Secrets to Building Your Email List as an Artist

The widely held belief among marketers is that every email subscriber is worth $1 per month.

That means if you have 3,000 email subscribers, you should be able to make $3,000 per month.

The math is a little off, though, because virtually no one gets a 100% open rate on their email campaigns. 20% is considered good, and anything above that is stellar. And this also depends on industry averages. I know from having worked in music for a long time that a 20% open rate would be high when sending campaigns to musicians.

So, that means each email is worth considerably more than $1 per month, if you do things right.

20% of 3,000 is 600. $3,000 divided by 600 people is $5. Meaning an engaged email subscriber is worth closer to $5 per month.

You don’t need a huge email list to earn a sizable income.

You don’t need a huge email list to earn a sizable income. Click To Tweet

Now, when you hear stats like these, it’s easy to think you’re doing everything wrong if you’re not making $1 per month per email.

But I have personally encountered this as well. If all you do is attract a bunch of freeloaders, you can’t expect them to buy much of anything from you let alone support your work.

You shouldn’t feel discouraged if things don’t seem to be lining up for you the way they’re supposed to, though. You’re not some kind of weird exception if you’re not making $1 per month per email.

You’re not some kind of weird exception if you’re not making $1 per month per email. Click To Tweet

But if things aren’t working, it would be wise to go back to the drawing board and rethink your strategy.

As my mentors in network marketing taught me:

What you win them with is what you win them to.

If all you’re doing is giving away things for free in exchange for email addresses, it’s entirely possible that you’re just attracting an audience who will take the free stuff and bolt.

The other possibility is that your lead magnet is too far removed from your core brand. Everyone wants to win a free iPad, but if it’s a mismatch with your messaging, you can bet that most of those people are going to unsubscribe once the contest is over. Which is why a small (but engaged) email list is never a problem.

People make a big deal of lead magnets these days, but the truth is, at Music Entrepreneur HQ, they haven’t worked that well for us in the last couple of years. We’ve had more success with tripwires (irresistible, low-ticket offers) versus lead magnets, so we’ve started prioritizing those instead.

So, don’t just do things because people tell you to. Test them out for yourself and see what works. The conventional method may not emerge a champion at the end of the match.

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