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10:47 am
November 12, 2014
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QuoteHi John and everybody else in here,
I would love to hear your opinion and experience with this issue.
How often should you try to sell something in your newsletters?
Like a lot of artists (I guess) I find it pretty hard to sell my music. To be honest I think I'm afraid that people will get "mad at me" because I'm trying to sell them my music. I know this is ridiculous and I'm getting better every month 
But every time I write a new newsletter the "topic" comes up. I love to give away music and I have a lot of albums out that I can take from. I also honestly believe that if you give and give it will come back one day. I can also see at myself that this approach really works. If I get enough great "freebies" from someone i almost feel like I owe that person and often I will buy something from him/her.
So to my question(s):
1) General newsletters:
Should I put a little sales pitch in every newsletter or is it too much. Usually I tell a little story and give 1-2 songs and in the bottom I write where they can purchase the album and maybe give a discount. But I'm thinking in the long run (Have only been doing this for 3-4 months) that it gets annoying for people? I'm afraid they will think that this is all about selling....which is partly true...but not the whole picture.
Another approach could be to just give and entertain and then maybe 2 times a year sell really hard. Any of you who has been at this for a long time have ideas on this?
2) The welcome email series
I have adopted John's approach and I have set up a 4 email series. First giving away some more music, then sending them to a youtube video and then give them an 2-for-1 album offer. all the time trying to tell something about myself to build a relationship.
I'm missing a blogpost I know...to be honest, I think it would help building the relationship, but I find it pretty scary to do....hopefully I will gain the necessary confidence soon
My question: about 4% of my subscribers take me up on the offer. Is that normal?
Any feedback/help is highly appreciated.
Here's a link to one of my squeeze pages : http://www.sorenbebe.com
I would love to hear some feedback on the page and the emailseries if anyone would subscribe but I guess I should post this in another forum.
Thank you!
Soren
1:50 am
June 7, 2011
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Hey Soren,
I don't personally do a traditional newsletter anymore. Everything I do is either a blog post, free music, videos, etc, or a promotion.
Your conversion rate is on the lower side of normal. It's solid, but could be improved. 4% - 6% is sort of the normal range among artists who get a decent funnel in place. At least that's what I see. But getting it up to 10% or higher is not unheard of. I think adding that personal blog post or video should really help. As you point out, reciprocity is a big part of this, and some of that comes from giving them free stuff, but a lot of it comes from feeling that they know you. Without that bonding piece it will likely be harder. But it sounds like you're doing well. A little tweaking should really boost your numbers and get you where you need to be.
As for being afraid that some people may get mad, rest assured. If you reach enough people, some of them will. Pissing people off goes hand in hand with success. If you don't piss a few people off you are doing something wrong. I run ads every day and get plenty of nasty comments left. But I also get infinitely more comments and emails from people claiming I've changed their life for the better. That mix of love and hate is just part of putting your neck on the line. My advice is to just develop a thick skin and look at the positive stats to gauge how you are doing: Conversions, sales, etc.
But I can tell you this... Your sales will be in direct proportion to the number of times you ask your list to buy something. So don't be afraid to ask. Keep us posted on your progress.
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