3 Reasons Why People Skip Over Your Emails 

Marketing is changing. You no longer can rely on the cookie-cutter advice. You need marketing that connects with your audience, builds community, and uses creativity to keep your followers coming back for more. One of the most common marketing strategies is an email list. Do you have one for your business yet? If so, you may be wondering how to get more people to open your emails and actually do what you want them to do. Here are 3 reasons why people skip over your emails and how to send emails when your audience is ready to purchase.

 

 

We are getting this expert advice from a new friend I made, Zach Zeller. We are taking a masterclass together and learning from him there made me realize he needs to share his knowledge here with you! He is so good at what he does, so I know you’ll not only enjoy this one, but you’ll gain some expert tips you can implement into your email marketing strategy right now. 

 

Quick Back Story on Zach

Back during COVID, Zach was running an agency for big accounts like Christine Andrews, Michelle Tanya, and Jay Shetty. His focus was selling on Instagram. He found that their efforts had a conversion rate of 3-16 percent on average. Some people may consider this a win, but Zach couldn’t stop wondering about the other 90 percent who were still participating in the content but were not buying the products. This is when he shifted his focus to email marketing.

Zach specializes in email automation and systems that anticipate customer needs. Email systems create a more durable business around what you are doing. Today, people buy when they are ready to buy. There’s so much transparency and availability of information on social media that it’s not necessarily the case where you can sell products in specialized funnels anymore. 

With that being said, adding email with behavior-based triggers helps people buy when they are ready. These types of emails look like giving them extra information, nurturing them, and building them up until they are ready to take action. Zach has seen this strategy help convert that other 90 percent who is not ready to buy right away. 

 

 

How to Get Your Instagram Followers to Your Email List

Instagram is an amazing tool for attracting and nurturing people, but if you want an even stronger impact on your community, get them to your email list. Zach has this concept called, “your siren call.” It’s where you combine the problem you solve with your solution. Sprinkle this siren call into your content with your loyal followers/customers in mind. 

While you have this super clear vision of what your business does and the ins and outs of it all, you want to keep it super concise and plain for your people–especially new ones. To help you understand how simple it needs to be, think about how you would describe the problem your business solves in 1-2 sentences. Having this nailed down makes an incredible difference with connecting with people and getting them to follow you.

Once you decide what those 1-2 sentences are, try testing it out with people around you. For instance, if you meet someone at the gym, grocery store, Uber ride, etc. you could try saying your phrase to them and see if it hooks them in or not. This will be a good indicator if your phrase is powerful and draws people in or deters them. If people stay and listen, that’s a sign that you can use that same verbiage in your written content. 

Pro Tip: Use the game of inches. Find ways you can inch people into doing what you want them to do rather than telling them this big over-arching thing at the beginning. Inching them could be saying things like, “Click here to read the rest of the article.” or “Click here to get the rest of the tips for XYZ.” Each inch is bringing them closer to the sale you really want to make with them.

 

 

3 Reasons Why People Skip Over Your Emails

Reason #1: Confusing

A lot of business owners make the mistake of making their content or marketing too fancy. It makes sense to the owner because they are in the business all the time–but it’s probably confusing for someone reading it for the first time. Sometimes the easiest way to sell something is to plainly say, ‘This is what I have and how it can help you.’ And then the person who found you can decide if that’s something they need or not. 

 

Reason #2: Unbelievable

Through research, Zach found that people are more likely to respond if you talk about making a hundred bucks by Saturday than making 6 figures in a year. If they’ve never made 6 figures before, this statement could seem unbelievable. They don’t know what this looks or feels like. Whereas making a hundred bucks by Saturday is something people can feel and visualize. When making promises to your audience, don’t make it sound too good to be true. Let it peak their interest but also let it be something they believe they could achieve. 

 

Reason #3: Boring

The boring part comes in if you get too into the weeds of what you sell. As the expert, you probably love what you do and are very passionate about it. And because of that, you may sometimes over-communicate what you do and share too many details people are not interested in. You want to focus on what your customers care about and they won’t care about the details. All they want is for you to solve their problem and tell them how to get there. 

The best way to overcome these three traps is to meet people where they are at. Understand your audience, get to know them, and pay attention to how they talk about their problem. This will help you know how to phrase your content and marketing in a way that makes them want to listen and stay with you. Check out my post HERE that gives you tips on how to do this! 

 

 

2 Must-Haves for Your Email List

Must-Have #1: An onboarding sequence.

Your onboarding sequence is what you will send to the people who are new to your email list. There should be absolutely no selling in this sequence. This sequence follows a step-by-step process that walks your new subscriber through a journey with you. You are nurturing them, helping them get to know you, and setting up what they can expect from your emails.

This email sequence could include a welcome message, a breakdown of the problem you solve and why it means so much to you (and to them), and the pillars of your business that will guide their journey and your content for them. 

Zach recommends highlighting on 3 focuses for your subscriber. If they want to get from A to Z, tell them the main 3 things they need to do to get to that point. Describe it in a way that encourages them and helps them know you are right there with them cheering them on and helping them meet their goals. 

 

Must-Have #2: Value newsletters

Once your subscribers finish their onboarding experience they will move on to receiving your value newsletters. These will be unique to every content creator/business out there. It’s up to you how often you want to send these. Zach recommends anywhere between 1-3 times per week. 

You could decide on a theme for every newsletter to help organize your content creation. For example, every Tuesday email could be sending your people to content on social media that you created to help them out. Every Thursday email could be a roundup of content or a Q&A. These are just two examples, and the options are endless so you can decide what you want your value newsletters to be filled with. 

Pro Tip: Finish every single email with a P.S. that has a call-to-action or reminds them of a product you’re selling that will benefit them. This is a chance for you to guide people on their buying decisions. You are not there to just make a sale but to help solve their problem through your products. 

 

 

3 Reasons Why People Skip Over Your Emails

This post is jam-packed with valuable information on email marketing! It definitely covers the 3 reasons why people skip over your emails, but it covers even more. If you want even more insight on this post, make sure to check out my full interview with Zach HERE. You’ll definitely want to follow along with both of us so you can keep getting these great tips for marketing your biz that bring increased results. You can find me on Instagram @iammichellegifford and can check out Zach’s website HERE. 

 

If You’re New to Email Marketing…

• How to Turn Your Insta Followers into Loyal Buyers
• The Formula for the Perfect Email
• Why You Need an Email List + Email Marketing 101
• How to Create a Killer First Email Sequence