EXACTLY How to Get Started With Email Marketing (step-by-step guide)
How much random marketing advice have you read on the internet about all the things you “should” be doing, but without anyone ever telling you how to do it?
Yeah, me too.
I know you have better things to be doing than trying to figure everything out for yourself and Googling things like “SEO” and “how to start a blog.”
That’s why today I want to give you an actually usable step-by-step guide to easily get started with one of the most important components of any digital strategy: email marketing.
I personally believe that email marketing is essential for any business, but it is absolutely NON-NEGOTIABLE for nonprofits, social enterprises, and other community-based businesses.
Why? When you’re looking to build support and deepen your connection with old customers and new prospects alike, email is, by far, the #1 way to do it.
Why email marketing is essential for your brand
To put it simply, email outperforms every other marketing channel there is. In other words…
If your business isn’t engaging in some form of email marketing, you’re seriously losing out on customers, donors, and revenue!
Listing all the stats related to how effective email marketing is would take a mega-post all on its own, but here’s a few that might show you what I mean.
McKinsey found that email is 40X more effective at acquiring new customers than Facebook and Twitter combined. (So if your marketing team thinks that Instagram and Facebook Ads are going to be the next big win for your business… think again.)
A 2016 study found that email had a median ROI of 122%, and Campaign Monitor reports that it can even be as high as 4400% — which comes out to $44 in revenue for every $1 spent.
Here’s the thing. When most people land on your website, they’re not going to be ready to buy from you. I suspect that’s doubly true for nonprofits looking to raise donations online.
In the most general sense, email lets you stay in contact with potential customers until they’re ready to take the next step. And when they are, you’ll know exactly how to help them get there.
Email is especially important for social entrepreneurs and businesses trying to achieve social impact. After all, you’re probably focused on more than just engineering a product and getting it on the shelf at Whole Foods!
The social sector is all about RELATIONSHIPS, not sales. Emotional CONNECTION is one of our most valuable metrics.
With email marketing, not only do you establish a relationship with new prospects and build trust over time, but you can also stay engaged with past customers, donors, and partners.
Think about it like this: The best predictor of future behavior is past behavior. If someone gave you money in the past, they’re even more likely to do it in the future — especially if they see the benefits of it firsthand.
When it comes to nonprofit development in particular, your highest-ticket donors are likely going to be those who have already given in the past. Even small recurring donations can seriously bulk up your operating budget.
Whether for-profit or non-profit, when it comes to the bottom line, your job as a marketer is simple…
Get new customers to buy, and get old customers to buy again!
And there’s no better way to do that than through email.
How email marketing fits into the rest of your business
Let’s dig a little deeper. A simple “marketing funnel” might look something like this:
A visitor lands on your site (attention)
After browsing around, they subscribe to your email list (interest)
Eventually, they decide to buy (action)
So from front to back, you have visitor–subscriber–buyer, which corresponds to attention-interest-action. In marketing terms, you can also think of it as prospect-lead-customer.
When people first visit your site, they’re a prospect. All you’ve done at this point, if you’re successful, is capture their attention. You convert them into a lead when they show interest in what you have to offer (by signing up for your email list, for example).
Email comes in by “nurturing” leads into customers. That means you’re consistently adding value over time and building up the desire to take action.
Confused by the marketing speak? I get it. All this means is that email acts as the bridge between when potential customers first discover you and when they decide to buy from you and support your cause.
The important thing to remember is this… If you do everything else right, you can practically guarantee the sale.
Seriously! As a mission-driven business, if you show your potential customers why you’re worth supporting (by adding value, being a real person, etc), then they will have NO PROBLEM opening their wallets and becoming a greater part of your story.
The logistics: How to set up email marketing software
A lot of marketing gurus will tell you how important it is to start an email list, but very few actually show you the nuts-and-bolts of it.
That’s why right now I want to show you EXACTLY how to get started with email marketing by setting up an email service in just a few minutes.
(If you already have an email provider set up, feel free to skip to the next section.)
First thing’s first… If you’re just starting out, don’t rush things! Set up something that works for now, then you can consider all the fancy features you need once your audience has grown substantially.
The email software that’s best for you will depend on your audience size. I personally recommend using either MailChimp or ConvertKit for a list of up to 50,000 (or even 100,000) subscribers.
After 50k-100k email subscribers, you can start to look at software like Infusionsoft or Ontraport. But I wouldn’t worry about it for now.
Because MailChimp has a powerful free version — and it’s what I use — I’ll list the steps for that below.
[Update: I recently switched to ConvertKit and LOVE it. Starting at $30/month, it’s not a bad investment, and the technical support is unparalleled. But if you’re determined to keep it free for as long as you can, MailChimp is still a great choice with new features rolling out all the time.]
First, sign up for an account at MailChimp.com and choose the plan that’s right for you. The free plan can handle up to 2,000 contacts, and you can always upgrade once your audience grows and you want things like A/B testing and greater automation.
After you sign up, you’ll want to create an “audience.” MailChimp will have likely already created one for you, but you might still want to edit it. Here’s a quick video that shows you how:
If you already have a list of contacts, now is the time you can import them from your own files.
From there, you’ll want to add an opt-in form to your website. This where people will give you their email address, so get excited! (If email marketing software doesn’t excite you, that’s ok.)
If you’re running on Wordpress, you can use the block editor directly on your site or create an embedded or pop-up form on MailChimp. The choice is yours, though I recommend using a form that can collect at least your new subscriber’s first name and email.
Quick tip: The more info you ask for on an opt-in form, the less likely you are to get it. The tradeoff, however, is personalization. The extent you make that tradeoff is up to you.
To use the block editor, connect your website to Mailchimp under Tools → Marketing from the WP Admin dashboard and select your audience. Then, navigate to the place you want to place the form and choose the MailChimp Block. Voilà!
To use a more advanced form, use the Form Builder on MailChimp and embed the code into your Wordpress site by following Customize → Widgets to your theme sidebar, selecting the Mailchimp widget, and pasting the code before hitting save.
That’s all there is to it! Now you’re ready to get started with the actual emailing.
Your initial content: The Welcome Email (+ template)
If your website is like someone seeing you for the first time, then your welcome email is like the handshake. It’s the start of all the conversations that will ever happen between you and your subscriber.
And as we’re all already agonizingly aware (nice assonance, right?), you never get another chance to make a good first impression.
If you burn your subscriber with a generic email or — worse — no email at all, you’ll see your future open rates (not to mention our real goal, emotional connection) tank.
Remember, people want CONNECTION, TRUST, and a RELATIONSHIP. They want to feel special, and as a social impact brand, you have an amazing opportunity to make that happen.
Suffice to say, your welcome email is one of the most important emails you’ll ever send, but don’t overthink or worry about it too much. As long as you establish a real, human, 1-on-1 connection, you’ll be okay.
As your business or organization grows and your email marketing strategies become more complex, you can start to think about creating a welcome series or something called an “autoresponder.” But for now, let’s focus on drafting just one simple welcome email.
Here’s a quick 6-step process I recommend:
Start with a personal subject line. You can write the best email in the history of online communication, but if no one opens it… you get the picture. Include your subscriber’s name in the subject line, keep it short, and write it like you’re greeting them in-person.
Address it to ONE person. “Hi Subscribers” just doesn’t make people feel special. With any email you write, write it like you’re only sending it to one specific person. The key here is establishing an authentic connection and building trust.
Remind them what they signed up for. People have crowded inboxes, short attention spans, and limited memory. The more unique personality you can incorporate into your copy, the better. But even something as simple as “Thanks for signing up to receive our newsletter” is better than nothing.
Introduce yourself. This is the fun part, so let your creativity run wild! You can include a bullet summary of your work, a captivating story, testimonials, some photos, or even a video. Remember, this is your first conversation with someone new. How would you do it if you were at a bar or a casual networking event?
Tell them what to expect. Focus on the BENEFITS your subscriber is going to receive from your material. In other words, show them why it’s a great decision to stick with you. For a marketing newsletter (*ahem*), I might say, “You’ll receive highly curated, easy-to-implement tactics to help you increase leads while worrying less.”
Encourage them to take the next step, otherwise known as a “call to action.” What do you want your subscribers to do after reading your email? Read your blog? Follow you on social media? Hit reply (my personal favorite)? Whatever you do, don’t leave your reader wondering what to do next.
Now I want to take it a step further and give you a template that you can use right away. The key to an effective welcome email is infusing your brand personality into it and making it your own, but something as simple as this can provide inspiration in a pinch.
You have no excuse not to get started!
Here’s the template…
Subject: [NAME], nice to meet you!
Hi [NAME],
Thanks for subscribing to the [World Changing Business] newsletter.
From now on, you’ll get our exclusive monthly newsletter [OR WHATEVER YOUR OFFER IS] full of great stories and valuable resources to help you [MAIN BENEFIT]. You’ll also be the first to hear about any special info and updates about our work.
Here’s a few things we want you to know about us:
* [HOW YOU GOT STARTED]
* [YOUR IMPACT]
* [YOUR VISION FOR THE FUTURE]
That’s us. Now we’d love to learn more about you! Feel free to reply directly to this email and tell us about yourself.
We’re thrilled to have you as part of our community.
Sincerely,
[World Changing Business]
Why I like this template: It’s quick, personal, gives a little more info about yourself, tells your reader what they can expect, and asks them to take action.
(Quick note: If you already have a list of contacts and/or email subscribers, consider sending them a similar email to re-establish your connection.)
Like I said, you never have a second chance to make a good first impression, so really spend some time thinking about how you want people to remember you. The rest will fall into place.
How to leverage email marketing going forward
You know that friend that only comes around when they need something from you? DON’T LET THAT BE YOUR EMAIL MARKETING STRATEGY!
I mean, seriously, how many nonprofits only email you to ask for money? How many emails do you have in your spam folder right now from businesses spamming you with sales and promotions? And how do you feel about them?
The #1 strategy for all content marketing, including email, is to consistently ADD VALUE.
As a mission-driven businessperson, you probably already think a lot about how to help people. That’s what motivates the work you do! That should also always be your brand mentality when engaging with leads, customers, and donors over email.
Building trust with your subscribers happens by sending lots of valuable information over time — whether it’s business resources, curated industry news, entertaining stories, or otherwise.
When the time is right, you can leverage your email list for things like program and product launches, event invitations, and, of course, giving campaigns.
But you don’t need to run a whole campaign to start building relationships through email marketing. Ask yourself, what are some things you already do that can be used to add value over time?
If you need some ideas, start with these:
Newsletters
Blog post notifications
Updates about your business
Event invitations
Sharing client or customer stories
Curated industry news and information
The things you can do with email are virtually endless, but the one thing that all good tactics have in common is building a relationship and building trust.
A quick primer on email copywriting
There are a lot of different perspectives on copywriting out there. Business guru Dan Lok calls it “selling in words,” but I like to think of it even more generally as written words that help you connect with people.
As socially-minded businesses, that relationship is everything we strive for. Copywriting is what gets us there online and on paper.
We could talk for hours about all sorts of copywriting techniques, but rest assured that you don’t have to be a great writer in order to make your copy “good enough” to build trust and inspire action.
Every email, no matter its length or purpose, should have four things in common — what I call the Four Fundamentals. As long as you practice the Four Fundamentals of email copy, you’ll be way ahead of the curve.
Here’s what to do…
The subject line. Critical for getting people to open your email. Be personal and keep it short, but think about ways to make it stand out in a crowded inbox. (I like to ask a question or create suspense.)
The hook. Think about your introduction as kicking off a conversation. Have you enticed your reader to read on, or have they already tuned out? My favorite hook is to tell a story, but however you can capture someone’s attention will work.
The body. This is the bulk of what you want to say, but remember to constantly be focused on your reader’s specific needs. What’s in it for them? How are you helping them? Keep in mind that we’re always looking to add value in some way.
The CTA. There’s that “call to action” again, the lifeblood of what we do as marketers. Tell your readers what you want them to do next. To make it as effective as possible, did you make it easy — a no-brainer — for them to take the next step?
Again, you don’t need to be a great writer in order to be good enough to get the job done! But by mastering the Four Fundamentals, you can focus on the highest-impact areas to build trust, keep readers engaged, and grow your brand.
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Sound like a lot? I get it, trying to do all of this in one go can be a little overwhelming if you’re just starting out (and even if you’re not).
That’s why I’ve put together a step-by-step, printable PDF checklist that I want to send to you for free.
That way you can keep these key insights handy, share them with your team, return to this process when you have time, and check off each item as you go along.
Simply enter your email below and I’ll send it to you right away.