, and a direct line to your most valuable asset: your website visitors.
But email's power goes far beyond recognition. It's a strategic goldmine for cross-selling related products, promoting exclusive deals, and nurturing leads into loyal customers. Unlike fleeting social media posts or website banners, email fosters a one-on-one connection, allowing your brand's voice to shine through in a personalized way.
Think of it this way: email is your personal marketing channel, free from the algorithm whims of social media platforms. It's where you can craft targeted campaigns that resonate with your audience, driving them back to your website and ultimately, generating more revenue.
So, ditch the impersonal blasts and unleash the true potential of email marketing. Become an email writer extraordinaire, weaving captivating content that entices your audience and fuels your sales engine. After all, in the ever-evolving world of digital era, email remains a constant, reliable force, ready to propel your brand to new heights.
Conclusion: How to Make Money Sending Emails
This was all about how to make money sending emails.
If you've read this far, you now have more knowledge about email marketing than most of your competitors.
The process I've discussed is simple and effective.
First, you must build an email list of people who're interested in your main topic of discussion
Then, you provide them with great content and build your reputation as a credible source of information
Lastly, you promote whatever you want to promote within your industry
