Why is it so darn easy to ghost your email list? 👻

You start with good intentions, diligently emailing every week.

Then life gets busy. And it's the first thing to go.

Of all the digital marketing channels, email is by far my favorite.

Yet it’s the easiest one to neglect.

The thing is, email is where you can do a lot of your heavy lifting without a lot of output.

It’s reliable.

Not subject to an algorithm.

And you don’t have to pay to get your message in front of your customer. Bonus: they even opted in for you to send them emails!

Boring but fun fact: email has a 40x ROI.

When done properly, for every $1 you put into email marketing, businesses make on average of $36-$40 in return.

When's the last time your social media has made you that kind of money?

When I tell clients to focus on their email marketing, they have one of two comments…

"I know, but I don’t have a list"

Or…

"I know but I haven’t sent out an email to my list in so long!"

👻 Let’s talk about how to revive a dead email list aka one you have ghosted...

I am uniquely qualified to talk about this because I’ve done it myself!

It’s embarrassing to admit. But I’ve been there.

So what do you do?

Start a brand new one from scratch?

Email the existing one with a long apology?

Start emailing and pretend nothing happened?

🪦 First, don’t let it die in the first place.

For those of you reading this who have never ghosted your list, let this be encouragement to keep up the good work!

For the rest of us, let’s do some damage control.

Step 1: Figure out what went wrong.

Understand what went wrong. Did you get too busy? Didn’t know what to write about? Didn’t see any results? Over committed yourself? Business pivot? Burn out?

If you are going to go to the trouble of reviving your list you need to be sure you will keep your commitment to it and your subscribers. That means understanding why you stopped emailed in the first place.

Step 2: Make a new commitment

Now that you have some idea of what went wrong, you can start to build back. And that means starting small.

Be honest with yourself on how much time you have to dedicate to your newsletter. If weekly is too much, start with monthly. Just get started and the momentum will build.

Step 3: Set some goals

Make goals for your newsletter. And yes, it can be to make you money! If your newsletter is making your business money, you can bet you will start to make it a top priority.

Ultimately, writing your newsletter should be a revenue generating act. It makes sense to set time aside to execute. And if you are writing about things that are interesting to you, it isn’t going to seem like such a chore.

Step 4: Develop a system

This could be creating a content strategy, blocking out time in your schedule to write your newsletter, or hiring a copywriter. Find a way that works for you to keep you consistent.

I talk about my own writing system here.

Step 5: What to say in that first email “back”

Now you’re ready to send that email.

The first thing to know is that no one on your list cares that you have been busy or MIA. They don’t need a long winded apology or a bunch of excuses. In fact, they probably haven’t even noticed your absence.

That means a long apology email isn’t needed and will be just, weird. I’ve received ones of those nature and they are off-putting.

Skip the long apology email and opt for a shorter one. You can pick up where you left off, or provide a update of what you have been up to during your time away.

I think it’s more important to get something out and be consistent emailing from that point on.

Next, make sure to clearly give the option to unsubscribe.

People’s interests change and they might not want to be on your list anymore once you start emailing them again.

Here's an interesting strategy called the “9 word email”.

Business coach Maria Wendt suggests sending a 9 word email. It includes a 9 word question designed to engage your subscriber.

Check-out the YouTube here for more details. I don’t think this works for everyone but is an interesting take!

Here are some examples:

• Are you still looking for a house in Florida?
• Are you still wanting to make money on Instagram?
• Are you still wanting to scale to $100k months?
• Are you still looking to get x result?

Listen, there’s not enough will power on earth to make us consistently do things we don’t like to do, and has zero pay-off. You wouldn’t have ghosted your email if it was making you money and helping you achieve your business goals.

If you don’t have time to sit down and write an email newsletter, I’d encourage you to take time away from creating content for social media. Siphon off 20 minutes each day to write, and you will be surprised at the payoff that comes from consistently emailing your subscribers.

Do you have an email list that has been neglected? Block some time this week to take a look and go through the five steps I have outlined in this email. Let me know how it goes!

Here's to reviving your list!

~ Megan

👋🏼 Hi, I'm Megan!

I'm a business coach & digital marketer who spends time in the Bay Area and the mountains of British Columbia. Each week I share stories, ideas, and resources to help you build a profitable business & life you love.