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Free advice and sales pitches: what's the right mix in email marketing?

by Eduard
13 replies
Well, I'm officially confused.

Some internet marketers say you should send to your list 1 email with a sales pitch for every 7 emails of free content. Others say you should have a pitch in every email, even if it's just small at the bottom.

Some internet marketers say your sales pitches should be 5% of the content you send to your list. Others say they should be 50%.

Considering that the goal is to make as many sales as possible, based on your experience, what's the right mix between free content and pitches?

Looking forward to hearing from you

Eduard
#advice #email #free #marketing #mix #pitches #sales #what’s
  • Profile picture of the author Shaun OReilly
    Originally Posted by Eduard View Post

    what’s the right mix between free content and pitches?
    The 'right' mix between free content and sales promotions
    for YOU, is the one that tests out the best for YOU, YOUR
    list and YOUR skill at writing content and sales offers.

    In addition to testing the ratio of free content to pitches,
    consider testing out having content and a related sales offer
    in the same e-mail each time.

    If you want to produce income short-term and long-term
    then you need to send relevant and valuable e-mails to
    your subscribers.

    Dedicated to mutual success,

    Shaun
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  • Profile picture of the author Matt Ausin
    Free or paid, I like having a link in every one of my mails, because if the people on my list are used to seeing links from me, the CTR to paid offers is better. Some call it "training" your list, but I don't like that word when I'm talking about people

    And of course what Shaun said. It really depends on you, on your style and so on.
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    • Profile picture of the author Eduard
      Shaun - always a pleasure reading your advice. I'm definitively gonna test this, but this test could last several months and I'm looking for some advice to at least start it with the best foot forward.

      Matt - great idea about training my list. I don't want to build list of freebie seekers.
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      • Profile picture of the author Shaun OReilly
        Originally Posted by Eduard View Post

        Shaun - always a pleasure reading your advice. I'm definitively gonna test this, but this test could last several months and I'm looking for some advice to at least start it with the best foot forward.
        If you don't have the resources to test it out, then I'd
        recommend first going with sending e-mails that contain
        some content and a related offer in the same e-mail.

        That way, you'll be able to develop your skill at providing
        some content and relating it to a paid offer with every
        e-mail you write.

        And you'll also be able to segment out the buyers from
        your prospects by giving them more opportinities to buy
        your offers.

        Dedicated to mutual success,

        Shaun
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        • Profile picture of the author Eduard
          Originally Posted by Shaun OReilly View Post

          If you don't have the resources to test it out, then I'd
          recommend first going with sending e-mails that contain
          some content and a related offer in the same e-mail.

          That way, you'll be able to develop your skill at providing
          some content and relating it to a paid offer with every
          e-mail you write.

          And you'll also be able to segment out the buyers from
          your prospects by giving them more opportinities to buy
          your offers.

          Dedicated to mutual success,

          Shaun
          Cool. That's what I'm going for right now in my auto-responder series. Each email contains a couple of tips or practical pieces of advice, followed by a related sales pitch.

          I was worried that I'm overdoing it with the sales pitches, but I may be wrong.
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          • Profile picture of the author Eduard
            By the way: I've already tried a version with a lot of free content and very rare pitches and at least for me, it didn't work very well. I think I kind of educated my list to expect a lot of free stuff from me and not feel the need to buy.
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            • Profile picture of the author Eduard
              Just got a list unsubscribe comment that says: "less spam, more content". I guess some people don't like sales pitches. But those are probably the people that wouldn't buy in the first place.
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              • Profile picture of the author Shaun OReilly
                Remember...

                "You teach your list how to treat you"

                If you've been serving up great free content for a long
                time and suddenly start sending sales messages, then
                it'll be a shock to some people on your list.

                The only people you make money from on your list are
                the buyers, so focus on serving them primarily.

                Effective list management is about providing content and
                making useful offers to your list to allow you to separate
                out the buyers so you can help them to get what they
                want.

                Dedicated to mutual success,

                Shaun
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  • Profile picture of the author Randall Magwood
    I do 100% free content, with sales letter link at the top and bottom of my page. I also have a "resources" section at the bottom of my emails to lead prospects to even more content that will raise the odds of them perceiving me to be the "obvious expert", and that will raise the odds of them buying my product.
    Signature
    ==>> Free book reveals make money with affiliate marketing
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    • Profile picture of the author Eduard
      Originally Posted by Randall Magwood View Post

      I do 100% free content, with sales letter link at the top and bottom of my page. I also have a "resources" section at the bottom of my emails to lead prospects to even more content that will raise the odds of them perceiving me to be the "obvious expert", and that will raise the odds of them buying my product.
      Cool. I like the idea of free content combined with a product link in every email.
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  • Profile picture of the author Tadresources
    This ratio is going to be different for every niche, every industry and every marketer, IMO.
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  • Profile picture of the author jamesrich1
    You want to know about the promotion cycles. Its a science that takes a while to explain. Pm me and I will send you a link to a video where David Wood, highly successful marketer goes over the exact specifics of what your asking. He has it down to a science. The video I am talking about is free and has a huge amount of value.
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    • Profile picture of the author Eduard
      Thanks James. That was a very useful video. The whole concept of promotion cycles makes a lot of sense.
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