The #1 Newsletter Strategy kindly supplied by Affilorama
In this post we're going to look at the #1 Newsletter strategy available to affiliates: the 6-part mini course.
The reason for this is that a course sounds much more interesting, and more valuable, than a newsletter. We've all signed up to 'newsletters' that turn out to be dull and uninspiring; on the other hand, a '6-part mini course' sounds manageable and effective. As we've talked about in other contexts, people do love to read a number because it gives them certainty.
If you are able to throw in a bonus with the promotion, then that's even better. For example, if you are promoting a dog training book, you might be able to find some private label rights dog training articles that you could turn into a book. This is a great way of sweetening the deal and getting even more sales, but it's not essential.
We've done a lot of testing and found that an email two or three times a week is optimal. It might seem like a lot, but you've got to remember that people don't open every email they receive. Out of every 5 emails you send, they might only open only two.
What is a 6-part mini course?
A 6-part mini course is essentially just 6 newsletters packed with as much value as you can possibly give. It's a strategy we have found to be highly effective, and we use it for many of our own products. What we've discovered is that we get more subscribers when we call our newsletter a '6-part mini course', rather than just a 'newsletter'.The reason for this is that a course sounds much more interesting, and more valuable, than a newsletter. We've all signed up to 'newsletters' that turn out to be dull and uninspiring; on the other hand, a '6-part mini course' sounds manageable and effective. As we've talked about in other contexts, people do love to read a number because it gives them certainty.
The importance of quality
It's very important that the 6-part course contains your best quality work. This is an extremely important stage for gaining the loyalty of your subscribers. What you are doing is training people to continue opening your newsletters in the future. That requires positive reinforcement — if people are consistently rewarded for opening your emails by learning something new and valuable, then they will quickly learn that reading them is a positive experience, and one they want to keep doing; that is not going to happen if you waste their time and don't give value early on.The sell
You can promote your affiliate program within your 6-part course, but it should be a soft approach. Leave the hard sell until Day 7. At this point, subscribers will be so impressed by the free content they've received so far, they'll be willing to take your recommendation seriously.If you are able to throw in a bonus with the promotion, then that's even better. For example, if you are promoting a dog training book, you might be able to find some private label rights dog training articles that you could turn into a book. This is a great way of sweetening the deal and getting even more sales, but it's not essential.
After the course
Following the hard sell on Day 7, you can start to send out your regular newsletters every 3 days. You can alternate between instructional newsletters and the question and answer style. Every 7th newsletter should be a hard sell and be sent out the day after a regular newsletter.We've done a lot of testing and found that an email two or three times a week is optimal. It might seem like a lot, but you've got to remember that people don't open every email they receive. Out of every 5 emails you send, they might only open only two.
Summary
In this post you've learned the best way to structure you're email marketing. To recap:- To start with, you send your subscribers your 6-part mini course.
- The day after they finish the mini-course (Day 7), you send out a hard-sell promoting your affiliate product.
- A couple of days later, start sending out your regular email series every three days, alternating between an instructional and a question and answer style newsletter.
- Every 7th newsletter should be a hard sell and it's important that this comes out the day after an instructional newsletter, so that the momentum of all your value is maintained.
