The Money is in Your Email list
You’ve probably heard this phrase a million times before. That’s because it follows the 3-T rule. It’s tried, tested and true. As an online retailer, your email list is going to be one of your major channels for revenue. Your customers are rarely going to buy on the first visit to your store. Some will be wary to even buy the second or third time your items pass their eyes.
That’s why it’s important to create touchpoints with them through email. Of course the only way to do that is by getting their email address. It’s even better to get their phone number too. But, you’re probably wondering…
What software should I use for my email list? And…How exactly do I grow my email list?
Great questions. Let’s go over some of the email software you can choose from to manage your list.
If you’re looking to stay lean and keep costs low…
We recommend Mailchimp. Mailchimp has been around since 2001. It’s the only option with a forever free plan up to 2,000 subscribers and a daily send limit of 2,000 emails.
Mailchimp has enough features for you to have some fun. You can create templates, set up automated emails, and Mailchimp integrates seamlessly with most eCommerce platforms – WooCommerce, Magento, 3dCart, Squarespace and more.
Unfortunately the biggest barrier is that they’re no longer integrated with Shopify. Regardless, it’s an all around good platform to get started especially with how easy it is to use and setup. Also the logo is a winking chimp which is pretty cool.
If you’re all in and want the best of the best…
If you’re ready to do some more advanced list building and marketing to your customers then we recommend choosing between Klaviyo and Drip. We typically work with and recommend Klaviyo for the brands that we consult.
Klaviyo is basically an eCommerce CRM built to help you market to your customers through email. Klaviyo has a ton of automation features based on your shopper’s actions such as abandoned shopping carts, suggestions for people who view certain products, upselling and cross selling products.
It also integrates with Facebook’s custom audiences so you can target any of your customers (or groups of them) and create web pages specifically for them.
Pricing is not an issue in our opinion because Klaviyo pays for itself if you’re serious about marketing to your email list.
If you’re an influencer who’s blogging and building a boutique…
If you’re an influencer planning on running a boutique and placing a large emphasis on your personal branding, then Convertkit is your best tool. It offers plenty of content upgrades and customizable signup and opt-in forms. It is much simpler to manage than Drip or Klaviyo because it is subscriber based.
Now that you have different email marketing software to choose from, let’s explore how to actually grow your email list.