13 Easy Ways to Profit from Your Email List

Email marketing is one of the most lucrative digital marketing channels available. When done properly, you can profit from your email list with ease. While some believe that email marketing is no longer relevant, smart marketers are leveraging this marketing strategy to build their online business.

The good news is that monetizing your email list to profit from it is not quantum physics. In fact, there are countless simple ways to create consistent income from your email list. This article will reveal 13 of them to get you started.

But the question I see many asking, particularly newbie digital marketers, is, “how much money can a person make from an email list?” Let us discuss that a little.

How much can you make from your email marketing list?

There is no set amount that you can make from your list. 

Why? 

Because there are many factors involved. It depends on how many active email subscribers you have and your ability to present the right offer. In other words, several factors impact the amount of money you can make from your email list. 

The following elements contribute significantly to how much you can make from your email list per month:

• How focused or relevant your list is to the offers you present
• Email frequency
• Email segmentation
• Analytics

Should you buy email lists for monetization?

Several marketers encourage the practice of buying email lists, but you shouldn’t buy an email list. 

Why? 

Consider the following reasons: 

• When you buy a list, you breach the rules of consent under GDPR and CAN-SPAM Act (usually).
• Buying an email list puts you at odds with reputable email marketing services. As a result, they won’t let you send emails to your purchased lists.
• Recipients on your acquired list will hardly buy from you since they do not know you. (I have unsubscribed from many lists because I didn’t remember signing into their mailing list).
• Purchasing email lists puts your email deliverability and IP reputation in harm’s way.
• Your email provider may suspend you.

Instead of buying email lists, what should you do? 

Since buying email lists is not a good idea, methodically ask visitors to your blog or website to give you their contact details.

Using an email verifier is vital for confirming the integrity and responsiveness of accumulated contacts. This utility is pivotal in eliminating invalid or inactive ones, guaranteeing that your marketing communications are received by active participants.

This enhancement not only amplifies the success of your campaigns but also maintains compliance with legal standards. Purifying your database augments user engagement and lessens the frequency of bounced emails.

Moreover, a meticulously maintained contact list boosts the sender’s credibility, ensuring your communications are received favorably and aren’t relegated to the spam folder. This approach aids in delivering tailored content, establishing a more focused and effective messaging pathway that aligns with the recipient’s preferences, and fostering an increase in response rates.

How? Although there are many ways to maximize email list building, these five techniques will help:

1. Blog subscription: Ask readers for their email contacts via blog subscriptions. Give them an opt-in form to sign up for your newsletter.
2. Use contact forms to collect emails: Contact forms are one of the best ways to grow your email list. Adding a simple checkbox to opt into your newsletter can make all the difference.
3. Utilize email add-ons: Include call-to-action (CTA) at the bottom of your email to encourage recipients to take action. One such activity is to ask recipients to forward the email to a friend. 
4. Boost the effectiveness of your email campaigns with the inclusion of a compelling call-to-action (CTA) in your email add-ons. By strategically positioning a persuasive CTA at the bottom of your message, you can motivate recipients to actively respond. For instance, encouraging them to share the email with a friend amplifies your reach and fosters organic growth.
5. Leverage the power of CTAs to inspire action and maximize the impact of your email marketing strategy, ultimately driving engagement and expanding your audience organically.
6. Refer a friend: Encourage your blog readers to refer their friends to your site or the product page. You can ask for referrals via emails and directly from your site using third-party apps.
7. Give out freebies and run contests: Contests and freebies are some of the best ways to gather emails. They’ll happily provide their contact details for possible future offers but make sure the incentive you use is relevant to your brand.

How to monetize your email lists (13 proven steps)

As discussed earlier, email marketing lists are vital digital assets that help you connect with consumers and potential prospects. This marketing strategy allows you to nurture and qualify leads. According to Campaign Monitor, emails outperform social media by 40x for customer acquisition and are 6x more likely to get higher CTRs.

Source graphic: Campaign Monitor

But the question is, how can you monetize and profit from your email list? The pointers below will help you make money with your email list.

1. Segment your email lists

According to the research by Campaign Monitor mentioned above, email marketing segmentation is an outstanding way to drive revenue. It points out that marketers who segmented their emails realized a 760% increase in earnings. 

Why is that so? 

Because email segmentation lets you take your message to the right audience.

This strategy enables you to build a defined relationship with an engaged audience. It gives you a better understanding of your audience (customers and eventual clients). It also shows you email recipients who are not as engaged.

You can use these email segmentation characteristics below to group your email lists. Divide them up according to:

• Email open rates
• Demographics
• Product interests
• Preferences
• Previous purchases
• Subscriber behavior

Hence, consider the following email list personalization statistics: 

• According to 51% and 50% of marketing influencers and decision-makers, being proficient at email segmentation and differentiation is the best personalization marketing strategy.
• Personalized email campaigns generate 6x higher ROIs.
• Over 50% of consumers say they will stop business transactions with a brand that fails to personalize their emails.
• More than 80% of marketers that personalize their campaigns announced an increase in email open rates.
• 74% of marketers saw an increase in consumer engagement through targeted emails and customized messages.

Despite that, email segmentation generates positive ROIs, 70% of marketers are not segmenting their lists. Therefore, by leveraging this email marketing approach, you can concentrate on selling various products or services to consumers who are genuinely interested in purchasing them.

2. Sell your services (coaching, mentoring, and consulting) to your list

Another exciting way to profit from your email list is to sell your services to subscribers. You can offer a paid one-on-one coaching service, mentoring, and consulting services. These are excellent ways to make consistent income and profit from your email list.

Monetizing your email list opens up exciting opportunities to generate revenue by offering valuable services directly to your subscribers.

A well-structured sales funnel for coaches is akin to a tailored journey that guides potential clients from initial curiosity to decisive action. It’s about creating a seamless flow of communication that educates, nurtures, and ultimately convinces individuals of the transformative potential of coaching.

By applying this concept, coaches can strategically segment their audience, delivering targeted content that addresses specific needs and builds momentum towards the coaching engagement. This not only enhances the perception of the coach’s expertise but also aligns client expectations with the offered value, paving the way for meaningful and impactful coaching relationships.

One highly effective option is to provide a paid one-on-one coaching service, where you can offer personalized guidance and support to individuals seeking to achieve specific goals.

Transforming your email list into a lucrative asset introduces a plethora of possibilities for revenue generation. Consider the impactful strategy of offering a paid one-on-one coaching service, an avenue where you can extend tailored guidance and unwavering support to individuals keen on realizing specific goals.

This personalized approach fosters a deeper connection with your subscribers, enriching their experience and positioning your coaching service as a valuable and sought-after resource. Elevate your revenue streams by strategically aligning your expertise with the unique needs of your subscribers, creating a win-win scenario for both your business and the individuals you coach.

Additionally, offering mentoring and consulting services through your email list enables you to cater to the unique needs and interests of your audience, fostering meaningful relationships.

By leveraging your expertise and skills, you can turn your email list into a valuable platform for delivering top-notch assistance and enhancing customer satisfaction.

Providing one-on-one coaching and personalized consulting will not only create a new revenue stream but also solidify your reputation as a trusted authority in your niche.

It might sound laughable, but the truth is that with only a small target audience, you can make good money from coaching. 

Why? 

Because more people prefer a one-on-one program and will gladly pay more for the service. For instance, Nagina Abdullah of Masala Body shares her coaching income results. 

Graphic via GrowLab

According to her, she made $10,000 from coaching with less than 500 email subscribers. And she hit $100,000 with an email list of about 5,000. Consequently, evaluate your expertise and offer it as a service through your email list to generate income.

3. Monetize your email lists by selling your own digital products

Just as selling your services can make you more money from your email list, selling digital products you created will also increase your monthly income. But how can you monetize your list with digital products? Make use of your “Thank You” page. Your opt-in thank you page is an ideal place to sell your online merchandise. 

Consumers who land on your page and sign up for your list are already excited about what you’re offering them. Use that excitement and sell them your digital product right away on your “Thank You” page. 

An effective way is to add social proof of happy customers to persuade subscribers to buy from that point of contact.

In the sphere of email marketing, the process of email list verification is crucial. Implementing this technique ensures the elimination of obsolete or erroneous email addresses, redirecting efforts toward fostering rapport with prospective clients.

This optimized method not only elevates the effectiveness of marketing initiatives but also heightens the probability of connecting with audiences who have a genuine interest.

Furthermore, it contributes significantly to improving email deliverability. Why is it worthwhile? Not everything depends on the quality of your mailings’ contents. Sometimes tech aspects play tricks on us too (especially if you have a huge contact base). Solutions like this ensure that your messages reach their intended recipients.

The result? Well, it will boost the overall success of your campaigns!

4. Monetize your email list with cart abandonment campaigns

It is common for consumers to make some clicks, abandon the cart, and disappear. I do that sometimes when shopping. These are people who have shown interest in the product, but for some reason, they didn’t complete the purchase. 

The reality is that cart abandonment is a challenging issue for both B2B and B2C marketers. According to data by Baymard Institute, the average cart abandonment rate for all industries is 70%.

But why do consumers abandon their carts at the last minute? 

Here are some reasons for your consideration:

Source graphic: Baymard Institute

From the graph you can see that the top three reasons are:

1. The extra cost of the product (tax, shipping, and other fees)
2. Creating an account on the website, and
   
3. A complicated checkout process

Now that you know, email customers and address the common objections. 

5. Create a list-building funnel

Every niche market should have a list-building funnel because it helps you convert site visitors into leads. A standard email list funnel should have these characteristics:

1. A landing page or squeeze page;
2. A lead magnet;
3. Optin form;
4. Verification page;
5. An autoresponder or email automation campaign.

A landing page is significant because it focuses visitors on your desired action, which in this case is to opt into your list. When you offer users a lead magnet of high value that they can consume quickly, it draws more people into your email list. 

Your lead magnet drives visitors to your squeeze page where they join your email list. However, your offer must be something of value that will solve a need for your audience. Also, your landing page should be goal-oriented and focused. 

According to HubSpot’s A/B testing, to create a result-driven landing page, remove all distractions, such as navigation menu and sidebar. Why is that so? The HubSpot team ran an A/B testing experiment on five of their top-performing landing pages to see what drives performance

They measured landing pages with top and footer navigations and social media links for sharing content. Then they conducted another test for landing pages with zero navigation or social media share links. Here are their results in graphics below:

Graphic by HubSpot

Thus, your squeeze page should be precise and state what visitors will get for joining your list. You can add images and videos to strengthen your copy and attract users’ attention. Moreover, research shows that adding videos to your landing page can increase conversions by over 80%.

Source graphic: Render Forest

6. Take advantage of tripwire marketing

What is tripwire marketing? It is a marketing method that allows you to make a reasonable offer early on in the subscriber/brand relationship. The proposal would be cheap and reasonably priced to subscribers. Such moves generally take place from the first touchpoint of signing up for your newsletter.

For example, Karmaloop, an apparel retail company in Boston, USA, filed for bankruptcy in 2015. But in about three months after that, their marketing key performance indicators (KPIs) improve dramatically. And within a year, they bounced back with more than $1-million in profits.

Source image via CXL

Many factors contributed to the speedy recovery and business growth of the streetwear company. But Karmaloop’s CMO, Drew Sanocki, noted that his primary weapon is the tripwire marketing strategy.

7. Upsell with similar products

Upselling is an ideal way to increase your monthly email marketing revenue. Consumers who already bought your tripwire offer may be interested in similar products. This procedure involves creating an autoresponder email trigger that presents consumers with an upgrade to what they purchased. 

You might have seen an upsell campaign in action without noticing it. For instance, after I bought a $60 digital product from Billy Gene, I received an email right away for a similar online course that sells for $497. However, I didn’t buy it since I wanted to see what I can get from what I just bought. 

But the emphasis is to highlight the need to leverage this marketing hack and upsell similar products to your email list. There is always an opportunity to upsell related products to consumers who bought from you.

Upselling and cross selling also applies in a nonprofit context. With the help of efficient nonprofit marketing automation, you can create comprehensive donor journeys, identify prospects intelligently and bring people back onboard in an omnichannel way, irrespective of the original touchpoint they used.

When executed properly and timed appropriately, upselling can increase average order value and build lasting relationships with customers

8. Pre-sell your digital product

Yes, even before you launch your product, pre-sell it to your list. Send a pre-launch email to stimulate curiosity and eagerness. The more people get curious about your offering, the more likely they want to buy into it. You can send pre-launch emails in advance before the launch to get pre-orders from your list. However, keep your emails personalized and straightforward. 

You will be surprised at how many clicks you will get. Then, in your next message, which should be your launch email, give email recipients all the vital information on your pre-sale, including the benefits of using your online course. Then direct them to your pre-sale landing page with a CTA to pre-order the system.

Also, to further amplify your chances to make more sales from your list, create blog posts about your digital material and email the content to your list to give them an idea of what to expect. Outline the benefits as you did in the email, but with more in-depth information and all vital details to create a buzz. 

In that way, you will get pre-orders and start making money from your list before you launch the product. However, when writing a blog post about your product launch, ensure that the content aligns with blogging best practices, including spatial order organization in writing. This step is necessary to improve readability and help your readers take home your main points.

9. Promote affiliate programs to your lists

Marketers will gladly pay you commissions for referring clients or any sales you make through your affiliate link. For example, Below is a recent email I received from a client I worked with on content a few times in the past.

You can see that they’re offering me a 50% affiliate commission plus other bonuses for each signup through my link. Affiliate marketing is a great option if you do not have a digital product to sell. In this case, you’re selling other people’s products or services to your list and making a consistent income.

If you want to join an affiliate program, here are over 40 top affiliate programs and affiliate marketing tools at your disposal. With affiliate marketing programs, you will be generating a steady income from your email list.

10. Produce paid subscriptions for value-added content 

Experts in different niches use this marketing strategy to build their online brand and revenue. How do paid subscriptions work? You produce premium or value-added content for your subscribers and demand a monthly, yearly, or one-time payment subscription. After creating the material, email it to your list with instructions on how to access the content. 

The program is usually a membership scheme where only members (those who made payments) can access the content. Such content comes with incredible value, which is why visitors will be happy to pay for the membership.

You can start with a free membership and then offer an inexpensive cost with a flexible payment method within the first month or two. Once the designated months elapse, you can start offering your gated content at a regular rate.

11. Sell your products or services in your welcome emails

Welcome emails give recipients an idea of the kind of messages they should expect in the future. But smart marketers use this opportunity to sell to the subscribers. That is because welcome emails account for the highest email opens and interactions.

Therefore, brainstorm ideas on how to create a proposal that would catch people’s attention. The pitch should be friendly, interesting, and to the point.

Consider incorporating personalized recommendations based on their preferences or browsing history, making the pitch even more tailored to their needs. The subject line of the email should not be spammy, as this can scare the lead away, leading to poor conversion rates.

By strategically aligning your welcome email with your overall marketing strategy, you can turn this initial touchpoint into a valuable opportunity to not only engage but also convert your subscribers.

Graphic by Oberlo

Research tells us that the average open rate for a regular business email is a mere 21%. But the average email open rate for a welcome email is 82%. You can see the contrast and why welcome emails are exceptional marketing tools for scaling your revenue.

With the magnitude of email opens for welcome emails, you can add your products and services or even affiliate offers to subscribers without being salesy. 

12. Use the email list and webinar invitation strategy

Selling webinars is another fantastic way to profit from your email list. People love to see first-hand how to get things done. For instance, I have always wanted to learn Facebook ads’ best practices. For this, I bought several courses on the subject and attended webinars to learn how to do Facebook advertising. 

Therefore, if you have a similar course or have recently released one, organize webinars and invite your email subscribers to attend. Since they’re already excited about learning Facebook ads, they will gladly participate. And at the end of the program, sell your course to them. 

Those who may not have bought the course the first time will have the opportunity to pay for it. Furthermore, you can sell your webinar registration for a fee to your list. 

Considering that some subscribers already bought the product, they may still be struggling to get it right. As a result, they will be happy to pay a small fee to attend the webinar and see you walk them through the process.

In that way, they learn more and understand how to better apply the pointers for the best results. Consequently, use the email list and webinar invitation strategy to sell to your subscribers.

13. Leverage the power Of P.S. in emails

The P.S. area after your wrap-up is another effective way to make money online from your list. It gives you the opportunity to add one more thought or a personal message to your email after you sign-off. People love to read content that is not part of the main story. 

That is why the P.S. approach has been around for the longest. Smart marketers use this section of the email to invite recipients to take their desired action via a CTA. Concerning P.S., here’s what to author of Letters of Note, for The World Street Journal (WSJ) said:

“The P.S. is the most charming part of a letter. It’s the wink you give as you walk away.”

— Shaun Usher.

Hence, you can use the P.S. to sell products by using a call-to-action and creating a sense of urgency. It optimizes your email content and it sounds more persuasive. As a result, recipients will take notice and likely act accordingly. This step will boost click-through rates (CTRs) and sales. Therefore, use P.S. in your email campaigns to profit from your list.

14. Find reliable suppliers for dropshipping

A sizeable email list helps marketers develop a dropshipping venture.

The business model lets you focus on outreach and sales rather than logistics. Reliable dropshipping suppliers US and Europe offer should help you focus on the marketing side rather than logistics. Low overhead costs are one of the primary reasons why dropshipping is such an attractive idea.

You don’t have to limit your product selection. In fact, you can test multiple niches. Take the time you need to find one that suits you the best.
A conversion equals a sale, and it’s up to you how much you can scale the venture.

Branching out into multiple niches is akin to planting various seeds in your dropshipping garden, each with the potential to grow and flourish independently. This method not only enriches your portfolio but also insulates your business from the unpredictability of market trends.

As you navigate through different sectors, you gather unique insights and forge connections with a diverse customer base, setting the stage for a multifaceted and robust dropshipping journey. This natural progression into varied territories marks a strategic move towards a more dynamic and enduring business model.

Wrap up

Email marketing will continue to be one of the most effective digital marketing strategies for reaching your target market. Whatever your marketing objective, which may be any or all of the following:

• Build consumer/brand relationships
• Sell your products or services
• Promote other people’s products
• Deliver helpful information to your audience
• Write effective and powerful fundraising emails

You need email marketing to scale and reach your business goals. It means that email marketing will always be relevant to your campaigns. Therefore, keep growing a targeted list of subscribers who will be happy to interact with your emails and click through to buy what you’re selling. It is also important to verify the emails of your subscribers using an email verification tool to make sure your emails get the highest deliverability.

Did we miss something? How are you monetizing your list? Please, tell us in the comments, and if you found value in this article, subscribe to our mailing list to receive similar content straight into your inbox.