4 Time-saving tips to increase your email ROI

Have you seen this Instagram Reel yet? There are 1,000s of versions of it, all featuring small business owners sharing what it’s really like to be a solopreneur. Most of us small business owners have to take on multiple (if not all) the roles. This is why it’s so important to work smart instead of hard. This means looking for ways to save time, increase productivity and create systems and automations to help you make the most out of every minute you spend growing your business.

One of my favorite places to implement time-saving strategies is in my marketing and especially in my newsletters. When it comes to marketing, newsletters are my go-to. They’re not only more personal than social media but you’re not at the mercy of the algorithm or any changes social media platforms maks. This is why we partnered with AWeber to create a series of free workshops to help makers boost sales, create gorgeous emails and add automations. You can RSVP for this free series here and be sure to catch the final workshop in our series: Demystifying Automation – the Tool that Makes Your Life Easier on November 30, 2021 at 5:00pm PT.

To help get you started, I’ve put together a few time-saving tips to make creating and sending your emails easy and effective.

1. PLAN YOUR CONTENT AHEAD OF TIME

Each quarter, I set aside a few hours to plan out my content for the next few months. This helps you take the stress out of wondering what to post and it ensures that you won’t be scrambling to create a newsletter about a new product or upcoming sale.

Here’s how I do this:

First add all of the events, product releases etc into a calendar like Google Calendar.
Next, pick a newsletter frequency that works for you. This may be once a week, bi-weekly or monthly.
Add those newsletters to your calendar and then add any additional newsletters you may need, IE: if you have a launch in that quarter you’ll want to add those promotional emails too. I also add notes with some general points I want to cover in the calendar entry. This gives me a starting place for when I write and design the newsletters.

2. CREATE NEWSLETTER TEMPLATES

Once you know what newsletters you’ll be sending, it’s time to lay them out. My favorite tool to do this is the graphic design platform Canva. Instead of starting from scratch, with Canva, you can begin with a template. Canva has a ton of templates to choose from OR you can use their design elements to create your own template. If you use email marketing platform AWeber, you can design in Canva directly inside AWeber! Click here to learn all about their easy drag and drop editor integrated with Canva.

3. CREATE CONTENT IN BATCHES

There’s a reason that factories produce goods on an assembly line. It’s because when you do the same type of task at once, you save time. You can apply this principle to your newsletters as well.

Since you’ve already planned ahead and you know all of your upcoming newsletters, you can set aside a block of time to lay out, write and schedule multiple newsletters in one sitting. I do this – assembly line style – using Canva templates that I created ahead of time.

Here’s how I do this:

I have a file that we use for each upcoming newsletter.
Using one of my pre-made templates, I create a new page for each upcoming newsletter.
Then, I add the notes from my google calendar about the content I want to include.
I then adjust the colors, add photos and tweak the layout.
Then I’ll set aside another block of time to do all the writing and add it.

You can do all of this in Canva or if you’re an AWeber customer, you can do it directly in AWeber!

4. Create automated emails to enhance your customer experience and increase sales

Think of your relationship with your customer as a friendship that you’re building. Make sure that every step of the way your customer knows that you care about them and understands what products or services you have that benefit them. Starting and maintaining this relationship is made so much easier using email automations.

Here are a few ideas for email automations to get you started:

Welcome email when a customer signs up for your email list
Abandoned cart email when your customer fills up their cart in your online shop but doesn’t complete the checkout process
Order journey emails that thank you customer for their purchase and keep them informed as their order progresses

AWeber has easy to set up email automations to help you build that relationship with your customers and increase your sales.

If you’re looking for guidance on how to create beautiful, successful email automations, don’t forget to RSVP for our FREE workshop series with email marketing platform AWeber and join us for our third and final workshop:
Demystifying Automation – The Tool that Makes your Life Easier
Tuesday, November 30, 2021 – 5pm PT