Start an email list this week, even if you have zero subscribers
Social platforms can change the rules overnight. An email list is the one audience you own. Here is the simplest way to begin.
· 2 min read
Your Facebook followers belong to Facebook. If the platform changes how posts are shown, or your page gets locked, you can lose your reach overnight. An email list is different: it is yours, and nobody stands between you and your customers' inboxes.
You do not need a big list. Fifty people who have bought from you are worth more than five thousand strangers.
Step 1: Pick an email service
Do not send group emails from your personal inbox. It looks unprofessional, it lands in spam, and it does not give people a way to unsubscribe, which the law requires for marketing email.
Use an email marketing service instead. There are many, and most have a free or low-cost plan for small lists. Pick one that looks simple to you; the best tool is the one you will actually use. They all handle the signup forms, the unsubscribe link and your mailing address in the footer for you.
Step 2: Collect emails everywhere you already talk to customers
Only add people who have agreed to hear from you. Then make it easy to say yes:
- At the counter: a clipboard or a tablet with "Get our monthly specials by email."
- On invoices and receipts: a line with a short link or QR code to your signup form.
- On your website: a signup box on the home page, not buried in the footer.
- On social media: post the signup link once a month and say what people get.
Give people a reason. "Join our newsletter" is weak. "Get first pick of new arrivals" or "One seasonal home maintenance tip a month" is a reason.
Step 3: Send one useful email a month
Consistency beats frequency. A simple monthly email that people look forward to will do more than a weekly one you dread writing. A format that works for almost any business:
- One helpful thing. A tip, a how-to, or an answer to a common question.
- One thing that's new. A product, a service, a team member, a finished project.
- One clear offer or next step. "Book by the 15th," "Reply to this email to order," "Show this for 10% off."
Write it like a note to one customer, not an announcement to a crowd. Keep it short enough to read on a phone in a minute.
Step 4: Watch two numbers
Your email service will show you how many people opened the email and how many clicked. Do not obsess over them. Just notice which subjects and topics do better, and do more of those.
Do this today
Sign up for an email service, create one signup form, and put the link in one place your customers will see it this week.