“The money is in the list”
This saying couldn’t be more true. If you are an Etsy shop owner and you are looking for ways to grow your sales, building an email list should be one of the first things to focus on. After all, email marketing is deemed to have the highest return on investment compared to other marketing channels1.
MailerLite is an intuitive email marketing platform that pairs up quite nicely with Etsy. It’s easy to get acclimated to, it has powerful features, and even comes with a free version.
This guide walks you through how to implement an effective email marketing strategy for your Etsy store with MailerLite.
This post is broken down into two sections:
- Building your Etsy stores email list
- Etsy shop email marketing strategy
Building your Etsy stores email list with MailerLite
Everyone has to start somewhere. If you have little to no email subscribers, building your email list should be your top priority. First things first, before you even start thinking about where to advertise your mailing list, you must create an opt-in form for your list.
Creating opt-in forms with MailerLite
Opt-in forms are the means through which prospective customers can subscribe to your mailing list. This is where people enter their email address and hit “subscribe”.
With MailerLite you can create all types of forms including
- Pop ups
- Embedded forms (for your website)
- Landing pages
You can use the drag-and-drop editor to construct your forms with ease.
Depending on where you want to promote your email list (Etsy’s website, your website, or social media) you may want to use different forms. We will discuss this shortly.
Promote your email list on Etsy
For promoting your email list on Etsy or social media channels, you will want to create a landing page with MailerLite. A landing page is a standalone webpage with one marketing goal: to collect leads. Landing pages can simply have a header and an opt-in form for visitors to submit their email.
Once you have created and published your landing page, you can then promote a link to this landing page on Etsy in a few different ways.
Add an image: In your Etsy photo space, you may add an image to your Etsy listing photo space. You can easily create a nice looking graphic in Canva or you can use other platforms like photoshop.
Make it eye-catching. Make it look professional. But most importantly give clear instructions in your image on how customers can subscribe to your email list, and be sure to include the link to your landing page in the description. Your instruction should be along the lines of “click this link (landing page URL) in the image description”.
Link to your landing page in your listings description: Etsy shop owners use their listing descriptions for a variety of purposes. However, this area is an excellent place to promote a link to your landing page.
Make an announcement: You can make an announcement and mention that you can sign up on your shop’s email list through your landing page link that you provide.
Promoting your list on your website or social media
Etsy is a great place to start promoting your email list. However, if you have a website or social media channels, using these platforms to promote your email list is an excellent strategy.
To get people to opt-in to your email list on your website, you can use an embedded form, a pop up form or both. You can conveniently build both of these forms with MailerLite.
An embedded form can simply be positioned on the sidebar of your website to catch the attention of your visitors scrolling through. A popup form is more attention-grabbing given that it “pops up” in front of your visitors.
As for social media, the best way to advertise would likely be through landing pages. Through Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, and other social media, you can post a link to your email list building landing page.
TIP: Use freebies to grow your email list
Before we talk about the different places you can market your email list, know that you need to give people a reason to subscribe to your email list in the first place. This is where freebies come into play.
People won’t subscribe to your email list if you don’t give them a reason to. You must incentivize prospective customers in one way or another to sign up. This means giving people something of value in return for their email address.
A few other freebies you can offer to entice prospective customers to sign up for your mailing list include:
- Discount on their next purchase
- Free ebook guide
- Invite to a webinar or workshop
Whatever value you plan on providing, make your offer clear everywhere you have an email list sign up form.
Etsy shop email marketing strategy with MailerLite
Once you start marketing for your email list, you will need to formulate an email marketing strategy for your new subscribers. Your email marketing strategy should generally follow these three steps.
1. Welcome email series
A welcome series is a string of emails you can use to introduce yourself and your business. With Mailerlite, you can send a welcome series automatically through the automation workflow features.
The first email of your welcome series can simply be an introductory email. In this email, you can casually explain who you are, what you do, and provide some high-level details of your business. Additionally, if you offered a freebie in your email opt-in such as an ebook, be sure to include that freebie in the first email.
In the next few days, you may send 2-4 more emails containing information that might be of value to your audience. For instance, in these emails, you may link out to blog posts on your website that your audience might be interested in. Alternatively, you may give out more freebies such as discounts or ebooks.
Ultimately the goal of your welcome series to make your audience feel comfortable with you, and to genuinely help them out the best you can. To learn exactly how to build an automated welcome series with MailerLite click here!
2. Promotional email
Once you have sent out your welcome series, and have developed trust between you and your subscribers, you can then send out a promotional email.
This can simply be an email showcasing:
- A sale you might be offering on products on your ecommerce store
- New products that you have just added to your store
- Specific products that be of interest to your audience
There is certainly a good reason why you should hold off on sending promotional emails right away when your subscribers join your list. When your subscribers first join your list, they might not know anything about you or what you do. They simply may have just wanted the freebie you had to offer. The bottom line is, your subscribers are unfamiliar with you and might not have enough trust in you. By providing value to your subscribers in your welcome series, you can earn their trust and you will be much more likely to make sales thereafter.
3. Rinse and repeat
After your first promotional email, you can simply go back to providing content of value for your subscribers like you were doing in your welcome series.
Try to make it a habit to give more than you take. In other words, send more nonpromotional emails than promotional emails. You don’t need to be sending emails every day, but every week or so you can shoot your subscribers an email. Nurture your subscriber list, keep them happy, and you will be paid back many times over.
