As an online entrepreneur, you’ve probably heard the saying over and over “The money is in the list”, —meaning that you make the most money from your email list. If you talk to professional marketers like Russell Brunson, they will tell you this.

This is true when compared to other marketing and sales methods. It has been proven that directly sending traffic to a product page or trying to sell straight away on social media, just doesn’t convert as well as email marketing.

To get the most out of your email list, an email autoresponder must be set up with an email sequence that keeps you communicating with them, build trust and present your offers. This is the only way to maximise the power of your email list.

Let’s dig into this a bit more below.

How do you leverage your email list?

“If you don’t do anything with that list nothing will happen.

If you don’t do anything with that list nothing will happen. The list itself is not much use to you if you don’t have a way to follow up with them. You need to start emailing them and continue to build a relationship and at the right time, present your offers.

The best way to do this is with an email sequence which you pre-prepare and queue up in your email autoresponder.

Assuming your goal is for them to buy a product or service, you have to understand that most people will not buy immediately. They need to get comfortable with you first and take some time to think about whether or not they are going to make the right decision.

The buying cycle

Every business has a buying cycle for their products which determines how long a prospect or lead takes to make a buying decision from the time they first connect with you.

Knowing what yours is can help you create a sales process that takes this into account. In general, most people who join your email list will not buy in the first 90 days. According to Dean Jackson of I Love Marketing, only 15% will buy before 90 days, and 85% buys after.

This then means that you have to continue to build that relationship and provide value to your email list subscribers so that you stay top of mind with them.

How long should my email sequence be?

“have something in place and set proper expectations…

Your email sequence can be as long as you want it to be. There are some people that simply send out 2 to 3 emails after a new subscriber joins. Others send out 7-10 emails, and I’ve also come across an email sequence that goes on for six months.

What matters is that you have something in place and set proper expectations with your subscribers.

For a start, this is what I tend to do if I am just starting a new list and I don’t yet have a complete email sequence ready. 

Once a subscriber joins, I send a welcome email with their freebie and in that same email I tell them what my intentions are. 

My intention of course is to continue to communicate by email to deliver more value and help them achieve their goal.

I will normally say that I won’t be sending them a tonne of emails, but will only send a period update (normally a few times a month) when I have some activity such as new content or resources (including products) that I think can be helpful to them.

I will then send a couple more emails pointing them to free value such as other content related to the thing they opted in for. 

I will also include links in the footer of each email directing them to my services or products. This opens up the opportunity for them to see my offers if they are ready straight away. 

Conclusion

Having some sort of ongoing communication with your email subscribers will continue to nurture them until they are ready to take action. 

Some may be ready straight away, and that’s great. But bear in mind that the majority are going to take time and you have to be patient and account for this.

If you don’t email them at all or stop after your initial sequence, they are going to get colder and colder over time and are less likely to remember who you are, let alone buy something from you.