415 – Lighten Up Your Email Copy for More Opens and Sales with Liz Wilcox
Today’s show might just be the game changer you’ve been hoping for if you know you should send regular emails but that’s where it ends.
You tell yourself you’ll get to it in the future and then bump it back week after week until it finally drops from the list.
Or you’ve sent out a few emails, maybe even years ago, and just couldn’t make the connection with the effort put into results that make it worth it.
This all changes right now! Liz is here to present a fresh approach to email marketing. You’ll hear why it can bring in additional sales and how to make it so much easier than you’ve been approaching it in the past.
The Fresh Princess of Email Marketing, Liz Wilcox is an Email Strategist who shows small business owners how to build online relationships, package up their “magic” and turn it into emails that people want to read and (more importantly) purchase from.
In the span of 5 years, Liz grew and sold a successful blog, got bought out of her second company, and built her third business into a multiple six-figure party that just won’t quit!
Liz Wilcox is on a mission to help more businesses package up their magic and sell through email in a way that leverages their personality, vision, and values.
She’s also a walking 90s pop culture encyclopedia for a unique teaching style you’re not likely to forget anytime soon.
Email Copy For More Opens And Sales
- The secret to creating a relationship with your subscribers.
- Liz’s Email Staircase system.
- Why it’s crucial to remember there’s a real person on the other side of that email address.
- Who your BEST customer is.
- Ideas for what to put in your emails.
- How to invest in your customers so they invest in you.
- The key to being relatable – people buy from businesses they trust.
- How to get people to like and trust you.
- Who to scrub from your list.
- And tons more!
Tune in to this episode PACKED with tips to help you write email copy that gets more opens and more sales!
Resources Mentioned
Liz’s Contact Links
Website | Facebook | Instagram
Join Our FREE Gift Biz Breeze Facebook Community
Become a Member of Gift Biz Breeze
If you found value in this podcast, make sure to subscribe so you automatically get the next episode downloaded for your convenience. Click on your preferred platform below to get started.
Also, if you’d like to do me a huge favor – please leave a review. It helps other creators like you find the show and build their businesses too. You can do so right here: Rate This Podcast
Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Spotify
Thank you so much! Sue
Know someone who needs to hear this episode?
Click a button below to share it!
Transcript
Gift Biz Unwrapped guest,
Speaker:episode number 415.
Speaker:It wasn't something that came naturally.
Speaker:In fact,
Speaker:it was a really scary thing to use my voice and
Speaker:to use words,
Speaker:Attention, gifters,
Speaker:bakers, crafters and makers.
Speaker:Pursuing your dream can be fun.
Speaker:Whether you have an established business or looking to start one,
Speaker:now you are in the right place.
Speaker:This is Gift Biz Unwrapped,
Speaker:helping you turn your skill into a flourishing business.
Speaker:Join us for an episode packed full of invaluable guidance,
Speaker:resources, and the support you need to grow your gift biz.
Speaker:Here is your host Gift Biz gal,
Speaker:Sue Mohe.
Speaker:Hi there,
Speaker:it's Sue.
Speaker:And as always,
Speaker:I'm so happy that we're together again today.
Speaker:There are a lot of podcasts out there and I'm honored
Speaker:that you've chosen to listen to mine.
Speaker:We've covered so many facets of a handmade product business over
Speaker:the course of the years and today is no exception.
Speaker:We've talked about how to start and grow your business stories
Speaker:from many of you who have done just that.
Speaker:How to choose and use social media sites,
Speaker:build your website.
Speaker:Oh my gosh,
Speaker:there is just so much information here for you,
Speaker:but not necessarily at your fingertips.
Speaker:So I've made a tool for you that categorizes by topic
Speaker:the episodes of this podcast,
Speaker:but only the ones that stay relevant over time.
Speaker:Because yes,
Speaker:let's face it,
Speaker:there are past shows that just don't work anymore for us
Speaker:today. The world is changing so fast,
Speaker:right? You can use this tool to zero in on whatever
Speaker:topic you need at the moment.
Speaker:Do you wanna hear from others in your specific industry?
Speaker:How about details on Pinterest or setting up an email strategy?
Speaker:You can now easily find the right episodes and create your
Speaker:priority listening roster.
Speaker:Consider this your Gift Biz resource center at a glance.
Speaker:It's a Google Sheet best viewable on your computer versus your
Speaker:phone. Make sure to look on the bottom where there are
Speaker:five separate sections for easy topic reference,
Speaker:kind of like chapters of a book.
Speaker:It makes finding the shows to help you with what you're
Speaker:working on right now.
Speaker:So much easier.
Speaker:To access this free resource,
Speaker:go to gift biz unwrapped.com/topics.
Speaker:Today's show might just be the game changer you've been hoping
Speaker:for. If you know you should send regular emails,
Speaker:but that's where it ends thinking only you tell yourself you'll
Speaker:get to it in the future and then bump it back
Speaker:week after week until it finally drops from the list.
Speaker:Or you've sent out a few emails maybe even years ago
Speaker:and just couldn't make the connection with the effort put in
Speaker:to results that would make it worth it.
Speaker:Well listen up because all of this changes right now.
Speaker:Liz is here to present a fresh approach to email marketing.
Speaker:You'll hear why it can bring in an additional sales and
Speaker:how to make it so much easier than the way you've
Speaker:been approaching it in the past.
Speaker:Hear about the email staircase,
Speaker:which seems so obvious,
Speaker:but might not have been in your thought pattern.
Speaker:Before we get into details about the very first emails to
Speaker:send virtually done for you direction,
Speaker:there's an important discussion about engagement because the magic is in
Speaker:making your email activity a two way street.
Speaker:Of course,
Speaker:you want your customers to know you and it all goes
Speaker:up a notch when you have the opportunity to know them
Speaker:too. Listen up for Liz's free subject,
Speaker:blind creation tool.
Speaker:Making that part fast enough,
Speaker:effortless. I think that's the trick when email marketing doesn't feel
Speaker:so heavy a task,
Speaker:that's when you'll start doing it.
Speaker:Excited to hear more then let's get to it.
Speaker:Right now.
Speaker:Today we're gonna be talking to Liz Wilcox,
Speaker:the fresh princess of email marketing.
Speaker:Liz is an email strategist who shows small business owners how
Speaker:to build online relationships,
Speaker:package up their magic and turn it into emails that people
Speaker:want to read,
Speaker:and importantly purchase from In the span of five years.
Speaker:Liz grew and sold a successful blog bought out of her
Speaker:second company and built her third business into a multiple six-figure
Speaker:party that just won't quit.
Speaker:Liz is on a mission to help more businesses package up
Speaker:their magic and sell through email in a way that leverages
Speaker:their personality,
Speaker:vision, and values.
Speaker:She's also a walking nineties pop culture encyclopedia for a unique
Speaker:teaching style you are not likely to forget anytime soon.
Speaker:Liz, welcome to the Gift Biz Unwrapped podcast.
Speaker:Oh my gosh,
Speaker:I was just telling Sue before we hit record,
Speaker:I love talking to Makers.
Speaker:I am so freaking excited.
Speaker:I'm so ready to unwrap email for you.
Speaker:I cannot wait to do that.
Speaker:But before we do that,
Speaker:we're gonna unwrap your maker side a little bit and that
Speaker:is by having you share a little bit more over and
Speaker:above the intro about who you are,
Speaker:Liz. And I'd like to do that through a motivational candle.
Speaker:So if you were to think and create your very own
Speaker:candle that really resonates with the inner you,
Speaker:what would it look like with a color and maybe a
Speaker:saying or a quote or something?
Speaker:Yeah, I love this question.
Speaker:So my candle would be a rectangle shape.
Speaker:It would be this like burgundy reddish brick color because my
Speaker:favorite story is actually something that Will Smith shares about.
Speaker:He didn't try to become the number one paid actor in
Speaker:Hollywood. He was just laying one brick at a time.
Speaker:And that's kind of how I approach my business.
Speaker:I'm not trying to,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:oh, I wanna be this multimillionaire,
Speaker:whatever. It's just every day I show up,
Speaker:I lay my brick as perfectly as a brick can be
Speaker:laid and one day I'll have the wall,
Speaker:and so my candle would be brick shaped.
Speaker:It would kind of smell like that.
Speaker:Very earthy.
Speaker:I don't wanna say it would smell like cement,
Speaker:but you know what?
Speaker:Like fresh or like an old like Clay or something?
Speaker:Yeah, like very earthy.
Speaker:Clay is a great,
Speaker:I can smell it.
Speaker:Can you smell it,
Speaker:Sue? You know what I'm talking about.
Speaker:I can smell it and I can see it too.
Speaker:It has some texture to it too,
Speaker:doesn't it?
Speaker:Yeah, I can feel it on my fingertips and it would
Speaker:say something like,
Speaker:brick by brick,
Speaker:you know what?
Speaker:I need to get that candle made.
Speaker:If you make candles hit me up,
Speaker:I need to get that candle made asap.
Speaker:That's awesome.
Speaker:What a great question.
Speaker:We're having so much fun.
Speaker:And I love your answer too,
Speaker:because step by step,
Speaker:I mean that's what we've seen.
Speaker:I've been podcasting now for eight years and we have seen
Speaker:anybody who has achieved any level of success,
Speaker:it's always been one little step by one little step looking
Speaker:at yes,
Speaker:you want your want a goal,
Speaker:but if you look at that only it seems insurmountable,
Speaker:it's too far away.
Speaker:Absolutely. I think that's a great way to start with email
Speaker:too, cuz everyone,
Speaker:you listen to podcasts and you Google email marketing and of
Speaker:course all these success stories pop up,
Speaker:right? I made a hundred thousand dollars from one email and
Speaker:I'm a millionaire in two years and things like that.
Speaker:And it's like,
Speaker:ah, you know,
Speaker:really you've gotta step by step brick by brick in one
Speaker:day. You might see that success,
Speaker:but it's newsletter by newsletter,
Speaker:which I think is what we're gonna talk about today.
Speaker:Yeah, we definitely are.
Speaker:Okay, so from your history and the intro,
Speaker:it feels like you've always loved words cuz you were blogging
Speaker:first. I don't know what your second business is and now
Speaker:it's all about email.
Speaker:So were words like always a part of your life.
Speaker:Yeah, and that's so funny that Sue mentioned that because y'all,
Speaker:I actually was mute until the age of seven,
Speaker:so I did not speak until I think like around first
Speaker:grade I started to kind of open up and so you
Speaker:might look at me or listen to me as you're doing
Speaker:right now and think,
Speaker:oh, that must just have come naturally.
Speaker:Like Sue said,
Speaker:oh, you must have just always loved words.
Speaker:But it wasn't something that came naturally.
Speaker:In fact,
Speaker:it was a really scary thing to use my voice and
Speaker:to use words,
Speaker:but it was something that I recognized power in in from
Speaker:a very early age.
Speaker:You have to speak up in order to get your needs
Speaker:met. And so being nonverbal was incredibly hard.
Speaker:And so that was something that I had to learn about
Speaker:and yeah,
Speaker:of course as I started writing I realized I was good
Speaker:at that and I love it the same way you might
Speaker:be creating gift cards or you might be like a renaissance
Speaker:woman with yarn or something,
Speaker:suddenly you find your gift,
Speaker:right? And I found once I learned how to harness the
Speaker:power of words,
Speaker:yeah, it definitely took off for me.
Speaker:Wonderful. And what made you decide to make it into a
Speaker:career? Like how long ago was your first blog?
Speaker:Let's start There.
Speaker:h, I started my first blog in:Speaker:married at the time and my husband was in the military
Speaker:and we decided to move into an rv.
Speaker:You know the military,
Speaker:they always move you around,
Speaker:you never know,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:what's the point in buying a house?
Speaker:And I said,
Speaker:well I hate cleaning and I don't like spending too much
Speaker:money, so let's just move into an rv.
Speaker:And that's when I realized sort of Googling,
Speaker:listening to podcasts like this,
Speaker:how do you make money?
Speaker:I said,
Speaker:oh, this RV has wheels.
Speaker:I should try to figure out how we can live on
Speaker:the road.
Speaker:This is awesome.
Speaker:And so I started an RV travel blog and before that
Speaker:I have my master's degree in leadership.
Speaker:I wanted to open up my own school.
Speaker:I have a background in education,
Speaker:but once I realized I could make money online with my
Speaker:words, that was my skill.
Speaker:The same way your hands might be your skill.
Speaker:I thought,
Speaker:oh my gosh,
Speaker:I'm never going back.
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:being an education is very stressful.
Speaker:I had a young daughter,
Speaker:she was a toddler at the time.
Speaker:I thought,
Speaker:wow, it just opened up my world.
Speaker:Maybe you're listening,
Speaker:you have a similar experience where you make that first dollar
Speaker:or you listen to that first podcast and you think what
Speaker:they're doing what online?
Speaker:And so I said,
Speaker:I'm not an idiot,
Speaker:I can figure it out.
Speaker:It might take me a while,
Speaker:but I'll figure it out brick by brick.
Speaker:And yeah,
Speaker:that was about seven years ago.
Speaker:I love that.
Speaker:What a wonderful story that is in so many different ways.
Speaker:I think what I wanna do here,
Speaker:Liz, is start diving right into more words,
Speaker:more word talk,
Speaker:if you will.
Speaker:Sure. Because you are a specialist in email and we've talked
Speaker:a bunch about email on the show.
Speaker:I told you that as we were talking before we hit
Speaker:record people I believe understand the value of email.
Speaker:And those of you who are listening,
Speaker:if you don't go back just a few episodes,
Speaker:there's a ton of email episodes about the value,
Speaker:the importance,
Speaker:how to set up all that list building,
Speaker:all of that.
Speaker:But where I see Liz,
Speaker:so many people getting stuck is they get all of that
Speaker:in theory,
Speaker:right? But then when it comes to actually writing these emails,
Speaker:and maybe they do the first one or the second one,
Speaker:but to keep it going and then to feel like it
Speaker:has any effect whatsoever.
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:sometimes you feel like you're spending all this time on an
Speaker:email, people will take like hours to write them,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:whatever. And then it doesn't help anything,
Speaker:doesn't help with a sale or make you feel more connected
Speaker:to customers or maybe you don't even know if anyone's even
Speaker:reading them.
Speaker:That's where we're getting stuck.
Speaker:So I would love to call upon you to come to
Speaker:our aid,
Speaker:pull out that teacher style that you have and help us
Speaker:with this.
Speaker:Yeah, I love what Sue said in the last part.
Speaker:She said,
Speaker:you don't feel connected to the people that are maybe reading
Speaker:your emails or you hope are reading your emails.
Speaker:And that's what I'm all about.
Speaker:Liz Wilcox loves to make friends and that's why I got
Speaker:really good at email when I started.
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:I was an RV travel blogger I was speaking to,
Speaker:and if you can't tell by my voice,
Speaker:I'm not one of them.
Speaker:I was speaking to a lot of men in their sixties
Speaker:where on my email list and I was in my twenties.
Speaker:How is this girl connecting with that audience?
Speaker:And I realize that I just follow something I call the
Speaker:email staircase.
Speaker:So first you have a follower,
Speaker:right? Somebody finds you online,
Speaker:you get on a podcast,
Speaker:you do a JV thing and you get 'em on your
Speaker:email list,
Speaker:which I know Sue has an amazing podcast episode about that,
Speaker:that I'm sure she'll link in the show notes.
Speaker:And then once they're on your email list,
Speaker:you turn them into a friend and we'll talk about that
Speaker:in a second.
Speaker:But once you have a list full of friends,
Speaker:it's much easier to convert them into customers,
Speaker:right? So follower,
Speaker:friend, customer,
Speaker:that is the email staircase.
Speaker:I don't like to do anything that's too many steps,
Speaker:right? It's hard to carry around a bunch of bricks Steps,
Speaker:a few bricks at a time.
Speaker:And so what I mean by friends is,
Speaker:number one,
Speaker:I want you to think of when you get an email
Speaker:address on your list,
Speaker:it's not an email address.
Speaker:There's another person on the other end of that address,
Speaker:right? There's maybe,
Speaker:oh you know brianna gmail.com,
Speaker:sue hotmail.com.
Speaker:That's a real person who's really interested in what you're selling
Speaker:or has possibly already purchased.
Speaker:And we all know the saying the best customer is a
Speaker:repeat customer,
Speaker:right? So how can we turn them into friends?
Speaker:There's three things,
Speaker:and I want you,
Speaker:when you write your newsletters,
Speaker:to think of these three things as you are writing.
Speaker:So number one,
Speaker:just show that you are invested.
Speaker:That you are invested in those people reading and invested in
Speaker:your business.
Speaker:And it might seem,
Speaker:oh Liz,
Speaker:I make jewelry on Etsy.
Speaker:They just want the jewelry.
Speaker:They don't care about the behind the scenes stuff.
Speaker:But I beg to differ how many,
Speaker:especially makers,
Speaker:how many makers are doing amazing things with Instagram lives or
Speaker:going live in their Facebook groups,
Speaker:just showing how they're making their wreaths or making their jewelry.
Speaker:People love that behind the scenes stuff.
Speaker:They wanna see that you are actively working on your products.
Speaker:There's a reason why there's a lot of distrust with giant
Speaker:corporations because we're now realizing we don't know how that product
Speaker:is actually made.
Speaker:We don't know if it's sustainable,
Speaker:ethical, right?
Speaker:And so if we can show how we're invested in our
Speaker:business, that's gonna go a long way.
Speaker:People are gonna invest back into your business,
Speaker:right? When you show that you are invested in it.
Speaker:I love this idea of investment too,
Speaker:because often we feel,
Speaker:I think like cuz I'm thinking of a couple of ways
Speaker:that we could also show investment that you might not normally
Speaker:think would apply to an email or social media.
Speaker:For example,
Speaker:if someone goes to a conference,
Speaker:Amen. Because they're learning more about their craft,
Speaker:they're getting together with other candlemakers or they're going to the
Speaker:stationary show in New York because they are wanting to make
Speaker:sure that they're staying on the top of their industry and
Speaker:of their craft.
Speaker:So that would be investing in your business craft shows.
Speaker:If you're actually out and going and participating in craft shows
Speaker:every weekend,
Speaker:twice a year,
Speaker:whatever it is,
Speaker:showing pictures of you doing that.
Speaker:And I've never connected the word invest with this Liz,
Speaker:which is so good,
Speaker:is showing your investment in the company.
Speaker:Even if that person who's opening the newsletter doesn't go to
Speaker:that craft show,
Speaker:they're seeing that you're serious about your business,
Speaker:right? That's the point.
Speaker:Absolutely. So those are two different additional ideas and the behind
Speaker:the scenes,
Speaker:the making,
Speaker:which you know,
Speaker:maybe you've invested and you've upgraded in your pottery wheel or
Speaker:you're just showing how it's actually done.
Speaker:All of those things.
Speaker:So I think everybody can think of more ways,
Speaker:but this idea of investing and having that as a way
Speaker:to draw customers closer to you cuz they're getting to know
Speaker:you, I think is huge.
Speaker:Liz, so you're starting out absolutely amazing.
Speaker:I love this.
Speaker:Awesome. Stay tuned folks.
Speaker:I've got more.
Speaker:But wait,
Speaker:there's more.
Speaker:And then also investing in your potential customer or your customer
Speaker:or your reader showing that you're invested in them.
Speaker:I make these candles,
Speaker:I go to this craft show so I can actually have
Speaker:high quality products,
Speaker:which I know is important to you.
Speaker:I want your home to be,
Speaker:I'm thinking of candles cuz that's how we started,
Speaker:right? I want your home to be paran free.
Speaker:I'm looking for sourcing out the best ingredients,
Speaker:the best sense,
Speaker:et cetera,
Speaker:et cetera,
Speaker:dot for you because I want this for you.
Speaker:If you make allergen-free jewelry saying Hey,
Speaker:I want you to be able to wear earrings without your
Speaker:ear breaking out and having to go to the ER for
Speaker:an infection.
Speaker:That's why I'm doing X,
Speaker:Y, Z in my business.
Speaker:It's important to me.
Speaker:So having sort of a vision for your customers or your
Speaker:potential customers is important too.
Speaker:And showing that you're invested in that.
Speaker:And that might seem,
Speaker:oh, I'm product based,
Speaker:I don't have a vision for them,
Speaker:but I know that you do.
Speaker:You want the jewelry to look good.
Speaker:I'm looking at my mom made my daughter a scarf for
Speaker:Christmas, right?
Speaker:She wants my daughter to wear it.
Speaker:That's the vision,
Speaker:right? So she went and she sourced like beautiful soft yarn.
Speaker:It's like a baby's bottom.
Speaker:That thing is so soft.
Speaker:I wear it more than my daughter cause I love it
Speaker:so much.
Speaker:But she had a vision for where that scarf was going
Speaker:and what she wanted for it.
Speaker:And I know you do too with your products.
Speaker:So showing you're invested in the business and that you have
Speaker:a vision for how your product should be used for your
Speaker:person to make their life better or more warm or smell
Speaker:better in the home,
Speaker:whatever, comfort,
Speaker:whatever it is,
Speaker:is really important as well.
Speaker:Love it.
Speaker:And you're also then educating them too on why your product
Speaker:is different from other people's products or the value of healthier
Speaker:ingredients, whatever the case might be.
Speaker:Absolutely. And so that's invest.
Speaker:And the second thing I want you to remember,
Speaker:and this is where a lot of email marketers will tell
Speaker:you to tell stories,
Speaker:but especially makers,
Speaker:we did not get into business because like Liz Wilcox,
Speaker:we're good with words,
Speaker:we're better with our hands,
Speaker:right? Most of us as makers.
Speaker:And so instead of trying to tell a story,
Speaker:I'm just gonna tell you to be relatable.
Speaker:And notice I didn't say be interesting,
Speaker:right? It's hard to be interesting.
Speaker:You try to come up with a story,
Speaker:it's like,
Speaker:ugh, suddenly your 10th grade English teacher is,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:on your shoulder,
Speaker:Mrs. Miller.
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:don't start a paragraph with a conjunction and then that and
Speaker:the other.
Speaker:And it becomes very hard.
Speaker:Like Sue mentioned,
Speaker:I don't know,
Speaker:about 10 minutes ago,
Speaker:oh it might take you hours to craft a newsletter that
Speaker:made me cringe.
Speaker:You can't see me.
Speaker:But I literally went,
Speaker:but instead be relatable.
Speaker:And you can do this in just two to three sentences.
Speaker:I call it a personal update.
Speaker:And it's just two to three sentences about something that has
Speaker:happened in your life since the last time you emailed them.
Speaker:It could be that investment related,
Speaker:I went to a craft show,
Speaker:or it could be,
Speaker:oh, my fridge is broken,
Speaker:I'm waiting on the repairman and while I wait,
Speaker:I'm writing you this letter.
Speaker:Having an appliance break is incredibly relatable.
Speaker:Is it interesting?
Speaker:And not really,
Speaker:unless you're an a repair man,
Speaker:but it's very relatable and humans want to relate to each
Speaker:other, right?
Speaker:There's a reason why if you go to my website,
Speaker:you'll see it's very nineties themed.
Speaker:I want to relate to other people who were having a
Speaker:good time in the nineties,
Speaker:right? And so being relatable is really,
Speaker:really important.
Speaker:And it's also much simpler than trying to be interesting or
Speaker:tell stories or learn how to use your words to segue
Speaker:into sales.
Speaker:The first thing you said is two to three sentences.
Speaker:So you don't go and tell this whole story.
Speaker:Well then I had to call a repairman,
Speaker:I couldn't find him.
Speaker:They came for absolutely three hours,
Speaker:blah, blah,
Speaker:blah. Like it's just a little point in time fact.
Speaker:And I love your explanation because the first thing I'm thinking
Speaker:I like to think and get in my listeners heads when
Speaker:we're talking,
Speaker:the first thing I would think they would be saying is,
Speaker:well, why would they care?
Speaker:Right? But to your point,
Speaker:cuz it's relatable,
Speaker:it's interesting,
Speaker:it's a little point.
Speaker:And we've all hit appliances break,
Speaker:so that's why Absolutely.
Speaker:Versus A story that nobody can relate to,
Speaker:right? Right.
Speaker:So why would they care about your fridge breaking or you
Speaker:walking the dog or you working on your laptop inside of
Speaker:your computer today?
Speaker:Or just something simple,
Speaker:right? It's because people wanna relate to people.
Speaker:Going back to,
Speaker:again, we are not trusting those giant companies because we know
Speaker:they're so far out of touch,
Speaker:right? But as small business owners,
Speaker:as makers,
Speaker:we have the advantage where we can just be a real
Speaker:person because we are a real person and people wanna buy
Speaker:from people they trust.
Speaker:So when you can become relatable in the inbox,
Speaker:you get that whole,
Speaker:oh, I'm scrolling,
Speaker:scrolling. Oh my gosh,
Speaker:Sue sent me something,
Speaker:she sent me an email.
Speaker:I wonder what she has to say today,
Speaker:right? Because I know she's invested in me and I know
Speaker:she's relatable.
Speaker:Chances are you are not the only maker that makes what
Speaker:you make,
Speaker:right? You're not the only,
Speaker:like I'm wearing a crocheted hat today.
Speaker:I'm sure there are hundreds of thousands of people who could
Speaker:make this hat,
Speaker:but I bought it from one particular person,
Speaker:right? Because I like them.
Speaker:I buy from people I trust.
Speaker:And your customers do too.
Speaker:So being relatable is really important.
Speaker:Wonderful. Okay,
Speaker:so we've got being invested in,
Speaker:show them that you're invested in your business and show them
Speaker:that you're invested in them.
Speaker:That was number one.
Speaker:Number two,
Speaker:this amazing and super simple point of being relatable.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:that's easy,
Speaker:the way you described it.
Speaker:None of this is hard so far,
Speaker:Liz, and I'm loving this.
Speaker:Yay. And what's the third one under?
Speaker:This is all still under being a friend.
Speaker:Like making them be a friend.
Speaker:Yeah. And this is what you can filter your newsletters through.
Speaker:And the third thing is just stay top of mind.
Speaker:And this might be the point where you throw your note
Speaker:cards in the air,
Speaker:you say,
Speaker:oh gosh,
Speaker:that's so hard.
Speaker:But when you do numbers one and two correctly,
Speaker:when you show that you're invested,
Speaker:when you are relatable,
Speaker:staying top of mind becomes a lot easier.
Speaker:It's not about sending daily emails or even weekly emails.
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:if you go on vacation,
Speaker:like I know Sue is doing very well deserved,
Speaker:so awesome,
Speaker:we're so excited for her.
Speaker:Yes, your kid gets sick or you just have a backlog
Speaker:of orders and that's the only thing that matters for the
Speaker:next eight days,
Speaker:right? When you can show you're really invest in your relatable,
Speaker:you can skip a week,
Speaker:you can have an accident happen,
Speaker:you can forget it,
Speaker:you know?
Speaker:And the task moves to next week in your project management
Speaker:system. And so staying top of mind becomes much easier when
Speaker:you do those first two things.
Speaker:And I just heard you give us permission to miss a
Speaker:week, heaven forbid that happened.
Speaker:I did.
Speaker:I missed last week,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:things got ahead of me.
Speaker:I had a lot of writing to do and I thought,
Speaker:oh my gosh,
Speaker:it's Thursday and I haven't sent an email.
Speaker:I said,
Speaker:well the world's not on fire.
Speaker:I guess I'll talk to them on Tuesday.
Speaker:And maybe that's how you're relatable with that next one.
Speaker:Absolutely. You might have seen I missed last week,
Speaker:here's what happened,
Speaker:but I'm back.
Speaker:She just got it.
Speaker:She's an email genius now.
Speaker:It's really not that hard.
Speaker:I love that.
Speaker:I love that so much.
Speaker:But do you suggest continuity and frequency with emails?
Speaker:Yeah, of course.
Speaker:So I like to think of the inbox,
Speaker:just like the mailbox,
Speaker:right? We go out and we think,
Speaker:oh you know,
Speaker:that's a bill that's on auto pay.
Speaker:I don't have to even open that.
Speaker:That goes right in the trash.
Speaker:And oh,
Speaker:those coupons they send me,
Speaker:I don't even shop at these places.
Speaker:And oh my gosh,
Speaker:Sue sent me something,
Speaker:I'm gonna open this right away.
Speaker:We do the exact same thing in the inbox.
Speaker:Oh, that's spam,
Speaker:that's a bill.
Speaker:I'll search for that when it's due.
Speaker:And oh my gosh,
Speaker:Liz Wilcox sent me something.
Speaker:I wonder what it is.
Speaker:And so we want to be familiar.
Speaker:I know who Sue is,
Speaker:I know she's got a podcast,
Speaker:she's really good at helping me X,
Speaker:Y, z,
Speaker:but we don't wanna be predictable,
Speaker:right? Where it's the exact same thing in the email every
Speaker:single time.
Speaker:And so of course,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:consistency helps with that familiarity.
Speaker:But again,
Speaker:we wanna vary that content.
Speaker:Sometimes, you know,
Speaker:sometimes maybe we're having a flash sale,
Speaker:other times maybe we're just trying to point people to our
Speaker:Instagram, cuz we're trying out live demos over there.
Speaker:So we wanna vary our content,
Speaker:but consistency definitely helps.
Speaker:But it's more about what we said at the top of
Speaker:the hour,
Speaker:that connection piece over consistency.
Speaker:When your people really feel connected,
Speaker:when they really know you're invested,
Speaker:you're a relatable person that they like,
Speaker:you're gonna be that person in the inbox.
Speaker:Oh my gosh,
Speaker:they sent me something,
Speaker:I've gotta open that right away.
Speaker:So no template emails where you just slip in another product
Speaker:and a price.
Speaker:Yeah, you wanna vary your content.
Speaker:I know Sue is against this,
Speaker:but if you wanted to sell in every email you could,
Speaker:but don't have it look the same every single week.
Speaker:Template emails,
Speaker:I don't know if you're on flow desk,
Speaker:they have all these beautiful templates that you can plug and
Speaker:play, but you wanna vary the content.
Speaker:So it's not like if Sue sent me a package in
Speaker:the mail every single week for four weeks,
Speaker:the first two weeks,
Speaker:oh my gosh,
Speaker:Sue sent me something,
Speaker:this is awesome.
Speaker:If it's the same candle,
Speaker:if it's that same brick candle by the third week,
Speaker:I'm gonna say,
Speaker:oh, I don't need another brick candle right now.
Speaker:I'll save that for later.
Speaker:Right? And we do the exact same thing in the mailbox.
Speaker:So don't,
Speaker:while those email templates can look beautiful,
Speaker:and we want everything to be like a church program,
Speaker:right? That's kind of what we think of newsletters.
Speaker:It's first I put X,
Speaker:then I put Y,
Speaker:then I'm gonna put the sale and all the pictures of
Speaker:my beautiful products on the bottom.
Speaker:If it looks the same every single week,
Speaker:people are gonna tune out.
Speaker:So you definitely wanna vary that content.
Speaker:Yeah, and I think just by nature of the fact that
Speaker:you have befriended them and they know you're a product-based business
Speaker:and you sell X,
Speaker:any communication from you clearly should have a link to your
Speaker:website. So if they're ready to buy,
Speaker:absolutely you can do that,
Speaker:of course,
Speaker:right? But it's just not always only product,
Speaker:price, buy button,
Speaker:that type of thing.
Speaker:Amen. You Always give them the option to come back,
Speaker:but you're not always just direct a hundred percent in their
Speaker:face selling.
Speaker:Absolutely. We definitely don't want to dismiss that friendship we can
Speaker:create. And that's why at the top of the hour I
Speaker:said, oh my gosh,
Speaker:I'm so excited.
Speaker:I love talking to people who make products because y'all people
Speaker:are out here doing what Sue just said not to do.
Speaker:Hello, product price by button piece out.
Speaker:So simple for you to differentiate and stand out from the
Speaker:crowd and do,
Speaker:even if you just did one thing Liz Wilcox told you
Speaker:to do today,
Speaker:you're gonna stand out like,
Speaker:whoa. People are gonna be so amazed and you're gonna see
Speaker:so many amazing results.
Speaker:Yes, absolutely.
Speaker:Okay, so let's swerve now into customers.
Speaker:So you're talking about this staircase.
Speaker:So first get them on the list,
Speaker:then they become friends.
Speaker:Is there anything different you do now when you have a
Speaker:subset of your friends who are purchasing from you?
Speaker:So they are also now customers.
Speaker:I wanted to pause this discussion for a second to let
Speaker:you know that I recognize you may be feeling overwhelmed right
Speaker:now. I mean,
Speaker:I bring on great guests who are specialists in their fields,
Speaker:and we get into fabulous conversations that you know can help
Speaker:grow your business.
Speaker:So after the show,
Speaker:you have the full intention of grabbing a download,
Speaker:making an adjustment on your website or any number of other
Speaker:ideas that arise as a result of this podcast.
Speaker:But what happens,
Speaker:you get back to your other activities and the momentum you
Speaker:once had gets lost.
Speaker:What you've planned to do is forgotten,
Speaker:then you feel bad because your business is going on as
Speaker:usual without implementing anything that you know would help grow your
Speaker:business. We're just too busy doing all the things like a
Speaker:robot moving from one thing to another without thinking,
Speaker:because we have to.
Speaker:I get it,
Speaker:I've been there.
Speaker:But guess what?
Speaker:There is another way.
Speaker:Since I recognized this exact behavior in my own business,
Speaker:I set out to do something about it.
Speaker:And now what works for me,
Speaker:I'm sharing with you.
Speaker:I formalized the process and it's called the inspired daily planner,
Speaker:made specifically for gifters,
Speaker:bakers, crafters and makers,
Speaker:but it's not your ordinary planner.
Speaker:First off,
Speaker:it comes with a video explaining my productivity strategy.
Speaker:Plus it's not dated.
Speaker:So you can start using your planner the second it arrives
Speaker:at your doorstep.
Speaker:And that's not all included for each day is a motivational
Speaker:message or business building tip and plenty of space to capture
Speaker:and book in time for to-dos,
Speaker:schedule appointments and all those other ideas that are now getting
Speaker:lost. Think of it as a book and a planner all
Speaker:in one,
Speaker:yet compact enough to carry with you and resource as necessary.
Speaker:It's the perfect solution to truly act and move your business
Speaker:forward. Go to gift biz unwrapped.com/inspired
Speaker:to get your hard copy planner along with my power of
Speaker:purpose video that will set you on the path for true
Speaker:business growth.
Speaker:This makes a great gift too.
Speaker:So if you have a biz bestie,
Speaker:pick up a planner for them too.
Speaker:That link again is gift biz unwrapped.com/inspired.
Speaker:Okay, let's get back to the show.
Speaker:I like to surprise and delight.
Speaker:I don't know about you,
Speaker:but with customers,
Speaker:every once in a while,
Speaker:maybe I'll pull up my Google calendar and just pick two
Speaker:random dates a year where I just send out an email
Speaker:that says,
Speaker:Hey, I just wanted to say thanks again for purchasing that
Speaker:candle or whatever.
Speaker:This can be a mass email,
Speaker:you could send it to all your customers,
Speaker:that's totally fine.
Speaker:And it's just,
Speaker:it brings them back,
Speaker:right? Especially if you have more expensive products,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:it's like,
Speaker:okay, I made the sale,
Speaker:now I have to go find,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:a new lead.
Speaker:I have to go do this new JV partnership.
Speaker:More eyeballs.
Speaker:More eyeballs,
Speaker:more eyeballs,
Speaker:right? But if we've got these customers on our email list
Speaker:doing all the things we just said,
Speaker:but also just every once in a while doing something to
Speaker:surprise and delight them,
Speaker:whether it's just an email of gratitude or you pick some
Speaker:of your,
Speaker:depending on what E S P you're using,
Speaker:you can isolate your best customers.
Speaker:Sending them a handwritten note or some kind of exclusive access.
Speaker:I'm only making this for people who have done X and
Speaker:Y. Oh my gosh,
Speaker:I'm getting excited thinking about it.
Speaker:You can't see my smile,
Speaker:but like,
Speaker:woo. I know I sent even.
Speaker:So I sell digital products and even I have a membership.
Speaker:And I sent an email on the two year anniversary to
Speaker:people who had canceled the membership and I said,
Speaker:Hey, this is the two year anniversary.
Speaker:I know you're not in the membership anymore,
Speaker:but I just wanna say thanks for giving it a try.
Speaker:This membership has changed my life and you were a part
Speaker:of that.
Speaker:And I got so many replies.
Speaker:Oh my gosh,
Speaker:Liz, it's so good to hear from you.
Speaker:Happy anniversary.
Speaker:That's so awesome.
Speaker:And some people rejoined and others,
Speaker:they just said,
Speaker:Hey, I'm onto the next thing.
Speaker:Or I closed my business down,
Speaker:or I shared it with a friend,
Speaker:I just don't need it anymore.
Speaker:And it opened up so many great conversations,
Speaker:and that was just a couple weeks ago.
Speaker:So I'm sure it will just continue to ripple effect,
Speaker:but that surprise and delight for customers,
Speaker:even if it's just once a year,
Speaker:I think will go a long,
Speaker:long way.
Speaker:Well, and you also surprised me just now because I thought
Speaker:where you were leading was you sent that gratitude and all
Speaker:of that,
Speaker:and I thought you were gonna say,
Speaker:here's an offer to rejoin,
Speaker:but you didn't do that,
Speaker:you just left it open.
Speaker:It was just a pure gratitude message.
Speaker:That was it.
Speaker:And then by nature,
Speaker:some people,
Speaker:people joined back in.
Speaker:But just that shows sincerity for your message,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:versus saying,
Speaker:I wanna get back other people who have left.
Speaker:Here's how I'll do it.
Speaker:It's my two year.
Speaker:Right? You're attacking it from a different angle,
Speaker:which feels much more caring and genuine versus an angle to
Speaker:sell, if that makes sense.
Speaker:Absolutely. Y'all,
Speaker:I really mean it.
Speaker:When I say friend,
Speaker:I really mean it when I say invest into them,
Speaker:right? Kindness is always cool in my book.
Speaker:And for me it's,
Speaker:I have a very long term way of thinking.
Speaker:I'm not thinking,
Speaker:oh, I've gotta make this sale right now.
Speaker:And of course there were times where I had to,
Speaker:but I always knew I'm gonna be in business in 10
Speaker:years from now,
Speaker:right? And hopefully you are listening and you think that too.
Speaker:And so letting down your guard a little bit and really
Speaker:allowing yourself to open up real relationships is gonna go a
Speaker:long, long way versus constantly,
Speaker:Hey, here's a discount,
Speaker:here's a discount,
Speaker:buy my thing,
Speaker:da dah dah,
Speaker:dah. Again,
Speaker:being a real person and show you're invested for the long-term
Speaker:is gonna give you long-term gains.
Speaker:Yeah. All right.
Speaker:So what I'm taking from you,
Speaker:Liz, under this category of customers is tag your list so
Speaker:that you know who are customers and who are prospects.
Speaker:And then you can take those customers who have already experienced
Speaker:your product or purchased it as a gift for somebody else
Speaker:and treat them as an elite group in a very genuine
Speaker:way. Absolutely.
Speaker:So it might be that you get an ingredient,
Speaker:maybe it's a color,
Speaker:it's a special type of yarn.
Speaker:Something with only a limited amount.
Speaker:It's not anything that you're gonna be able to make in
Speaker:mask, but you can make limited and introduce and offer it
Speaker:to that select group of people only.
Speaker:Or maybe you do a special appreciation sale a couple days
Speaker:ago at the time,
Speaker:we are now talking,
Speaker:so we're actually recording the interview.
Speaker:Few days ago it was random acts of kindness day.
Speaker:You could put that into an email.
Speaker:And my random act of kindness,
Speaker:because you're an existing customer,
Speaker:whatever is this,
Speaker:I decided just last minute,
Speaker:I'm gonna throw this up for you today,
Speaker:to give them an extra level of special touches.
Speaker:Yeah, I love that.
Speaker:People wanna be a part of something,
Speaker:they wanna feel like they belong,
Speaker:like someone understands,
Speaker:then they get a little special treatment,
Speaker:especially with physical products.
Speaker:Again, going back to my crochet hat,
Speaker:if I bought this and they reached out to me six
Speaker:months later,
Speaker:Hey, how are you liking that hat?
Speaker:Share it with a friend.
Speaker:Or you know,
Speaker:I created something similar that I think you might like.
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:it's exclusive only for people who have bought that hat.
Speaker:I'd be like,
Speaker:oh my gosh,
Speaker:I can only get this for you guys.
Speaker:I bought the hat like,
Speaker:ooh, la la.
Speaker:Heck yeah,
Speaker:I'm getting that thing right.
Speaker:It's like a prerequisite.
Speaker:Being a customer is a prerequisite to even more goodness here.
Speaker:Absolutely. Absolutely.
Speaker:And you can also do things,
Speaker:I'm just thinking,
Speaker:we're just kind of spinning ideas for people,
Speaker:right? You talk about digital products and yes,
Speaker:most of us here are making physical products,
Speaker:but nothing says you don't put together a little care sheet
Speaker:that you can email people about how to make sure that
Speaker:knitted hat that you're wearing stays as beautiful as the first
Speaker:day that you got it.
Speaker:Here's how you wash it,
Speaker:here's how you store it off season,
Speaker:et cetera.
Speaker:Like things like that.
Speaker:So things that you might know because you're a specialist in
Speaker:your product that honestly your customers might not know.
Speaker:Absolutely. I talk about that all the time.
Speaker:Or I'm thinking,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:if you make mugs or tumblers or wine glasses or some
Speaker:kind of artisan thing,
Speaker:I'm thinking maybe you could have a happy hour of only
Speaker:for people who have bought this certain wine glass or whatever.
Speaker:Oh, I'm gonna have a happy hour.
Speaker:It only happens once a quarter.
Speaker:It's only for people with this specific mug.
Speaker:Well first of all,
Speaker:I'm buying that mug if I don't already have it.
Speaker:And if I already have it,
Speaker:I'm thinking,
Speaker:wow, I'm really special.
Speaker:I know for me,
Speaker:again, I'm very nineties themed and there's one Etsy shop that
Speaker:I buy just about everything she makes.
Speaker:It's all like boy band and NSYNC stuff.
Speaker:If she would throw a happy hour,
Speaker:like a watch party of an old concert or something,
Speaker:oh my gosh,
Speaker:I would buy so much more of her stuff to come
Speaker:to the Zoom party decked out.
Speaker:Like I'm the one,
Speaker:I'm the biggest fan,
Speaker:right? Same.
Speaker:You have certain Tumblrs or you sell like sports themed stuff.
Speaker:That's a community already looking for more connection and you can
Speaker:really tap into that.
Speaker:I love it.
Speaker:Well, Sue and I are a dynamic duo.
Speaker:We Are Five stars.
Speaker:Pause the episode,
Speaker:go to iTunes,
Speaker:give her five stars.
Speaker:Like I,
Speaker:I'm fluffing this.
Speaker:She's a great host,
Speaker:y'all. Oh,
Speaker:you're so sweet.
Speaker:Okay, so I feel like we're already getting into engaging with
Speaker:your audience cuz that's a big thing that you do too.
Speaker:So it's not only being relatable and all becoming friends,
Speaker:you also are big at having them engage with you because
Speaker:you then get to know them too.
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:if they're only hearing about you,
Speaker:you don't get to know them as much unless you do
Speaker:some type of engagement.
Speaker:So how does that work?
Speaker:Yeah, so we want our people for a couple different reasons
Speaker:to know that our email marketing is a two way street.
Speaker:They can reply to us,
Speaker:we're gonna reply to them.
Speaker:Number one,
Speaker:that's excellent for deliverability.
Speaker:A k,
Speaker:a, it's gonna get you in the inbox versus spam if
Speaker:you have people clicking on your stuff,
Speaker:hitting reply,
Speaker:for lack of a better term.
Speaker:I say that signals to the internet gods that your emails
Speaker:matter. And so when new people get on your email list,
Speaker:you're gonna go or you're gonna be more likely to go
Speaker:into the inbox than spam.
Speaker:Okay? So it's not just someone taking action so that more
Speaker:of your emails will be delivered to them.
Speaker:It's also your overall reputation as someone who sends emails overall,
Speaker:even if it's a brand new person.
Speaker:Absolutely. Sue nailed it on the head right there.
Speaker:Okay, I just wanted to make sure I understood what you
Speaker:were saying.
Speaker:Yeah, she's got it.
Speaker:And so we want that from a deliverability standpoint,
Speaker:especially as you grow your list,
Speaker:it's really important to keep it healthy.
Speaker:And then also remember follower,
Speaker:friend, customer,
Speaker:how are we gonna create that community where it's like Liz
Speaker:just said,
Speaker:oh yeah,
Speaker:I would show up to all the Zoom parties.
Speaker:That would be so amazing.
Speaker:It's because I feel very connected to that maker.
Speaker:I follow her on Instagram,
Speaker:I'm friends with her on Facebook,
Speaker:I get her emails,
Speaker:I'm gobbling up all that stuff.
Speaker:And something that she does really well and you can do
Speaker:too, is in your welcome sequence or your onboarding sequence when
Speaker:someone purchases and gets on your email list,
Speaker:however you're doing that,
Speaker:making sure that what Sue mentioned at the very top when
Speaker:she introduced me,
Speaker:you're doing three things.
Speaker:Number one,
Speaker:showing a little bit of personality.
Speaker:Remember we want them to know,
Speaker:like, and trust us.
Speaker:We gotta show a little bit of personality.
Speaker:You don't have to be Liz Wilcox to have a personality,
Speaker:right? Sue and I are very different,
Speaker:but there's something about Sue that you like that gets you
Speaker:listening, opening emails,
Speaker:following her on social,
Speaker:right? So sharing a little bit of personality.
Speaker:Number two,
Speaker:sharing your vision.
Speaker:We've touched on this a little bit,
Speaker:but you know,
Speaker:I want my candles to make your house a home.
Speaker:I want my jewelry to make you feel good when you
Speaker:go out on a date,
Speaker:whatever that vision is,
Speaker:sharing it so people start to feel that connection,
Speaker:like, oh wow,
Speaker:again, that person's really invested,
Speaker:that person has thought through.
Speaker:They're not just mass producing stickers or whatever is why they're
Speaker:creating the stickers or whatever,
Speaker:right? And then your values,
Speaker:and this is not spewing your politics everywhere,
Speaker:commenting on every social injustice that's happening.
Speaker:But there are certain values that drive the way you do
Speaker:business, drive the way you do life that you can and
Speaker:should share in your welcome sequence and in your newsletters to
Speaker:make people feel aligned with you.
Speaker:There's a reason why I love that one Etsy shop,
Speaker:she's a boy,
Speaker:bander like me,
Speaker:she values nostalgia,
Speaker:right? And so do I.
Speaker:In my business,
Speaker:one of my values is affordability.
Speaker:A lot of my products are under $50 and that aligns
Speaker:with certain people.
Speaker:If you're a high ticket coach,
Speaker:I'm not really in alignment with you.
Speaker:You might come on my email list,
Speaker:you might get off pretty quickly.
Speaker:So making sure you have certain values.
Speaker:Again, the candle example.
Speaker:Why do you wanna make a house a home?
Speaker:What do you value there?
Speaker:You obviously value family,
Speaker:comfort, peace,
Speaker:tranquility, things like that.
Speaker:And sharing that.
Speaker:I make candles to make your house a home.
Speaker:I want when you step in your house for it to
Speaker:be a peaceful atmosphere.
Speaker:My candles,
Speaker:do this and that for you.
Speaker:Right? That's showing a lot of values.
Speaker:Instead of saying,
Speaker:well I make candles cause I can sell 'em online,
Speaker:right? That's not very compelling.
Speaker:Yeah, and I'm glad you gave an example because you don't
Speaker:say, my values are Right.
Speaker:You don't just just state values because that doesn't mean anything
Speaker:to someone who's reading.
Speaker:You bring in a story or a reason that relates to
Speaker:them. Just like your example just now,
Speaker:making your house a home,
Speaker:a healthy home or however it would align with your values
Speaker:is by demonstrating it by an example.
Speaker:Not just the words.
Speaker:It doesn't have to be this really like cut to the
Speaker:heart kind of example I just gave.
Speaker:If you make little figurines and you just think they're cute
Speaker:and you just like people that want cute things in their
Speaker:life, I'm thinking of like the Japanese have something,
Speaker:I forget what it's called,
Speaker:but it's like cute culture and some people are obsessed with
Speaker:it and everything in their house has like a stuffed animal
Speaker:on it.
Speaker:And that's your thing,
Speaker:right? Just like the boy band thing,
Speaker:that's nostalgia.
Speaker:It doesn't have to be this serious thing,
Speaker:but it has to be something that I can immediately say,
Speaker:oh yes,
Speaker:that aligns with me.
Speaker:I love cute stuff.
Speaker:I can't get enough pink in my house.
Speaker:Or you know,
Speaker:whatever it is.
Speaker:It doesn't have to be this end all,
Speaker:be all type of value.
Speaker:So I don't want you to think it has to be
Speaker:super serious if you're not.
Speaker:Yeah. Or in a certain situation,
Speaker:maybe it's not.
Speaker:And that I'm gonna tell another story cuz it might spark
Speaker:some ideas for people.
Speaker:Love it.
Speaker:Years ago when I was in Japan,
Speaker:because you brought this up,
Speaker:they had these little baby,
Speaker:I mean they had to be a quarter of an inch,
Speaker:big little.
Speaker:I think they were cats.
Speaker:I'm not exactly sure.
Speaker:I believe it.
Speaker:That sounds accurate.
Speaker:They were so small,
Speaker:I'm not even sure what they were.
Speaker:I bought like 12 of them for all of my friends
Speaker:because easy to pack and go home.
Speaker:They were just so cute.
Speaker:And so I told everybody,
Speaker:keep this in your purse.
Speaker:I'm thinking about you.
Speaker:I'm sending my vibes to you.
Speaker:Even when we're not together.
Speaker:We're close friends.
Speaker:And I still to this day,
Speaker:there are a couple of women that I know who keep
Speaker:them in their purse still because you don't even remember that
Speaker:they're there.
Speaker:They're so little.
Speaker:And so if you make something that's just fun,
Speaker:maybe it should connect with what you obviously make and are
Speaker:known for.
Speaker:But if it's just something fun that you're just gonna make
Speaker:a few or there's a reason for 'em or whatever,
Speaker:that would be an example.
Speaker:I just brought that up as a fun idea.
Speaker:I love that so much.
Speaker:Just make it easy.
Speaker:So in your welcome email,
Speaker:you wanna show your personality,
Speaker:you wanna share your vision for your product and then demonstrate
Speaker:the values and why your customer would care about those values.
Speaker:That's why they're buying from you.
Speaker:Cuz they also agree are in alignment with and care about
Speaker:those things for themself as well.
Speaker:So yeah,
Speaker:this is all great,
Speaker:Liz, but they're not gonna get to any of this unless
Speaker:they open that email,
Speaker:right? We know how to get them into the inbox because
Speaker:it's how you've been talking with people through their emails.
Speaker:So your reputation,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:through your email service provider is strong.
Speaker:So that gives you the best opportunity of getting in front
Speaker:of them so they have the option to open.
Speaker:But what do we do to get people to actually click
Speaker:and open?
Speaker:Yeah. So again,
Speaker:thinking brick by brick.
Speaker:So making sure that welcome sequence is really solid.
Speaker:And those first couple emails that you send are short and
Speaker:to the point.
Speaker:The biggest mistake I see people making is the first email,
Speaker:or the second email being everything.
Speaker:But the kitchen scene,
Speaker:it's, Hey,
Speaker:this is where you can find me,
Speaker:Pinterest, Instagram,
Speaker:Twitter, da da da.
Speaker:It's like,
Speaker:do you even use any of those and talking about how
Speaker:you got into making candles or creating stickers,
Speaker:or they're not our friends yet,
Speaker:unless you're Oprah,
Speaker:kind of famous people don't wanna hear your story.
Speaker:They're not gobbling up everything you're sending quite yet.
Speaker:They're not our friends yet.
Speaker:And in those first few emails,
Speaker:really setting expectations is gonna help people open your emails from
Speaker:here on out and sending an email that says,
Speaker:Hey, this is what it looks like to be a member
Speaker:of this community,
Speaker:to be on this email list.
Speaker:Whatever you wanna say.
Speaker:And this is where you tell them,
Speaker:if you're gonna give them any type of advice,
Speaker:like Sue mentioned earlier,
Speaker:I'm gonna share how to care for your crochet hat and
Speaker:any other items you might buy in the shop.
Speaker:I'm going to,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:go live on Instagram and do demos of how I create
Speaker:sense every Tuesday afternoon.
Speaker:If you wanna help me pick out the next set for
Speaker:each candle of the month,
Speaker:make sure you follow me over there,
Speaker:right? You're setting expectations of what it looks like to be
Speaker:in the community and where they can find you.
Speaker:And then number three,
Speaker:you're gonna tell them when you are going to email them.
Speaker:And I know Sue and I talked earlier,
Speaker:maybe about 20 minutes ago,
Speaker:about, you don't have to always email every day or every
Speaker:week. Sometimes it can be sporadic,
Speaker:but just be as honest as possible.
Speaker:I'm gonna email you on Tuesday afternoons about X,
Speaker:Y, Z.
Speaker:Or you could be,
Speaker:I'm gonna email you sporadically because I'm a maker and that's
Speaker:how my brain works.
Speaker:Stay tuned,
Speaker:right? That creates curiosity.
Speaker:So it's not necessarily a bad thing.
Speaker:And then the last thing,
Speaker:make sure,
Speaker:of course you're a maker so it's a little more obvious
Speaker:for people,
Speaker:but make sure you're just saying,
Speaker:I'm gonna offer you my suite of products,
Speaker:or I'm gonna share my favorite products of the week,
Speaker:or I'm gonna offer sales and exclusive access to certain products.
Speaker:Whatever is true.
Speaker:However you run your business,
Speaker:if you're stay tuned for my Black Friday and Christmas and
Speaker:July sales,
Speaker:making sure that you're setting the expectation that,
Speaker:yeah, this is a marketing channel,
Speaker:and you might think I'm a product maker.
Speaker:That's pretty obvious,
Speaker:right? But we just wanna,
Speaker:again, set that expectation.
Speaker:So if they don't want those emails,
Speaker:they will unsubscribe.
Speaker:And the people that really wanna open your emails and really
Speaker:consent to all those things you just said,
Speaker:stay on the list and stay opening.
Speaker:Yeah, and I think that's really important because if you have
Speaker:a lot of dead weight on your email list,
Speaker:first off,
Speaker:your email list is gonna get so big and you might
Speaker:have to pay more for people who aren't because they're on
Speaker:your list and they aren't even opening,
Speaker:you know?
Speaker:Amen. So as it gets bigger,
Speaker:that's gonna happen.
Speaker:Plus your list gets bad with all those unopeneds.
Speaker:And I think that also,
Speaker:you can correct me if I'm wrong,
Speaker:Liz, but I think that also affects your reputation if they're
Speaker:seeing such a large group of people not opening.
Speaker:It definitely does.
Speaker:Yeah. So that's another way to keep your open rate up
Speaker:and to keep engagement up to keep yourself in the inbox.
Speaker:It's a little more technical of an answer,
Speaker:but you definitely want to be scrubbing the people that are
Speaker:not opening off your list How often?
Speaker:I would say once a quarter,
Speaker:at least twice a year,
Speaker:depending on the list building that you're doing.
Speaker:Like if your list is growing exponentially,
Speaker:you probably wanna check in every three or four months to
Speaker:get those people off.
Speaker:And then if it's a little slower list,
Speaker:maybe you're emailing once a month,
Speaker:you wanna check in twice a year.
Speaker:Now you can remove those people from your email list,
Speaker:download them,
Speaker:and then you can still use those addresses to run Facebook
Speaker:ads or Etsy ads or whatever you're doing.
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:those are still your emails,
Speaker:but we don't wanna be sending them that consistent newsletter if
Speaker:they're not opening,
Speaker:because again,
Speaker:they're sending a signal out to the internet.
Speaker:Gods so Sue's on my list,
Speaker:I send an email out for 90 days.
Speaker:Sue opens exactly zero emails.
Speaker:So Sue sends,
Speaker:let's say I send 20 emails in 90 days,
Speaker:Sue sends 20 signals to the internet Gods that Liz's emails
Speaker:don't matter.
Speaker:Now, Sue times a thousand.
Speaker:That's a lot of signals to the internet guys,
Speaker:right? And it's gonna start plummeting.
Speaker:So you wanna get those people off your list or stop
Speaker:emailing them.
Speaker:Maybe you keep them segmented so you don't email them and
Speaker:maybe you have a look back window during Black Friday,
Speaker:right? And you send them stuff during Black Friday,
Speaker:or you have a Christmas in July sale,
Speaker:you can bring those people back,
Speaker:but you definitely don't wanna be emailing them your monthly or
Speaker:weekly newsletter if they've fallen off the wagon,
Speaker:so to speak,
Speaker:in about 90 days.
Speaker:Yeah. And I think all the more reason to the whole
Speaker:point of becoming a friend.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:I know that there are brands that I follow because I
Speaker:like their products,
Speaker:but I don't need their products all the time.
Speaker:And maybe I even like them just as people,
Speaker:and I wanna stay up to date as to what's going
Speaker:on. I still open even though I might not be in
Speaker:buying mode right now.
Speaker:So there's lots of reasons to do that.
Speaker:But all right,
Speaker:I have a big question.
Speaker:Okay. We have people I know who have an email list
Speaker:already established,
Speaker:or they've been collecting emails for several years and never sent
Speaker:out an email or started with the best intent and stopped.
Speaker:So I've got a list of people who haven't been sent
Speaker:to for a long time,
Speaker:but we've just gone through and talked about so many things
Speaker:that are so achievable and easy.
Speaker:So someone who's like,
Speaker:okay, I can actually do this.
Speaker:I wanna try this,
Speaker:but they have this list that hasn't been used forever.
Speaker:How do they get started at this point?
Speaker:Yeah. So super simple.
Speaker:You just wanna send an email out and say,
Speaker:give away something for free.
Speaker:Like if you've gone to taking care of your jewelry or
Speaker:little video on how to x Y,
Speaker:Z with your product and say,
Speaker:Hey, you got on my list for X and y reason.
Speaker:Remember me,
Speaker:I'm Liz Wilcox,
Speaker:I'm that email marketing lady.
Speaker:By the way,
Speaker:I wanted to share this with you in case you don't
Speaker:have it.
Speaker:And if you don't know anything else about me or you
Speaker:can't remember,
Speaker:know this.
Speaker:And then this is where you put in a little personality
Speaker:and that vision.
Speaker:And so for me,
Speaker:I would say,
Speaker:as much as I love the nineties,
Speaker:I love the idea of you making money with email,
Speaker:even more,
Speaker:talk to you later.
Speaker:And so you might say,
Speaker:as much as I love X,
Speaker:I love the idea of Y even more.
Speaker:And I know you're probably driving or doing dishes,
Speaker:you can't write that down,
Speaker:but try to bury that in your brain somewhere.
Speaker:So, hey,
Speaker:checking in.
Speaker:Liz Wilcox here.
Speaker:Here's something I wanna give you.
Speaker:Again, showing you're invested right up front.
Speaker:I wanna give this to you,
Speaker:by the way,
Speaker:don't forget,
Speaker:I'm Liz Wilcox,
Speaker:as much as I love X I love Y,
Speaker:even more Y being that vision.
Speaker:And then you can,
Speaker:in the Ps,
Speaker:this is where you can set the expectations.
Speaker:PS I'm gonna start emailing my list even more.
Speaker:I'm really excited about it.
Speaker:Here's what's coming up.
Speaker:And then that you set those expectations soon.
Speaker:And I talked about five minutes ago,
Speaker:oh, I'm gonna offer this kind of advice.
Speaker:I'm gonna share these exclusive access things.
Speaker:I'm gonna email you every other Tuesday.
Speaker:I'm gonna offer my products over on my Etsy shop.
Speaker:Whatever's true,
Speaker:I'm gonna go live on Instagram.
Speaker:Right? Just set those expectations and then just start your newsletter
Speaker:from there.
Speaker:Okay? So don't overthink it.
Speaker:And since you're gonna be cleaning your list at some point
Speaker:too, there will be some people who are like,
Speaker:I cared about the product then I don't now.
Speaker:My baby's now five years old.
Speaker:Or you know,
Speaker:whatever relates,
Speaker:Right? And then let them go save the names,
Speaker:as Liz was saying,
Speaker:but just don't be mailing to them anymore.
Speaker:So yeah,
Speaker:again, don't overthink it.
Speaker:But I,
Speaker:there is one topic that I just want some words of
Speaker:wisdom on before we close up here.
Speaker:And that is subject lines,
Speaker:because those I think still are important to trigger people to
Speaker:be interested in opening,
Speaker:but we're all weary cuz there's always people who do the
Speaker:bait and switch in subject lines and things like that.
Speaker:So what would be some tips on what we should be
Speaker:doing for subject lines so that they emails get open and
Speaker:the subject lines are appropriate?
Speaker:Yeah, so write your newsletter first.
Speaker:Write your email first and then look at it and say,
Speaker:okay, if,
Speaker:if I was sending this to Sue,
Speaker:if I was sending this to my friend,
Speaker:what would the subject line be so that they actually open
Speaker:it? Remember,
Speaker:we're trying to make friends and so we're not trying to
Speaker:bait and switch,
Speaker:and of course we wanna create intrigue,
Speaker:but it's,
Speaker:if you have to think literally about Sue,
Speaker:like what would I,
Speaker:if I was emailing this to Sue,
Speaker:what would the subject line be?
Speaker:What would you know?
Speaker:What's the gist of this email that's gonna get Sue's attention
Speaker:that I can put in the subject line?
Speaker:I also directly on my website,
Speaker:it's not even an opt-in,
Speaker:I have a subject line generator.
Speaker:I think it's got like a hundred subject lines.
Speaker:Ooh, I know Sue,
Speaker:you can't see Sue's face,
Speaker:but her eyes just drew really big.
Speaker:Yeah, I always forget it's on there.
Speaker:But you scroll down a couple scrolls and it says,
Speaker:need a subject line and you can just hit that button
Speaker:to your heart's content.
Speaker:So If you ever get confused about your subject line or
Speaker:you're not sure where to even start,
Speaker:I know writing from scratch totally sucks.
Speaker:So you can just go to liz wilcox.com
Speaker:and click that button to your heart's desire.
Speaker:I'm going there today.
Speaker:I told you it's fun over here in Liz Wilcox land.
Speaker:We don't do anything that's difficult.
Speaker:So anything I can do to make life simpler for you,
Speaker:that's what I wanna do.
Speaker:Cause I really believe in the power of email marketing.
Speaker:We totally need to do that.
Speaker:I've always felt,
Speaker:just a couple more comments about subject lines.
Speaker:Yeah, I've always felt like you don't wanna give away everything
Speaker:in the subject line because then there's no reason for people
Speaker:to open.
Speaker:You know?
Speaker:So you have to be cautious about that.
Speaker:But you also don't wanna be overly teasey where it feels
Speaker:like, oh,
Speaker:all you're trying to do is annoying.
Speaker:Get me to Open.
Speaker:Like, you know,
Speaker:so there's a fine line between all of that,
Speaker:but that's why we need to use your subject line generator.
Speaker:Absolutely. And for me,
Speaker:it, yeah,
Speaker:you wanna create intrigue,
Speaker:but you don't wanna be annoying.
Speaker:And so just like the content of your email vary the
Speaker:subject line.
Speaker:Sometimes it might be just really practical,
Speaker:Hey, I've got three tips for you today.
Speaker:Other times it might be that intrigued,
Speaker:only open if you're ready for email marketing.
Speaker:Other times it might be sort of lazy,
Speaker:feeling lazy,
Speaker:please open,
Speaker:you know?
Speaker:So I mean,
Speaker:it depends on your personality,
Speaker:right? I'm making these up on the fly.
Speaker:That's actually a good one,
Speaker:Nate to laugh today.
Speaker:Please open.
Speaker:Yeah, Somebody write that one to me.
Speaker:I don't wanna forget that one.
Speaker:Yeah, But what about when people include words like sale promotion,
Speaker:three days only it does that land you in the promotion
Speaker:folder versus the primary inbox?
Speaker:Okay, so let's talk about the promotions.
Speaker:If you land in the promotions Gmail,
Speaker:which is what use promotions is actually doing its job,
Speaker:you are a promotional email.
Speaker:The promotions folder is not the spam folder.
Speaker:And so if you land in promotions,
Speaker:that's actually very 100% accurate and you should not worry about
Speaker:it other than it's annoying.
Speaker:Now, most people don't even use promotions folders.
Speaker:Some people do,
Speaker:most people don't.
Speaker:On average,
Speaker:the average Google Mail user does not use the promotions tab.
Speaker:It's that spam we want to avoid.
Speaker:But nowadays,
Speaker:there's so many emails being sent,
Speaker:I think it's,
Speaker:I don't even know,
Speaker:it's like billions of emails.
Speaker:Billions and billions like every month.
Speaker:And so trigger words like flash sale,
Speaker:free discount,
Speaker:there are so many trigger words now that basically there are
Speaker:no trigger words.
Speaker:So don't worry about that.
Speaker:If you are having a sale,
Speaker:put that in the subject line.
Speaker:If you've done everything Sue and I talked about for the
Speaker:last hour,
Speaker:you will land in the inbox,
Speaker:maybe sometimes the promotions,
Speaker:but that's Gmail doing its job.
Speaker:You didn't do anything wrong and you will make money off
Speaker:that sale.
Speaker:Okay? I mean,
Speaker:I've gone into the promotion folder more and more because there's
Speaker:so much good stuff that I want that lands in there.
Speaker:Then I have to swipe it over to my inbox to
Speaker:try and train it that I want it in my primary
Speaker:folder. Yeah,
Speaker:and I think people are learning that over time,
Speaker:but it is frustrating sometimes that we land there.
Speaker:It is frustrating.
Speaker:And email marketing.
Speaker:ding this at the beginning of:Speaker:mid:Speaker:apple started to do a lot of things with email marketing
Speaker:that has triggered other companies to change up things.
Speaker:And Google hasn't announced anything but what Sue's talking about,
Speaker:oh, that landed in my promotions when normally it wouldn't be.
Speaker:Obviously Google is changing things behind the scenes and that's business,
Speaker:right? Business is always evolving.
Speaker:The tools we use are always evolving.
Speaker:And so just keep an eye out on it but don't
Speaker:stress about it.
Speaker:And all the more reason to also be doing some social
Speaker:media posts and other things so that you can run into
Speaker:people who are following you in different places so that they
Speaker:do get that email.
Speaker:Absolutely. They remember to look for whatever.
Speaker:All right.
Speaker:So tell us more about all the goodness that Liz Wilcox
Speaker:offers. You've already talked about a little bit on your website,
Speaker:but what else can you share with us?
Speaker:Yeah, so of course I'm an email marketer.
Speaker:I would love,
Speaker:if you are ready to kind of put all this to
Speaker:action and you need a little help,
Speaker:you can go directly to liz wilcox.com.
Speaker:You can hit the hot pink button in the top right
Speaker:hand corner.
Speaker:You can't miss it.
Speaker:I'm actually gonna give you three newsletter examples,
Speaker:all those things we talked about,
Speaker:investing, being relatable,
Speaker:staying top of mind,
Speaker:getting people to click reply.
Speaker:You're actually gonna get three newsletter examples,
Speaker:samples, templates,
Speaker:you can plug and play them.
Speaker:One to show you how to get people to click.
Speaker:One to show you how to get people to reply,
Speaker:and one to show you how to get people to buy
Speaker:directly from your newsletter.
Speaker:You're also gonna get 52 subject lines,
Speaker:completely four free,
Speaker:that have all garner me over 40% open rate.
Speaker:And if that's not enough,
Speaker:we talked about that welcome sequence.
Speaker:Those are those first bricks you need to lay.
Speaker:I have a four part welcome sequence already written for you,
Speaker:designed to show off your personality,
Speaker:your vision and values.
Speaker:That's all for free.
Speaker:Liz wilcox.com.
Speaker:Hot pink button,
Speaker:you can't miss it.
Speaker:Wow, that's a lot.
Speaker:Liz, We covered a lot today.
Speaker:How can anybody not do that?
Speaker:Super easy,
Speaker:Sue. I need to hire you as my hype man.
Speaker:No, I mean we need these things for sure.
Speaker:So, and then from there we learn more about what you
Speaker:offer and as we go.
Speaker:But the very first thing,
Speaker:cuz I've learned,
Speaker:you always wanna give one call to action,
Speaker:right? So this is the call to action,
Speaker:the pink button.
Speaker:Yeah, hot pink button,
Speaker:baby. Get in there.
Speaker:We've covered so much stuff today and I was actually like,
Speaker:wow, we're covering everything in my freebie.
Speaker:This is awesome.
Speaker:Like I said,
Speaker:five stars,
Speaker:this lady's a great host.
Speaker:Y'all need to rate her right now.
Speaker:We covered a lot.
Speaker:And whenever you are with your email marketing journey,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:I wanted my freebie to be able to actually truly help
Speaker:you. I really mean it when I say I want email
Speaker:to work for you.
Speaker:And I love working with Makers because just simple tweaks can
Speaker:make you stand out in a huge way and pay big
Speaker:dividends over the long term.
Speaker:Yeah. And you're showing us that it doesn't have to be
Speaker:hard. Like we need to wipe away these thoughts that we
Speaker:have to spend hours writing emails.
Speaker:You've explained to us how to do it.
Speaker:You're gonna provide us with a lot of direction when we
Speaker:hit that pink button on doing it with examples and everything.
Speaker:You've got subject line generator,
Speaker:like all of that.
Speaker:You've given us everything and what you just said there,
Speaker:you're walking the talk.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:you're telling us what you want for us.
Speaker:So you're doing exactly what you teach other people to do,
Speaker:which is incredible.
Speaker:Amazing. This is a fabulous episode.
Speaker:I can't wait to share it with everybody.
Speaker:Liz, thank you so much for coming on today.
Speaker:Yeah, thank you.
Speaker:And I can't wait to see what everybody does with email.
Speaker:You've changed our email world.
Speaker:How about that,
Speaker:Liz? Love that.
Speaker:Wow. I hope this conversation has made you feel lighter and
Speaker:excited about revisiting your approach to email.
Speaker:The idea of talking with friends versus customers makes it so
Speaker:much more doable.
Speaker:I also encourage you to take a peek at Liz's website.
Speaker:It reinforces some of the concepts we've talked about here.
Speaker:And you'll find the subject line prompter about halfway down the
Speaker:homepage in a bright yellow box.
Speaker:Plus, take advantage of her freebie offer.
Speaker:That way you'll also get on her list so you can
Speaker:see all the concepts we've talked about today in action.
Speaker:Short of doing it for you,
Speaker:this is everything you need.
Speaker:If you're enjoying the podcast and would like to show support,
Speaker:a rating and review is always fabulous because it helps get
Speaker:the show seen by more makers.
Speaker:It's a great way to pay it forward.
Speaker:And there's another way where you can get something tangible in
Speaker:return for your support too.
Speaker:Visit my merch shop for a wide variety of inspirational items
Speaker:like mugs,
Speaker:journals, water bottles,
Speaker:and more featuring logos,
Speaker:images, and quotes to inspire you throughout your day.
Speaker:Makes a great gift too.
Speaker:And we've just added some new products for the season to
Speaker:the shop.
Speaker:Turnaround is quick and the quality is top notch,
Speaker:nothing but the best for you.
Speaker:Take a look at all the options@giftbizunwrapped.com
Speaker:slash shop.
Speaker:All proceeds from these purchases helps go to offset the cost
Speaker:of producing the show.
Speaker:And now be safe and well,
Speaker:and I'll see you again next time on the Gift Biz
Speaker:Unwrapped podcast.
Speaker:I wanna make sure you're familiar with my free Facebook group
Speaker:called Give Biz Breeze.
Speaker:It's a place where we all gather and our community to
Speaker:support each other.
Speaker:I got a really fun post in there that's my favorite
Speaker:of the week,
Speaker:I have to say,
Speaker:where I invite all of you to share what you're doing
Speaker:to show pictures of your product,
Speaker:to show what you're working on for the week,
Speaker:to get reaction from other people.
Speaker:And just for fun,
Speaker:because we all get to see the wonderful products that everybody
Speaker:in the community is making.
Speaker:My favorite post every single week.
Speaker:Without doubt.
Speaker:Wait, what?
Speaker:Aren't you part of the group already?
Speaker:If not,
Speaker:make sure to jump over to Facebook and search for the
Speaker:group Gift Biz breeze.
Speaker:Don't delay.