10 Questions Everyone Asks About Email Marketing For Yoga Teachers: I’ll bet that inbox of yours is slammed full right now, isn’t it?
And for good reason, too — statistically, it works: your audience is 3x as likely to see an email from you than an Instagram post. And if Instagram were to disappear tomorrow, can you get in touch with your tribe?
Scary, isn’t it?
I have fallen head-over-heels in LOVE with email marketing since starting my yoga business, and today I want to address the top questions I get about email list building because I know it’s super scary trying to figure out where to start.
I’m here to squash some fears of yours today so let’s do this!
1. What kind of email do I send? I don’t want to sound spammy!
Let’s start with the mindset: strategy + serving = engaged audience!
When you can mix consistently serving your email list with a touch of the launch strategy, that’s when the magic really happens. It’s important to map out a strategy that serves them a load of free content and value and mix in any launches as needed.
It’s helpful to start thinking about any big announcements/promotions/launches in advance so you can figure out how you can serve and prime your audience before you sell to them.
2. What kind of tech do I need?
When it comes to starter email service providers, I’m a fan of the FREE or low-cost ones — i.e. the ones absolutely anyone can get started with.
MailChimp is my favourite ESP that fits into most marketing budgets for small yoga businesses.
3. Who joins my list? And do I send the same email to everyone?
What’s important to understand when it comes to email marketing, is that people will join you for a particular reason.
It’s important to think of who your ideal student is, how you can solve their problem, or how can you provide them with something valuable that they will LOVE.
The first step is understanding who your ideal student is and the second step is effectively marketing to them. Later on, if you need to break up your list into specific interests, that’s pretty easy to do with most email providers.
Bottom line? If you are trying to attract everyone, you are really attracting no one — focus on your IDEAL students for your email list.
4. How often should I send an email?
It doesn’t matter! The key? Be consistent.
How often can you consistently reach out to your list – weekly, every two weeks, monthly? What is a reasonable amount of communication you can commit to? Pick that, and rock and roll with it!
5. What’s a broadcast email? And what’s an autoresponder email?
It’s important to think about what sort of things have made you give your email away! Chances are, the things that have enticed you will help entice your followers!
Was it a discount code? A promotion? A free guide? A live training? The email you got immediately after that was an autoresponder.
When you get a “newsletter” type email, that’s more than likely a broadcast email.
6. What is the best day of the week/time of day to send an email?
I hate to burst your bubble, but there is no magic bullet for an optimal time to send an email. The “right time” varies by so many factors and from list to list.
The best time to send your email will be unique to your list. That is a golden rule of email marketing for yoga teachers. That being said, there are some trends in open rates and clickthrough rates that provide a good starting point for some tests. You can take a look at some of these trends here.
The takeaway: Weekends and mornings have the highest open rates and clickthroughs.
One theory for the success is that there is less competition in the inbox at these times. With fewer other emails to distract, yours shines brightest.
7. What is an A/B test?
A/B tests are your way to find out more about the campaigns you send. They work the same way that an A/B test on a website might work: You show one group an A option and another group a B option and see which option gets the best results.
For email, this can lead to huge insights on the way you send your campaigns. Here are some elements you can test in your own email campaigns:
- Time of day/day of week
- Subject
- “From” name
- Images vs. text
- Preheader message
8. How do I grow my email list?
Growing your email list is one of the most important things that you can do to grow your yoga business.
The truth is, if you’re running a business of any kind, you need to find a way to stay in touch with your current, future and previous customers.
In the online world, businesses can often be judged by the size of their email list and it can often be bragged about. The truth is, it doesn’t matter how big your email list is, it’s about firstly having a list (as many people don’t), and secondly the quality of the list itself.
A smaller list of loyal subscribers is worth more than a really large list of disengaged people. Quality over quantity wins every time.
Growing your email list is a long term and continuous activity. Getting your first few emails is always the hardest, but by starting now, you are moving in the right direction.
Read 7 Great Ways to Grow Your Email List to learn more!
9. What metrics should I track?
There are two titans of email marketing statistics:
- Open rate: The number of recipients who opened or viewed your email.
- Click-through rate: Percentage of recipients who clicked at least one link in your email.
Certainly, you should follow up each campaign by checking these two numbers. Industry averages range, but in general, a 15 to 20% open rate is healthy and a 1 to 3% clickthrough rate is good.
Consider opens and clicks to be your bread and butter and think of your open rate as to how good your subject line was at catching the attention of your subscriber and your click-through rate as to how engaging your content was in encouraging subscribers to click through to content on your website to find out more.
10. Are there any rules to email marketing for yoga teachers?
Yes, and they aren’t just rules—they’re laws. In the United States, the CAN-SPAM Act legislates good and bad email with some specific guidelines. If you are sending a commercial email you must do the following:
- Include an unsubscribe link
- Include your brick-and-mortar address or your P.O. box
- Honour someone’s unsubscribe request by never emailing them again
- Avoid purchasing a list