The Beginner’s Guide to Making Money with Email Marketinh
When it comes to making money online, the most powerful tool in your arsenal isn’t social media or SEO or paid search ads . . .
It’s email.
Email marketing has the highest conversion rates of any marketing channel. In fact, sixty-six percent of online consumers made a purchase after receiving an email marketing message — which is more than social and direct mail, according to the Data & Marketing Association. And transactions from email are three times more profitable than those made on social media, reports the global management consulting firm McKinsey & Company.
Want to start cashing in on the emails you’re sending out? Then follow these seven proven ways to monetize your email marketing.
How to monetize email marketing
1. Sell something!
Already have a product or service to sell? Awesome! Skip this section.
If not, this is your very first step. Find a physical or digital product or service to sell. Without a product to promote, it’ll be extremely difficult (dare I say, impossible) to make money with your email marketing efforts.
Not sure what to sell? Here are some ideas to get you started:
eBooks
Training guides
Online courses (Click here to Learn How to Create an Online Course.)
Private virtual coaching sessions
Classes or workshops
2. Sell other people’s products
You don’t always have to sell your products or services to monetize email marketing. Instead, you can be an affiliate for other businesses’ products or services. As an affiliate, you get commissions from a business to send traffic to their site and generate sales.
Here’s an example of a great affiliate connection: An online business coach offers planning and operations advice to her clients. To help them turn her advice into reality, she recommends affiliate tools — like website hosting services and landing page providers — to serve her clients’ marketing and sales needs.
Many companies have affiliate programs you can join — like AWeber! You can sign up for our affiliate program here.
One important note: Make sure you have a strong relationship with your subscribers and that you recommend products and services that clearly align with their interests. Otherwise, they may unsubscribe.
3. Upsell premium or exclusive products
In my opinion, one of the greatest opportunities for increasing revenue with email marketing is increasing your average transaction amount at the time of purchase a.k.a. upselling.
Say you’re a life coach. Your main product is an online monthly membership that includes access to a community of users, webinars and a database of resources.
A potential upsell: exclusive one-on-one coaching sessions. A participant can pick the topic they want you to focus on and ask questions they may not feel comfortable asking in a live webinar in a virtual room filled with other members. Many people will pay top dollar to get this individualized attention.
Or it can be much simpler than that. If you’re an online personal trainer, you could offer a free downloadable upper-body workout. When someone requests it, they receive an automated email with the download — plus an upsell to a comprehensive 12-week program that guarantees them results.
Here’s an example from the company Moo. The email tries to upsell customers on their new premium rounded corners feature.
