How to do e-mail marketing "Correctly"... ( for dummies )

So many people got pretty stirred up about whether you should put offers or not in your emails and how often or if you should wait, here's a formula that works wonders for me and makes me thousands of extra dollars per month...

Yes, do your testing, yes, do your tracking, ALWAYS! however, here's a GREAT starting point since this has worked the BEST for me so far:

Here is an example of an email where in this case I'll be writing to the internet marketing niche and I'll be promoting the warrior forum for a commission...

++++++++++start example ++++++++++++++++++++++

Headline:

The FIRST step to getting customers is simply to...

E-mail body:

( If you do not want to receive anymore of these valuable emails, scroll down to the bottom of this page and click the little "unsubscribe" link, thanks! )


Step #1:

The absolute first step that you must take in order to get customers to your site is by driving traffic ...but here's the kicker...

You can have TONS of traffic and make nothing! Yes, it's true!

If you compare the data from alexa.com and forbes.com you can clearly see that some sites that have MUCH LESS TRAFFIC than other sites make TONS MORE MONEY, ... but how?


Step #2:

The answer? "The QUALITY of the traffic"

If you are promoting a site on gardening, but you have a million visitors who are looking to watch the latest episode of the hit TV show "House" you are not going to get as many sales as you might think, if any!

However, if you had just 1000 people who are looking for information on gardening, you will get WAY MORE SALES!

So how can you use this information?

Where do I get my quality leads?

I have one source which doesn't bring me TONS of traffic, but it brings me VERY HIGH QUALITY TRAFFIC and that is...


Step #3:

The warrior forum.

One of the things that you can do is create your free account and start making some posts. You can put a link in your "signature" box and promote any QUALITY site that has to do with internet marketing you like.

This is a GREAT way to get some good QUALITY traffic to your site! Enjoy!

Your internet marketing coach,

Derek Soto

P.S. If you need help with anything, simply reply to this email and I'll help you or point you in the right direction!

P.P.S. If you already have a free warrior forum membership and would like to quadruple your traffic in less than half the time just like I do, feel free to sign up to their paid "upgraded" version like I did here <----------

++++++++++ end example +++++++++++++++++++++++++

OK, here's the email broken down:

#1: the headline practically FORCES the person to click it out of curiosity and one word is all caps to get attention. The trailing "..." at the end implies there's more...

#2: At the beginning of the email, you want to reiterate the headline and provide a little more teaser because some email clients allow people to preview the beginning of the email. You want them to open the email, so keep the suspense started by the headline going...

#3: Give them a way to opt out so they don't click the "spam" button, also this uses psychology because you are pushing them away and that will cause a slight attraction. Ever since I started putting up this opt out text at the top, my "spam" complaints have dropped to near zero and I've gotten rid of the dead weight so that I don't pay for thousands of people that will never read my email. It also lowers people's guards knowing that they can opt out at any time very easily.

#4: In this email, I decided to use "steps" I've noticed my clickthrough rates go much higher because if someone reads step one, they naturally will want to know what the second and third steps are. I wouldn't use more than three steps for one email.

#5: I also use all caps for certain words because it draws the eyes if there is a point of the email that bores them, an all capped word further down in their sight could draw their attention and keep them reading your email.

#6: I tell them a valuable source I use AKA "the warrior forum" which makes them feel like they are being let in on my "secret source" of "high quality traffic" which it is.

#7: I tell them one way of how to use the source I revealed to them and give them valuable information on how to get the result I promised in the headline. YOU ALWAYS NEED TO DELIVER ON YOUR HEADLINES PROMISE OR YOUR OPEN RATES WILL DROP FAST!!!

#8: I sign the email as "Your internet marketing coach" where if they keep reading my emails, they are subconsciously or even consciously agreeing that "I" am their internet marketing coach.

#9: in the first P.S. I extend a helping hand to them, backing up the idea that I am their internet marketing coach and showing them that I care and that I am there for them and will help them the best way I can. When everyone else is trying to take from them, you will come across as giving to them, which you really are!

#10: In the P.P.S. ( if you indeed purchased what you are promoting and you should NEVER promote something you didn't buy or create! unless you tell your list the truth and say, "hey I didn't buy this, but I trust anything this guys makes if this really is the case, but in all cases BE HONEST )

You are telling them what the product did for you ( if you used it for real ) and that you actually bought it yourself, which if they are following you will trust what you are promoting a lot more. It even helps in some emails to talk about what's "behind the scenes" in the members area without giving away the material just to prove that you indeed bought the program you are promoting.

But this way you are building trust and you are saying, "feel free" to sign up to their paid program like I did here... What's great about this is that you've already given them value, so if they don't buy AND MOST WON'T, they still will open your emails because you ALWAYS give them value.

#11: If you plan on promoting the warrior forum every day for example, then you need to each day give value by showing them a new way they can use the free methods and also some emails can show how to use some of the paid methods if they decide that they want to join. However I RARELY ever put an offer AT ALL in the email body, I usually put it in the P.P.S.

I have been thanked by people in my niche markets for my emails and I give them an opportunity to "check out" something or "sign up for something" in each email.

The REASON that I put an "opportunity" in my P.P.S. in each email is that people get money all the time for different reasons, they have many different states of mind and if you write them a great email that sparks that desire to buy, but there is no offer, then they will put it off and then the "desire" may fade. The point of your emails is to BUILD THE DESIRE to buy, THAT'S IT!

You are NOT trying to become their friend, you are trying to HELP THEM by SELLING THEM SOMETHING THAT WILL HELP THEM GET THE RESULT THEY WANT. Period.

So in each email, build that desire to buy by giving them great ideas with what they could do with the product or service you are promoting, revealing great tools to them, building curiosity, etc. and then giving them an opportunity to check out how they can get the "full product" if they so desire.

In my experience, many people click the offer link about 3-8 or more times before they actually buy!

I'm not saying this is the DEFINITIVE END ALL BE ALL for email marketing, but it's a pretty damn good starting template for anyone who wants to increase their sales. Try it for a month and see how many more sales you get and how many more people thank you for your emails.

The fact is, People LOVE to buy things, and as long as you're not obnoxious about it and you actually take the time to write a decent value filled email every day, with a very non-salesy offer at the end you'll get WAY more sales, like me!

Tell me what you think and all feedback is welcome, even the negative stuff!

Derek