Academy / Grow an email list from social
Lesson 5 of 5 · 5 min
How often to send, and what
The best sending rhythm is the one you keep. A short email every week for a year does more than a long one in January and nothing after.
Pick a rhythm
- Once a week suits businesses with something new most weeks: a studio's schedule, a shop's new items, a coach's tip.
- Every two weeks suits most small businesses and gives you time to write.
- Once a month is the least you should send. Less than once a month and people tend to forget they signed up, and the next email looks like spam to them.
Pick the day and say it in your welcome email: "every Sunday". Then keep it.
What goes in each email
Use the same shape every time, so writing takes 20 minutes and readers know what they get:
- One useful thing. A tip, a short story, an answer to a question someone asked.
- One piece of news. A new class, a new product, an open slot, an event.
- One link, to the thing you want them to do this week.
Your month of posts from Plan a month in an hour is the raw material for email: the best post of the week, told a little longer, is next Sunday's email.
Unsubscribes are fine
Every email loses a few people. That is the list cleaning itself: the people who leave were not going to buy. Worry when many leave after one email, and read that email again. Make it easy to leave: every marketing email needs a working unsubscribe link, and most email tools add one for you.
The numbers worth watching
- Clicks on your one link. The number that says the email did its job.
- Replies. Fewer, and worth more. Each is a person talking to you.
- Signups per week. Whether your asks from lesson 2 work. In Postfjord, each automation shows how many email addresses it collected.
Open rates are less reliable than they used to be, because some email apps open messages on the reader's behalf. Look at them over months, not one email.
Plan it with your posts
Put your email day in your own calendar or your email tool, on the same day every time. Postfjord's calendar is where you pick the post to reuse: look at the week's posts and choose the one that deserves a longer telling. The button opens it.
Quick check · 3 questions
Check what stuck
Which rhythm is best?
Show the answer
The one you can keep, and say in the welcome email. Once a week, every two weeks or once a month all work if you keep them.
Where do ideas for the emails come from?
Show the answer
Your month of posts, told a little longer. The best post of the week is next week's email.
A few people unsubscribe after every email. What does it mean?
Show the answer
The list is cleaning itself. Worry only when many leave after one email, and read that one again.
In this course
- 1An offer worth an email addressWhy "join our newsletter" gets few signups, what makes a free offer work, examples for studios, salons, shops and coaches, and how to test one before you make it. · 5 min
- 2Where to ask for the emailThe places on social and in real life where people say yes, and how to collect the address in an Instagram or Facebook DM with Postfjord. · 5 min
- 3A signup people trustWhat a signup form needs and what it can leave out, why people should confirm their address, and where the addresses you collect in Postfjord go next. · 5 min
- 4The welcome emailThe first email is the one most people open. What to put in it, a full example you can copy, and what to leave for later. · 6 min
- 5How often to send, and whatPick a rhythm you can keep, a simple shape for each email, what to do about unsubscribes, and the few numbers worth watching. · 5 min