5 “Golden” Email Marketing Rules To Break
You’ve heard lots of marketers, including me, say that there are rules you shouldn’t break when it comes to your email marketing.
In this video, you’ll learn why and when you should break them.
BUT, what to do instead… I’ll also share the one rule I constantly break.
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Rule #1: Be consistent
Problems with this:
- End up emailing for the sake of emailing and contributing to the noise.
- People start to zone you out, and you actually ‘train’ your list not to open your emails.
- Same email, same day, same time – releasing your podcast, blog post, etc.
- Being too predictable.
💡 Try this instead: Only email your list when you actually have something to say. Don’t email just because you feel you ‘should’.
Rule #2: Only one ‘call to action’ per email
Treat your audience as though they’re smart enough to handle lots of links in one email. The more calls to action you have in any given email, the more people will be interested in engaging with that email, aka fewer unsubscribes.
💡 Try this instead: Where appropriate, experiment with including a variety of different links and things for people to engage with.
Speaking of calls to action that actually convert…
If you’re struggling to get people to take action on your landing pages (whether that’s signing up for your email list or buying your products), the problem might not be your email strategy—it could be your landing page itself.
Most creators make the same 5 critical mistakes that kill conversions before visitors even get to your email list. I’ve put together a 13-point checklist that shows you exactly how to create landing pages that convert in just 20 minutes, using my proven “RSVP” framework.
Get the free 13-point landing page checklist here →
Because what’s the point of breaking email rules if you can’t get people onto your list in the first place?
Rule #3: Send super plain emails
Yes, the more stuff, images, colors, fonts, etc, you put in an email, the higher the chance your emails will land in the promotions tab or junk folder.
BUT if you become so obsessed with deliverability that you make your emails so plain that you’ve stripped out all the personality, no one is going to enjoy them anyway.
💡 Try this instead: Send emails that you feel really good about in terms of how they look, their branding, pictures/gifs, etc. Experiment with sending emails with more and less ‘stuff’.
Rule #4: Segment, Segment, Segment
If you email your list and ask them to click if they like “red,” and then the following week sell “blue,” but you don’t email the people who said they like “red,” you’ve missed the point of segmenting.
The easiest approach to segmenting is to email the maximum number of people as possible, unless you specifically know they aren’t interested.
💡 Try this instead: Try a more ‘opt-out’ approach to your segmenting. I have a video on how to do this in ConvertKit, which I’ll link up in the description below. But research how to do this on your individual email service provider. Send an email to the biggest possible segment of your list.
Rule #5: Don’t sell right away, provide value
You have the most interest and attention from someone right at the beginning of them jumping on board with you. You are doing a massive disservice if you withhold how you can help them right at the start.
Think about your buying habits… if you find someone who can help you with your problem or reach your goal(s), you want to at least have that opportunity to learn about that. How many times have you just thought ‘get to the point?’ with other people’s sales emails?
💡 Try this instead: Put subtle selling into all emails. Selling is serving. You’re doing a disservice to the people who need you right now if you’re not allowing them to buy from you.
Whether you are a rule breaker or not, when you send an email, you should always send it with a purpose.
