How I Tripled My Email List in 6 Months with Flodesk
I've been building email lists for years—2007 to be exact—but it wasn't until I started using Flodesk that my email list grew by 30% in six months. Suppose you're looking to grow your email list and get more subscribers or are tired of spending your time chasing the algorithm on Instagram, vying for an audience's attention. In that case, I highly recommend using Flodesk!
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Why you didn't have an email list in the first place…
If you don’t have an email list, it might be time to start. And I get it! If the thought of creating an email list scares you, I get it. You may think your business is too small and there’s not enough time to add another piece of work for your team. If other marketers may have told you that building an email list won’t make any difference in your business because most people don’t want to subscribe to newsletters anymore because it's all about social. Or maybe you just haven't tried before. I’ll begin by saying they are wrong if a marketer tells you the opposite about email list building. Email lists are the #1 thing any smart marketer will tell you is imperative to your business. It should be the first thing you want to set up in your business before anything else.
For example, if you are launching a business and have set up a landing page for your business, it’s important to set up a place together emails. If you are thinking, “why? if I don’t have visitors…”
If you get a visitor or share about your business, sending someone to your landing page is a surefire way to gather email addresses to share updates and announce when you launch. I am always blown away at how many new businesses fail to set up an email list.
Email Marketing 101 and Why creating an email list is essential to any business
Email marketing is one of the most effective ways to reach your customers. The single message autoresponder email had an astonishing 98% open rate and a 37% click-through rate. (GetResponse, 2020). This can be a welcome email series for when your subscriber joins your email list or a warm-up email flow in preparation for a new product or service launch.
It also allows you to build relationships with your customers by sending them newsletters, promotions, and other information that can be valuable for them. In fact, 50% of people buy from marketing emails at least once per month. (Salecycle, 2022)
To create an email list, you must first have a website or blog where people can sign up for it. The best way to do this is by creating an opt-in page on your website that offers something in exchange for their email address. You may offer something in exchange, such as an ebook (basically a shortened version of an article), discount coupons, a free trial, or other incentives they might find useful depending on what business you run/spearhead/are involved in!
“If Social Media is the cocktail party, then email marketing is the ‘meet up for coffee’. The original 1-to-1 channel.”
If you feel like a slave to Instagram, it's time to shift your focus to your email list
If your goal is to grow a sustainable business with real customers who care about what you do and how you can help them achieve their goals (and who doesn't want this?), having an engaged community around what you do is one of the fastest ways there is!
If you feel like a slave to Instagram, it's time to shift your focus to your email list.
Instagram is a great way to grow your audience, but it isn't the best way to get people to buy from you.
There are two main reasons for this:
The first reason is that Instagram doesn't allow you to reach 100% of your audience with one post - it only allows you to reach 10% per post! (Yes, take a moment to sit with that.)
The second reason is that Instagram could disable or delete your account without notice if they decide they don't like what you're doing! Their Terms of Use, although lengthy, are very vague, and try reaching out to them. I know this all too well with my personal account. Instagram suspended my account, and it took me nearly six months to get it back. And that was only because I had the help of an executive at Meta/Instagram step-in to help. (The benefit of living in San Francisco and having friends that know people.) That's not even considering the money I lost in brand collaborations and campaigns. (An estimated $36k lost in revenue.) Luckily, I had an email list of that I was able to triple in growth in the six months of being Instagramless. Currently, my email list stands at 8.75k subscribers.
What is Flodesk, and why it is the email marketing platform loved by women-owned businesses?
Flodesk is an email marketing platform free for the first 30 days and then $38/month thereafter. This makes it incredibly affordable for small business owners who want to start their email newsletter but don't have the budget. It's also great for women-owned businesses since Flodesk was built by women and only works with other companies owned by women (like yours!).
If you already use Shopify, Squarespace, or WordPress as your eCommerce platform, Flodesk will integrate seamlessly into your website once you've signed up.
Flodesk allows users to create beautiful newsletters in minutes without needing technical skills or training! Using Flodesk's drag-and-drop builder tools, even non-designers can create stunning newsletters that help convert visitors into customers.
Why Flodesk works for growing your list fast
The Flodesk platform offers a suite of tools to help you optimize your email marketing.
Email templates
Whether it’s an automated welcome series, an abandoned cart email, or any other email you send out, having a beautiful template will help keep your subscribers engaged and convert them into customers.
Automation
If you have many products or services, creating automated flows is essential for keeping track of what’s happening in your business. For example, I had one automation that automatically sent my new subscribers an ebook about how to start their own dropshipping business after they joined my subscriber list.
Segmentation
Segmenting allows you to tailor different messages to different groups of people depending on their stage with your business. For instance: If someone signs up for my free course but doesn’t purchase the paid course yet (and hasn't checked back in), I could send them a follow-up email asking if they need help! You can also use this feature if there's something specific related to their needs, such as location, industry interests, etc...
Email marketing will help you increase
Email marketing is the most effective way to build a customer relationship. If you want to sell more, it's worth investing in software like Flodesk. With Craveable Social, I started my email list in May 2018 and have already gained over 1,500 subscribers. But it wasn’t until 2020 that I started to put a real email marketing strategy in place. It took me a long time to do so because I had been a one-woman show for so long, and I was limited on what I could do. Most of my time was dedicated to client projects. In 2020—as we all know— the pandemic gave us all the gift of time. I was finally able to dedicate time to creating an email marketing strategy.
Email list gives us a 20x ROI on our advertising spend and helps us generate repeat customers, testimonials/feedback from happy clients, referrals, and more sales down the line! Knowing this, I leveraged my strengths and what my clients were interested in and utilized Pinterest to grow my list.
Because of this, many of my subscribers have converted into customers and clients over the last two years.
My 3 step strategy for growing my list with Flodesk
Step 1: Create a freebie your target audience wants
Your first step is creating a freebie your target audience will want. This could be a workbook, cheat sheet, e-book, or template. Whatever it is, it should help your audience with something they need help with or teach them something new that they didn't know before. Your freebie should always add value to your end user. For Craveable Social, it was a social media content calendar and a media kit. It was wildly successful!
Step 2: Market it everywhere to build your email list
The second step is to market this freebie everywhere you can think of! Get on social media and share it with friends and family members. Post about it on LinkedIn and Facebook groups related to your industry. Share it on Twitter and Pinterest—wherever there are people who might be interested in what you're offering!
Step 3: Deliver your freebie automatically
And finally, the third step is to ensure that anyone who signs up for your list receives their freebie automatically when they sign up. You don't want people signing up never to receive the information they were promised! This should be instant gratification, and automatic delivery will provide that. Flodesk can help with this!
It's never too late to start creating an email list.
It’s never too late to start creating an email list. The sooner you start, the more time you have to build your list. If you're just starting, getting your email list started as soon as possible is important.
You now know how important it is to your business, but if you feel overwhelmed about where to start, our Email Marketing Flodesk Set Up service is what you need. We’ll set it up for you the right way and start seeing your list grow with subscribers who like hearing from you.
With our Email Marketing service, you'll get fully set up on one of our favorite platforms: Flodesk, Squarespace Campaigns, or SendBlue. This service includes an opt-in strategy to grow your list, our best practice guide to email marketing, and an automated Welcome sequence to make your new subscribers thrilled about joining your list. If you have any questions, reach out! We’d love to help and answer any questions you might have.
Is there a free version of Flodesk?
Although there is no free version of Flodesk, you can use the 30-day free trial to design your newsletters and series and create your segments. It’s a great way to test it out and get the hang of their platform.
Subscription cost: $38/month
A list of your customers' email addresses will help you increase sales, so it's worth investing in software like Flodesk. If you decide to purchase, you can get a discount using my Flodesk referral link. You get 50% off your first year of Flodesk, which is $19/month.
In comparison
Conclusion
I've seen many businesses that have grown their lists exponentially, and it's always amazing to see what they're doing. If you want to grow your list, I highly recommend Flodesk for this purpose. The main reason why I love Flodesk is that it makes everything easy - from getting started with building an email list, sending out emails, managing subscribers, and more!
