How to get started with email marketing: a simple guide for beginners
Do you feel like everybody is recommending email marketing these days? Well, that’s because they are! Some people think that email is an outdated medium, but let me tell you, those people are dead wrong! Email marketing is going strong — so strong that you could argue it’s the best way to grow a business.
There are about 6 thousand reasons why your business NEEDS an email list for email marketing, each one more valid than the last. Email marketing is seriously the best way to market, because:
Almost everybody uses email.
You actually own your list (unlike your social media!).
Email lists don’t make you figure out algorithms.
Emails have the highest conversion rates.
...I could go on!
But, chances are you already get this, or that you at least have a sense of it. I’m thinking if you’re reading this post right now, you know why email marketing matters, and you’re ready to get into the how. So, here it is: your beginner-friendly guide to setting up email marketing!
What is email marketing?
Email marketing is as simple as it sounds.
It’s the process of using emails to market your products and services to people (simple enough so far, right?).
Which people, you ask? People who have decided to join your email list, usually through an opt-in (don’t worry— I’ll get to that!).
Email lists
An email list is simply a list of email addresses, collected over time, from people who want to hear from you. At first, your email list might just be made up of you, your roommate, and your mom (no shame in that game!), but eventually, it will grow and you’ll have names and emails of people you don’t even know personally, but who know you (and want to hear from you, too!).
Okay, great — we have email lists covered. But, where do you find these people? And, how do you get people to sign up for your list?
The answer: opt-ins.
Opt-ins
An opt-in is something that businesses offer their customers or readers in exchange for their email addresses. You’ve probably seen them before — they’re usually the prompts on websites that ask you to enter your email address in order to get some free goodies!
Common opt-ins are discount codes, free shipping, free guides and educational PDFs, complimentary consultations, checklists, and other free content like recipes or workouts.
What makes them an “opt-in” is that they require you to give over your email address to get the goodie. It’s a fair exchange for a (hopefully) good quality freebie or discount.
From a business perspective, you should think about creating an opt-in that provides a lot of value. It should be enticing and a little exciting. Think about it: people are protective over their inboxes. Giving them something they actually need makes it worth their while to sign up, and shows them you’re grateful to have them on your list!
There’s a strategy to creating an opt-in that gets the right people on your list. It’s all good and well having 1000’s of people subscribed to your list, but if none of those people want what you’re selling, it’s pretty pointless. I wrote a whole post on how to create the perfect opt-in specifically to attract the right people (aka the ones that want to buy from you!). Give it a read, and get started on yours! (This post is targeted at designers, but you can use the tips in it to come up with an perfect opt-in no matter what industry you’re in!)
What email marketing platform should you use?
You can’t really do any sort of email marketing without using a email-marketing specific platform.
There are a few popular options for setting up email marketing, and they all have their pros and cons. Choose the best fit for your business now, and remember that you can always move later. If, worst case scenario, you decide you hate the provider that you chose, it’s actually pretty simple to switch. (We’ve switched many times, from MailChimp, to ConvertKit, to Flodesk.) It’s relatively painless making the switch unless you have tons of workflows and fancy systems in place—which you probably won’t have for a while anyway!
I’ve listed below some of the most popular platforms and their pros and cons.
MailChimp
Like many others, I used to recommend MailChimp because, well, it’s free! You can have up to 2,000 subscribers without paying. It also used to be one of the best beginner platforms out there.
But honestly, free isn’t everything. MailChimp is actually really confusing to use. I use to find it really confusing, and it hasn't really improved at all since I was using it all of those years ago. Plus, it only lets you automate one thing, so if you plan to have one generic welcome email and one opt-in welcome email, you’ll need to upgrade anyway.
So if you’re going to pay for your email marketing, I say skip MailChimp altogether. Some amazing beginner platforms have come out recently that are much better!
ConvertKit
ConvertKit is a more advanced email marketing platform. They do have a free account for those with under 1,000 subscribers— though, this free plan is missing a ton of important features, so you’ll probably need to pay for their base plan which is $29/month.
ConverKit has pricing based on how many subscribers you have, and it gets more and more expensive as you grow. You can check out all the pricing deets here.
It’s super comprehensive and it offers a lot of flexibility. There are tons of advanced features and amazing things you can do with ConvertKit, so it’s perfect for business with bigger lists and advanced email workflows and sequences. If you understand email automation, it’s a great option.
However, if you don’t know how to use that flexibility in a clear and organized way, it can get complicated and if you’re just starting out, you might feel frustrated and overwhelmed by it. This is why I generally wouldn’t recommend ConvertKit for someone brand new at email marketing, but it’s a great place to advance to when you need it!
We used ConvertKit for a long time and it was pretty epic. We ended up changing as it was pretty pricy with out list size, and weren’t using the features to their full extent, so it was a bit of a waste of money. If we ever decide we need more advanced automations, we’ll move back fo-sho.
Mailerlite
We haven’t used Mailerlite personally, but it’s a popular one so we’re including it here. Like MailChimp, they offer a free account option for up to 1,000 subscribers or 12,000 emails/month. But unlike MailChimp, based on the research we’ve done and reviews from small businesses, MailerLite seems to have an easy and really beginner-friendly interface, and it lets you set up multiple campaigns and automations.
Mailerlite always comes up when people recommend the best, beginner friendly email marketing platforms, so we highly recommend checking it out!
And it’s the only one we’d recommend with a comprehensive free plan, so if budget is a big choosing factor, MailerLite could be a good option for you!
Once you surpass the 1000 subscriber month, you will have to start paying. Check out the prices here.
Flodesk
We’re currently using and loving Flodesk. It isn’t free, but it’s SUPER affordable for what you get. It has a beautiful interface, it’s customizable (so you can create on-brand emails that you’re super proud of), and it’s really easy to use.
It’s a newer platform and is still technically in BETA (as I write this post, anyway) and the team is constantly taking on feedback and building new features as per customer requests and requirements, and I really love that about the team at FloDesk. There’s definitely some growing pains right now, but for the discounted price (50% off!) and what they offer, it’s totally worth it, I think! And great if you are just beginning.
As a company, they offer great customer support, which is really helpful when you’re just starting out. They also have a Facebook group with lots of active members and customer support members, which is awesome to be a part of..
The cool thing about Flodesk is it’s $39 per month, no matter how many subscribers you have. Most email marketing platforms will charge you based on how many subscribers you have, but FloDesk is a fixed monthly rate, which in the long run will save you a ton of money (since there’s no doubt you’ll have thousands of subscribers on your list!)
But wait, there’s more!…
You can get 50% off Flodesk by using the code “BIGCATCREATIVE”.
And it’s 50% off for life, too. That’s $19USD per month, for life, no matter how many subscribers you have. Which is pretty crazy, considering it’s pretty affordable in the first place! And when you sign up, you can give 50% off to all of your biz friends, too! Click here to check it out (you can start with a free trial!)
What can you really do with email marketing? Some marketing ideas
There are so many fantastic ways to use emails to grow your business. You could:
Send newsletters
Keep your subscribers in the loop by sending regular newsletters (think 2-4 times a month) with updates like new products and services, specials, or helpful content that you think they’d like.
Configure a sales or launch sequence
Write up a few emails that guide your subscribers to making a purchase, or that lead up to a big launch. Email is an awesome way to promote products or launches.
Create a welcome sequence
Set up 3-5 emails that go out to brand new subscribers to welcome them to your list, introduce you and your business, and share your best content or products.
Automate your processes
A good email marketing platform will let you automate the emails you send. This means that you can set up a series of emails that automatically get sent to your readers on a schedule of your choosing. Businesses automate things like:
Sequences (welcome sequences, sales sequences etc.)
Onboarding new clients (sending forms, information, etc.)
Post-purchase emails (review prompts, follow up, etc.)
Where To Start with Setting Up Your Email Marketing
So, with all of that info, where should you start? What are the action steps you should take now, and what should your game-plan be for moving forward with email marketing?
When you’re just starting out setting up your email marketing, keep it as simple as possible by focusing on these key tasks to avoid feeling overwhelmed.
Tip: Make use of your email platform’s trainings and tutorials to learn exactly how to do each of these things! It will be different depending on which software you chose, and you’ll be able to find guides on how to do this stuff within your specific platforms help-guides and documentation.
1: Choose your email platform
This is the first step! Read up on the info provided about platforms above. (If you go with FloDesk, don’t forget to use the 50% off code BIGCATCREATIVE!)
2: Create a freebie or opt-in
Write, design, create, or decide on an awesome opt-in (Check out these tips! how to create the perfect opt-in). This could be some sort of freebie or a discount code. Make sure it’s valuable enough that people WILL opt-in for it, and make sure it will attract people who will be interested in your products.
3: Create a form
So people can sign up to your freebie or discount using their name and email. You could create a basic form and embed it around your site, you could create a pop-up, or even a whole landing-page dedicated to the opt-in. Check to see what your software offers, they will likely have templates and guides that will help you create this.
4: Link the opt-in to your form
When someone enters their name and email into your form, they need to be instantly sent the freebie or discount. This can be automated in your email market software so you don’t have to life a finger. Set the freebie up to be automatically delivered to those who sign up to your form.
5: Write a welcome email
This isn’t a necessity, but it’s one of the easiest and most effective ways to get your subscribers to actually stay on your list (aka not “unsubscribe”).
Write up a simple introduction email welcoming new subscribers to your list, then set it up to deliver automatically after they get the freebie (I would delay this by a day or so, so they have some time to dive into the freebie, first!)
6: Long term strategy
Email your subscribers every one to two weeks with things you think they would be interested in. I’m too busy and too lazy to write brand new content for my email list (but if you can do this, kudos to you!) so I generally repurpose my blog posts or other helpful content that I have already posted and send it to my list so they can look at it!
This strategy is basically the bare-minimum of what you would want to do with your email list, but it can be really effective. You could do about a-million more things in terms of strategy, but if you’re just starting out then this totally enough.
It seriously can be that simple! Don’t think that you have to get all fancy and complicated for email marketing to work. Just start building your list and do the basics, and you can evolve from there!
Want to keep learning?
If you’d like to learn more about setting up email marketing, I recommend listening to some of the Pros like Jenna Kutcher’s ‘Goal Digger Podcast’ or Amy Porterfield’s ‘Online Market Made Easy’ podcast as these two ladies totally kill it at the email marketing game, and they produce tons of good, free podcast content all about email marketing.
They also both have courses on email marketing which I’ve heard great things about, so you could check those out too!
I hope you enjoyed this post and learned a bit about email marketing and where to start. Good luck!
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