Today, I will answer your top nine questions about how to build an email marketing list so you can grow your Amazon business huge.
1. Why should you invest in email marketing?
If you are dead serious about building passive income over a long period of time, you cannot afford to ignore email marketing.
First, email marketing is more effective than other forms of marketing.
- Average click-through rate for Facebook Ad campaign: 0.075%
- Average click-through rate for Google AdWords campaign: 3.5%
- Average click-through rate for email campaign: 15%
Put another way...
- To get just one person to click on your Facebook ad, you need 1332 people to see it.
- To get one person to click on your Google ad, you need 29 people to see it.
- To get one person to click on your email ad, you only need 7 people to see it.
Second, you need to build your user base and gain a following.
Even if you make $100,000 in profit a month on Amazon, your sales are likely a result of having excellent products, good customer service, strong ad campaigns, and differentiation—not because someone went hunting to buy your brand. If someone interviewed 100 of your customers, how many of them would remember your brand or store name? Maybe one. When you build a customer base, you create brand loyalty.
When investors and company buyers evaluate a company, one of the main factors they use to determine your value is your user base. For example, Twitter was not profitable until 2018 after having launched in 2006. Yet, they had a ton of investors and interested eyes watching them. Why? Because they had a massive user base. When you build your user base, you have one of the most valuable assets for brands today.
2. How much can email marketing increase sales?
You can increase your sales 10-15% through email marketing.
Because Amazon is so good at making the shopping experience easy and smooth for the buyer, it also carries the inherent weakness of customers lacking loyalty to any one store or brand on Amazon. If they are loyal to a brand, they probably became loyal to that brand outside of Amazon.
3. Do you need a website domain to do email marketing?
Yes. You can’t email en masse using Gmail, Yahoo, AOL, or any other common, free email platform meant for individuals who email one or two people at a time. If you try to send an email to a ton of people or send the same email one by one to a ton of shoppers, your message will probably end up in the spam folder.
Owning your own domain also comes with several advantages not related to email marketing. For example, you can get trademarked much faster when you have your product listed on your own website—even if shoppers can’t buy your product from your website—because your brand name needs to be “in-use” before your trademark can get approved. Additionally, you need your own website to get accepted into Amazon Brand Registry. When you are brand registered, you get access to special tools that give you a deeper look at analytics and A+ Content, which can help make your product listing look amazing.
In short, having your own domain boosts your legitimacy in Amazon’s eyes, in the eyes of internet service providers, and more.
4. Is email marketing against Amazon’s terms of service?
Amazon’s Selling Policies and Seller Code of Conduct says you must:
- Not send unsolicited or inappropriate communications
- Not contact customers except through Buyer-Seller Messaging
- Not attempt to circumvent the Amazon sales process
Amazon does not want you to go around them straight to the customer. Amazon even enabled Amazon sellers to include PDFs like instruction manuals to their product listings so that sellers are less likely to provide such documents outside of Amazon.
But there is a gray area where you can get and send emails. While outside the spirit of the terms-of-service, if a shopper gives you their email address outside of Amazon’s system, you can use it for marketing purposes.
5. How can you get shoppers’ emails?
It’s called a "lead magnet" or “product insert”.
A lead magnet is something of relevant value to your buyer that you offer in exchange for their email address. To offer your buyers this lead magnet, you insert a card in your product package with easy to follow instructions such as, “Go to jod.com/insert to get your free guide.”
That URL or QR code listed in the insert then leads your buyer to a webpage that asks them to provide their email address in exchange for what you are offering.
For example, if you sold stove cleaning pads to your customer, your lead magnet could be an ebook called “7 Ways to Make Your Kitchen Stove Look Brand New.”
Additionally, Just One Dime offers a lead magnet called “14 Product Insert Examples” that you can get at jod.com/insert. It is literally a lead magnet that shows you examples of lead magnets. (So meta…) 😵💫
Just One Dime is responsible with your email and will only send you valuable content mixed with a marketing email once every couple of months. You should do the same in order to build your email list and create shopper trust in your brand.
6. How can you create a good lead magnet?
First, it must solve a problem or fulfills a desire.
Tailor your lead magnet to solve a specific problem for your customer. Make it as relevant to your product as you can.
Second, it must be specific.
A lead magnet that solves one specific problem will convert much better than a lead magnet that tries to solve multiple problems. “Four methods for sharpening your carving knife” is much better than, “Four methods to take care of your carving knife”.
Third, it must include a call-to-action (CTA) button.
Write button text people will want to click on. “Receive”, “Get it now”, “Start”, and “Send it to me” are much better than “Subscribe” or “Sign up”. The latter sounds too much like a task, but the former sounds like a gift.
Fourth, it must be easy to digest.
You do not want your lead magnet to be a roadblock in your sales funnel. Your customer will easily grow impatient with a 30-page ebook or newsletter. You need something easy to consume within 5-10 minutes. Instant gratification is key.
Fifth, it must be high value.
Ensure your lead magnet has high real value and high perceived value.
Perceived value means it appears valuable to your customer.
Real value means once they receive it, they find it extremely useful.
Perceived value is important on the front end. This is how you get people to buy. Make it look irresistible. But real value is important on the bank end. If you offer high perceived value and low real value, you will anger your customers.
Sixth, it must be instantly accessible.
Create a landing page so that all your customer has to do is enter their first name and email, and immediately they receive the download link or the PDF emailed to them or are led to a new page that fulfills the promise.
Seventh, it must demonstrate your expertise.
When you provide your customer something of real value above and beyond the original purchase, it shifts your relationship with them from “getting a good product” to “looking to you as the expert.” That makes it more likely they will seek out your brand in the future.
7. How can you create a lead magnet landing page?
You can create a beautiful landing page easily in Shopify, Wordpress, or Squarespace.
SquareSpace has some of the most beautiful templates on the internet. They are also a little more pricey and offer far less customization. If you use wordpress.org it will require more knowledge on your end to create your landing page but the cost is much lower.
Shopify is probably the best all-around solution because the price is reasonable, and Shopify is ideal for creating your own ecommerce store with all the options you need—as well as little to no HTML or CSS knowledge needed. When you build your Shopify store, simply devote one page to being your landing page.
8. What software do you need for email marketing?
You will need to set up with an email auto-responder to collect names and email addresses for you.
An email auto-responder is a software tool that saves your customer’s contact info in organized lists so that you can email everyone in a single click later on. Once the customer submits their name and email address, the software saves the info in organized lists based on your settings.
Some of the best known email auto-responders on the internet include:
- MailChimp: Great for newsletters and free for your first 500 contacts. Not as easy to use as some—especially when integrating with a landing page.
- Aweber: Solid tool for online opt-in forms and medium-sized businesses. Does not allow you to manually add emails from outside sources.
- iContact: Solid for small to medium sized businesses. Allows you to manually add contacts as well.
- Constant Contact: Best for business owners who enjoy HTML emails with strong graphic layouts.
- Infusionsoft: Built for large companies with hundreds of thousands of followers. Extremely versatile. Pricey.
- ConvertKit: A newer company on the market. My personal favorite for three reasons:
1) Excellent prices
2) Easy to use
3) The story of Nathan Barry the owner has always intrigued me. They provide you with the code to embed a landing page on almost any content management system. For example, if you build your website in Shopify and you choose ConvertKit as your email auto responder, you can choose the form of your choice (the part where customers fill out the input fields) and embed this code on a landing page in your Shopify store.
9. How do you create a strong email marketing follow-up?
Step one: Provide value.
Step two: Provide value.
Step three: Repeat steps one and two.
Even in emails where your goal is to get shoppers to buy from you again, you must provide value. Let them know that your new companion product is now for sale or discounted. For example, if you sold stove cleaning pads, offer returning customers a discount on your new oven mitts. Send them your favorite stovetop recipes for Halloween when that time of year comes.
“Doesn’t that sound like a lead magnet?” Yes. Continue to keep your customers happy and turn them into brand lovers who can’t rave about you enough.
There is a ton more involved in building a brand on Amazon. In the Just One Dime Amazon FBA Mastery Membership, we will show you exactly how to build a brand that creates wealth.
Here's what Just One Dime can do for you when you join the Amazon FBA Mastery Membership:
- Exclusive training—The same training that helped make hundreds of our students 6 figure sellers and dozens of students millionaires across 150+ countries. 💸
- Step-by-step videos—5 video courses made up of over 100 constantly updated videos that take you through your Amazon seller journey. 📈
- Community—An on-fire seller community that cares about your success. 🔥
- Private coaching—Get one-on-one sessions from an expert Amazon seller coach—all of our coaches run amazing brands on Amazon. 👨🏫
- Expert knowledge—Amazon flew Seth to their headquarters to ask him how they can better support third-party sellers. Two countries asked us to train their top entrepreneurs. We run an Amazon store for a shark from Shark Tank. 🦈
- Competitive advantage—Get Chinese sourcing experts on your side + 3 product niche ideas. Our full-time staff who live and work in China know exactly how to help you. 🇨🇳
...and so much more.
Don't delay a life of financial freedom. 🏖
Go to jod.com/freedom to apply and start your FBA journey today.
