You might not want to hear this but, to be really great at email marketing, you’ve got to be consistent AND frequent. Probably more frequent than you feel comfortable with at this moment in time.
If you can easily bang out an email every month and you’re feeling pretty great about that, what I’m about to say is probably going to crush your spirits a little bit. I do this because I want you to be awesome at email and get some results for your efforts.
I also don’t want you to waste your time by only sending a measly 12 emails to your list in a year.
IN A YEAR! That’s nothing.
Keep reading beyond the uncomfortable truth here as I promise to throw you the blog equivalent of a chocolate Hobnob (delicious British biscuit/cookie) to make up for it.
The truth about email marketing
The truth about email: you need to be sending at least one email per week to your list and you need to do that rain or shine, when you’re on holiday, ill or even when you just don’t feel like it.
Remember, you can schedule your emails to go out so you don’t have to drag yourself out of bed or off the beach to press send. [Disclaimer: this level of email efficiency does require some planning ahead].
I also know that with all the best intentions and planning, sometimes you are going to miss a week (or two).
Side note: missing emails is usually a newbie emailer thing as those of us who have built a list of engaged subscribers know that our list is GOLD and we’d rather sacrifice Instagram/browsing Netflix/painting our toenails in favour of getting that email out on time.
Like the Starship song goes: Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now [We’ve Seen What Email Can Do].
Presuming you’re a relative newbie to email (or you’ve been doing it a while on and off and haven’t fully mastered it yet): Have you ever accidentally left it a few weeks in between email sends?
I’m sure you have. And it’s not the end of the world.
Life gets in the way and before you know it, email send day has rolled around and you’ve no idea what you’re going to say so you leave it til tomorrow.
As a child (putting things off), my mum always told me: “Tomorrow never comes”.
Perhaps that’s true for your email newsletter?
Why you don’t need to apologise when you miss an email
Ready for the chocolate Hobnob I’m about to throw?
If you DID miss your last email send, guess what? You totally do NOT need to apologise to your subscribers about it because actually, they probably didn’t notice 😬
With all the other emails they’re fielding, the fact that yours didn’t land probably won’t have raised any eyebrows. Think about it - THIS is exactly why you need to keep sending. To get noticed. To BE expected.
To be missed when that meteor strikes your house and your email doesn’t go out that ONE time. If you’ve missed a few sends, you can just send the next email like nothing happened.
Be breeeeeeeezy 👋🏻
No need to make excuses (the cat ate my email).
When it’s been forever since you sent an email...
The only time when you DO need to do something before you send again is if it’s been a REALLY long time.
Like 3 months 😱
In that scenario - I recommend asking your subscribers to click a link to confirm they still want to receive your emails, rather than just carrying on regardless.
You’re basically in reengagement campaign mode after 90 days. That’s a whole other blog post though. Drop me a message over in my free Facebook group if you have questions about what to do in this scenario. I’m happy to give you some pointers.
You’re off the hook!
If you were about to grovel to your subscribers for forgiveness or share all your reasons why your last email didn’t get sent, you totally don’t need to mention it.
Just get back on that email writing horse and clip clop your way to next level email engagement.
Have you recently skipped an email or two? Let me know in the comments what you plan to do about it.
If you’d like to hang around other business owners who want to get better and more consistent at email, come on over to my Facebook group here.
To receive my emails, subscribe to The Cheer List. I’ll never prioritise ANYTHING over sending you something useful/inspiring/funny each week.