Dear Writing Community, How to Use an Email Automation Service

So, you have your list already? You have people to send your newsletter to?

That’s great! In this post, I’ll guide you on how to use an email automation service. As well as the dos and don’ts you should remember while using one. Add in some tips on how to engage with your readers list.

Ready? Let’s go.

As a newbie author, indie author, self-publishing author who may or may not have financial constraints which limits your budget… so, we’ll explore services that could be used for free.

For email service, I’m used to MailChimp. Their free plan allows you to add up to 2,000 email addresses. Their sending limit? I think it’s once a day to a list. I can’t be sure since I only send my newsletter once every two weeks. While I’m editing a new email, I got that notif that I can’t send it on the same day I just sent one. There.

Your list. The email addresses you add to your audience or recipients should have explicitly gave you permission to send them your newsletter. Don’t add them to your list if you got their email from somewhere and have no idea who you are. You might get reported. That would be a stain on your record and if there are many reports against you, you might be banned from using the service. This is true for all email automation services.

That unsubscribe link at the end of the email? Then, there are choices, one of which says “I never signed up to receive these email messages.”? That could get you banned if there are many clicks on there. So, be sure to only add people who gave you permission. Then, there’s GDPR in effect in EU, which requires a two-step sign-up. They give you their email, then they have to confirm the email. In other cases, normally, outside EU, the confirmation email is not required. Which is problematic because I can input some random person’s email address if I’m a crook. There’s a hustle, but it’s a nice protection measure in place.

Normal unsubscribes are… well, normal. If they clicked on the choice that says “I no longer want to receive these emails.”, then you’re alright. The person at least acknowledges that he once wanted to receive your email messages.

As a newbie, there’s really no point in having a large list if you have no ability to retain them. You start with a thousand, then at the end of the month, you’re left with a hundred. Technically, it’s not bad. But it’s still immensely better if you can keep them in your list, right? I’ll leave a section below on the dos and don’ts on how frequent you should send a newsletter, what the content should be, and how often you can solicit responses, if you need it.

Back to the email service, you can only use it to ease sending an email to a mass of recipients. On free plan, you can’t use other features such as scheduling it on a future date and time. You have to send it real time.

The 2k limit. If you’ve reached that limit, and you remove people from the list to make some space for new ones, you can’t if you’ve already sent an email to those people in a particular month. They get counted against that 2k. So, if you want to clean your list, do it at the start of a month or before you send your first newsletter in a particular month.

Don’t be disheartened by the number of unsubscribes. As early as now, I’m telling you that it’s something you should already expect. Don’t be hurt. You can’t keep everyone. A lot of people do subscribe to get free stuff, then unsubscribe as soon as they got it. It’s not always you, sometimes it’s them.

And really. Don’t sweat the unimportant stuff. Your craft is still writing. Writing alone should make you happy. Others are only bonuses. (Yes, my personal opinion.)

What information do you need? Well, one, email addresses. That’s the only thing the email service requires, but if you have names available, add that as well. Country? Yes, please. I feel that these three are what’s most important. Of course, the service could capture their IP address when they open the email and click on something, but not guaranteed. This feels important because of GDPR, that’s it.

First name, if you add it to the recipient information, there’s a lesser chance your newsletter will end up in the spam folder. With the first name, you could go into the promotions tab or the primary tab. At least for Gmail. Still not guaranteed, but you have better chances.

Do I track my numbers? Not really. I don’t want my emotions to be affected so I’d rather not look at it. I will when I start implementing a detailed marketing plan, though.

CSV file. It’s a simpler format of an excel file. For you to be able to upload your list to the email service, it has to be saved as a CSV file. Open your excel file, go to File tab > Save As > Browse folder > File type under File name: CSV (Comma delimited).

You can also use Copy + Paste function, but Import contacts is much easier.

Tags. Sometimes you get multiple lists. People who signed up in July. Others in August. I use tags for it. Whatever you’re comfortable with. First list. Second list. Or July list. August list.

Campaigns. I try to make it simple. First list (Email No. 1). First list (Email No. 2). Second list (Email No. 1). You don’t want to send a welcome email to your first list a second time. Careful there. I’ve experienced sending [First list (Email No. 2)] and [Second list (Email No. 1)] on the same day.

Design? Make it simple, but reminiscent of your personality or brand. I do use my Author logo as header in mine. Then, the content. That’s it. Do what works for you.

Proofread before sending. Do I need to emphasize this? You don’t want to send a correction email. That would suck. Sometimes, I find myself previewing the campaign at least five times before I hit Send.

NEWSLETTER. How often? I’d say maximum is once a week. You’re not the only one a person may be subscribed to. Personally, I’ve subscribed to 20+ newsletters. When I see a frequent sender, I unsubscribe. You’re eating up my time! That’s how it is.

Yes, you want to give them content, but respect their time. They’re busy, too.

Yes, you want interaction and get close to them by exchanging emails. But let’s face it, who has the time? Very few people do. I get excited when someone replies, but then… sometimes I myself forget to reply. Bad example, don’t imitate me. Reply kindly when you can.

What content? Give them something helpful. Give them something for free. It doesn’t necessarily have to be something you spent your blood, sweat, and tears on. If you’ve joined book promos offering free books, share it with your readers. They might find something they like. If you’re writing something and it’s available to be read for free on the net, share them the links. If you’ve written some good articles, share them.

Also, share tidbits about yourself. But really, don’t give them your life story in one email. Nooooooo! Share a little bit of yourself in every email. What are you working on? What inspired you to write? What have you written? What are your genres? How’s your journey so far?

Is it okay to share your troubles? Well, that depends. Is it heavy? Is it light-hearted? As long as you don’t spread negativity, it’s fine. Much better if you conclude it with a happy ending on how you overcame the trials and challenges. But be sure not to make it too long… if you’ve written a whole blog of it, you can invite them to check it out. Don’t put it all on the newsletter itself. You want to be inspirational? Go ahead. Do it well, though. Nothing over the top.

Length. A one-page email is ideal. Meaning they don’t need to scroll down. But if that’s a real feat, maybe one scroll or two. Nothing more.

Take into account the reason they are in your list in the first place. Are they purely readers? Are they writers? What do they need? What can you give them?

Once in a while, maybe once a month, you can do surveys as part of a newsletter you’re sending out. Say something like, you’re curating content for writers, if they could let you know if they’re interested with that. Plain readers would most likely not respond, but the aspiring writers will. Probably.

You have to keep in mind that there’s a ton of places for that already, writing communities. You have the whole of writing community, then there are smaller groups. I’m sure you understand the practicality of belonging to a smaller group and being able to interact closely with others, exchanging inputs, having beta readers, critique partners, mentors, writing buddy…

You want to build one, too? Maybe a small group of less than ten people? You can do that. Be sure you will have the time to participate.

Me? As an INFJ, my interactions are very limited. I couldn’t even bring myself to reply something witty, I simply “like” or “heart” a response to a post I sent to the void. Oh, well… My replies sound awkward at most.

That’s it for this topic. What should I write next?

Let’s explore Amazon KDP next week.

Thanks. Enjoy reading. Enjoy writing. 💙