The 15 commandments of email marketing for subscription businesses

1. Your offer is the key. Your emails won’t sell anything if your offer does not entice a click and your site doesn’t drive to a purchase

2. You need to optimise your website to convert. Imagery, copy and design must all be clear, concise and compelling. Or else email clicks will bounce right off.

3. If you’re not capturing enough lead volume from your site, you’ll struggle. It’s a numbers game after all. Quizzes, flows and exit intent are all great sources of leads.

4. Automate the follow up. Most people are not ready to buy on the first look, it’s up to you to remind them and show them how to make the right choice.

5. Your automations should continue the selling journey your site started. Remind them about the offer, show them social proof and reviews, make sure they know what they are getting, introduce urgency and FOMO.

6. Send regular broadcasts. Someone can hang around on your list for 3 years before buying, don’t forget them so easily.

7. In order to effectively sell to and retain your customers, one of your first post purchase emails should have survey them and ASK them.

8. In your surveys, ask them who they are, why they bought and if there was anything that had them on the fence & what else they buy. Use this to improve your marketing and retain them longer.

9. Welcome people and get them invested in your brand by telling stories, showing the people behind the brand, tell them how they can keep in touch on socials etc.

10. If they express an interest to cancel, go above and beyond to capture them before they go. It’s cheaper to keep a subscriber than find a new one.

11. If someone cancels, offer them an incentive to rejoin immediately. This WORKS.

12. From your surveys make people offers that they’d be interested in. Get them to add it to their monthly order or shipment. If not a physical subscription, offer extra information or support/community for upsell opportunities.

13. Introduce higher tiered subscriptions and add ons. Make it convenient for people to order and offer them extra value for a little more money. Not everyone wants the cheapest option.

14. Send yes emails. Get the customer to reply yes to an offer and you can process the order for them. Less friction = more sales.

15. Email is the key to long term profitability. If you’re not getting the sales or growth you want, its the easiest and cheapest lever to pull to increase sales, retention and upselling.