Remember, it takes someone (on average) SEVEN times of hearing about / learning about / tasting / seeing Thrive before they become a regular customer.
Having a mailing list is the BEST way of staying in contact with those that come to your parties, classes and expos. It allows you to support customers who did buy and thereby earn their loyalty.
But it also allows you to gain sales down the road from those who just gave you a "pity purchase" or didn't purchase at all. Some of my largest purchases and most loyal customers didn't buy a thing from me until they'd been on my email list for over a year!
Who is on my mailing list?
My mailing list is different from my customer list in the SR back office. I do not assume that just because someone purchased from me that means they want me to email them regularly. So, not everyone on my customer list is on my mailing list. In addition, there are people who have never purchased from me, but have expressed interest in doing so. They ARE on my mailing list, but are not on my customer list.
How do I get people to join this list?
- I ask every guest at every party if they would like to receive 1-3 emails a month about SR specials
- I have sign ups at every expo I do.
- I have a link to my mailing list sign up form in my email signature, my facebook page, and all over my blog
- Anytime a new person purchases from me, I send them a "thank you" email with a tip or two about whatever they purchased and an invitation to join my mailing list.
What are the benefits of using a company like Mailchimp (free to get started) instead of just normal email?
- Everything is legal. There is automatically an "unsubscribe" option at the bottom of every email. Your address is listed on every email (a legal requirement for mailing lists) etc.
- You can track who opens your email and which emails are more successful.
- You can easily have multiple lists for different groups of people (your regular customers, Q customers, downline etc)
- You can create and save time templates so that sending out emails gets easier and quicker
- They look much more professional
What do I send in my emails?
At the beginning of the month, I send out an email letting my list know about the monthly specials and Qpon (with a link to the Q for those that may not have started one).But most of my emails are NOT sales emails. The other three weeks of the month, I send out a quick tip about a favorite product that is on sale, or a recipe I've recently tried (with the products that are on sale) with pictures of my kids eating it etc. Something quick, easy, fun and helpful is the goal with these emails. People are busy, so if you can send them something that is a quick read AND helpful, they will love it!
IMPORTANT: When I mention a product in these "non-salesy" emails, I DO deep link (go here to learn how to do that) directly to the product using my Thrive link. That way, even though I'm not selling directly, if someone clicks on the product and buys, I get credit.
At the end of these "non-salesy" emails I quickly remind them (one sentence) that the products I mentioned in the email are on sale: "Remember, that fill in the blank is on sale this month. You can get it here (link)."
If you need help finding tips and recipes, you can find lots of quick tips in the Thrive Guide and recipes on the Thrive website.
Create your own mailing list
If you'd like to learn how to use mailchimp to create your own lists and design your own emails, you can watch these videos:
