5 Ways to Start Authentic Conversations with Your Email Subscribers

Have you ever met someone at a networking event (or on a first date) who could not stop talking about himself?

People like this can talk for hours about all their accomplishments and adventures, but they never ask you questions about yourself, and they find it impossible to actually listen when you try to get a word in edgewise.

Chances are, you’ve met someone like this, and you know exactly how tiresome it is.

But here’s a little secret: Your email subscribers might feel just as miserable and frustrated when you treat email marketing like a speech at a podium, rather than a two-way discussion.

To make email communication work your business, you must think of it like a conversation – and every conversation has two sides.

Here are some quick and easy ways to converse with your subscribers, rather than lecturing or shouting at them.

1. Be friendly in your subscribers’ inboxes – right from the start.

Remember that email marketing is primarily about relationships, and most of us want to build relationships with people – not with businesses – and that’s why we prefer seeing the names of individuals in our inboxes when we receive emails.

For example, we don’t necessarily want to receive an email message from “Weasley’s Wizard Wheezes,” but we might smile if we see an incoming message from George Weasley. It’s more personal, and the message doesn’t scream “SALES PITCH!” right away.

When you’re setting up your account in your email service provider (like MailChimp, AWeber, etc.) make sure to put a real name in the “From” field of your emails. This friendlier approach will not only build trust, it can help increase your email open rates, too!

Here are a few examples (these recent emails are all from businesses, and this is exactly how they showed up in my inbox):

2. Invite your subscribers to talk to you by asking questions.

Instead of just talking about your business in your email messages, make sure you’re asking questions, too. You want to make a conscious effort to get your subscribers to talk to you.

In a post for Copyblogger called Five Ways to Make Your Email Marketing Work Better, Sonia Simone said:

“When I started adding the words, ‘Just click reply to ask me a question, your message will come directly to my personal inbox,’ I noticed that more people felt comfortable doing just that.”

Need some other simple options for inviting people to talk to you? You can try:

• “What did you think? Reply to this email and give me your feedback.”
• “What is your biggest struggle/problem with [your topic] right now? Let me know by replying to this email.” (or ask another specific question that relates to your business)
• “We’re finishing up a new [free report, podcast episode, course lesson, webinar] – can I send it your way so you can let us know what you think of it?”
• “Do you have a suggestion for what I could done differently on this [post, podcast episode, etc]? I’d love to hear it. You can reply to this email and send me your thoughts.”

3. Take the uncertainty out of your contact forms.

When you see a contact form on someone’s site, and that’s the only way of getting hold of that person, do you wince a little? I know I do. Sometimes it feels like when I send a message through on of those forms, it just gets sent into the some kind of weird email no man’s land. Will the business owner receive it? I have no idea!

But on the flip side – I do recommend using a contact form on your site, instead of just sharing your email address right there on the page. Spammers can easily grab your email address from your contact page, so it’s a good idea to invite your visitors to send an email using a form like this one:

You can make your contact form a little friendlier – and reassure any prospects and community members who want to contact you – by adding a simple little message to the top of your form.

Right now, the message at the top of my contact form says: “You can fill out this form to send a message that will go straight to my email inbox. I will get back to you shortly!”

Even just a tiny bit of extra reassurance can make a difference for the people who would like to get in touch with you.

4. Be accessible.

When your subscribers write to you with their questions, feedback, and comments, you should always try to respond to their email messages.

I know this one can be difficult to do consistently as your business grows. I’m not always perfect at this, myself. But if you’ve invited people to talk to you, it’s a good idea acknowledge their responses by writing back.

Your notes don’t have to be long or complicated. Most times, a short personal thank you will do the job quite well. People just want to know you’re listening, and that you’re a real person.

If your company has grown to the point that you can’t keep up with your emails, it’s okay to hire someone to respond to them – just give that person some guidelines on how to respond in common situations.

Let me be clear on this one, though – I’m not saying that you should give your services away for free. If you’re a coach or consultant, and someone asks you a question that will take you more than a minute or two to answer, it’s okay to acknowledge that person’s response, then suggest they set up a (paid) session with you to discuss their issue.

5. Don’t always pivot back to talking about your business and trying to sell them something. 

Have you ever noticed that a lot of the time, we don’t really listen when we’re talking to people in real life? Instead, we’re thinking about the next thing we’re going to say….and when we do respond, we often say something about ourselves. We tell a story, talk about how we would handle a situation like that, or shift the subject back to what’s going on with us.

Try not to do that to your email subscribers. When a subscriber responds to your question or gives you feedback, simply listen to what the person is saying.

Then you can respond by thanking the subscriber, or by asking another question. Our default mode is usually to talk about ourselves and our businesses – but we don’t always have to follow that instinct!

Opening up your own email conversations

The big advantage to starting conversations via email (versus blasting your subscribers with self-centered emails) is that you not only build trust with your prospects, but you also learn a lot about what your audience members want and need.

This can be a huge advantage to you as an online marketer, because you’ll know what kind of content your subscribers need, and what kinds of products they would like you to create.

Keep the conversation flowing with your email subscribers. You’ll learn a lot, and you’ll also discover that it’s a lot more fun than talking all the time!