Launching A $9 Email Marketing Membership
Launches will fall flat if your email list isn’t engaged or filled with people who actually want what you're selling them.
That's where Liz Wilcox comes in with her $9 email marketing membership. She helps business owners make email marketing fun and doable while building a list full of buyers.
In this episode, we talked about...
- how pop culture impacts Liz's business
- the bold email she sent out that grew her revenue and retired her from copywriting
- Liz's email marketing membership
- how she uses live launches to grow her members
- a different perspective on writing weekly newsletter
- her advice for growing a list of buyers
- steps to structure your weekly newsletters
...and much, much more
Things mentioned in this episode
- Check out Liz's Email Marketing Membership: https://lizwilcox.com/products
Learn more about Liz Wilcox
The Fresh Princess of Email Marketing, Liz Wilcox is an Email Strategist and Keynote Speaker showing small businesses how to build online relationships, package up their “magic” and turn it into emails that people want to read and, most importantly, purchase from.
In the span of 5 years, Liz grew and sold a successful blog, got bought out of her second company, and built the third into a multiple six-figure party that just won’t quit! In other words, she now teaches online entrepreneurs to simplify the whole “email marketing thing” by leveraging their personality, vision, and values to build a business where they belong.
She’s best known for her 1000+ users membership, 20 Minute Newsletter technique, and the Email Staircase framework she’s taught to tens of thousands of creatives, freelancers, ecommerce shop owners, and small businesses across the globe.
https://lizwilcox.com
instragram.com/thelizwilcox/
https://www.facebook.com/groups/emailmarketingwithliz
Read the full transcript so you don't miss a thing
Sara: As a launch copywriter and strategist I often meet with people who want to launch. But I see these two common scenarios crop up. One, maybe they haven't been emailing their list for a while, or they have a list that doesn't really buy from them. And in my experience, we can work so hard on the sales page and the launch event, and everything in between. But if that list isn't engaged, or filled with people who actually want what we're selling, the launch can fall flat. And if you can relate to this, this episode is for you.
You're listening to the launch playbook podcast, the weekly podcast for service based business owners to discover the starts, stops and tools to transformation that go into launching their online offers. I'm your host, Sara Vartanian. And if you want to launch your ideas into the world faster, with more success and less burnout. Well, friend, consider this show your secret playbook to get you there.
Sara: Yes, email marketing matters for your launches and your overall business sales. And that's why I called in today's guest, the Fresh Prince of email marketing. Liz Wilcox is an email strategist and keynote speaker showing small businesses how to build online relationships, package up their magic, and turn it into emails that people want to read, and most importantly, purchase from in the span of five years, Liz grew and sold a successful blog, got bought out of her second company and built the third into a multiple six figure party that just won't quit. In other words, She now teaches online entrepreneurs to simplify the whole email marketing thing by leveraging their personality, vision and values to build a business where they belong. Welcome, Liz. I am so thrilled to talk to you today.
Liz: Sara, that was a great bio. I wonder who wrote what a great intro? Yeah, no, Pat's. On back. You can't see me. But I'm definitely. Yeah, thank you so much for having me. I am thrilled before we hit the record button. Sara and I were talking about what we're going to cover and I was like, oh, so we're basically just gonna geek out on email marketing, like I'm in Let's go. So I'm really excited.
Sara: Like, yes, please. So it was I love the title you play for yourself. Let's start there. How did you choose it?
Liz: The fresh princess?
Sara: Yeah.
Liz: Okay, well, if you're listening, and you've never seen me, you know, it does require a little bit of explanation. Like right now. I'm wearing a backwards cap. I have an insync merchandise shirt on right now that actually it's a fresh, it's a fresh merchandise. So they they're wearing masks like COVID masks. So this is not like an old school thing. But actually what happened when I found when I figured out that title, I was actually at a conference and I was being awarded an insync. Crown. Speaking of, and it was a surprise and it was for being like an inspiring member of the community for like coming to that event for a couple years and actually going home and, you know, doing the thing that I said I was going to do when I was there, right? And so they surprise awarded me with this hilarious crown. We should put the picture in the show notes. And they said, Oh, Liz Wilcox, the queen of email marketing. And something. I was like, No, that's, that's not me. That's Tarzan, Kay, that's, you know, Laura Bell Gray, like those are queens, right? And I literally took the mic from him. And I said, No, I'm the fresh princess. Because I love I love Will Smith, first of all, like, just as much as I love in sync, like Will Smith has been one of those people, you know, in pop culture that actually was a role model. For me growing up, I grew up watching the Fresh Prince of Bel Air. And then you know, seeing him well, first, I remember listening to him in the tape deck of my mom's car, you know, when he was the Fresh Prince, then, you know, going into the TV character, then the movie star, and then when I got older and realized, you know, basically I'd grown up with this celebrity, right? I was like, I wonder what like, wow, Will Smith is still relevant, like and he What I loved about him is that he's always himself, like in, in the hip hop industry. You know, he was regarded as corny and wack and just like, you know, a sellout and all this stuff. And then, you know, being especially in the early 90s, being this, you know, African American, you know, becoming biggest movie star in the entire world. I really, around college started to study him like how did he do that? How did he break through all of these boundaries, you know, be the first rapper to win a rap Grammy, you know, one of the first to have like a number one hit show about a black family, you know, and then on top of it just being himself right, no matter what, just staying true to what he wanted. And that really, really got to me and he's always kept things fresh like his name The Fresh Prince he dubbed that. I think he called himself The Fresh Prince the same way I'm calling myself the French Princess, when he was like 16 or 17 years old and always being like, you know, staying on top of his game being, you know, refreshing, but somehow, you know, relevant and on time, and witty. And also, I think I wrote in an email today, like, what I loved is, you know, he's always used like style and humor to carve his way into something new. And I know, I've got a weird sense of style, but I like to think that I'm stylish and funny, too. And so, you know, in that moment, when they said, Oh, the queen of whatever, I was, like, No, I'm the fresh princess. I'm coming in hot with this fun, funky, but somehow super relatable, and something that you know, can be spread to the masses, like my email strategies. And that's how I came up with the name.
Sara: Oh, my gosh, Liz. I love hearing how that developed. I grew up watching the Fresh Prince too. And I can remember as well that I can literally close my eyes here. And I can picture my yellow tape deck. Yeah, the tape and it was like summer, summer, summer cemetery. That one? Yes. I think it will smith, and then DJ Jazzy Jeff, that's, I don't think summer can ever hit when I don't like start humming that I'm thinking about it.
Liz: I know, it's a classic. I love that you brought that story up. And this is you can look at my branding. And you can think, Oh, she's latching on to this or that. But like, Will Smith really is a pinnacle in my life. And I just to me, it's like a homage to try to call myself that right. But I remember you mentioned summertime, I actually met my ex husband at a at an event. And it was like six or seven in the morning. And, you know, like a running event. And summertime came on the radio. And I blasted I mean, it's like 637 in the morning. And I remember, I got out of the car, and I was supposed to be meeting him. And this, you know, it's like a group of friends meeting a group of friends. I didn't really know him. And I got out of the car. And they're standing there. And he was like, I seriously was just asking, Who the heck was blaring, not in music? And I was like, oh, it's me, the girl who went on a date with him together. So Will Smith really, you know, bring it bringing folks together?
Sara: Just another claim he could have?
Liz: Yeah, you can you can have that one Will.
Sara: So if we find ourselves really drawn to certain shows or bands, what do you think they can teach us about ourselves in our business?
Liz: Sure. So in business, and I especially talk about this with email, but it really encompasses your whole brand. I always tell people, you know, you have this staircase for sure you've got some followers. And then you know, you can turn them into friends. And then you can turn them into customers. But in order to, you know, start that friendship, to really build that relationship, you've got to lead with three things. Number one, your personality, your vision, and then your values. So bringing, you know, the pop culture, the TV show, if you have a TV show, or if you have something like Sara and I are talking about where it's like, oh, yeah, I still remember popping it into the tape deck, or, you know, turning it on every Thursday night at eight. Think about those lessons that you learned or how much fun it was when, or take it back to those moments. And really think about, you know, how that molded you how that shaped you. And then you can then you can realize a little bit of that personality and put it into your brand. Like for me with the fresh prints within seeing all of that for me, like I love that stuff. I'm never going to not love it. Right? And I'm still that person that listens to the same music over and over and over again. And you know, I You can't see me right now. But I've got my insync poster here. Like, I bought that before I had Liz Wilcox calm, like this has been with me for a minute, okay? And so you can inject those as part of your personality. And also you can start to dissect yourself in a way I'm very like, I'm one of those people that's like constantly trying to analyze myself, and like, Okay, what is it about fresh prints that I love? And you know, we just explained all that. So if there's something in that pop culture realm that you love, what is it about it that you love, and you can put that into your quote unquote, brand personality? And the thing about that is with business and why I suggest this is because it's relatable. Like, when I talk about building friendships, I always say one of the things is you have to share in a relatable way. Like I used to have a business that was full of my ideal customer was like a 60 year old man named Rob and he had two kids and they were both going to college. Using I was talking about fresh prints and in sync. No there were other parts of my personality that I put forward. Of course, I'm always Liz Wilcox, right? You can only ever be yourself. What do you think is relatable to your people, and you can put it out there as part of that brand personality. Does that make sense?
Sara: Makes so much sense. And I really appreciate how you're having us tap into what it is about those things that speak to us. Because I think, just as you said, like, the more we can be relatable, the more we can tap into the things that make you you. So you will will this will cost me Sara Vartanian, like, what are those things? I feel like the more true we can be in our business, right? And then the more true we are, the more we show up as ourselves. And it probably our business becomes more fun to be part of.
Liz: Yeah, 100% I love what Sara said, how she ended like, the more fun you have, I always so I started my business, in an RV without internet, like I was living in a campground. I was having to drive to libraries, laundry mats, like all this to actually get internet to, you know, blog. And how I developed this sense of like, you know, like I said, leading with your personality and your vision and your values was that I didn't have a lot of time. And things were stressful trying to build my business. And so I had to figure out a way to make it fun. Because people, we don't do things that are not fun, right? How many tic TOCs Instagrams, do you see where it's someone lamenting about their job and how terrible their job is? And suddenly we're in a pandemic, and there's a great resignation. It's because people up until a certain point, like, you just simply can't sustain if you're not having at least some type of fun.
Sara: Absolutely. And I know we're gonna jump into email marketing more in a second. But I also want to pull back to when you first shared why that Queen title didn't resonate with you. You said like, that's more like Tarzan, Kay, or Laura Bell Gray, you're like, No, I'm the fresh princess. That's you. And I think Liz, you call it something that so many of us feel right. We're like, there's there's other people in our industry doing amazing work at what we're doing. But we can also be amazing to like, we're great, too. And I know you often say that, like you're amazing to two people. So I think the more what I hear from you is the more we tap into what makes us unique, or what speaks to us, the more that we can show up as ourselves and build a brand that speaks to who we are, but still be in a not it's we're not really we're not competing with someone else. We're being fully us in our brand in our business in our expertise. And owning that.
Liz: Yeah, 100% The more you can lean into that. And the more you can lean into yourself, whether it's pop culture or any other kind of personality style, the more you're going to build a business like that you belong in, right? Instead of just trying to build a business to generate revenue. It's a business that makes real money serves real people, but where you can be real too.
Sara: Right? We're not putting on like a costume. We're actually we're being asked that maybe just amplified.
Liz: Yeah.
Sara: 100%. Awesome. So Liz, one of my favorite emails from you. And we talked about this before we jumped in and turned on the recording was the launch for your email marketing membership. And you sent out this email of the subject line. Can I have $9 and I loved it so much, because it was bold ask, but it's only nine bucks. Right? So can you tell us what made you lead with that?
Liz: Sara, I'm so glad you brought this up. So this email that she's talking about at the time of this recording is almost a year old and people are still bringing it up. And that goes to show like I really do feel like I am the fresh Princess like be like this is an infamous email nowadays. And yeah, so like, there's that I have this membership, and it's all just email marketing templates. But I was sitting at my keyboard, I was sitting at my desk, and I knew I had to write a newsletter that day was Tuesday afternoon. I'm like, okay, Liz, come on, just sit down button chair. And I was feeling really stressed out, I had just signed $20,000 in copywriting projects. I used to be a copywriter. And I knew I only was doing the copywriting thing, because I wanted it to fund me so that I could, you know, become this fresh Princess of email, right, so that I could, you know, eventually sustain myself with digital products. And so I signed this $20,000 which was more money than I sold my first business for so it was like wow, Liz, like you're doing it, you're, you're making real money now. But at the same time, it was very stressful because you know, $20,000 Now I gotta sit down and work and I can't do this email thing. I've got to do all this copywriting thing. And I knew that this was 2021 February 2021. I knew by the end of that year, I did not want to be a copywriter anymore. I wanted to save up enough money to retire those services. And you know, spread the message about email. So I said, Okay, Liz, are you going to, you know, sit here and think about that, or are you going to do something about it? And that's when I had this idea, you know, this non original idea. I see template members Ships all over the place, especially now a year ago, they were they were relevant to. And I said, Okay, Liz, what is the one thing that if you like, if you could give someone, just one thing that would actually make them make money with email, what would it be? And in my head, I'm like, It's newsletters. And we'll probably talk about this later. A little foreshadowing here. But if you don't write consistent newsletters, you're not going to make money. Like Sara said, at the top of the hour, you know, your launch could probably flop you might have a list full of people that you know, feel completely disconnected from your offer. Because you're not staying consistent with them. You're not sharing in a relevant way you're not, you know, you're not becoming their friend, you don't know them. And so But what is also, luckily for me, what is also the hardest thing to do send a newsletter out every single week. Now, for me, it's very simple. I'd been doing it for three or four years at that time for three different businesses. Like I know my newsletter stuff, like newsletters, my jam. And so I'm like, Okay, I could create a template, like a true template, not a swipe, file, a true template for businesses to just do the dang thing. Like, I always say, like, I'm on a mission to make email work for you. Like, I truly mean that. That's why every single week for a year, I've been writing templates, I'm like, Just try it. Just just try one template, see what happens. Like, I feel like a little bit of like an email newsletter pusher, like, I'm like, Just try it. Just Just try it just one time, you'll be hooked, I promise. But anyway, so I said, Okay, Liz, that's what it's going to be. Just send out a newsletter, just, you know, you're going to send out a newsletter template every week. And then I thought, Oh, well, I'll do a live q&a once a month in case people have questions. Maybe I'll get some guest experts in, and that and the can I have $9 email, I'm just writing this and I get to, you know, and get to all those bullet points about what's inside. And then I'm like, okay, Liz, how much does it cost? I thought to myself, well, my VIP day is $2,000. If I could even make $1,000 a month from this, like, that would give me half a day off. And that would like that would be the beginning of something awesome, right? And then I thought about, okay, well, how do I get? How do I get almost everyone to say yes to this, like, what is that price look like? At the time I had a tripwire that was $22. And to me, I was like, That is a no brainer. That is not a lot of money. But then I thought about when I first started my business, when I was in that, oh my gosh, I know I need to make email work, but it sucks. And I have no money to pay someone. And I thought what would be the number that Liz Wilcox three, four or five years ago, would be able to say like, Yes, I'll just try the thing. Liz, you're pushing me on this. I'll just try the thing. What would be that number. And to me, that was $9. It had to be under $10. I grew up really poor. When I started my business. Like I said, I didn't even have internet. I didn't even have internet on my phone. When I started my business. I had to go drive to find internet. That's not a joke. And I had no money for it. It was just it was like me Google Mountain Dew in a dream. Like that's it. And so, to me, $9 felt like Yes. Oh my gosh, I'm so excited to offer this for $9. Let's go. So I put that in the subject line. I was like, I'm just gonna go bowl like I was talking about like, the Fresh Prince is like bold and fun.
And, you know, all that. I was like, I'm just gonna go bold, right? And so, can I have $9 I figured that'll get the most people to open that. I've never seen a subject line that like that before. I know if they open it. I know they're gonna buy. I know, this is what my people want. Because I've been following that email staircase. I've been creating friends I've been, you know, Sara's on my email list. She knows if she emails me, I'm going to email her back. Right? And so, you know, I, I laid it out. Can I have $9? Okay, I hit send. I think I got something like 30 members in the first day. I had 100 members in the first 30 days. And now that email lives on in my email, welcome sequence. And people are still signing up and people are still talking about that email. So thanks for bringing it up. That email changed my life. And I'm so glad I wrote it because the more I'm doing the membership, the more I'm realizing it's really changing other people's lives to they're finally making email work for them for just nine bucks.
Sara: What an amazing example of something that could change your life that was mind boggling because like, I know we're not going to get into pricing in this episode really. But the fact that like we so often look at like, has to be high ticket or has to be worth this and that you gave us something so about like really it's so valuable. I have the membership I tap into there all the time. Like for $9. And then this changed your life loud. He retired from copywriting. Those are, that's pretty big.
Liz: Yeah, thank you so much. It feels I love my membership so much I really do. It really did change my life. And for me, it's something that I'm going all in on in 2022 and beyond, like, I picture, you know, 10 20,000 members, because it's something that, like I said, like, what's the one thing somebody needs to just get going? And it's like, a frickin weekly newsletter. And what is the one thing that is so simple for me, I could just templatized this thing. I've written hundreds of newsletters, and I know the game. So it feels really, really good to be able to offer it and to be able to offer it in such an inclusive price. And like really get people going with their email. It's, it's awesome.
Sara: Yeah It's awesome. How long did it take you to put together the membership? So you had no you had that you send the email out all the backend? Let's talk about that.
Liz: Yeah, so this is so fun. I it took no time at all, Sara, it sounds like a sales pitch. But yeah, I sent out the email. And I remember in the email, I said something like, If you sign up, I'm going to send you an email tomorrow, I'm about to take my kid to the dentist or something. Like I was really doing this on the fly. And so I came home from the dentist saw 30 people sign up or whatever. I'm like, Oh, snap, I better get some kind of automation going. So then I wrote an email. Or then the next morning, I wrote a template. And you know, that maybe took me 40 minutes, maybe an hour, we'll say an hour nowadays, it takes me about 20 minutes, maybe back then it took me like 40 minutes to an hour. And then I sent out a broadcast to anyone that was tagged, purchased, and said, Hey, sorry for the weight. Super excited about this holy mat girl. I think I even said, you know, got 30 people, I can't believe it, tell your friends all excited. And I sent that out. And I I said for now everything's just gonna be in a Google Drive. And Sara and I were kind of joking about this earlier. Like, it's just so simple, right? I always say like, I'm a two step check. If it takes three steps, like I'm out, I can't do it. My brain can't function that way. And so I just put it in a Google Drive, you know, couple different folders, you know, email templates, q&a, something else. And then you know, of course, it's grown from there. I've changed the format a little bit. But the setup, I mean, it literally took minutes because I just put it in a Google Drive.
Sara: So good. I was taken to Liz, for we sort of hit record here that I really appreciated the Google Drive. Because the fact is when we go to write our emails, like where am I I'm in Google Drive. So let's just go into my folder, scroll through when I want to use find it and copy it over into my Google Drive and start working. And so I think we can overcomplicate sometimes our launches, right, so often, like spend so much time in behind the scenes and the tech and the planning that says we have to just go for it, and put it Yeah, usable way.
Liz: 100%. And that's one of the things one of the reasons why I've been able to keep it $9 I'm already paying for Google Drive. And of course, as it grows, I do predict that I will have to move it off. I have a lot of content now. So it's not as easily searchable. But I always want things to be accessible via Google Drive. Because like Sara said, like, that's what my ideal customers are using. Right. And I tried it I've I've put it in member vault, I've put it in SAM cart. I've I've been you know, I've talked to many people on the phone about, oh, you know how it would look in different places. And I always go back to the drive or haven't or I'm thinking about, you know, building it on my own site, and then just linking to drive just for the searchable feature. Because I want you to actually use it. I want you to do the dang thing. Like I'm picturing, like, I want you to get out on the dance floor. Like I'm a DJ, I'm gonna play the songs that make the people get out there, right. And so I'm thinking of my people like, Google Drive is so simple, and it allows me to keep it such at such a low cost. And people actually do it. Like, you know, I joke about the two steps. If it's three steps, I'm out like, you might have laughed, but you are the exact same way like people do not do things that are super complicated. If it's not fun, if it's complicated, like you're going to be out you've got other things to do, you're going to go look on Instagram or post a reel because you get immediate likes. Email is not this immediate game. So how can we make it as simple as possible and that's how I designed the membership.
Sara: So great!
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Sara: I remember when you again when you launched it. So I know I joined it in the in the very early days after that email. But I remember you posting on social media and asking people like to share with their friends, but you're keeping us all like abreast of your progress, like how many people were joining. And I got like really bought into that for you. I was like, where's it's gonna go? Like, it's so exciting. $9 like, where's she gonna get to honey, people are gonna come in. So talk to us about how your membership is doing these days. How you bring in members, what do you add for numbers where we had?
Liz: Yeah, Sara I'm so glad you brought that up, I need the sound clip of that. Because I always tell people, you've got to hype people up, it doesn't matter what kind of business you are in, you have to tell them your goals so that they can help you accomplish your goals. Like especially in this online thing, when people always talk about oh, build your following build your email list, you know, that is for the sake of building this community that is all in on this one thing, right? So let's help each other out, you know, I'm building this membership for you. And you know, you can help me by sharing with your friends. That's the simplest thing. So that is very much on purpose like me sharing goals and things like that I highly recommend as a pre launch strategy and as a launch strategy. Because like Sara just said, like, people get bought into that. And it's a good thing because it is exciting. Like these are real things. It's not just some strategy. So I can use a product that doesn't work. Like I want as many people in on this as possible, because I really friggin believe in it. So anyway, as of where we are, at the time of this recording, we are six days away from hitting the one year birthday of email marketing membership. That's the name of it, by the way, super simple SEO certified there. And I'm at about 980 people, I am so close. I really wanted to get 1000 People in 10 months, like by the end of the year. But at the end of the year q4 of 2021, my business exploded. And I was trying to wrap up all my crappy writing copywriting products while the membership was blowing up and all these other things, getting a lot of appearances on podcasts and summits and stuff. And so I said, Okay, Liz, you can push to the end of the year to hit 1000. Or you can actually just take a break because, you know, you're doing great things. So I said yes to myself. And you know, I shut down for I think I took three weeks off of work. And I did one last push, I got to about 960 Members, I got really, really close. And I was like okay, you know, good enough is good enough, Liz. And so shut down for Christmas and fall, you know, full disclosure in January when I started amping back up started emailing people started, you know, doing the list Wilcox thing that I do. I did get? I got something like 50 new members in January. But I got something like 40 cancellations, which was the most I'd ever gotten. But I think it was because people joined on Black Friday people joined in December when I was doing a lot of promotion with affiliates. And then I kind of went radio silence, you know, on them. And they were like, oh, yeah, I guess email isn't going to be my thing this year. Because I always tell people, like, if you're gonna do email, you've got to do email, you've got to be I mean, that's anything if you're going to do Instagram talks, Facebook, whatever, a podcast, you've got to do it, right. And I always tell people, like if email is not going to be this thing, then go out and do something else. Like don't let me take up bandwidth, right? Like, just, you know, Peace be with you. You know, come back when you're ready. I always recommend just one thing at a time. So that's why I'm not at 1000 Honestly, I probably gotten something like 12 over 1200 members but with cancellations and stuff. I haven't hit that number yet, but I'm going to do a one year thing I've been a little tired. So I wasn't able to plan this big, you know, one year launch that I wanted, but I am going to do something kind of a soft sell next week leading up to the birthday. And I'm sure I'll hit 1000 I'm sure I will. I only need like 20 sales. I've got 1000s of people on my email list. And in my mind, I'm like, if you're on my email list, you might as well be in the membership, because that's where it's, that's what's really poppin. Right.
Sara: Absolutely. So you mentioned you have something you're going to be planning. How are you filling up your membership? Is it like live launches? Is it? I know, I know, I know, you mentioned a couple things that like it's coming off of your welcome sequence. You mentioned that $9 emails in there. How are the ways that you are filling it up?
Liz: Yeah. So within my welcome sequence, I only have four, welcome emails. And the last one is the only sales email and it is that can I have $9 email? And it does seem to convert really well, I haven't looked at the conversion rates in a while. But people the click rate is very high. And I think the conversion is pretty high on that, too. Like I said, in January, you know, I had 50 new members, and I didn't promote it at all, I haven't looked exactly, but I can only assume most of it came from that newsletter. I also have affiliates I have, at this time I have over 200 affiliates. So when you buy email marketing membership, you get that onboarding email, and then you get a PS, if you want to be an affiliate, if you're excited about this membership, you know, I'd love for you to share with a friend right now, something like that. And so usually, I get a lot of my affiliates, you know, I've got hundreds of them. But a lot of them only had one or two sales because like let's say, you know, they're an instinct, pop culture blogger, right. And so it doesn't make sense to share with our audience. But it makes sense to share with, you know, a friend or two that are other bloggers that they know, right. And then of course, I have bigger affiliates that Do you know, their own promos. And those we do in blast, I'll say, Hey, if you want, I can, you know, come on your podcast, I could do a training, you know, whatever. And I'll do those. In the last six months, honestly, I probably do two or three a month. And then you know, we're just at the end, it's like, Hey, if you want to, you know, if you want me to just write this for you join the membership, it's $9. Everyone's like, What $9 I was not expecting that. I'm gonna I'm gonna join now. And something that I'm really going to, I tried out last year, and I'm going to do twice a year from here on out is do an annual membership. So don't you don't get a you don't get a discount for buying annual. But you do actually get all my products for free when you join the annual so I have five or six other products. And then of course, I'll be creating new. And so I tried this for Black Friday, the subject line was I'm only going to sell 100. And it was you know, get the annual it's 108 bucks, that's $12. Or that's, you know, 12 months for not $9 each, but you're also going to get you know, ABCDE. And if I create F, G and H you'll get those two next year. And so I sold 100 In less than two hours. I couldn't believe I figured in a weekend I could sell 100 I was surprised at how much I sold, or how quickly it sold out. And so I had a lot of people disappointed people wanting me to open the cart. I said, You know what I said I was only going to sell 100 I'm only going to sell 100 And I surveyed people that didn't buy and I said for people i i surveyed in my Facebook group, I sent out an email I said I'm thinking of reopening this, but I don't want to do it. If you guys think that's like, you know, bad juju, because I said whatever. And people were like, no, oh my gosh, open it before you before you change your mind. We want it we want it. And so I think it was three weeks later, I opened it up for like an end of the year like hey, I'm gonna do this one more time, in case you missed it. And I sold I think it was like 250 or I don't know, it was a lot. I was I was very surprised by it. Pleasantly so you know, bye bye bye to copywriting. That was my salary. So that felt really, really good. That was like so crazy, you know, sorry, I'm getting like, nostalgic like thinking about starting that business, you know, without internet. And suddenly, you know, I sold 102 hours. Like that was like the best moment ever. But you know, it says it I say two hours, but that took me five years, you know. And so I'm going to do that again. All that, you know, short story long all that to say, I'm going to do that again for my birthday, which is March 18 2022 If you're listening, so I'm going to reopen it again for the annual and then I'll probably do it again for Black Friday. So those will be Big big pushes, probably get some affiliates involved on that as well. I love like I love making money. But I love when my peeps make money, like that's why. So with the membership, you get 50% recurring revenue from it, because I just like, isn't that when I'm in business to help other people make money? Like, it's so much fun to get affiliates involved? Yeah. So that's, that's my big plan. Also, just being on podcasts like this doing trainings, I really, really believe in my product. And I really believe in my messaging around email marketing, and keeping it fresh and simple. So I'm just on a mission to, you know, spread that to as many people as possible.
That's so good. I was on that list. And I know, I'd emailed you being like I missed it. It was all gone. 100 spots, I was so happy when you opened it up, because I scooped off that year long deal. So that brings me to the next question was building a list of buyers? How do we do it?
Oh, good, good question. Everything starts with a foundation, right? You have to set people up to know, like I said, at the top of the hour, your personality, vision and values, but also to know that you're a business. So when I started out as an RV blogger, I saw so many people, like especially YouTubers, like YouTube is really big in the travel industry, right? Because people want to see where you're going. And so I would see these, you know, even in just the first couple months, in my business, I would see these YouTubers, you know, digital courses, were becoming a real, real thing for everybody. And, you know, make a course or a book or you know, spend so much time on it. And then they would lose followers in mass, right? You're an E beggar? Oh my gosh, don't you make enough money through ads? You know, stuff like real nasty stuff. But I realized it was like, Well, you've been giving them free content for two years, you know, you've built up 100,000 People that are used to x way of doing things. And now you're suddenly trying to be why to them, right. And so I came up with it. And this is like the ding ding ding sound effect fireworks in the background moment. If you learn nothing else from Liz Wilcox, like, let it be this somewhere in your welcome sequence, you have to tell people your business. So I, I say like, have an entire welcome email, like an entire email in that sequence that sets expectation, so tells them like, Oh, I'm gonna, you know, give you fun, and you know, fresh tips on email or what, whatever your thing is, right? I'm going to go live on Facebook every Tuesday, I'm going to send you a newsletter every Wednesday. And then here's the sentence. If you follow no other advice, I'm going to offer you free and paid products free and paid resources, free and paid services. And then if you had if you happen to have those already, you know, sub bullets, like my 20 minute newsletters, like my $9, member, whatever, you don't have to have that. But just that one sentence is gonna change the whole game for you. It's gonna flip this switch in the back of their mind, oh, Sara is a business. Justin's a business, Liz is a business, right? Instead of like giving them all this free content, because most people we build our lists with freebies, right? That's that that is the across the board advice, right? Like, give them something free. And then suddenly, you're trying, you know, you got this long evergreen funnel, trying to convince them to buy this $500 product, and you have a 1% conversion rate, like I don't like those odds. 1% sounds terrible. That means I That means 99% of my efforts are for nothing. So for me, it's more about keeping it a very simple welcome sequence that just you know, shows off a little bit of the personality shows your vision for them. So for me, it's you know, as much as I love the 90s I love the idea of making you making money more. Right? Are you making money with email more suddenly, you know, I've got these followers, but suddenly they have a vision for where they're going. We're walking, we're suddenly walking together to make money with email. And again, it's that one simple sentence, right? As much as I love X put some kind of personality you know, as much as I love Starbucks, Mocha Lattes, whatever, right? I love the idea of you. Blah, blah, blah, fill in the blank there. This is what you'd get with a membership to like, that's how I write my templates, you blah blah, blah. And it just, you're telling them exactly where they're going. Right? And then you hit him with the I'm going to offer you free and paid products so that you can blah blah, blah. Oh snap. Suddenly I know exactly where I'm going with Sara and I know that she's going to offer me products to get there. And that makes all the difference. That's how you build an audience of buyers. You just tell them what's coming. It really is that simple. There's no crazy formula. There's no I don't have a PDF for you to download. And you know, with a checklist like that, it just, you know, lead with that personality, but especially that vision for them, and then just tell them what's coming, I'm going to offer you free and paid products, boom, then suddenly, we're off to the races, we can send newsletters where it's like, hey, check out my affiliate link for this. Hey, I'm launching a new workshop. Hey, I'm really excited about my course coming up. Are you interested? Now they're part of the conversation because they know what conversation is being had you ever been sitting at a table and you're like, I don't know what anyone's talking about here. That's what it's like when you don't set expectations in the inbox.
Sara: That is so good, I hope, dear listeners that you are paying attention to that. And maybe even like pausing and writing it down. Let's just give you exactly something to build into your welcome sequence. And if you haven't done it built into not your next email. And I love it too, because it speaks to consent, right? Like, you know what you're signing out for, you know what you're here for, and you know what to expect. And that's your choice to participate or not?
Liz: Yeah, 100% that email, the newsletter expectations, email. And if you want an example, I have an in my freebie, it gets the most unsubscribes because some people are like, Oh, no, I'm not into that. Right? Oh, i If she calls herself the fresh Princess one more time, I'm gonna gag unsubscribe, right. So some people won't be into the expectations. And then like Sara said, they can opt out. And then they can opt in if they are into it.
Sara: That feels like a perfect time to talk about unsubscribes. So they happen. How do we deal with them? When do we ignore them? And when is it something to be dealt with?
Liz: Yeah, so unsubscribes at first, you know, they're real buzzkill. Right, it can feel like the whole world is ending, especially, you know, I've been saying, you know, email is a long game, you've really got to dedicate yourself to that type of marketing. So it can feel devastating. If you are doing all this list building. You send out an email, you think it's like, okay, I love this email. This is exactly the kind of brand I want to build. This is exactly the message I want to deliver this week. And then someone's like, No, not for me peace out, like that feels terrible. Like, let's just call it out, you know, sit with it for a minute, like your feelings are valid, you know, dot, dot dot, but eventually you will move on from that. And you will what I always tell people is newsletters, allow your brand to evolve. What I'm saying today is not what I'm going to say next month. I mean, the thing I just said that Sara said, oh, you know, hit pause and write down. I've never said on a podcast before I've done almost 100 podcasts. Newsletters is the same type of thing where it allows your brand to evolve what you say today might not be what you want to say tomorrow. And so you have to understand that as you evolve. So will your audience and someone that signed up six months ago or even a week ago, might have been in a different headspace might have said oh yes, I'm definitely going all in on email. I'm definitely going all in, I'm going to be a copywriter are, you know, I'm going to travel in my RV one day, and a week later, oh, I'm going to travel in an RV. But that was Liz Wilcox. Like she's too out there. I need someone who's more professional, like, and that's for them to decide. And that, you know, you have to learn to be like, Okay, I'm not for everyone. Right? And so you want to pay attention to them. In that, if you are like I just wrote a newsletter talking a lot about where I'm going in 2022 and the type of community I want to build. So if I see a mass unsubscribe from this newsletter, I will know that that is completely opposite of what I have been saying. And I need to evaluate if that is correct, right. If I just see, you know, a regular amount or even slightly above, it's like, okay, I'm just evolving my brand and the right people will stick around. So I think that's the only time you really want to pay attention. But that said, if it's still like stings, then I wouldn't pay attention until you can like mentally build up to really not just saying but truly believing every unsubscribe allows your list to be stronger.
Sara: That's really helpful is thanks for that rebrand. It was something that comes up all the time. And I want to talk to my one on one clients and just in general and conversations with people. It's that whole unsubscribe feeling because it doesn't it doesn't feel great, right? But part of what happens with what we're doing.
Liz: Yeah, I'm going to my list right now. I've I've got 13 unsubscribes already. And I mean, I even get unsubscribes on my newsletter for my paid membership and I have to email, then I have to email them and say you didn't actually cancel your membership? Would you like to cancel, you know, that I actually have to have a comp like that hurts because not only did they say bye bye bye they also said, like, I don't even want to pay you, you know, and then I have to confirm, right? So, you know, but until you can get to that point where it's kind of like fine tuning Right? Like, picture it like you're, what am I trying to say? Like you're sculpting Clay Right? Like maybe you're making a base or a vase, depending on how fancy you are. And you know, every time the thing spins, and you move your hands, it goes in a different direction. Some of that, you know, mud or clay, it's gonna fall off, right? Because they it's not going to move with you. And that's what unsubscribers are. They're not you know, they're not with you on that newsletter that you said, Oh, yes, this is exactly what I want to write today, then they're not going to buy your products later, they're just going to drag you down, we could go into the technical stuff. But hopefully that helps reframe it for people.
Sara: So Liz, how do we come up with ideas to write each week so that we can make sure we're building that list of buyers? And they're, you know, they're ready for our lunches or whatever we have to sell them? Where do we come up with these ideas?
Liz: Sure. So a lot of email, marketers will tell you to tell stories to keep a notepad on you. And anytime something funny happens, or that's interesting, write it down? Well, nobody's actually going to do that. Because that takes a lot of steps. But like I said, and so my method is I just sit my butt in the chair. And instead of trying to think of a story or something, like even what Sara just said, like an idea for what the heck to say, You know what you want to say? And so instead of thinking of it, like, Oh, I've got to tell the story and engage people, I just want you to give a personal update. That's a two to three sentence paragraph that just says what you've done in the since the last time you emailed them. So if you email every Tuesday, think about something you've done in you know, since last Tuesday, that's like, Okay, sure. I wanted to share that and just share that like, Oh, I got one podcast with Sara. It was really good. Whatever, right? Like, she wore a purple shirt, it looks Her eyes were popping. It was great, right? Like, it can be that simple. And it's just the personal update is how you share your personality with them. Right? It could be like, if you've got a dog, you know, oh, I'm just sitting here with my dog. Not really much to say you can say that. This is a newsletter, not a novel, like, Don't overthink it. Okay. Let the copywriters tell the stories. You know, if you're a copywriter tell a story. If you're just trying to get a newsletter out there, just give a personal update two to three sentences, then I want you to segue into whatever let's say an outbound link or whatever value you have to give. It could be you want to write a paragraph about something that you saw that you disagree with. It could be you know, oh, I want to share this Instagram account, you know, just any kind of content you want to point them to, whether it's directly in the email, or it's an outbound link, and you can all caps on that keyboard, baby.
Anyway, dot dot dot, what I really want to talk about is, you know, my new podcast episode was Sara, where we really dive deep into how to create a simple membership, and a list of buyers. Here's the link, Bada bing, bada boom, I'm out peace. Lis right. That's the whole newsletter, I wrote that in what 10 seconds, just personal update. One sentence segue. And it can be as simple as anyway, enough about that, what I really want to do is, and then just do the thing, right? Send the link or share the you know, share the information, you know, spread the news, whatever. And then just sign off. And I always recommend also, least once a month, if not every email, just thanking the person for being on the list or being a part of your community, or making them feel seen is really, really important as well. But that's how simple newsletters can be. You don't have to come up with a list of ideas. You can just give that personal update and segue to something of value. Perfect.
Sara: That is so helpful. And of course if we want to learn right from you, those segues and those ideas, Liz, where can we find you in your membership?
Liz: Thanks so much. I'm so glad you asked. You can of course I'm an email marketer, I want you to get on my email list. You can go to Liz Wilcox calm in the top right hand button or in the top right hand corner, there's a hot pink button. It says free email swipes when I was talking to you about how to write that welcome sequence. Lead with that personality, vision and values. I have that already written for you, of course, so you can get those free email swipes. You're also going to get three newsletter examples to show you What I mean by those very simple newsletters and 52 subject lines, in case you really really can't come up with anything. I've already written 52 subject lines, so you never have to come up with an idea on your own.
Sara: Perfect. Thank you, Liz. That'll be in the show notes. Thanks so much for joining us today to talk about email marketing and your membership and how you launched it.
Liz: Thank you so much. I cannot wait to see what people do with email after this.
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