AL 021: How Do I Use My Email List as a Service Provider?

AL 021: How Do I Use My Email List as a Service Provider?

Liz Wilcox: What’s up? What’s up? This is the 21st Ask Liz episode. Oh my goodness. And why is it, why is it that every time I hit record I have to yawn? I don’t know, but I’m gonna try to suppress it so we can get on with the show. And speaking of the show, this is the episode where you ask me questions. So you can literally pause this episode right now.

You can go down to the link in the show notes and submit a question. What can it be about Liz? So glad you asked. It could be about literally anything. Entrepreneur, lifestyle design, online business, marketing, emails, content. Whatever you wanna ask, I want to answer it. So let’s get into today’s caller. Her name is Tracy, and she sounds like a smart cookie.

Let’s listen in.

Tracy: Hi, Liz. I have a question about service-based businesses. I have a graphic design company, a small team, and over the last, I’d say, three and a half to four years, I’ve been emailing clients regularly, weekly. Been in business for almost thirty years, and so email is semi-new to be emailing regularly.

But I’m just wondering if there is anything different that you would suggest that I do versus online businesses when I email clients. We do a monthly client spotlight, and those seem to get the most opens, around forty percent. The rest of my emails are two are typically pulled from your templates, and the other one is typically, like, my thoughts or what’s going on in the industry or things like that.

I’m just curious. I don’t– I just feel like sometimes I’m wasting time and resources. Sorry. I know it’s probably not a good thought, but if there’s anything different, if there’s any advice that you would give service-based over online businesses. We’re not trying to sell large quantities. We’re trying to sell individual service, so to speak.

I hope that makes sense. Thanks so much.

Liz Wilcox: Okay, Tracy, a few things that you’re already doing that I am loving. But first, you’re not wasting your time. I promise, promise, promise you’re not wasting your time, and you’re, like, eighty percent of the way there to get it into, get it into gear here. Number one, weekly emails.

Yes, yes, yes. Number two, like you said, the monthly spotlight, that’s gonna have a higher open rate and industry updates. I love these. Now, you did mention, though, the higher open rates for the monthly spotlight was, was at about forty percent. I wanna see you getting to around fifty or sixty percent, especially if your email list is, like, less than ten thousand people, so she said flippantly.

I don’t say flippantly. I know ten thousand people is a lot. Maybe you have more, maybe you have less, but you should have a higher open rate. And how you’re gonna do that First and foremost, and this, this is good for what you should be doing anyway, is look at your welcome sequence. Those first few emails that you send, nothing should be higher.

It’s like when you find somebody online that you really like, say you’re doom scrolling on Instagram, and then you find Shahara and you’re like, “Oh my gosh, I love her stuff,” and you click over to her profile and you watch like two, three, maybe 10 videos of hers, and then you hit the follow button. This is that equivalent.

Those first few emails, people are gonna sort of, I don’t wanna say binge, right? Because you kind of send them day by day, but they’re gonna open those more than others. Okay? So the higher the open rate in the welcome sequence, the better, and inside that welcome sequence, what I want you to do is try to get replies, okay?

Try to get people to reply. Here’s the thing, especially with service providers, it’s all about relationship building, okay? Letting them know you’ve got their back and they can rely on you. Okay, so never forget that relationship building is really important, and you can get that with getting replies. So in your welcome sequence, asking yes or no questions, like if you’re a website designer, “Have you ever had someone design your site for you?”

Yes or no. Or, “Did you design your website yourself?” Yes or no. Really easy questions. Get that in the first few emails. Also, those monthly spotlights, look at those. How can you put one, two, or three like little mini case studies in the welcome sequence itself as well? Okay.

So the next thing I wanna share with you as far as like what to send weekly is put it on your calendar, like whenever I don’t know if it’s once a month, once a quarter, whatever your cadence is, whatever feels good for you, the hand-raiser email.

Use that method. We talked about it in length in episode 950 with John Meese, and that’s basically getting those replies I just talked about, but getting them to raise their hand. Like, again, if you’re a website designer, you might ask a question like, “Would it feel good to have a website that reflects your prices?”

Hit reply yes if that… if you would like that someday. And anyone that replies yes, you’re gonna send them the link to book a call, or you’re gonna start the conversation somehow. Again, listen to episode 950 for that. But do that, again, periodically. We’re not gonna do it every time we send an email. But if you’ve got a once-a-month promotion, once a quarter, something like that, do that.

Then I want you to put in something called a super signature. So this is something at the bottom of every email that tells people your availability. You’ve got to let people know, okay? So, “PS, when you’re ready, here are ways I can help you.” And then, you know, maybe you’ve got a free podcast, so you say, “You can listen to my podcast.”

Maybe you’ve got a group coaching program. You can put the wait list to that. Maybe you’ve got, like, a discovery call to, you know, book, put that. Or you could just even put, like, “Book my service here.” Whatever you got going on, put that in the super signature so people know every single time you email them, “Oh, Tracy’s got this available.”

People have to know your availability. They have to know your offers so that when you email them, all of those things stay top of mind, okay? Also, something that I would love to see you doing is seasonal or timely tips. Again, if I’m a website designer, maybe after Black Friday when I know a lot of my people have made extra money, I’m sending out a lot of tips around how they could best use that money to help their website to have better design, et cetera, right?

Seasonal and timely tips. If I am an email marketer, speaking of Black Friday, I’m gonna start sending you those timely tips two months before Black Friday because I need y- I know you need help with that. So what are some seasonal or timely tips based on what you provide? And put those in the calendar.

Oh, around springtime, I know my people need to hear this message. Around summer, this message, et cetera, et cetera, right?

And then another thing that works really well for service providers that I don’t normally recommend, but I think it could be good for you, is personalization or segmenting. Segment your list.

Again, if you’re a web designer, do you service folks that are e-commerce and folks that do digital products? Segment those people. Send those people different kinds of emails. Also, personalization, putting their names in the emails, you know, and not just at the top like, “Hey, Liz, da, da, da, da, da.” You can put, “Hey, Liz, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah,” and, “Don’t you know, Liz…”

That’s the way it goes. Putting the name throughout the email is really, really gonna help you as well.

And then the last thing I wanna share that I think is gonna be great for you, I actually learned this at Craft and Commerce. Gosh, I cannot remember who it was that shared this, but it was super genius, and I think it’ll be great for you, too.

It’s a five-email sequence. So you can go into Kit, set up an automation, whatever, and it’s just five emails, and it reminds people of your service, and you send one of those emails once a month. So this is a five-month sequence, five emails, and you set it on repeat, so it goes over and over again. And these emails are super short, but they just remind folks that you are in business and that you have some availability.

Something like Hey, Liz, you’ve been on my list for a minute, and I just wanted to remind you I do website design, blah, blah, blah, detail. If you wanna get booked, you can always do that here. Sign off, Tracy. And doing… It could literally be the same email sent once a month for five months in a row, and then it gets set on repeat, so ten months, 15 months, whatever.

You could also use those emails to cover some objections. They don’t have to all be the same. I’m just saying if you’re extra lazy. But, you know, maybe one email is the one that I just sent. The second one covers some common objections, right? Like, “I don’t have enough money. I don’t have enough time. How do I know your version of the website is gonna match my vision of the website?”

What are some of those common objections? Put those in that five-email sequence. Again, and we’re sending those at random once a month through an automation, just to remind people that we sell. All right.

Let me look at my notes. Hang on one sec, one sec.

Um, at the end of the day, I think for service providers especially, and if you have digital products or whatever, this is true for you, but it’s really true for those trying to get clients and work one-on-one or in a group program. You’re the expert. Tracy’s the expert. You’re the expert. I’m the expert. We have gotten results, but not only that, we have gotten results for people just like you, just like the people on your email list. So we want them thinking, “Tracy’s an expert, and she knows what she’s doing with people like me.” So really going back to what, Tracy, you’re already doing, that monthly spotlight, how can you do that more in your emails?

Maybe it’s a spotlight at the bottom or the top of the email where you’re just putting a little testimonial or a five to six-sentence case study. Like something so, so simple and easy could do, but again, we’re really showing them that you’re the expert. That’s where the seasonal and timely tips come from.

That’s where the industry updates come from. That’s where even personal stories and your personal journey come from. But then we wanna show you have gotten results for people just like them, just like the people on your email list, and that’s where those monthly spotlights come in, those case studies, testimonials in random emails, et cetera.

All right, Miss Tracy, I hope this was helpful for you and you listening. I cannot wait to do this again. I’ll see you soon

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