Make money email marketing examples
how does email marketing work
make money email marketing - 7 ways to make money with your email list
I'm sure you've heard the expression - "lists have meaning."
And it is true. Email marketing has a tremendous ROI and we've got multiple case studies that prove it.
It is also true that there is no way to make money with email marketing. A lot here. And I'm going to share them with you.
Whether you're an affiliate marketer, trainer, or all-around marketer, you'll want to stick around. Because these seven strategies are going to turn your email marketing program into a growing source of income.
Did you know GetResponse can not only help you run your email campaigns more effectively, it can also help you make money! By joining our affiliate program, you can earn $100 or 33% lifetime recurring commission for every customer you refer. Join the program today!
How To Make Money With Email Lists: 7 Effective Ways
Before I go into how you can make money with email, I want to make a disclaimer.
Although email marketing boasts an impressive ROI of 3,800%, it's a long-term game. Building an engaged email audience takes time and effort and is only part of the equation.
So if you ever promise someone you'll make an extra $5k from email after 30 days of work, ignore them.
Beyond that, I walk you through the key ways to make money with email marketing.
1. Use affiliate marketing and promote other people's products or services
One of the first associations people make about making money online comes down to joining a profitable affiliate program.
The dynamics are pretty straightforward — you select a brand that has an affiliate program, sign up for it, and start promoting its products or services to your email subscribers. For every purchase that comes from your affiliate link, you will receive a commission.
How Affiliate Marketing Works
Let's say you're a personal finance blogger and online coach. The most fundamental way to capitalize on your position as a financial expert is to tap into the affiliate products offered by fintech software such as eToro, Binance or Robinhood:
How FinTech Affiliate Marketing Programs Work
Another option in this niche is to partner with banks that pay a lucrative commission for offering their products, there are plenty of them - for example, American Express pays up to $200 per sale.
American Express Affiliate Program.
American Express Affiliate Program Description
How does affiliate marketing work
Before we get into the technical side of this marketing channel, let's say it out loud — the key to success is promoting products or services that meet both basic requirements:
They are trustworthy enough that you can sign your own name to them — don't be lured by high commissions and spread the word about a fraudulent product. If you lose your credibility as a freelancer, you lose your business.
You have knowledge and experience in a specific niche, so you can use your street cred to promote products that align with your expertise.
Speaking of the second aspect — Michał Szafrański, one of the most famous Polish financial bloggers, made headlines when he earned 70,000 PLN (currently over $16K) on a blog article linked to a bank affiliate program! Super crazy! And it wouldn't be possible if it wasn't for his personal brand and huge credibility.
That said, let's look at the technical part:
You select your merchants who offer attractive affiliate products that match your business opportunity. (If you're still looking, check out our curated list of the best affiliate marketing programs.)
Sign up to merchant program and get a unique affiliate link
You start promoting the product to your audience. Since this article is only about email marketing, you are benefiting email subscribers.
Both merchants and affiliates can monitor the performance of those email campaigns by tracking impressions, clicks and sales.
You get paid on a commission basis for each objective — a conversion, a lead, a sale and an app install
Affiliate products are a proven way to generate income, and if you manage it well, it can be very simple (injecting an affiliate link in your email content) and profitable.
For example, GetResponse's affiliate program offers 33 percent recurring or one-time $100 commissions - a great way to secure a passive income!
Learn more with our affiliate marketing for beginners guide and how to build an email list for affiliate marketing.
2. Include sponsored content or advertisements in your emails
Another way to make money with email marketing is to introduce sponsored content and ads into your email campaigns.
These commercial strategies are a great fit for email marketers who have been on the scene for a while and have managed to grow their mailing lists to at least 2,500 subscribers.
Example of a sponsored ad inside a newsletter
Naturally, the bigger and more engaged your email list is, the better. Only in this way will you become an attractive asset to potential advertisers.
There's another reason why hundreds of people on your email list won't be enough, but thousands will make a difference. And it's called CPM (Cost Per Thousand Impressions) — a unit that will help you and your advertiser price the banner that appears in your newsletter.
How about single ads
A single ad works like this — advertisers approach email list owners and purchase a placement in their email. Simply put, a brand buys a dedicated email and taps into that owner's existing email audience.
While standalone ads don't have the best reputation from an advertiser's perspective, it can be a different story when you run a thriving online business and have the ability to provide advertisers with standalone advertising services.
To make it work, make sure that:
The sponsored emails you send to your subscribers are tailored to your audience's interests
You do not follow spammy practices and your email list is 100% valid
You shouldn't overuse single ads and you shouldn't trigger your email subscribers to opt out of your mailing list.
Check out this detailed guide to solo advertising and consider whether it's a good idea for your online business.
Monetize your newsletter with sponsored content
Brands are looking to get the word out about their products through channels other than paid social media ads and the Google Display Network
Because of this, once your newsletters become a powerful medium, brands that find overlap with your audience's buyer personas will be open to a partnership with you.
Example of a sponsored ad in the SEO Notebook newsletter
There are three main ways to sponsor your newsletter:
Sell Classified Ads - Spread classified ads throughout your newsletter.
Dedicated Email – One email = one sponsored content.
Sponsored emails - which means a more prominent ad placement in your newsletter
Once you've decided which format to implement, it's time to think about your pricing. You can set up a flat fee, such as $500, for placing an ad. Or, you can choose a CPM (CPM = ad cost per email sent / number of email subscribers) x 1,000) model.
From there, it's time to reach out to potential buyers with your sponsored weekly newsletter offer or sign up on marketplaces like Paved, Swapstack, Whosponsorsstuff, or Sponsorgap.
Another option is to pitch your email recipients with your sponsored offer if you know the decision makers are already subscribed to you (which you can check on an email marketing platform like GetResponse). Here's how Erin Balsa of House of Bold does it:
Erin Balsa pitches sponsored offers in her newsletter
How Erin Balsa pitches sponsored offers in her newsletter
Pro Tip: If you don't have one yet, this guide will walk you through how to create an email newsletter that people will love.
3. Create a Tripwire Offer
Well, another method to make more money with email marketing is Tripwire offers. And while that strategy may not have the luckiest name in the world, it's pretty standard among email marketers.
Implementing a tripwire means offering a low-cost product or service to your new customers. Entry thresholds are set low (like Tripwire), increasing the likelihood that more people will buy.
"Well, it's only $5, no big deal" - and they're in! Well, it doesn't have to be so cheap. Let's say you're an online life coach, and you negotiate $30 for the first online strategy session. As long as you deliver quality after closing that sale, you'll open an avenue to pitch your more expensive services.
In practice, this might mean creating a landing page with a curated offer and sending an upsell email after finalizing the first deal.
Example of a tripwire offer from Noah Kagan
4. Sell your own product or service
Well, affiliate marketing and advertising can help you earn money. In some cases, those results can be impressive.
But, no matter how high the affiliate commission is, it's still a percentage. If you're lucky, you'll get 20, 30, or 40% conversions or sales.
By selling your own products or services, you can make money at a scale that will significantly grow your online business.
You own it - 100% goes into your pocket without sharing with sponsorship marketplaces or merchants.
How can you pull this off?
at your service
Let's start with a service offering. If you are a consultant, an online trainer, or a freelance marketer, you can market your services to your email subscribers. Your email list is your potential customers.
Unless you offer them value for free through your email marketing program, at some point, they will naturally move down the sales funnel and become more interested in trying your offer.
Create your own products
Another is digital products. This could be a paid ebook or a package of coaching sessions. The same applies to your service
Your product must solve a pain and create a profit for your target audience. It must be relevant to them!
We are in the midst of an AI revolution. And for you, as a content creator, this is a huge opportunity because, with ChatGPT4, you can now develop applications, Chrome extensions, mobile games and other digital products without an army of software developers and designers!
And how do you know if your audience is ready to buy your product?
Use newsletters and autoresponders to survey your customers and get their feedback first. The best way to market any product is to learn what your customers need.
Leverage survey emails by offering a $100 Amazon gift card for completing a survey
1. The best newsletter platform
2. The best email marketers to follow
3. Free Sales Funnel Templates You Should Copy Today.
5. Create a paid newsletter
This part can be tricky. Especially if you're just starting to grow your email list. You might say: "I'm struggling to get people to opt-in to my email list for free, so how can I get them to pay for it?"
And you are absolutely right. This is a real challenge in the initial growth phase. It will take some time, but by providing high-quality value to your readers, you'll get to the point:
Convert your free email sequence to a paid newsletter
Create a premium version of your regular newsletter with exclusive content you won't share anywhere else
Before you go full-scale, try testing the waters first. Voice of the customer data is essential here. Email marketing gives you a natural opportunity to collect feedback from your email subscribers. Ask them:
Will they pay you if you launch a paid newsletter?
What kind of content should be paid for (according to them)
How much will they pay you
Example of a free newsletter that motivates you to upgrade to the paid version.
Example of a free newsletter that motivates you to upgrade to the paid version
Looking for inspiration? There are several thriving paid newsletters out there, each dedicated to a specific niche:
Stratechery Plus – a premium version of the Stratechery newsletter about technology and business,
STAT+ - In-depth coverage on biopharma, health technology and science,
Browser - With quality, curated stories.
6. Create a paid course
Earlier I talked about creating a digital product to make money with email marketing. Creating a paid online course is one of the most popular and profitable digital products used by individuals.
Sharing tips and tricks and leading thoughts through a free or paid newsletter is one thing. Teaching your customers who are interested in your skills, new skills and workflows is another.
To create a paid course, you need to go back to the drawing board and list your audience's pain points. From then on, create a step-by-step process for overcoming those challenges.
Once you have an idea for your online course, you should:
Break the structure into lessons, videos, worksheets, and quizzes
Create a landing page with a sign up form
Optimize your landing page for specific keywords
Run a successful email marketing campaign backed up by paid social ads to drive traffic to your page
How to sell an online course
Do you enjoy creating educational courses and want to turn your knowledge into a profitable business? Follow these simple steps and start selling your first online course today!
Download the guide
Sell your online course with a conversion funnel
Over the past few years, the growing popularity of e-learning platforms like Udemy or Coursera has translated into a proven way for thousands of instructors and trainers to make money online.
But the whole process of managing a digital course can be intimidating to many people. The good news is – GetResponse has a way to handle this from the top down through the conversion funnel.
Selling a paid course with GetResponse conversion funnel
First, behind every successful product promotion, there is website traffic. And the fastest way to trigger is through paid advertising campaigns. The great part about it is that you don't have to jump from one ad manager to another. You can customize your paid ads from the first stage of our conversion funnel
The next step in the conversion funnel is converting your website visitors into leads. If you have some gated content on your landing page, creating a sign-up form will do the trick On the other hand, if your landing page is a blog post, coming up with an exit popup is a tool that can convince people to give up their email.
Anyone interested enough to sign up for your email list – yes! At this funnel stage, it's time to work the magic of email marketing! Starting with a welcome email, you can build your entire email campaign to nurture your leads with valuable content and build a foundation for pitching a paid course with an upsell email.
After nurturing your leads through email automation, it's time to show them how much more they can earn by signing up for your paid course. Create content on your website with your course outline, structure and benefits. With the right messaging, you can convert your customers into paying customers.
This may not always be the case for you as a course creator, but conversion funnels allow you to upsell your trainees with premium time-limited offers.
And the most enjoyable part of your digital business journey is connecting to your chosen payment system and seeing how much money you make by sharing your knowledge and skills with your email subscribers!
How you can customize your funnel
But the best part about conversion funnels for online teaching and training is that you can build the architecture of activities and stages however you want!
Example? Of course!
Watch this video where Razor Social founder Ian Cleary breaks down their process for building a funnel to sell an online course.
Their method was slightly different:
They started with a landing page
Where they collected sign-ups with a form and an exit pop-up
From where they reach out to their new customers with an autoresponder
Sending people to the sales page.
which was associated with the payment method (Stripe)
Followed by a confirmation page
And, of course, the final metric at the bottom of the funnel – how much money they made.
Another interesting case comes from Alex the terrier. This jazz musician became very successful selling his online music course with a conversion funnel. Just 30 days into his campaign he managed to land:
1350 unique landing page visitors
253 new subscribers
502 unique sales page visitors
His secret sauce? Offering free and high-quality content for aspiring musicians.
7. Run paid webinars
And comes our last email monetization method — running webinars. Online event management can serve multiple purposes.
For example, free webinars are a perfect way to generate leads and nurture existing email subscribers with additional helpful content.
Webinar tools like polls and surveys, chat, and Q&A enable you to interact with your audience and get to know them better. This knowledge can help you refine your messaging when you're ready to create content — for a blog post or an eBook.
But paid webinars are a different story. It's not about lead capture. Running webinars with an entry fee means selling advanced knowledge and insights to people who want to upgrade their skill sets or learn something that isn't available anywhere else for free.
How much money can you earn with paid online conferences and training sessions? Here are some examples from the State of Online event 2022:
Conference for Coaching Specialists: Building Partnerships: 881 tickets sold, €20,602 earned.
Training for psychotherapists and psychologists (32 events): 7103 tickets sold, 686 808 euros earned.
Webinar to improve the skills of therapists: 580 tickets sold, €12,309 earned
Fascinated? No wonder! Let's take a look at how to run a paid webinar!
- How to Run a Paid Webinar
- Follow this step-by-step workflow:
Create content for your online events: a script, a slide deck and other media such as videos, quizzes and surveys.
Invite a co-host if necessary.
Create a webinar with a meaningful name, date and duration.
Set up your price for an entry ticket.
Enable automated recording to revive your live event as an on-demand webinar that will earn money long after your attendees have “bid off”.
Send invitations to your customers.
Promote the event on your social media – organically and with paid ads
Run events and keep your audience engaged.
Follow up with your participants with additional content and possibly cross-selling your other digital products.
Pro tip: You can orchestrate everything in GetResponse – your webinar, an email campaign, and paid ads on Facebook or Instagram.
Start making money with email marketing
Even without a large marketing team or a dedicated email expert, there are a wide range of options for making money in email marketing — from promoting affiliate products, to running a paid newsletter, to implementing ads in your emails.
Another strategy is to pitch your services and sell products to your customers, such as ebooks, templates, workflows, training sessions, online courses, and paid webinars.
The key is to consistently deliver high-quality and value for your target audience. Once you take care of this part, you can look at different ways to make money.
And finally, to start implementing your income-generating program, you need a solid email service provider!
And GetResponse is the one that will help you keep everything under one roof! Try all features for free for the next 30 days.
