Effective Email Marketing Strategy (Thanks To Eric Louviere)

by Zeus66
18 replies
I'm on a fair number of email lists. Fewer now than a month ago, as one of my New Year's resolutions was to unsubscribe from many of them. I recommend that, by the way. It can become a major time suck if you're subscribed to too many lists. Lots of redundancy. It can be hard on the wallet, too.

One of the better marketers whose list I am still subscribed to is Eric Louviere. Yesterday, I got an email from him that reminded me of an excellent strategy that many list marketers should use more often. In that email, Eric explains how to transition from good content in your email to a pitch for something you're selling (or an affiliate offer you believe in).

The idea, essentially, is not to think of your emails in black-and-white terms. They don't have to be either free content or a sales pitch. They can be both. It's a subtle strategy, but quite brilliant. It figures that a smart and successful guy like Eric would be the one to remind us of it!

The lesson is to build trust with your subscribers by sending emails with good, useful content, but to transition from that into something you offer that's related and give your readers a subtle sales pitch for it. In the same email.

Many of us get locked into thinking that our list emails should be one or the other. I agree with Eric, though. I think a blended approach can be the most effective strategy.

Thanks for the lesson, Eric!

John
#effective #email #eric #louviere #marketing #strategy
  • Profile picture of the author tpw
    I have been going this way too...

    Of course, as you know, I am new in this arena, even though I should not be new at it...
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    • Profile picture of the author Steven Wagenheim
      Been doing this for years. Having said that, I will also send out an email that
      is a straight to the point, "here is what I have to offer" sales pitch, but
      without all the BS that most contain.

      Here is what it is.
      Here is what it will do for you.

      Period...done.

      My email sales pitches are probably under 200 words...if that.

      Let the sales copy do the selling. The email just has to get the person to
      the site and the only way it can do that is to give them a good reason why
      they should go there.

      Works for me anyway.
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    • Profile picture of the author Marksv
      I noticed that Travis Sago uses a very similar strategy in his emails.

      I like Travis' approach of writing entertaining posts and then linking them to an offer.

      Sometimes value in an email can come in the form of a good entertaining story, it doesn't always have to be techniques or strategies...
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  • Profile picture of the author WebPen
    I'm getting into more email marketing, so this is nice to know.

    Thanks!
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    • Profile picture of the author JohnMcCabe
      Another vote for a sound strategy I've been advocating for a long time...
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  • Profile picture of the author iAmNameLess
    I ran a MAJOR scale email marketing campaign for Ron Paul who was republican nominee a while back. 99 million or so list. That was the last SUCCESSFUL campaign I ran. After that, I started having major problems with being flagged as spam. Bought 5 public IP's, all banned, no internet access, domains start appearing in spam haus. I haven't done it since.
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  • Profile picture of the author clever7
    This brilliant marketing strategy could be described as a smart copywriting technique. Copywriting is about using many different ways to convince your prospects to purchase your products. The combination of an informative article with a sales letter is an excellent tactic that generates sales.

    Most people never open promotional email messages. They will only open messages with interesting information. However, if you merely give them information without selling anything in the end, you are only a teacher. Your purpose is to make your readers open your messages by providing them with good information, and through this information, convince them that they must purchase your products without delay.
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    • Profile picture of the author Zeus66
      Originally Posted by clever7 View Post

      This brilliant marketing strategy could be described as a smart copywriting technique. Copywriting is about using many different ways to convince your prospects to purchase your products. The combination of an informative article with a sales letter is an excellent tactic that generates sales.

      Most people never open promotional email messages. They will only open messages with interesting information. However, if you merely give them information without selling anything in the end, you are only a teacher. Your purpose is to make your readers open your messages by providing them with good information, and through this information, convince them that they must purchase your products without delay.
      The part I bolded in your reply above is interesting because it's not something you can say as a blanket statement. People have exactly two things to go by when deciding whether to open an email: the sender's name and the subject line. Much of the focus in email marketing is on the subject line and not much on the sender, but I think that's exactly backwards. You win as a list marketer when you get to the point where your subscribers open your email simply because you were the one sending it. As a list subscriber myself, I often open emails from certain people without even noticing the subject line. I know what they send me is something I should pay attention to. I don't think it's a coincidence that they are some of the most well respected and successful marketers in the world.

      John
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    • Profile picture of the author sonic74
      Yes Travis Sago uses this strategy....he gives a lot of value in his emails,I like him.

      Also Howie Swhartz in every email gives you a free pdf and reveals some of his money making tactics....fantastic.

      But unfortunately he has stoped to send me emails.....lol
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      • Profile picture of the author Colin Theriot
        Originally Posted by Zeus66 View Post

        The part I bolded in your reply above is interesting because it's not something you can say as a blanket statement. People have exactly two things to go by when deciding whether to open an email: the sender's name and the subject line. Much of the focus in email marketing is on the subject line and not much on the sender, but I think that's exactly backwards. You win as a list marketer when you get to the point where your subscribers open your email simply because you were the one sending it. As a list subscriber myself, I often open emails from certain people without even noticing the subject line. I know what they send me is something I should pay attention to. I don't think it's a coincidence that they are some of the most well respected and successful marketers in the world.

        John
        John, this is the capital 'T' Truth. Make the WHO matter, and the WHAT takes care of itself.

        But to add to the discussion, hybrid emails work really well, but another strategy I've found that works, even when the content and sales emails are separate, is to ALWAYS have a CTA, even in the content emails.

        Have them come to a blog or forum thread to leave a comment. That way you condition them to not see offers as the odd message out. You're always asking the same thing. Read the email, click a link, and fill out a form if you agree. Buying stuff or opting-in is the exact same procedure.

        And if you pair those and make sure that your offer emails actually lead off with a bit of content, the readers literally see no difference between any of your emails - they just see content+CTA.
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        • Profile picture of the author WD Mino
          Originally Posted by Colin Theriot View Post

          John, this is the capital 'T' Truth. Make the WHO matter, and the WHAT takes care of itself.

          But to add to the discussion, hybrid emails work really well, but another strategy I've found that works, even when the content and sales emails are separate, is to ALWAYS have a CTA, even in the content emails.

          Have them come to a blog or forum thread to leave a comment. That way you condition them to not see offers as the odd message out. You're always asking the same thing. Read the email, click a link, and fill out a form if you agree. Buying stuff or opting-in is the exact same procedure.

          And if you pair those and make sure that your offer emails actually lead off with a bit of content, the readers literally see no difference between any of your emails - they just see content+CTA.
          I agree to a "T" I am finding more and more people taking this approach Colin I did not realize essentially it is training the list to respond. Love the way you put it
          I may have to adapt this strategy in future
          cheers
          -Will
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      • Profile picture of the author Michael Shook
        It was a big thing a couple of years back to be thinking of subject lines that would make people open the emails. I don't much look at them anymore.

        I look to see who they are from. I see a lot of emails now with "snappy" subject lines from marketers who are new. Who it appears have been reading about some 'subject line" strategy and have decided to try it out.

        Every once in a while I still get a Go Go Go, a big ole blast from the past.
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  • Profile picture of the author LauraJames
    This is reassuring and helpful. Thank you very much for posting this. It gives credibility to something many of us "white hat" marketers have long advocated.
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  • Profile picture of the author Raydal
    It's a sound strategy for sure. It is called "Value-Added Email Marketing".

    -Ray Edwards
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    • Profile picture of the author apoorv.parijat
      John, this is the capital 'T' Truth. Make the WHO matter, and the WHAT takes care of itself.
      Amen! Nice way to put it, Colin.
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      • Profile picture of the author oneplusone
        I do this myself, although while this kind of thing is useful the number one focus always has to be on bringing in new leads, buyers into the system.

        Everything else can only be secondary at best.

        The biggest mistake list owners make is not bringing new people onto their lists, to deal with burn out and list fade.

        You can't stop it from happening, you can only delay it.

        It doesn't just apply to lists.

        I know my maths and even if you have a 5% drop off per month, within a year you'll be around half the size you were.

        Take it out 3 years, and you're down to 15% of what you were.

        You HAVE to sort out your front end acquisition, otherwise you're doomed.

        I've seen so many individuals, businesses go broke and self destruct because they failed to understand this.
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  • Profile picture of the author fated82
    Thanks for a great strategy. I will test this out with my new email marketing campaign next week
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    • Profile picture of the author myob
      Yea, I've been hammering my lists every single day with hard hitting promotions for years. But, also always include valuable free tools, resources, tips, tricks, and a few jokes.
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