How One Email Generated 30% of Our Revenue in Year 1

Email marketing has a bad reputation, and I understand why. You most likely cringe at the thought of potentially annoying your customers by sending emails to them. I’ve felt the same exact way, but if I hadn’t overcome that fear, I might not have ever gotten my business off the ground. 

‍Our story with email marketing:

In 2021 when I started my South Mountain Messaging, I had a very small email list (like 10 people.) For that reason, I didn’t think email marketing would get me a high ROI. But as a big project was coming to an end, I needed to line up my next one, so here’s what I did:

1. I sent an email to my small list of 10 people, telling them about a really cool new marketing assessment I had been using to help clients create a marketing strategy. 
2. Next, I invited my email list to take the assessment if they were struggling to figure out a plan for their marketing and messaging.
3. Then, I offered a free strategy session to review their marketing assessment and give them DIY or Done-For-You options.

The results? 3 people took the assessment, 2 became clients, and 30% of my revenue over the next year came from those clients. 

Since then, I’ve made emailing my list a priority. Sometimes I even shudder at what might have happened to my business if I hadn’t sent that email in my early days.  

Many businesses don't know what to do for marketing, yet have hundreds if not thousands of people on an email list that they never email. If this is you, you might be an email skeptic. This next part is for you...

These are the top 3 objections I hear about email marketing:

1. Email doesn’t work! - Email marketing gets a higher return per dollar spent than nearly any form of paid marketing and is one of the most cost-effective ways to market. If email marketing hasn’t worked for you in the past, your list might have been of low quality, or your messaging wasn’t clear in your emails. 
2. People Don’t Read Emails - My weekly email averages 70% open rates. For a personal brand (like a realtor or individual business owner), 50% open rates are normal. For a non-personal brand, 30% rates are average. If you have a list of 1,000 contacts, wouldn’t you still like to market to 500 of them?
3. What if My Leads Unsubscribe? That’s okay! I get 1 or 2 people a month that unsubscribe from my list. When it happens, I feel a sense of clarity knowing that they’ve made a decision that South Mountain Messaging isn’t the right fit for them. 1-2% of your list may unsubscribe each month. If you’re always growing your list with better quality leads, you’ve got nothing to worry about. 

If you have a list of leads or past customers that are collecting dust, the best lever to pull for your business is to start sending marketing emails. And if you can't bring yourself to do it, then we're here to help.

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